"With the quality and convenience of DVD, plus widescreen televisions that boast images as crisp as a freshly minted dollar bill, air conditioning alone isn't enough to drive today's consumers to their local googolplexes. For the first time in decades, the movies have to be watchable, too, which is presenting Hollywood with its most formidable challenge since it tried to turn Gretchen Mol into the next big thing. Armed with the only materials necessary to make important movie-going decisions—plot synopses and occasionally trailers—the A.V. Club film staff has assembled this helpful guide to which spectacles must be seen among the text-messaging teens, and which ones might be better appreciated on the La-Z-Boy six months later."
Highlight:
Delta Farce
What it's about: A trio of dumb-ass National Guardsmen (Larry The Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, and DJ Qualls) headed to Iraq are accidentally dropped in Mexico, which they mistake for a war zone. Such a quagmire might seem hopeless, but if anyone can engineer a desirable outcome in such a trying situation (or "Git-R-Done," as it were), it would of course be Qualls. And to a lesser extent, Larry The Cable Guy.
Why it might be worth seeing in theaters: The primal charisma and raw animal sexuality of Qualls, Engvall, and The Cable Guy can only be appreciated fully on the big screen. IMAX would be ideal, but the lesser screens at the local multiplex will have to do.
Why you're probably better off waiting for the DVD: Do you really want to be seen in public shelling out for a movie starring Larry The Cable Guy? We didn't think so.
Possible special feature: Actual MRI footage conclusively showing audience members losing brain mass as they watch the film.
Complete Article at theavclub.com.
Showing posts with label Upcoming DVDs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Upcoming DVDs. Show all posts
Friday, May 4, 2007
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Katharine Hepburn: The TCM Spotlight Collection to be released on May 29th
It's about damn time!
Kate the Great, one of the finest actresses in the whole history of celluloid, is finally getting her
due with her very own DVD collection, to be released 17 days after her 100th birthday (and *ahem* 25 days before my 31st birthday). This is not to begrude the Powers That Be (those who own rights to her films) on the number of her films that are available on DVD. We already have a Tracy-Hepburn collection (which was comprised of three films that had already been available for four years and a fourth that you could only get with the collection), three of her films were included in the Classic Comedies Collection, and numerous titles are available individually, including three stage performances. Compare this with the TWO Norma Shearer film currently available, and neither of them are from her richest years, before Irving died... but I digress.
But why quibble...more? Warner Home Video is bringing us six Katharine Hepburn films, all previously unavailable on DVD and all worth owning for the low low price of $59.95. At least, that's the suggested retail price. The cheapest I've found is DVDPlanet for $41.96, plus shipping. DeepDiscount has it for $43.52 and the shipping is free. The bastards at Best Buy have priced it above the SRP at $69.99, which apparently is how they make up for selling so many individual movies so cheaply. I'm really getting off track here. On to the movies:
Katharine Hepburn: The TCM Spotlight Collection:
The Corn Is Green (1979, George Cukor) is a made-for-TV remake of the 1945 Irving Rapper classic (currently unavailable, but it shows up on TCM from time to time), which featured Bette Davis as Miss Moffat, a spinster schoolteacher in a Welsh mining town. This is the only film in the collection that I haven't seen and I can only imagine that a 72-year-old Kate offers a much different interpretation of the role than did the 37-year-old Davis. Hepburn was nominated for an Emmy, and this was the last of ten films she made with Cukor, 47 years after the first. The Corn Is Green also offers the best tangential side note of the bunch: In 1974, Miss D agreed to reprise her role in a Broadway musical, entitled Miss Moffat. The show tried out in Philadelphia, where it closed. It seems the lading lady "hurt her back" and was unable to bring a ghastly show into New York. Stranger still is the fact that this would have been Davis's second Broadway musical. The first was 1952's Two's Company, which ran three months but was mercifully recorded and is now available on CD.
Dragon Seed (1944, Jack Conway & Harold S. Bucquet) is based on the novel by Pearl S. Buck. It's the story of a Chinese village and the most prominent Asian is the cast is the 14th-billed Clarence Lung, who may not even be Chinese (imdb didn't have any bio info). But this is Hollywood in the 1940s, so what can you expect? Caucasians aside, the acting is terrific and much less condescending than you'd think. At least as far as I can remember. I don't think I've watched Dragon Seed this century. The film received two Oscar nominations: Aline MacMahon (Supporting Actress) and Sidney Wagner (B/W Cinematography).
Morning Glory (1933, Lowell Sherman) features Kate's first Oscar-winning performance. She plays an actress trying to make it on Broadway. So she makes it with producer Adolphe Menjou. Luckily, this was made in the pre-code era, so everyone is very sophisticated about sex. Hepburn forgives Menjou for tossing her aside since she's much more interested in her career. The 1958 remake, Stage Struck, stars Susan Strasberg and Henry Fonda and is a prime example of the difference between the pre-code and enforced-code years. And that's really the only reason to ever watch Stage Struck.
