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Precious Doll
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Post by Precious Doll »

Lots of new releases and re release special editions coming soon.....


Fox Home Entertainment have announced the second wave in their Region 1 Classic Comedies Collection. Arriving on 12th June 2007 priced at $19.98 SRP each are…

Charley’s Aunt - Charley Wyckham and Jack Chesney pressure fellow student Fancourt Babberly to pose as Charley's Brazilian Aunt Donna Lucia. Their purpose is to have a chaperone for their amorous visits with Amy and Kitty, niece and ward of crusty Stephen Spettigue. Complications begin when Fancourt, in drag, becomes the love object of old Spettigue and Sir Francis Chesney

Features include:
1.33:1 Full Frame
English Mono and Stereo
English, French and Spanish subtitles
Commentary with film historian Randy Skredvedt
Trailer

The Jeeves Collection - Arthur Treacher stars in this double-helping of thirties comedy with Thank You, Jeeves and Step Lively, Jeeves! features on a single double-sided disc.

Features include:
1.33:1 Full Frame
English Mono and Stereo
English and Spanish subtitles
"Thank You, P.G: The Life of P.G Wodehouse"
Restoration Comparison
The World of Wodehouse

The Three Musketeers (1939) - Allan Dwan's comedic musical adaptation of the classic Dumas story sticks close to the original tale, yet it augments it with healthy doses of humor and songs. Don Ameche stars as D'Artagnan and the Ritz Brothers play his two other musketeers.

Features include:
1.33:1 Full Frame
English Mono and Stereo
English and Spanish subtitles
Hollywood Spotlight
Life Can Be Crazy In Balmy Florida - Gin Rummy Helps

Fox Home Entertainment have announced the fourth wave in their Region 1 Marquee Musicals Collection. Arriving on 22nd May 2007 “fully restored and beautifully remastered” are three classic movie musicals making their Region 1 DVD debut. Priced at $19.98 SRP each they are…

Can Can - This adaptation of Cole Porter’s smash Broadway musical Can-Can made its silver screen debut in 1960 and features timeless songs such as “Can Can,” “C’est Manifique,” “You Do Something To Me,” “I Love Paris” and “Let’s Fall In Love.” Can-Can brings together the illustrious Frank Sinatra and celebrated Oscar -winner Shirley MacLaine for some high-stepping fun in Montmartre. The film also features French stars Maurice Chevalier (Gigi) and Louis Jourdan (Made in Paris).

Digitally restored and released on DVD for the first time, Can-Can is presented in widescreen with bonus programming that includes “The Classic Cole Porter” featurette, “The Steve Allen Plymouth Show” featurette, “A Leg Up: Making of Can-Can,” a restoration comparison, a photo gallery, an isolated score and FX track and the original theatrical trailer. Audio is presented in English Stereo and French and Spanish Mono with subtitles in English and Spanish.

Pigskin Parade - Sports and music go hand-in-hand in Pigskin Parade, the 1936 college football musical, starring one of the silver screen’s biggest stars, Judy Garland (A Star Is Born). The film also co-stars Jack Haley (The Wizard of Oz) and Patsy Kelly (My Son, the Hero) as married coaches in search of a hero for their college team, as well as Johnny Downs (All-American Co-Ed), Betty Grable (Whoopee!) and Dixie Dunbar (Sing, Baby, Sing).

Pigskin Parade, making its DVD debut, has been digitally re-mastered and restored in full frame format with a “Making the Team: The Talent of Pigskin Parade” featurette, a restoration comparison, a photo gallery, an isolated score and FX track and the original theatrical trailer. The film is presented in English Stereo and French and Spanish Mono with subtitles in English and Spanish.

On the Riviera (1951) - An impersonation gig becomes wildly out of control for an American entertainer working on the French Riviera in the two-time Oscar -nominated On The Riviera (1951). Danny Kaye (Up in Arms, White Christmas) stars in the lively comedy along with Gene Tierney (The Egyptian) and Corinne Calvet (Peking Express).

Presented in widescreen and available for the first time on DVD, the digitally restored On The Riviera includes a “Directed by Walter Lang” featurette, “The Riviera Story” featurette, a restoration comparison, a photo gallery, an isolated score and FX track and the theatrical trailer. The film is presented in English Stereo and French and Spanish Mono with subtitles in English and Spanish.

Fox Home Entertainment have announced the Region 1 Special Edition DVD release of three science fiction titles on 5th June 2007. Priced at $19.98 SRP each are:

Fantastic Voyage (Special Edition) - The adventure of a lifetime occurs not in the outer reaches of space, but inside the human body. An elite team of medical and scientific specialists race to save a top government scientist who is suffering from a blood clot on the brain. Their mission: be reduced along with their submarine-like craft to microscopic size, enter the bloodstream of the ailing scientist, and journey to the brain to perform an emergency procedure. With only sixty minutes to complete their mission, the scientist find themselves fighting off an attack by white corpuscles, caught in a tornado-like storm in the lungs, and struggling to survive sabotage from one of their own.

