Coming DVDs

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Post by Big Magilla »

One goes for number nine.
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Post by Reza »

Magilla, I refer to O'Toole's quote below your posts.

What does one do if one loses eight times?
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Post by Big Magilla »

The descirption of the songs from Mame is a hoot. What it doesn't say is how badly Lucy sings them. Dance, Girl, Dance is the gem in this collection.

The Wayne collection is a mixed bag, though Rio Bravo, True Grit and The Cowboys have long needed resotration. Trouble Along the Way is the best of the previously unreleased films. I first saw this when I was 9 years old. Marie Windsor as Wayne's ex-wife made a huge impression as one of those great characters you love to hate.
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Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of the Lucille Ball Collection for 19th June 2007. Those who ‘love Lucy’ may be surprised to learn that Ms. Ball had nearly 20 years of big-screen credits prior to launching the TV show that made her a household name, and WHV will debut on DVD five of the films she made from 1940 through 1974: Critic’s Choice, Dance Girl Dance, Du Barry Was a Lady, The Big Street and Mame. In addition, Best Foot Forward will be available separately for the first time nationally. All the films will include special features such as Oscar® nominated vintage short subjects, featurettes and classic cartoons. Packaged as a collectible gift set, the five-disc Lucille Ball Collection will sell for $49.92 SRP, with individual titles and Best Foot Forward available for $19.97 SRP.

Critic’s Choice (1963)
Lucille Ball and Bob Hope shine in this comedy from the Broadway hit by Ira Levin (No Time for Sergeants, Deathtrap). Tossing inspired throwaway lines right and left, Hope is New York theatre critic Parker Ballentine, who loves writing pointed reviews that close insufferable plays. But there’s a new show in town – by his redheaded wife (Ball). Is it bad? Parker better think twice before he writes this time. Rip Torn, Jim Backus and Marilyn Maxwell co-star.

DVD Special Features:
Vintage comedy short Calling All Tars with Bob Hope [1935 WB Short]
Oscar-nominated Cartoon Now Hear This [1963 WB Cartoon]
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
Directed by Dorothy Arzner, classic Hollywood’s sole major female director in the ‘30s and ‘40s, this backstage musical has been embraced by fans for its feminist sensibilities as well as its powerful storytelling. Ball and Maureen O’Hara star as two very different types of women who are in the same chorus line. Judy (Maureen O’Hara) is a serious dancer, willing to suffer for her art, but while her friend Bubbles (Lucille Ball) loves to dance, she’s equally interested in paying the rent. To do that, she swaps her ballet shoes for a G-string…and turns patrons’ fantasies into dollars as burlesque sensation Tiger Lily White. Ball exhibits terrific onscreen chemistry as she vamps onscreen – and grabs the heart with her cynical acceptance of being a woman in a man’s world.

DVD Special Features:
Vintage comedy short Just a Cute Kid [1940 WB Short]
Classic cartoon Malibu Beach Party [1940 WB Cartoon]
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Du Barry Was A Lady (1943)
Lucy stars with Gene Kelly and Red Skelton in this glittery, tune-filled bon-bon featuring lavish sets and costumes, a supporting cast of wags and wits (including the inimitable Zero Mostel) and three Cole Porter songs from the original Broadway smash: Friendship, Katie Went to Haiti and Do I Love You? With Ball playing the glamorous nightclub chanteuse May Daly, who’s transformed into Madame Du Barry opposite Skelton as King Louis XV this is fabulous and fun musical comedy from Hollywood’s Golden Era.

Special Features:
Oscar- Pete Smith specialty short Seeing Hands [1943 MGM Short]
Classic cartoon Bah Wilderness [1943 MGM Cartoon]
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

The Big Street (1942)
This gutsy, touching melodrama was produced from a Damon Runyon story, the man who wrote Guys and Dolls. Ball and Henry Fonda play brilliantly against type -- Fonda poignant as a timid small-timer and Ball impressive as an icy vixen with an ego twice the size of her soul. Lucy plays haughty nightclub singer Gloria Lyons, a gold digger who doesn’t have time for anyone without money, including Little Pinks (Henry Fonda), the busboy who adores her. All that changes when Gloria is paralyzed after a mobster knocks her down the stairs, and she’s forced to see what and who really matter.

Special Features:
Vintage musical short Calling All Girls [1942 WB Short]
Classic cartoon The Hep Cat [1942 WB Short]
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Mame (1974)
This lavish 1974 screen version of the beloved Broadway musical stars Lucille Ball as a high-living grande dame who’s outlandishly eccentric and, when suddenly faced with raising an orphaned nephew, fiercely loving. Veterans of the New York stage original join her: Beatrice Arthur as best friend Vera, Jane Connell as prim governess Agnes Gooch, choreographer Onna White and director Gene Saks. As Mame’s husband Beauregard, Robert Preston (The Music Man) sings Loving You, written specially for the film. Jerry Herman’s songs, from It’s Today to We Need a Little Christmas and If He Walked into My Life, rank among the best show tunes ever.