Undercurrent (Vincente Minnelli, 1946) is the only time Kate worked with Vincente and the only film noir either of them made. Which isn't all that surprising considering the rest of their careers. Her co-stars are Robert Taylor and Robert Mitchum, with Edmund Gwenn once again playing Kate's father (one year later, he won an Oscar for playing Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street, in case you were wondering Who That Was.) Honestly, all I remember about this film is that I think I liked it. I didn't even know Robert Mitchum was in it until I looked at the cast list, and I love me some Mitch.
Kate the Great, one of the finest actresses in the whole history of celluloid, is finally getting her
due with her very own DVD collection, to be released 17 days after her 100th birthday (and *ahem* 25 days before my 31st birthday). This is not to begrude the Powers That Be (those who own rights to her films) on the number of her films that are available on DVD. We already have a Tracy-Hepburn collection (which was comprised of three films that had already been available for four years and a fourth that you could only get with the collection), three of her films were included in the Classic Comedies Collection, and numerous titles are available individually, including three stage performances. Compare this with the TWO Norma Shearer film currently available, and neither of them are from her richest years, before Irving died... but I digress.But why quibble...more? Warner Home Video is bringing us six Katharine Hepburn films, all previously unavailable on DVD and all worth owning for the low low price of $59.95. At least, that's the suggested retail price. The cheapest I've found is DVDPlanet for $41.96, plus shipping. DeepDiscount has it for $43.52 and the shipping is free. The bastards at Best Buy have priced it above the SRP at $69.99, which apparently is how they make up for selling so many individual movies so cheaply. I'm really getting off track here. On to the movies:
Katharine Hepburn: The TCM Spotlight Collection:
The Corn Is Green (1979, George Cukor) is a made-for-TV remake of the 1945 Irving Rapper classic (currently unavailable, but it shows up on TCM from time to time), which featured Bette Davis as Miss Moffat, a spinster schoolteacher in a Welsh mining town. This is the only film in the collection that I haven't seen and I can only imagine that a 72-year-old Kate offers a much different interpretation of the role than did the 37-year-old Davis. Hepburn was nominated for an Emmy, and this was the last of ten films she made with Cukor, 47 years after the first. The Corn Is Green also offers the best tangential side note of the bunch: In 1974, Miss D agreed to reprise her role in a Broadway musical, entitled Miss Moffat. The show tried out in Philadelphia, where it closed. It seems the lading lady "hurt her back" and was unable to bring a ghastly show into New York. Stranger still is the fact that this would have been Davis's second Broadway musical. The first was 1952's Two's Company, which ran three months but was mercifully recorded and is now available on CD.
Dragon Seed (1944, Jack Conway & Harold S. Bucquet) is based on the novel by Pearl S. Buck. It's the story of a Chinese village and the most prominent Asian is the cast is the 14th-billed Clarence Lung, who may not even be Chinese (imdb didn't have any bio info). But this is Hollywood in the 1940s, so what can you expect? Caucasians aside, the acting is terrific and much less condescending than you'd think. At least as far as I can remember. I don't think I've watched Dragon Seed this century. The film received two Oscar nominations: Aline MacMahon (Supporting Actress) and Sidney Wagner (B/W Cinematography).Morning Glory (1933, Lowell Sherman) features Kate's first Oscar-winning performance. She plays an actress trying to make it on Broadway. So she makes it with producer Adolphe Menjou. Luckily, this was made in the pre-code era, so everyone is very sophisticated about sex. Hepburn forgives Menjou for tossing her aside since she's much more interested in her career. The 1958 remake, Stage Struck, stars Susan Strasberg and Henry Fonda and is a prime example of the difference between the pre-code and enforced-code years. And that's really the only reason to ever watch Stage Struck.
Sylvia Scarlett (1935, Cukor) is the first of four movies Kate made with Cary Grant. Sylvia and her father (Edmund Gwenn) are on the lam from the law, so she cuts her hair short and poses as a boy. Every time you come across an article on Katharine Hepburn's sexuality, a still from Sylvia Scarlett will accompany the text (see top of this post). A very young, kind of goofy and very cockney Cary Grant plays an amiable con man who hooks up with the Scarletts for a time. You might say that the film captures Cary Grant at his most Arch.
Undercurrent (Vincente Minnelli, 1946) is the only time Kate worked with Vincente and the only film noir either of them made. Which isn't all that surprising considering the rest of their careers. Her co-stars are Robert Taylor and Robert Mitchum, with Edmund Gwenn once again playing Kate's father (one year later, he won an Oscar for playing Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street, in case you were wondering Who That Was.) Honestly, all I remember about this film is that I think I liked it. I didn't even know Robert Mitchum was in it until I looked at the cast list, and I love me some Mitch. Without Love (1945, Bucquet) is the lone film in the set that pairs Kate with Spencer Tracy. They're scientists who marry out of convenience instead of love (hence the title), but guess what happens? My memory on this one is a little foggy, too, but the supporting cast is pretty impressive with two of my favorite ladies, Lucille Ball and Gloria Grahame, as well as Keenan Wynn and Felix Bressart, who, even if you didn't know his name, you would likely recognize from his work in three Lubitch classics: Ninothcka, The Shop Around the Corner and To Be or Not To Be.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
New Boxed Sets A-Comin' Our Way!!!