Features include:
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English Stereo
English, French and Spanish Mono
English and Spanish subtitles
Commentary by Jeff Bond
"Lava Lamps & Celluloid: A Tribute to the Visual Effects of Fantastic Voyage" Featurette
Whirlpool Scene: Storyboard-to-Scene Comparison
Screen Test with Tina Marquand and Stephen Boyd
Galleries:
Deleted Scene - Script to Storyboard
Storyboards- Pre-Miniaturization Sequence
Production Art
Production Stills
Studio Archives
Original Props (with video & stills):
Large Proteus
Small Proteus
Marketing Materials:
Theatrical Trailer
TV Promo
2 TV Spots
Poster & Lobby Card Gallery

The Neptune Factor - Aboard the R/V Triton, the Project Neptune team is doing oceanographic research. Director Andrews is trying to keep the research going in spite of opposition from Foundation Head Sheppard. Below on the ocean floor, in the Sealab, the team led by Hamilton is about to return to the surface when the Sealab is ripped loose from it's moorings and sent careening into a trench. Trapped too deep for divers, the only chance is rescue by a new US Navy mini-sub, piloted by the arrogant Cdr Blake USN. Blake, Chief Diver MacKay, Diver Cousins & Dr. Jansen (Hamilton's fiance) dive in the mini sub to attempt the rescue of the trapped Hamilton & crew.

Features include:
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English Stereo
English, French and Spanish Mono
English and Spanish subtitles
Ernest Borgnine on The Neptune Factor
TV Spots
Trailers
Radio Spots (Audio over stills)
Photo Gallery
Theatrically Released Isolated Score & F/X Track by Lalo Schifrin

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Global Warming Edition) - A routine scientific expedition to the North Pole turns into a race to save all mankind when a radiation belt in space causes a fiery inferno on Earth. Admiral Nelson (Walter Pidgeon) and the crew of the atomic submarine Seaview battle saboteurs, giant sea-creatures and attacks by enemy submarines as they race to prevent global catastrophe. Renowned disaster film producer, Irwin Allen, produces and directs an all-star cast including Joan Fontaine, Barbara Eden, Peter Lore, and Frankie Avalon. The stunning visual effects and breathtaking underwater photography make this one of the most respected sci-fi adventure classics of all time.

Features include:
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD4.0 Surround and Dolby Surround
French and Spanish Mono
English and Spanish subtitles
Commentary by Tim Colliver
Barbara Eden Interview (w/optional PLAY ALL):
Working with Irwin Allen
Storyboards and Sets
Peter Lorre and Walter Pidgeon
The Sets
Irwin Allen's Vision
Castmates
Escaping Reality
Production Art
Production Stills
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea Comic Book
Collectables
Production Code documents
Original Props (w/video & stills):
Admiral Nelson's Seaview Display Model
Mini-Sub Miniature
Torpedo Rack
Sea Mine
Theatrical Trailer
Original Exhibitor's Campaign Manual
Poster & Lobby Card Gallery


Fox Home Entertainment have announced the Region 1 Special Edition DVD release of three World War II titles on 5th June 2007. Priced at $19.98 SRP each are:

The Sand Pebbles - Engineer Jake Holman arrives aboard the gunboat U.S.S. San Pablo, assigned to patrol a tributary of the Yangtze in the middle of exploited and revolution-torn 1926 China. His iconoclasm and cynical nature soon clash with the "rice-bowl" system which runs the ship and the uneasy symbiosis between Chinese and foreigner on the river. Hostility towards the gunboat's presence reaches a climax when the boat must crash through a river-boom and rescue missionaries upriver at China Light Mission.

Features on this 2-Disc Special Edition include…

Specs:
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD4.0 Surround and Stereo
French Mono
English, French and Spanish subtitles

Disc 1:
Anamorphic Widescreen Feature (Theatrical Version)
Audio Commentary by Director Robert Wise and actors Candice Bergen, Mako & Richard Crenna
Isolated score and FX with commentary by Music Producer Nick Redman, Film Music Historian Jon Burlingame, Screenwriter (The Limey, Dark City) and Film Historian Lem Dobbs

Disc 2 (Side A):
Roadshow Version Feature
Robert Wise Roadshow Intro
Richard Zanuck Roadshow Intro