Special Features:
Vintage featurette Lucky Mame
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Best Foot Forward (1943)
Ball portrays herself as the attention-seeking glamour girl who accepts an invitation to the prom from a Winsocki Military Institute cadet as a publicity stunt. Costars June Allyson, Nancy Walker and Tommy Dix recreate their Broadway roles, and Harry James and his band play at the prom to make this a snappy frolic.

Special Features:
Vintage musical short The Knight is Young, with June Allyson [1938 WB Vitaphone Short]
Classic cartoon One Ham’s Family [1943 MGM Cartoon]
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English (feature film only)
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Warner Home Video (WHV) and Paramount Home Entertainment (PHE) will join forces to honor the great John Wayne on May 22 -- the week that would have been ‘the Duke’s’ 100th birthday. With 9 new titles due the studios combined DVD libraries now offer 48 Wayne popular classics. The lead titles in the promotion are Rio Bravo in both a Two-Disc Special Edition ($20.97 SRP) and Ultimate Collectors Edition ($39.92 SRP), The Cowboys as a Deluxe Edition ($19.97 SRP) and True Grit as a Special Collector’s Edition ($19.99 SRP).

WHV also will debut the John Wayne Film Collection, a six-disc set (also available individually) featuring six films never before on DVD: Allegheny Uprising, Reunion in France, Tycoon, Without Reservations, Trouble Along the Way and Big Jim McLain. Retail on the Collection is $49.92 SRP, and $12.97 SRP for the individual releases.

The Films

True Grit: Special Collector’s Edition (PHE)
This classic cinematic masterpiece features Wayne in a larger-than-life performance as the drunken, uncouth and totally fearless one-eyed U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn. The role won him his only Academy Award® for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the age of 63 after 40 years of making films, and Wayne himself said that it was “my first chance to play a character role instead of John Wayne.” Called “one of the most delightful, joyous and scary movies of all time” (Roger Ebert), True Grit is a glorious adventure and American odyssey lead by Wayne, whose screen presence fully embodies his status as a star and legend. Directed by prolific filmmaker Henry Hathaway, the film also features enchanting performances by Kim Darby, Glen Campbell, Robert Duvall and Strother Martin.

Bonus features:
Commentary by Jeb Rosebrook, Bob Boze Bell and J. Stuart Rosebrook
True Writing
Working with the Duke
Aspen Gold: Locations of True Grit
The Law and the Lawless
Theatrical trailer

Rio Bravo: Special Edition and Ultimate Collectors Edition (WHV)
Director Howard Hawks lifted the Western to new heights with Red River. He does it here again, capturing the legendary West with a stellar cast in peak form. Wayne is Sheriff John T. Chance, a small-town lawman enlisting the help of a ragtag team to hold a murderer in jail until the state marshal can arrive. On one side is an army of gunmen dead-set on springing the murderous cohort from jail. On the other are Chance and his two deputies: one a recovering drunkard (Dean Martin), the other a crippled codger (Walter Brennan). Also in their ranks are an unseasoned, trigger-happy youth (Ricky Nelson) and a woman with a past (Angie Dickinson) – and her eye on Chance. Rio Bravo will feature a new digital transfer from restored picture and audio elements.

DVD Special Features:

Disc One
Remastered feature film
Commentary by John Carpenter and Richard Schickel (Renowned director Carpenter and film critic Schickel explore how this legendary Western was an extension of Hawks’ own personality and why it’s considered such an influential classic today)
Wayne trailer gallery

Disc Two
The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks (1973 documentary)
Two All New Featurettes:
Commemoration: Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo
Old Tucson: Where the Legends Walked

Ultimate Collector’s Edition includes everything in the Rio Bravo Special Edition plus the following collectible memorabilia:
Press book
Dell comic book
Lobby cards

The Cowboys: Deluxe Edition (WHV)
This deluxe edition has been newly restored and remastered, and features a new cast/director featurette. The Cowboys gave Wayne one of his juiciest roles as a leather-tough rancher who, deserted by his regular help, hires 11 greenhorn schoolboys for a cattle drive across 400 treacherous miles. When the dust settled, Wayne had given one of his best performances. “In The Cowboys,” Rex Reed wrote, “all the forces that have made him a dominant personality as well as a major screen presence seem to combine. Old Dusty Britches can act.” Co-starring the equally memorable Roscoe Lee Browne, Colleen Dewhurst and Bruce Dern, The Cowboys was directed by Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond).

DVD Special Features:
Commentary by Mark Rydell (Director Rydell discusses how he helped his young, inexperienced cast work with screen legend Wayne)
The Cowboys: Together Again
The Breaking of Boys and the Making of Men
Theatrical Trailer

Allegheny Uprising (WHV)
Only months after his Stagecoach breakthrough, John Wayne brings his one-of-a-kind line readings and presence to the real-life role of colonial man of action James Smith. The place is Pennsylvania a decade before the American Revolution. Joined by like-minded frontiersmen, Smith intercepts trade shipments, besieges forts and risks the certain-death charge of treason against the king. Another Stagecoach alumna joins the Duke: Claire Trevor, playing a fiery barmaid eager to join the scrap against the redcoats.