The Gloria Swanson Collection (Passport/Koch, 2/13/07)
Male and Female (1919, Cecil B. DeMille)
Don't Change Your Husband (1919, DeMille)
Why Change Your Wife? (1920, DeMille)
The Affairs of Anatol (1921, DeMille)
Sadie Thompson (1928, Raoul Walsh)
Indiscreet (1931, Leo McCarey)
Smiles and Spectacles: A Harold Lloyd Treasury (Passport/Koch, 2/13/07)
(That link will take you to a list of all 23 titles in the collection.)
The Ultimate Adventure Collection (Passport/Koch, 2/13/07)
(That link will take you to a list of all 12 titles in the collection.)
Male and Female (1919, Cecil B. DeMille)
Don't Change Your Husband (1919, DeMille)
Why Change Your Wife? (1920, DeMille)
The Affairs of Anatol (1921, DeMille)
Sadie Thompson (1928, Raoul Walsh)
Indiscreet (1931, Leo McCarey)
Smiles and Spectacles: A Harold Lloyd Treasury (Passport/Koch, 2/13/07)
(That link will take you to a list of all 23 titles in the collection.)
The Ultimate Adventure Collection (Passport/Koch, 2/13/07)
(That link will take you to a list of all 12 titles in the collection.)
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
On DVD This Tuesday Yesterday...
A lot of good stuff is coming out this week. As always, a complete list of releases for 1/30/07 can be found at DVD Aficionado.
Twentieth Century Fox brings us three Doris Day films: Caprice (1967, Frank Tashlin), Do Not Disturb (1965, Ralph Levy) and Move Over Darling (1963, Michael Gordon), a remake the 1940 Cary Grant/Irene Dunne comedy My Favorite Wife. Move Over Darling was originally conceived as a vehicle for Dean Martin and Marilyn Monroe, called Something's Gotta Give and directed by George Cukor, but Monroe died before the film could be completed.
The fabulous Michelle Pfeiffer's Oscar-nominated performance in The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989, Steven Kloves).
The Criterion Collection: Monsters and Madmen
The Atomic Submarine (1959, Spencer Gordon Bennett)
Corridors of Blood (1958, Robert Day)
First Man Into Space (1959, Day)
Grip of the Strangler (1958, Day)
The Silence of the Lambs: Collector's Edition (1991, Jonathan Demme). This is a two-disc set with all the trimmings: "Inside the Labyrinth: Making of The Silence of the Lambs" hour-long documentary; "The Silence of the Lambs: Page to Screen" 2 Part Documentary; "Jonathan Demme & Jodie Foster" 3 Part Documentary; "Scoring the Silence" featurette; Original 1991 Making Of Featurette; 22 Deleted Scenes; Outtakes Reel; Anthony Hopkins Phone Message; Photo Gallery; TV Spots; Theatrical Trailer; Teaser Trailer. A Hannibal Lecter collection is also released on the 30th, but it looks like it contains the single-disc release of SotL
Phyllis Diller: Not Just Another Pretty Face appears to be a compilation of some of her TV appearances. According to amazon, one of the special features listed is Phyllis on What's My Line?
Film Noir Double Feature: Please Murder Me (1956, Peter Godfrey) / A Life at Stake (1954, Peter Guilfoyle). Both of these films star Angela Lansbury. The former pairs her with Raymond Burr. I. Love. Hollywood.
Sinners in Paradise (1938, James Whale). I know nothing about this film, but anything directed by Whale is worth seeing.
Viva Pedro - The Pedro Almodóvar Collection
Carne trémula (Live Flesh) (1997)
La Flor de mi secreto (The Flower of My Secret) (1995)
Hable con ella (Talk to Her) (2002)
La Ley del deseo (Law of Desire) (1987)
La Mala educación (Bad Education) - Original Uncut NC-17 Version (2004)
Matador (The Bullfighter) (1986)
Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) (1988)
Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother) (1999)
Warner Home Video releases the second (and final) round of the DVD Decision 2006 winners:
Angels in the Outfield (1951, Clarence Brown) (amazon.com Exclusive)
The Arrangement (1969, Elia Kazan)
Band of Angels (1957, Raoul Walsh)
Gymkata (1985, Robert Clouse): "The thrill of gymnastics. The kill of karate." Never has a tagline made me want to see a movie more.
Looker (1981, Michael Crichton)
Madame Curie (1943, Mervyn LeRoy)
Twentieth Century Fox brings us three Doris Day films: Caprice (1967, Frank Tashlin), Do Not Disturb (1965, Ralph Levy) and Move Over Darling (1963, Michael Gordon), a remake the 1940 Cary Grant/Irene Dunne comedy My Favorite Wife. Move Over Darling was originally conceived as a vehicle for Dean Martin and Marilyn Monroe, called Something's Gotta Give and directed by George Cukor, but Monroe died before the film could be completed.
The fabulous Michelle Pfeiffer's Oscar-nominated performance in The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989, Steven Kloves).