Disc 2 (Side B):
"The Making Of Sand Pebbles" Featurettes (view individually or play all)
Side Bars:
Steve McQueen Remembered
Robert Wise In Command
China 1926
From FOX Vault:
A Ship Called SAN PABLO- Narrated by Richard Attenborough
The Secret of the SAN PABLO- Narrated by Richard Crenna
Radio Documentaries Narrated by Richard Attenborough:
Changsha Bund and the Streets of Taipei
A Ship Called SAN PABLO
Radio Spots:
2:00 of audio over static image
Theatrical Trailer
Still Galleries
MAD Magazine's THE "SAM PEBBLES"

Twelve O’Clock High (Special Edition) - In this story of the early days of daylight bombing raids over Germany, General Frank Savage must take command of a "hard luck" bomber group. Much of the story deals with his struggle to whip his group into a disciplined fighting unit in spite of heavy losses, and withering attacks by German fighters over thier targets. Actual combat footage is used in this tense war drama

Features include:
1.33:1 Full Frame
English Mono
Commentary by World War II Film Historian
General Frank Armstrong: The Inspiration for General Savage
The Legacy of the Eighth Airforce
Memories of Twelve O'Clock High

Von Ryan’s Express (Special Edition) - Ryan, an American POW, leads his fellow prisoners on a dangerous escape from the Germans in Italy. Having seemingly made errors of judgement, Ryan has to win the support of the mainly British soldiers he is commanding.

Features on this 2-Disc Special Edition include…

Disc 1: Main Feature
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English Stereo
English, French and Spanish Mono
English and Spanish subtitles
Commentary with WW II film Historian
Isolated Score Track with Commentary

Disc 2: Extra Features
Von Ryan's Express: Reliving the Adventure
Hollywood and World War II Films
The Music of Jerry Goldsmith
"Bringing Movies to Life: The Legacy of Jerry Goldsmith"
Theatrical Trailer
Spanish Trailer
3 TV Spots
Interactive Pressbook Gallery
Gallery
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Precious Doll
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Post by Precious Doll »

More details on the Warners box sets due in June:

Warner Home Video will bring ‘camp” home this summer with the June 26 introduction on Region 1 DVD of Cult Camp Classics, Volumes 1 through 4. The studio which pioneered genre collections such as Forbidden Hollywood and Controversial Classics has gathered together 12 trashy treasures that will bring hours of kitschy fun in four volumes: Sci-Fi Thrillers (Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman, Queen of Outer Space, The Giant Behemoth); Women in Peril (The Big Cube, Caged, Trog); Terrorized Travelers (Hot Rods to Hell, Skyjacked, Zero Hour!) and Historical Epics (The Colossus of Rhodes, Land of Pharaohs, The Prodigal).

The Cult Camp Classics Collections boast the very latest remastered versions along with bonus content such as commentaries from actors, filmmakers and historians as well as original theatrical trailers. Colorfully packaged in super slim, eye-popping packaging, each volume contains three DVDs and will sell for $29.98 SRP and the single titles will be available for $14.97 SRP.

Key gems in the collections include the original film on which the mega-hit comedy Airplane is based (Zero Hour!), Sergio Leone’s directorial debut (The Colossus of Rhodes), a performance by 1956 Playboy Playmate Yvette Vickers (Attack of the 50 Foot Woman), Joan Collins’ first film (The Land of the Pharaohs) and Joan Crawford’s last (Trog).

Click the film titles to view pop-up artwork…

Volume 1: Sci-Fi Thrillers

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
It’s impossible not to have fun with this all-time kitsch classic which, as fans know, is actually about a very big woman with a very bad attitude. The woman is wealthy Nancy Archer (Allison Hayes), fresh from the looney bin and ticked off. Her rat of a husband (William Hudson) has been at play while she’s been gone, putting the moves on Honey Parker (Yvette Vickers, Playboy’s Miss July 1959) and scheming about the day when Nancy’s fortune will be theirs. That day will never come – not after Nancy has an alien encounter that zaps her metabolism into overdrive. Soon, Nancy’s size matches her rage. She’ll prove that big girls don’t cry; they get even.

DVD Special Features:
Commentary by Yvette Vickers and film historian Tom Weaver
Subtitles: English & Français (feature film only)

Queen of Outer Space (1958)
This milestone of movie camp tells the out-of-this-world story of a captain and his men who have landed on a planet where males are outlawed. The good new for them is some women there are eager to break the law! And if that wasn’t enough, the man-hating Venusian queen (Laurie Mitchell) aims to destroy Earth once a Beta Disintegrator is operational. But a gossamer-gowned scientist (Zsa Zsa Gabor) and her curvy cohorts eye the men and they like what they see. This film has sets, costumes and effects from Flight to Mars, Forbidden Planet and World Without End.