The Criterion Collection: Monsters and Madmen
The Atomic Submarine (1959, Spencer Gordon Bennett)
Corridors of Blood (1958, Robert Day)
First Man Into Space (1959, Day)
Grip of the Strangler (1958, Day)
The Silence of the Lambs: Collector's Edition (1991, Jonathan Demme). This is a two-disc set with all the trimmings: "Inside the Labyrinth: Making of The Silence of the Lambs" hour-long documentary; "The Silence of the Lambs: Page to Screen" 2 Part Documentary; "Jonathan Demme & Jodie Foster" 3 Part Documentary; "Scoring the Silence" featurette; Original 1991 Making Of Featurette; 22 Deleted Scenes; Outtakes Reel; Anthony Hopkins Phone Message; Photo Gallery; TV Spots; Theatrical Trailer; Teaser Trailer. A Hannibal Lecter collection is also released on the 30th, but it looks like it contains the single-disc release of SotL
Phyllis Diller: Not Just Another Pretty Face appears to be a compilation of some of her TV appearances. According to amazon, one of the special features listed is Phyllis on What's My Line?
Film Noir Double Feature: Please Murder Me (1956, Peter Godfrey) / A Life at Stake (1954, Peter Guilfoyle). Both of these films star Angela Lansbury. The former pairs her with Raymond Burr. I. Love. Hollywood.
Sinners in Paradise (1938, James Whale). I know nothing about this film, but anything directed by Whale is worth seeing.
Viva Pedro - The Pedro Almodóvar Collection
Carne trémula (Live Flesh) (1997)
La Flor de mi secreto (The Flower of My Secret) (1995)
Hable con ella (Talk to Her) (2002)
La Ley del deseo (Law of Desire) (1987)
La Mala educación (Bad Education) - Original Uncut NC-17 Version (2004)
Matador (The Bullfighter) (1986)
Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) (1988)
Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother) (1999)
Warner Home Video releases the second (and final) round of the DVD Decision 2006 winners:
Angels in the Outfield (1951, Clarence Brown) (amazon.com Exclusive)
The Arrangement (1969, Elia Kazan)
Band of Angels (1957, Raoul Walsh)
Gymkata (1985, Robert Clouse): "The thrill of gymnastics. The kill of karate." Never has a tagline made me want to see a movie more.
Looker (1981, Michael Crichton)
Madame Curie (1943, Mervyn LeRoy)
Saturday, January 27, 2007
On DVD Last Tuesday...and the Tuesday before that... (January 16th and 23rd)
Tuesday, January 16th...
- The Criterion Collection released Border Radio (1987, Alison Anders, Dean Lent, Kurt Voss) and Robert Bresson's Mouchette (1967).
- From First Run Features came Rotation, [imdb, DEFA] (1949, Wolfgang Staudte) and Der Rat der Gotter [imdb, DEFA] (1950, Kurt Maetzig). Usually, I only link film titles to the internet movies database, in case anyone wants to learn more about the title in question. However, imdb does not have a lot of information on either film's actual content. Fortunately, the University of Massachusetts Amherst is the home of the DEFA Film Library, "...the only archive and study center outside Europe devoted to the study of a broad spectrum of filmmaking by East German filmmakers or related to East Germany from 1946 to the present.... DEFA stands for Deutsche Film Aktiengesellschaft – the state-run East German film studios, where films were made from 1946 to 1990." Hence, the two separate links. Each movie looks fascinating, and we can be grateful to UMass Amherst for preserving the film legacy of East Germany.
- Click here for a complete list of 1/16/07 releases.
Tuesday, January 23rd...
- The Signature Collection: Robert Mitchum (Warner Home Video)
Angel Face (1952, Otto Preminger)
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969, Burt Kennedy)
Home from the Hill (1960, Vincente Minnelli)
Macao (1952, Josef von Sternberg)
The Sundowners (Fred Zinnemann, 1960)
The Yakuza (1975, Sydney Pollack) - Sony brings us two twofers: Don't Knock the Rock/Rock Around the Clock, both directed by Fred F. Sears in 1956; and Twist Around the Clock/Don't Knock the Twist (1961/1962), both directed by Oscar Rudolph.
- A 2-disc special edition of Norman Jewison's Fiddler on the Roof (1971, MGM).
- The Films of Kenneth Anger: Volume 1 (Fantoma)
Eaux d'artifice (1953)
Fireworks (1947)
Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954)
Puce Moment (1949)
Rabbit's Moon (1950) - Current Oscar nominee for Best Documentary, Jesus Camp (2006, Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady, Magnolia)
- Criterion is reissuing remastered editions of Kurosawa's twin classics Yojimbo (1961) and Tsubaki Sanjuro (1962), available both individually and together.