DVD Special Features:
Commentary by Laurie Mitchell and film historian Tom Weaver
Theatrical Trailer
Subtitles: English & Français (feature film only)

The Giant Behemoth (1958)
As in his classic The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, director Eugene Lourie plunges viewers into a thrilling stomping ground, unleashing another Thunder Lizard to stomp on everything in sight. Alarming levels of radiation have infused the water, plants and skies, and a radiated paleosaurus rises from the ocean depths. In its path: London. The giant has the strength to topple buildings (King Kong’s Willis O’Brien contributes rampaging stop-motion effects), a stride that flattens cars, a flesh-searing radioactive ray and a ticked-off attitude. Left in ruins on land, humankind takes the fight to the beast’s undersea realm, where a two-man submarine crew must ensure the torpedo they fire is dead-on.

DVD Special Features:
Commentary by veteran special effects creators Dennis Muren and Phil Tippett (The Academy Award winning visual effects and dinosaur supervisors of “Jurassic Park” provide insight into this ground-breaking stop-motion monster.)
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English & Français (Feature Film Only)

Volume 2: Women in Peril
The Big Cube (1968)
The only person standing between a multi-million dollar inheritance for Lisa (Karin Mossberg and her druggie boyfriend Johnny (George Chakiris) is step-mom Adriana (Lana Turner), who refuses to approve the pair’s marriage. So the young couple decides to “Cube” momma -- lace her prescription meds with psychedelics -- and drive Adriana out of her mind. It almost works until family friend Frederick Lansdale (Richard Egan) comes to her rescue. The Big Cube is a cinematic freak-out “for camp followers only” (Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide).

DVD Special Features:
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English & Français (Feature Film Only)

Caged (1950)
“Will she come out woman or wildcat?” trumpeted ads for this women’s prison classic. There’s no question about how the film itself came out. Using familiar but sharply played characters to bring home its reform-minded message, Caged remains a pivotal genre classic. Best Actress Academy Award? nominee* Eleanor Parker portrays the inmate whose transformation from sunny innocent to tight-lipped ‘con’ provides its focus. As the tyrannical floor matron, Best Supporting Actress nominee Hope Emerson is 6’2” of Grade A malevolence. And an earnest prison superintendent, a sour lifer, a street-lamp tramp, a patsy, a society dame and other types add atmosphere to an Oscar?-nominated script co-writer Virginia Kellogg researched while posing on the inside as a convict.

DVD Special Features:
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (Feature Film Only)

Trog (1969)
People call him Trog, short for a prehistoric cave dweller called a troglodyte. To an anthropologist (Joan Crawford in her final film), he’s the scientific discovery of the age – a wild half man/half ape. To others, he’s walking death. A grocer is impaled on a meat hook, a car is tossed aside like a twig, a child is kidnapped – all after local resident Sam Murdock (Michael Gough) prods the brute into a blind rampage. In true horror tradition, Murdock’s behavior leaves no doubt who the real savages are.

DVD Special Features:
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English & Français (feature film only)

Volume 3: Terrorized Travelers
Hot Rods to Hell (1966)
Sam Katzman produces this fast-driving drive-in special, whose 200+ credits include Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and Rock Around the Clock. Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain play a straight-arrow couple whose family road trip to a new life in the West becomes a running game of “chicken” with pedal-to-the-metal teens. “These kids have nowhere to go, and they want to get there at a 150 miles an hour,” says a cop about the kids looking for kicks in their souped-up Hot Rods to Hell. This is where the cult-movie rubber meets the road.

DVD Special Features:
Theatrical Trailer
Subtitles: English & Français (feature film only)

Skyjacked (1972)
Charlton Heston plays Hank O’Hara, a top pilot who knows how to handle an airliner with ease. But now he faces the unexpected: He’s been Skyjacked. Heston leads a top cast in this thriller from the era of big, edge-of-your-seat disaster films like The Poseidon Adventure and Earthquake. John Guillermin (The Towering Inferno) directs, escalating the tension in a story about a deranged war vet (James Brolin) who demands that a Minneapolis-bound flight make a slight detour – to Moscow. All that stands between the terrified passengers and doom is the steely resolve of Captain O’Hara.

DVD Special Features:
Subtitles: English & Français (feature film only)

Zero Hour! (1957)
Fish or lamb chops? A wrong dinner selection gives food poisoning to the pilot and first officer of Flight 714 – and that could mean doom for everyone aboard in Zero Hour!, the high-flying film based on a story by Arthur Hailey (Airport, Hotel) and later spoofed in the comedy Airplane!. Dana Andrews portrays the passenger who must overcome the trauma of his wartime experiences to guide the plane. Sterling Hayden plays the flight-control jockey talking Andrews in through bumpy skies. And gridiron great Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch is the stricken pilot.

DVD Special Features:
Theatrical Trailer
Subtitles: English & Français (feature film only)

Volume 4: Historical Epics
The Colossus of Rhodes (1961)
Filmmakers often begin their directing careers with works of limited scale. Sergio Leone (Fistful of Dollars) began with a Colossus. Spectacle is king in The Colossus of Rhodes, Leone’s first credited film as a director. Sun-bronzed heroes (including toga-wearing Rory Calhoun) battle tyranny. Prisoners scramble for their lives in coliseum pageants of doom. Usurpers connive. Revolution erupts. And towering over all the excitement is the mighty bronze Colossus that straddles the harbor, fighting foes by dropping burning oil from the huge cauldron it holds and firing streams of molten lead from the catapults in its headpiece.

DVD Special Features:
Commentary by film historian Christopher Frayling
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English & Français (feature film only)

Land of the Pharaohs (1955)
Director Howard Hawks, who worked brilliantly in practically every movie genre, shows his mastery of the large-scale epic with this gigantic production filmed on location in Egypt. Thousands of extras (9,787 in one scene alone!), magnificently detailed sets (including the pyramid’s inner labyrinth, booby-trapped so no one can learn its secrets and live) and vast desert vistas fill the screen and astonish the eye.

There are also human-scale stories -- the Pharaoh (Jack Hawkins) who orders the pyramid as his tomb, dooming untold numbers to unending toil; the architect (James Robertson Justice) designing it to earn his people’s freedom; the slaves constructing it of blood, sweat and tears. And lastly, the beautiful queen (Joan Collins) whose greed leads to murder – and a stunning revenge.

DVD Special Features:
Commentary by filmmaker/historian Peter Bogdanovich, with interview excerpts of director Howard Hawks
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English & Français (feature film only)

The Prodigal (1955)
Pagan sect high priestess Lana Turner beguiles a humble Hebrew farmer (Edmund Purdom) away from his faith in this drama based on the Biblical parable of the Prodigal Son. Four sprawling soundstages were filled with opulent sets representing the Holy Land circa 70 BC, and director Richard Thorpe (Ivanhoe, Jailhouse Rock) employed thousands of extras to create an environment rife with all the famine, poverty and unrest the panoramic CinemaScope screen could hold. But the star of the visually spectacular show remains Turner, shimmering in bejeweled gowns that reveal just why she can drive a true believer to the brink of forsaking all he holds dear.

DVD Special Features:
Commentary by film historian Dr. Drew Casper
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English & Français (feature film only)
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Post by Big Magilla »

Lana Turner in The Big Cube, Joan Crawford in Trog, what's next, Jennifer Jones in Angel, Angel, Down We Go? Where are Joanne Woodward in Rachel, Rachel, Patricia Neal in The Subject Was Roses, Greer Garson in The Valley of Decision?

Caged is good. Land of the Pharaohs is a cult classic, Zero Hour! is a decent B flick best known as the film that got spoofed in Airplane!, and I have a friend who loves Hot Rods to Hell almost as much as Eric loves Showgirls, but that's about it for this collection. Skyjacked and The Prodigal are virtually unwatchable. If they wanted to resurrect historical epics, why not bring back King Richard and the Crusaders, Prince of Players or The Silver Chalice, which isn't half as bad as Paul Newman remembers.

I'm still psyched about If..., though.
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Post by Eric »

Oh, yeah, I forgot about those. There's more where they came from.
Warner has also announced a number of great catalog classics for release on 6/26, including a Cult Camp Classics: Volume 1 - Sci Fi Thrillers (Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman (1958), Giant Behemoth and Queen of Outer Space), Cult Camp Classics: Volume 2 - Women in Peril (The Big Cube, Caged and Trog), Cult Camp Classics: Volume 3 - Terrorized Travelers (Hot Rods to Hell, Skyjacked and Zero Hour) and Cult Camp Classics: Volume 4 - Historical Epics (Colossus of Rhodes, The Prodigal and Land of the Pharoahs). Each of the sets carries an SRP of $29.98, and the films will be available separately for $14.97 each.
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Post by Precious Doll »

Warner Bros. have some interesting stuff coming on 26 June:

The Big Cube (1968)
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1955)
Land of the Pharoahs (1955)
Caged (1950)
The Giant Behemoth (1959)
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Post by Eric »

Johnny Guitar wrote:I'm not much of a DVD collector, actually, but there was something on the Eclipse line that I really wanted to catch. Also that Renoir box set (not Eclipse...or is it?) ... if they put out a set of Marker stuff, I could see myself snapping that up.
Was it the late Ozu films or the Louis Malle docs? Or was it the as yet unannounced Raymond Bernard trio? Or was it yet something else? (Might have to register for that link.)

The Jean Renoir set isn't Eclipse, but the contents look "Eclipse-worthy," et al. (I've only seen Charleston out of this group.)