- Click here for a complete list of 1/23/07 releases.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Coming Your Way in April: The James Cagney Signature Collection
Warner Hone Video announced last week the latest release in their Signature Collection series: James Cagney, due in stores April 24th. Most of Cagney's best films have either been released. Yankee Doodle Dandy is available in a 2 disc special edition, which includes a very good doc on Cagney's life. Angels with Dirty Faces, The Public Enemy, The Roaring Twenties and White Heat, are included in The Warner Bros. Pictures Gangster Collection. "G" Men, Each Dawn I Die and the excellent if lesser-known City for Conquest can be found in The Warner Bros. Pictures Tough Guys Collection. All of these films are also available individually.The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941, Michael Curtiz), a romantic comedy co-starring...Bette Davis? Yup. An even bigger surprise is that it's pretty darn funny. Davis is an heiress, Cagney is an out-of-work pilot. They don't like each other at first, but then... oh, I wouldn't want to spoil it for you. The supporting cast includes several first-rate character actors from Warner's fine stable of contract players: Jack Carson, Eugene Pallette (essentially reprising his role from My Man Godfrey), George Tobias and Harry Davenport. Cagney and Davis were previously directed by Curtiz in 1934's Jimmy the Gent.
I haven't seen the other four in the set, so I can't vouch for quality. But the Signature Collections tend to be pretty reliable for blind buying, especially since the films average out to about $8 each.
Captains of the Clouds (1941, Curtiz) co-stars Dennis Morgan and Brenda Marshall.
The Fighting 69th (1940, William Keighley) has Pat O'Brien playing a priest, just like in Angels with Dirty Faces.
Torrid Zone (1940, Keighley) reunites Cagney with Ann Sheridan (City for Conquest) and O'Brien.
The West Point Story (1950, Roy Del Ruth) has White Heat's Virginia Mayo and Love Me or Leave Me's Doris Day, presumable vying for Cagney's affections.
Happy shopping!
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
On DVD This Tuesday...
Not too much to get excited about this week. A few new films that I haven't seen but look interesting. That's about it.
Complete list available here, at dvdaf.com (DVD Aficionado).
Conversations with Other Women (2005, Hans Canosa) has Aaron Eckhart, who impressed me in both Thank You for Smoking and The Black Dahlia last year, thereby absolving himself of ever having made Possession, which I hated.
Idiocracy (2006, Mike Judge) was unceremoniously dumped into theaters, with virtually no publicity. Just like Office Space.
The Illusioninst (2006, Neil Burger) has Edward Norton performingmagic tricks illusions! I have no other reason for mentioning the film. It just looks neat.
The Night Listener (2006, Patrick Stettner) is based on a novel by Armistead Maupin, creator of Tales of the City. The film features Toni Collette, Sandra Oh and Rory Culkin (the good Culkin; the one from You Can Count On Me.). It's also got Robin Williams, whose presence has the potential of destroying any film at any time.
Complete list available here, at dvdaf.com (DVD Aficionado).
Conversations with Other Women (2005, Hans Canosa) has Aaron Eckhart, who impressed me in both Thank You for Smoking and The Black Dahlia last year, thereby absolving himself of ever having made Possession, which I hated.
Idiocracy (2006, Mike Judge) was unceremoniously dumped into theaters, with virtually no publicity. Just like Office Space.
The Illusioninst (2006, Neil Burger) has Edward Norton performing
The Night Listener (2006, Patrick Stettner) is based on a novel by Armistead Maupin, creator of Tales of the City. The film features Toni Collette, Sandra Oh and Rory Culkin (the good Culkin; the one from You Can Count On Me.). It's also got Robin Williams, whose presence has the potential of destroying any film at any time.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Boxed Set-O-Rama!!!
Most collectors of DVDs have learned by now that boxed sets are the way to go. For example, The Rock Hudson & Doris Day Romance Collection contains three films: Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back and Send Me No Flowers. You also get a bonus Doris Day CD. A little online research (courtesy dvdaf.com) tell us that the set can be purchased for $23.02 at buy.com (all prices mentioned herein exclude shipping). At DeepDiscountDVD.com, each film goes for $9.43, totaling $28.29. And you don't get the bonus CD. Usually, the more films in a collection, the better the deal. I use this example because it only contains three movies and I just got it for Christmas (thanks Mom!).
Some great sets are scheduled for the future so, in the interest of saving money and collecting neat little cardboard cases, here are some highlights:
The Signature Collection: Robert Mitchum (Warner Home Video, 1/23/07)
Angel Face (1952, Otto Preminger)
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969, Burt Kennedy)
Home from the Hill (1960, Vincente Minnelli)
Macao (1952, Josef von Sternberg)
The Sundowners (Fred Zinnemann, 1960)
The Yakuza (1975, Sydney Pollack)
Angel Face! Finally!
Monsters and Madmen (Criterion, 1/30/07)
The Atomic Submarine (1959, Spencer Gordon Bennett)
Corridors of Blood (1958, Robert Day)
First Man Into Space (1959, Day)
Grip of the Strangler (1958, Day)
Alfred Hitchcock: 3-Disc Collector's Edition (Lionsgate, 2/6/07)
The Manxman (1929)
Murder! (1930)
Rich and Strange (1932)
The Ring (1927)
The Skin Game (1931)
These films have all been hanging around the grey market for years. Hopefully, this will be an official release with halfway decent prints.
Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist (Criterion, 2/13/07)
Body and Soul (1925, Oscar Micheaux)
Borderline (1930, Kenneth MacPherson)
The Emperor Jones (1933, Dudley Murphy)
Jericho (1937, Thornton Freeland)
Native Land (1942, Leo Hurwitz & Paul Strand)
The Proud Valley (1940, Pen Tennyson)
Sanders of the River (1935, Zoltan Korda)
Marquee Musicals: The Alice Faye Collection (20th Century Fox, 2/20/07)
The Gang's All Here (1943, Busby Berkeley)
Lillian Russell (1940, Irving Cummings)
On the Avenue (1937, Roy Del Ruth)
That Night in Rio (1941, Cummings)
Here's hoping that Marquee Musicals will be a new series in the same vein as the indispensible Fox Film Noir collection.
Hemingway Classics Collection (20th Century Fox, 3/6/07)
A Farewell to Arms (1957, Charles Vidor)
Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962, Martin Ritt)
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952, Henry King)
The Sun Also Rises (1957, King)
Under My Skin (1950, Jean Negulesco)
Literary Classics Collection (Warner Home Video, 3/6/07)
Billy Budd (1962, Peter Ustinov)
Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951, Raoul Walsh)
Madame Bovary (1949, Minnelli)
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937, John Cromwell)
The Prisoner of Zenda (1952, Richard Thorpe)
The Three Musketeers (1948, George Sidney)
I'm happy to see both Prisoner of Zendas get released (get it?) - and they will be available separately as a twofer. The remake is good, but the original is great.
W.C. Fields Comedy Collection, Volume 2 (Universal, 3/20/07)
Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935, Clyde Bruckman)
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941, Edward F. Kline)
The Old Fashioned Way (1934, William Beaudine)
Poppy (1936, A. Edward Sutherland)
You're Telling Me! (1934, Erle C. Kenton)
The Signature Collection: Errol Flynn, Vol. 2 (Warner Home Video, 3/27/07)
Adventures of Don Juan (1948, Vincent Sherman)
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936, Michael Curtiz)
The Dawn Patrol (1938, Edmund Goulding)
Dive Bomber (1941, Curtiz)
Gentleman Jim (1942, Raoul Walsh)
The first Flynn Signature Collection (Captain Blood, Dodge City, The Private Lives of Elizabeth & Essex, The Sea Hawk, They Died with Their Boots On, The Adventures of Errol Flynn) is a real treat and I am very much looking forward to the second. Once this collection is released, Four's a Crowd will remain the only collaboration of the eight features Flynn made with Olivia de Havilland not available on DVD.
The Doris Day Collection, Vol. 2 (Warner Home Video, 4/10/07)
By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953, David Butler)
I'll See You in My Dreams (1951, Michael Curtiz)
Lucky Me (1954, Jack Donohue)
My Dream is Yours (1949, Curtiz; animated sequence by Friz Freleng)
On Moonlight Bay (1951, Roy Del Ruth)
Romance on the High Seas (1948, Curtiz)
In her film debut, the funny Romance on the High Seas, Day plays a gum-smacking, sassy young chick - decidedly not the type she would come to embrace in later years. My Dream Is Yours contains a mixed animation/live-action sequence with Day and Jack Carson - dressed as bunnies - singing a kid to sleep...to the tune of Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody."
No, really.
Some great sets are scheduled for the future so, in the interest of saving money and collecting neat little cardboard cases, here are some highlights:
The Signature Collection: Robert Mitchum (Warner Home Video, 1/23/07)
Angel Face (1952, Otto Preminger)
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969, Burt Kennedy)
Home from the Hill (1960, Vincente Minnelli)
Macao (1952, Josef von Sternberg)
The Sundowners (Fred Zinnemann, 1960)
The Yakuza (1975, Sydney Pollack)
Angel Face! Finally!
Monsters and Madmen (Criterion, 1/30/07)
The Atomic Submarine (1959, Spencer Gordon Bennett)
Corridors of Blood (1958, Robert Day)
First Man Into Space (1959, Day)
Grip of the Strangler (1958, Day)
Alfred Hitchcock: 3-Disc Collector's Edition (Lionsgate, 2/6/07)
The Manxman (1929)
Murder! (1930)
Rich and Strange (1932)
The Ring (1927)
The Skin Game (1931)
These films have all been hanging around the grey market for years. Hopefully, this will be an official release with halfway decent prints.
Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist (Criterion, 2/13/07)
Body and Soul (1925, Oscar Micheaux)
Borderline (1930, Kenneth MacPherson)
The Emperor Jones (1933, Dudley Murphy)
Jericho (1937, Thornton Freeland)
Native Land (1942, Leo Hurwitz & Paul Strand)
The Proud Valley (1940, Pen Tennyson)
Sanders of the River (1935, Zoltan Korda)
Marquee Musicals: The Alice Faye Collection (20th Century Fox, 2/20/07)
The Gang's All Here (1943, Busby Berkeley)
Lillian Russell (1940, Irving Cummings)
On the Avenue (1937, Roy Del Ruth)
That Night in Rio (1941, Cummings)
Here's hoping that Marquee Musicals will be a new series in the same vein as the indispensible Fox Film Noir collection.