Jean Renoir Collection

Following February's "Alfred Hitchcock 3-Disc Collection" (with its bizarre death mask cover), Lionsgate Home Entertainment will release the Jean Renoir 3-Disc Collector's Edition on April 24th. The set will include seven films from the late master's oeuvre available on DVD for the first time domestically. The titles include two early films "La Fille De L'Eau" and "Nana," "La Marseillaise," the short films "Sur Un Air De Charleston" and "La Petite Marchande D'Allumettes," along with "Le Testament Du Docteur Cordelier" and "Le Caporal Epingle." All have been newly remastered with fullscreen transfers and French Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks. Also included is a bonus featurette with Martin Scorsese, Alain Renoir and others. Retail is $29.98.
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Post by Precious Doll »

Optimum Home Entertainment have announced the UK DVD release of several French classics for release on 30th April 2007.

Marcel Carné’s Le Jour Se Leve and Quai des Brumes receive their UK DVD premieres, with the latter also being presented in a fully re-mastered version. Both titles are presented in Full Frame with French Mono audio and English subtitles. Retail is £17.99 each.

Two Films by Jean Cocteau features the director’s debut Le Sang D’Un Poete and swansong La Testament D’Orphee which are released together in a box-set for the first time in the UK. Fully re-mastered, both titles are presented in Full Frame with French Mono audio and English subtitles. Retail is £24.99.

H.G. Clouzot Box Set - This set features Le Corbeau, Quai des Orfevres and The Wages of Fear. All titles are re-mastered on this set which will retail at £24.99.

Presented in Full Frame with French Mono audio and English subtitles, this set includes some extras with an introduction by film critic Ginette Vincendeau and artwork gallery on Le Corbeau and trailer for Quad des Orfevres. The Wages of Fear includes the original trailer, the Les Diaboliques original trailer, a stills gallery, poster gallery and Cast & Crew biographies.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Post by Big Magilla »

Hurray for If.... and The Two of Us. The Two of Us has never been available in any home video foramt and If... has only been available in a horrid old transfer from Paramount.
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Post by Johnny Guitar »

[quote="Eric"][/quote]
Oh, that's too bad Eric. Hope you had fun anyway. Girish was in from last Friday to this past Tuesday morning, I believe. We painted the town last Saturday, as you may have seen him mention on his site.

I'm not much of a DVD collector, actually, but there was something on the Eclipse line that I really wanted to catch. Also that Renoir box set (not Eclipse...or is it?) ... if they put out a set of Marker stuff, I could see myself snapping that up.
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Post by Eric »

Johnny Guitar wrote:Eric, I think I speak for many of us when I say, when the hell are they going to put something aside from those two Marker films on readily available video formats? They're both towering masterpieces, of course, but sheesh ... he's got decades' worth of films that the masses are clamoring to see!

Agreed, wholly. I can only hope the disappointing lack of any other Marker films/shorts supplementing the disc might signal a forthcoming Eclipse set, one that could be called "Chris Marker made more than just two films, y'know."

JG, I feel very remorseful because I was actually in N.Y. for two days late last week (not sure if that's when Girish was also in town). I didn't call because I knew I wasn't going to have any time while there; it was only a coda to my "real" trip to Philadephia. (Ditto to Damien, naturally, but we did speak on the phone -- though I was sort of ill that evening thanks to Adria's cats.) Next time, though.
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Post by Johnny Guitar »

Re: Precious Doll's Chinese films update--that's great news!

Sun Yu's Daybreak is a pretty good film, though I don't recall talking to anyone who considered it a masterpiece when it played in NYC a year and a half ago. I hear The Big Road is better. Yuan Muzhi's Street Angels is a fantastic film, let me give it a two-thumbs-up style recommendation. Not long after I saw it, I came across a cheap DVD of it in a Chinatown store. But seeing that it lacked English subs, I decided not to purchase it. When I changed my mind about a week later and went back to the store, it was nowhere to be found!

Eric, I think I speak for many of us when I say, when the hell are they going to put something aside from those two Marker films on readily available video formats? They're both towering masterpieces, of course, but sheesh ... he's got decades' worth of films that the masses are clamoring to see!

And I give my hearty recommendation to the Makavejev titles, both of 'em.
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Post by Eric »

Criterion's June line-up might be their most tantalizing and varied ever:

• Chris Marker double-feature, packaged together: La Jetée and Sans soleil (not a big deal if you already have the European DVD, alas)

• Two from Dusan Makavejev, packaged separately: WR: Mysteries of the Organism and Sweet Movie

If...

The Two of Us

I love the idea of Sweet Movie coming out the same month as the Claude Berri/Michel Simon flick.
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Post by Precious Doll »

The Chinese Film Classics Collection
Cinema Epoch presents The Chinese Film Classics Collection: a series of rare silent and early sound classics from China's Golden Age of Cinema, all available for the first time on DVD! Many of these films are regarded as being among the finest Chinese films ever made. Included among the titles is Mu Fei’s classic 1948 drama Spring In A Small Town, remade in 2002 as Springtime In A Small Town by Tian Zhuangzhuang. The region-free DVDs are released in the United States on 8th May 2007 and will contain new essays written by film critics Andy Klein, Wade Major and Ray Greene.


Spring In A Small Town
Set in a secluded, run-down house, Spring in a Small Town is a psychological exploration of the female protagonist Zhou Yuwen and her intricate relationships with her sickly husband, Dai Liyan and her former lover Zhang Zhichen, a doctor who unexpectedly comes for a visit... Communist historiography censured the film for its petit-bourgeois ‘decadence,’ its ideological ‘backwardness’ and its alleged ‘narcotic effect’ on the audience at a time of war. Since the 1980s, however, it has been critically acclaimed as the best Chinese film of all time and a classic example of ‘Eastern’ cinema. Was named "the Greatest Chinese Film Ever Made" by the Hong Kong Film Awards Association.


Song At Midnight
An exciting Chinese interpretation of The Phantom of the Opera! Ten years after supposedly being killed in an opera house, Song Danping returns to relate his story - when he fell in love with the daughter of a rich feudal lord, he was beaten, disfigured with acid and left to die in the burning opera house by her father. He's been waiting in the rebuilt theatre for someone to take over his artistic mantle and he's chosen the opera troupe's new young star.


Crossroads / Daybreak - Double feature.

Crossroads (1937). Directed by Shen Xiling, with Bai Yang, Zao Dan. As the situation in China worsened in the 30s, films became bolder and darker, yet often still with an optimistic spirit. Crossroads follows four recent graduates: Zhao wants to be a writer but is stuck proofreading; Tang wants to be an artist but is hired to dress windows. Xu has given up hope, while Liu has “gone north” to fight the Japanese. Zhao lives in a crowded boardinghouse with an annoying female neighbor. Unbeknownst to each other, the two meet on a bus and a romance develops. Combining elements of screwball comedy with social observation, the film features Zhao Dan playing the writer Zhao, a superb actor with a Jimmy Stewart nonchalance that made him a great audience favorite. 110 minutes.

Daybreak (1933). Directed by Sun Yu. With Li Lili, Gao Zhanfei, Yuan Congmei. Perhaps more than any other director working at that time, Sun consistently sought to portray the working class affected by feudalism and imperialism. In Daybreak, Li plays a villager forced into prostitution in Shanghai, while her lover (Gao) joins the revolutionaries. After she helps him flee the authorities, she is sentenced to death by a firing squad, a scene of devastating impact. Silent with original music score by Toshiyuki Hiraoka. 116 min.


Street Angel / Twin Sisters - Double feature.
Both films were among Asia weekly's list of the "100 Greatest Chinese films of the Century".

Street Angel (1937). Directed by Yuan Muzhi. With Zhao Dan, Zhou Xuan. Zhao Dan stars as Chen Xiaoping, in love with Hong, a young woman who fled Manchuria with her sister after the Japanese invaded. When Hong is sold by her corrupt guardian to a local gangster, Chen and Hong run away, hiding in another part of Shanghai. Hong’s sister, who herself had been forced into prostitution, visits and muses about a new life, yet all these characters will eventually have to accept that there is no real escape. Loosely based on Frank Borzage’s silent classic Seventh Heaven, a great hit when shown in Shanghai, Street Angels shows how its characters, even in a teeming metropolis as Shanghai, are abandoned by society. 90 minutes.

Twin Sisters (1933). Directed by Zheng Zheng Qiu. With Hu Die, Zheng Xiao Qiu. Leftist melodrama at its finest. Dabao and Erbao (both played by Hu Die) are twin sisters born to village ne’er do well Mr. Zhao. When Zhao decides to leave, his wife begs him to take one of the girls, fearing she cannot raise both; he takes Erbao. Years later, Erbao is married to a warlord, for whom her father now works. Back in the village, hard times force Dabao to leave home looking for work. Having just had a son, Erbao is looking for a nanny, and she hires Dabao, neither woman realizing that they are sisters. Chinese literature and consequently cinema are full of “comparison narratives,” parallel stories that compare the lives of relatives or friends, championing the hardworking poor over the decadent but wealthy ruling class. 90 minutes.


The Big Road / Queen Of Sports - Double Feature.
Two silent film classics by Sun Yu, one of the greatest directors in the history of Chinese Cinema!