Hemingway Classics Collection (20th Century Fox, 3/6/07)
A Farewell to Arms (1957, Charles Vidor)
Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962, Martin Ritt)
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952, Henry King)
The Sun Also Rises (1957, King)
Under My Skin (1950, Jean Negulesco)
Literary Classics Collection (Warner Home Video, 3/6/07)
Billy Budd (1962, Peter Ustinov)
Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951, Raoul Walsh)
Madame Bovary (1949, Minnelli)
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937, John Cromwell)
The Prisoner of Zenda (1952, Richard Thorpe)
The Three Musketeers (1948, George Sidney)
I'm happy to see both Prisoner of Zendas get released (get it?) - and they will be available separately as a twofer. The remake is good, but the original is great.
W.C. Fields Comedy Collection, Volume 2 (Universal, 3/20/07)
Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935, Clyde Bruckman)
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941, Edward F. Kline)
The Old Fashioned Way (1934, William Beaudine)
Poppy (1936, A. Edward Sutherland)
You're Telling Me! (1934, Erle C. Kenton)
The Signature Collection: Errol Flynn, Vol. 2 (Warner Home Video, 3/27/07)
Adventures of Don Juan (1948, Vincent Sherman)
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936, Michael Curtiz)
The Dawn Patrol (1938, Edmund Goulding)
Dive Bomber (1941, Curtiz)
Gentleman Jim (1942, Raoul Walsh)
The first Flynn Signature Collection (Captain Blood, Dodge City, The Private Lives of Elizabeth & Essex, The Sea Hawk, They Died with Their Boots On, The Adventures of Errol Flynn) is a real treat and I am very much looking forward to the second. Once this collection is released, Four's a Crowd will remain the only collaboration of the eight features Flynn made with Olivia de Havilland not available on DVD.
The Doris Day Collection, Vol. 2 (Warner Home Video, 4/10/07)
By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953, David Butler)
I'll See You in My Dreams (1951, Michael Curtiz)
Lucky Me (1954, Jack Donohue)
My Dream is Yours (1949, Curtiz; animated sequence by Friz Freleng)
On Moonlight Bay (1951, Roy Del Ruth)
Romance on the High Seas (1948, Curtiz)
In her film debut, the funny Romance on the High Seas, Day plays a gum-smacking, sassy young chick - decidedly not the type she would come to embrace in later years. My Dream Is Yours contains a mixed animation/live-action sequence with Day and Jack Carson - dressed as bunnies - singing a kid to sleep...to the tune of Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody."
No, really.
On DVD This Tuesday...
I'm posting the DVD updates more sporadically than I had planned at first. December 12th saw the releases of Bugsy, a Dean Martin double-feature of Who Was That Lady and How to Save a Marriage (and Ruin Your Life), two James Bond sets and many others. But since I haven't seen any of those movies, I couldln't recommend them. At least, that was my logic at the time. In retrospect, it does seem rather flawed.
December 26th brought us Brian DePalma's flawed-but-fascinating (and severely underrated) The Black Dahlia. Nothing else that week really interested me. And come to think of it, I missed a golden opportunity to write about boxing movies or boxed sets. Damn.
Now on to today...
Okay, there's nothing of much interest today, either.
A lower-priced, single-disc non-Special Edition of Ridley Scott's Alien (and doesn't that description set your heart a-racin'?)
And Sparkle, undoubtedly getting released thanks to Dreamgirls.
December 26th brought us Brian DePalma's flawed-but-fascinating (and severely underrated) The Black Dahlia. Nothing else that week really interested me. And come to think of it, I missed a golden opportunity to write about boxing movies or boxed sets. Damn.
Now on to today...
Okay, there's nothing of much interest today, either.
A lower-priced, single-disc non-Special Edition of Ridley Scott's Alien (and doesn't that description set your heart a-racin'?)
And Sparkle, undoubtedly getting released thanks to Dreamgirls.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
On DVD This Tuesday...
A comprehensive list of all December 19th releases can be found at DVD Aficionado.
Of interest to me (and maybe to you too):
The suprise hit of the summer, the superb Little Miss Sunshine (2006, Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris)
And where would we be without Alpha? This week, out favorite monitor of the public domain brings us, among others:
Atomic Age Classics, Vol. 4: Venereal Disease and You
Atomic Age Classics, Vol. 5: "C" Is for Communist
Amos 'n' Andy in Check and Double-Check (1930, Melville W. Brown)
Delightfully Dangerous (1945, Arthur Lubin) with Jane Powell and Ralph Bellamy
Harlem Double Feature: Lena Horne's film debut, The Duke is Tops (1938, William L. Nolte) has been paired with the Cab Calloway vehicle Hi-De-Ho (1947, Josh Binney).
Harlem Double Feature: The Clarence Brooks films Murder in Harlem (1935, Oscar Michaux) and Harlem Rides the Range (1938, Richard C. Kahn) make up the other set.
And, most importantly, the 1932 version of Vanity Fair (Chester M. Franklin), starring Myrna Loy as Becky Sharp.
Of interest to me (and maybe to you too):
Warner Home Video releases the first six winners of its DVD Decision 2006, all of which are new to DVD (otherwise it would have been a rather silly contest):
Best Foot Forward (1943, Edward Buzzell): Amazon.com Exclusive
The Illustrated Man (1969, Jack Smight)
Operation Crossbow (1965, Michael Anderson)
Presenting Lily Mars (1943, Norman Taurog)
There Was A Crooked Man... (1970, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Up Periscope (1959, Gordon Douglas)
The suprise hit of the summer, the superb Little Miss Sunshine (2006, Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris)
And where would we be without Alpha? This week, out favorite monitor of the public domain brings us, among others:
Atomic Age Classics, Vol. 4: Venereal Disease and You
Atomic Age Classics, Vol. 5: "C" Is for Communist
Amos 'n' Andy in Check and Double-Check (1930, Melville W. Brown)
Delightfully Dangerous (1945, Arthur Lubin) with Jane Powell and Ralph Bellamy
Harlem Double Feature: Lena Horne's film debut, The Duke is Tops (1938, William L. Nolte) has been paired with the Cab Calloway vehicle Hi-De-Ho (1947, Josh Binney).
Harlem Double Feature: The Clarence Brooks films Murder in Harlem (1935, Oscar Michaux) and Harlem Rides the Range (1938, Richard C. Kahn) make up the other set.
And, most importantly, the 1932 version of Vanity Fair (Chester M. Franklin), starring Myrna Loy as Becky Sharp.
Monday, December 4, 2006
On DVD this Tuesday...
I love the holiday gift giving season. All kinds of new things make it to DVD and most of them are on sale. You can view a comprehensive list of all December 5th releases at DVD Aficionado. Among the highlights...
Sony Pictures releases The Premiere Frank Capra Collection: American Madness (1932); It Happened One Night (1934); Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936); You Can't Take it with You (1938); Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939); and Kenneth Bowser's 1997 documentary, Frank Capra's American Dream.
From the Turner Classic Movies Archives: Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 1: Two versions of Baby Face (1933, Alfred E. Green): the original pre-release director's cut and the less coherent, censored theatrical version. Baby Face, with Barbara Stanwyck in the title role, was so risque, it was censored before the 1934 Production Code went into effect. Red-Headed Woman (1932, Jack Conway) marked a turning point in Jean Harlow's career. Waterloo Bridge (1931, James Whale) stars Mae Clarke (Cagney shoved a grapefruit in her face in The Public Enemy) and features an early Bette Davis performance.
Criterion's re-issue of Grey Gardens, includs the Maysles Brothers' brand new follow-up, The Beales of Grey Gardens. Criterion has also kindly (and wisely) chosen to release The Beales of Grey Gardens separately, so anyone who already has Grey Gardens will not be forced to buy it again.
The Katharine Hepburn/Cary Grant classic Holiday (1938, George Cukor) was previously only available as a part of Columbia's excellent Cary Grant Collection. It is now being released separately and just in time for New Year's Eve!
Anchor Bay celebrates the famed German director with The Wim Wenders Collection: Chambre 666 (1982); Tokyo-Ga (1985); Falsche Bewegung (1975); Lightning Over Water (1980); Der Scharlachrote Buchstabe (1973); Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky (1995) Der Amerikanische Freund (1977); and Aufzeichnungen zu Kleidern und Städten (1989)
Kino releases four silent films by Ernst Lubitch (not available as a set): Anna Boleyn (1920); Die Austernprinzessin (1919) with Ich möchte kein Mann sein (1920); Sumurun (1920); and Die Bergkatze (1921).
Sony Pictures releases The Premiere Frank Capra Collection: American Madness (1932); It Happened One Night (1934); Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936); You Can't Take it with You (1938); Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939); and Kenneth Bowser's 1997 documentary, Frank Capra's American Dream.
From the Turner Classic Movies Archives: Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 1: Two versions of Baby Face (1933, Alfred E. Green): the original pre-release director's cut and the less coherent, censored theatrical version. Baby Face, with Barbara Stanwyck in the title role, was so risque, it was censored before the 1934 Production Code went into effect. Red-Headed Woman (1932, Jack Conway) marked a turning point in Jean Harlow's career. Waterloo Bridge (1931, James Whale) stars Mae Clarke (Cagney shoved a grapefruit in her face in The Public Enemy) and features an early Bette Davis performance.
Criterion's re-issue of Grey Gardens, includs the Maysles Brothers' brand new follow-up, The Beales of Grey Gardens. Criterion has also kindly (and wisely) chosen to release The Beales of Grey Gardens separately, so anyone who already has Grey Gardens will not be forced to buy it again.
The Katharine Hepburn/Cary Grant classic Holiday (1938, George Cukor) was previously only available as a part of Columbia's excellent Cary Grant Collection. It is now being released separately and just in time for New Year's Eve!
Anchor Bay celebrates the famed German director with The Wim Wenders Collection: Chambre 666 (1982); Tokyo-Ga (1985); Falsche Bewegung (1975); Lightning Over Water (1980); Der Scharlachrote Buchstabe (1973); Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky (1995) Der Amerikanische Freund (1977); and Aufzeichnungen zu Kleidern und Städten (1989)
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