The Big Road (1934). Directed by Sun Yu. With Li Lili, Jin Yan. One of the signal works of the “leftist” Shanghai cinema. Six friends decide to head “north” and become involved in the construction of a highway crucial for the Chinese army. (In China at that time, “going north” meant going to Manchuria to fight against the Japanese who had invaded China in 1931, a topic that could only be discussed in muted terms due to government censorship.) A hymn to the solidarity necessary for China to move ahead (and defeat the enemy), The Big Road shows its young protagonists only discovering who they are when they become part of a collective action. The theme song, “Dalu,” became a popular song for left-wing groups. 103 minutes. Silent with sound sequences and sound effects.

Queen Of Sports (1934). Directed by Sun Yu. With Li Lili, Zhang Yi. One of the silent era’s biggest stars, Lii starred in over a dozen films, contributing greatly to their rapturous reception in China. Queen of Sports, one of the most popular, is about an athletic village girl (seen through most of the film in shorts!) who comes to Shanghai to discover the true nature of competition and love. Chinese intertitles with English translation 85 min. Silent with original music score by Toshiyuki Hiraoka.


Also released on March 13:

Romance Of The Western Chamber (1927). Based on Wang Shifu's (Yuan Dynasty, 1234-1368) famous play of the same name, The Romance of the Western Chamber tells the story of a young scholar Zhang Sheng who goes to the capital city to take the highest imperial examination. During his stay in a temple, he meets Cui Yingying, daughter of the Prime Minister and immediately falls in love with her.
Soon, a group of robbers besiege them. Yingying's mother declares that she will marry off her daughter to whoever saves them. Zhang Sheng manages to do that with his friend's help. But Yingying's mother refuses to keep her words because Zhang is a poor scholar. However, Yingying and Zhang Sheng's love is so strong that, with the help of Hong Niang, Yingying's maid, the couple breaks the traditional barrier. Silent with an original music score by Toshiyuki Hiraoka.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Post by Big Magilla »

Incidentally, June 19th will not only see the release of the second worst 70s version of a great Broadway musical after Man of La Mancha (Lucy's Mame), it will also see the release of the third, A Little Night Music.
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Post by Precious Doll »

Tartan Video have announced the UK DVD release of Sergei Eisenstein Volume 1 for 28th May 2007 priced at £29.99. Russian-born Sergei Eisenstein is one of the masterful auteurs of the silent era and one of the most unique voices in cinema. He invented much of the visual language used by directors today. Having trained as an architect and theatre designer, he moved into film combining narrative with aesthetics, choosing events and people from Russian history. Courted by Hollywood and criticized by Stalin, he also spent much time in Mexico on an obsessive epic which was never completed before dying at the young age of 40. Tartan Video is set to celebrate his career in three box-sets in the 90th year since the Russian Revolution.

Volume 1 includes three films:

Strike (1924)
Taking an historical event from 1912, Eistenstein applies the new Soviet propaganda ideals of the heroic worker with his own theories of avant garde art. Following the suicide of a sacked factory worker, his colleagues hold a peaceful strike, but their bosses retaliate with savage force. He captured the brutality with power and immediacy, moving from the slaughter of cattle to the butchery of the Cossack army. He simultaneously invents and breaks cinematic rules.

This includes both the original soundtrack and a new score by Ed Hughes and performed by the New Music Players

Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Possibly one of the most influential films of all time even, it was initially banned in Britain and Nazi Germany as well as falling foul of Stalin. Again, Eisenstein selects a dramatic moment from the pre- Revolution days of the Tsar. The Russian navy, treated with contempt by their superiors and working under abusive conditions, decide to stage a mutiny. Their actions are supported by the people of Odessa with tragic consequences. A powerful series of montages and images unfolds over five episodes leading up to the fictional but legendary Odessa steps sequence which has been mimicked in films as diverse as The Untouchables, Naked Gun 33 1/3 and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith .

This includes both original soundtrack and a new score by Ed Hughes and performed by the New Music Players.

October (aka Ten Days That Shook The World) (1927)
With art being used by the Soviet state for propaganda, Eisenstein was commissioned by the authorities to celebrate the tenth anniversary of 1917's October Revolution. However, he tells the events not by traditional narrative but through experiments in editing and camera angles, also managing to link religious leaders with pagan idols and the army. It won international praise, except back home where he was accused of not using the language of the masses. The title is taken from John Reed's book who was also the subject of Warren Beatty's epic bio-pic, Reds.

Original soundtrack only.

All films are presented in their original 1.33:1 Full Frame. DVD extras includes: behind the scenes footage of Ed Hughes recording new soundtracks.

All features are subject to change.

Future Eisenstein sets are currently scheduled for July and September…

Vol 2 - Alexander Nevsky; Bazhin Meadows; Ivan the Terrible (Pts 1 & 2) - release date: 23 July
Vol 3 - Time In The Sun; Que Viva Mexico!; Mexican Fantasy - release date: 24 Sept (tbc)
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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