Special Features:
The Bill of Rights [1939 WB short]
Land of the Midnight Fun [1939 WB cartoon]

Big Jim McLain (WHV)
All 6’4” of John Wayne plays the title role, a federal agent ferreting out subversives in Hawaii. Rallying to the cause are co-stars Nancy Olsen and Veda Ann Borg. And 6’7” James Arness (whom Wayne would later recommend to star on TV’s “Gunsmoke”) is McLain’s war-hero partner, Baxter. The documentary-style story moves swiftly, with good-natured humor peppered throughout. Pre-statehood Hawaii locales range from elite resorts to a Shinto temple and from the sunken remains of the battleship Arizona to a Molokai leper colony.

Special Features:
So You Want to Enjoy Life [1952 WB short]
The Super Snooper [1952 WB cartoon]
Theatrical Trailer

Reunion in France (WHV)
John Wayne is in straight-up heroic mode as a fugitive RAF pilot on the run from the Gestapo, and Joan Crawford (in haute couture despite the war) is Michele, the spoiled, high-society Parisian who discovers her own patriotism as she helps the airman escape his Nazi pursuers. This glossy, briskly paced thriller also stars Philip Dorn as Michele’s fiancé, an industrialist she suspects of collaborating with the Germans.

Special Features:
We Do It Because [1942 MGM short]
War Dogs [1943 MGM cartoon]
Theatrical Trailer

Trouble Along The Way (WHV)
This sports comedy-drama is directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca). John Wayne tackles the role of Steve Williams, a former top football coach who has been banned from the major conferences for his inability to conform and is making ends meet as a bookie. When he receives a call from likable Father Burke (Charles Coburn) with an offer to establish a football program – fast- in a last-ditch effort to save his tiny St. Anthony’s College from bankruptcy, Williams sees it as a way to prove to a Children’s Court officer (Donna Reed) that he’s a fit parent as he fights for custody of his 12 year old tomboy daughter. Of course, there’s bound to be Trouble Along the Way.

Special Features:
So You Think You Can’t Sleep [1953 WB short]
Muscle Tussle [1953 WB cartoon]
Theatrical trailer

Tycoon (WHV)
A tumultuous love story (with co-star Laraine Day), a dynamite supporting cast, horizon-spanning location filming and brilliant Technicolor make Tycoon exciting entertainment. But the biggest thrill is watching Wayne as a bold, bare-knuckled railroad honcho high above an Andean gorge in a breathless grand finale that involves a half-built bridge, an onrushing wall of water, and a locomotive with the Duke at the controls.

Special Features:
Hollywood Wonderland [1947 WB short]
Red Hot Rangers [1947 MGM cartoon]

Without Reservations (WHV)
Claudette Colbert and Wayne are a double delight in this playful, romantic comedy. Colbert plays Kit Madden, a novelist who’s heading to Hollywood to turn her bestseller about a handsome pilot into a film. On the train she meets real-life marine pilot (John Wayne), and thinks he’s the perfect man to portray her screen hero…except he thinks the whole thing is “a lot of hooey.” Their comedic rapport becomes more captivating with one misadventure after another as they make their way cross-country. Adding to the fun are surprise walk-ons from stars like Jack Benny, Cary Grant, Louella Parsons playing herself, and director Warner LeRoy.

Special Features:
I Love My Husband, But! [1946 MGM short]
Holiday for Shoestrings [1946 WB cartoon]

Also part of the promotion are 3 new DVD Collections from Paramount with a total of 14 films.

John Wayne Century Collection ($99.99 SRP) brings together 14 classic films starring John Wayne, including the new Special Collector’s Edition of True Grit and four additional Special Collector’s Editions. The films in the collection are:
The High And The Mighty Special Collector’s Edition (Adventure Collection)
Island In The Sky Special Collector’s Edition (Adventure Collection)
True Grit Special Collector’s Edition (Western Collection)
Hondo Special Collector’s Edition (Western Collection)
McLintock! Special Collector’s Edition (Western Collection)>
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Western Collection)
The Shootist (Western Collection)
Big Jake (Western Collection)
Donovan’s Reef (Adventure Collection)
In Harm’s Way (Adventure Collection)
Hatari! (Adventure Collection)
Rio Lobo (Western Collection)
The Sons Of Katie Elder (Western Collection)
El Dorado (Western Collection)

Noted in brackets are the films which make up the 2 smaller DVD collections, with the 9-film John Wayne Western Collection priced at $74.99 SRP and the 5-film John Wayne Adventure Collection priced at $42.99 SRP.
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Post by Penelope »

Big Magilla wrote:It's frustratling, but the we do have the superior Pagnol trilogy on DVD.
That's certainly true, but--despite Logan's stolid direction--I've always had a soft spot for 1961 film thanks to that wonderful cast: Boyer, Caron, Chevalier, Buchholz.
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Post by Big Magilla »

I don't know, perhaps Fox, which picked up the rights for the earlier Joshua Logan film, Sayonara. It's frustratling, but the we do have the superior Pagnol trilogy on DVD.
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Post by Penelope »

Big Magilla wrote:No longer have rights to
Fanny (1961)
Who has the rights to Fanny? I'd much rather see that again before Cruising.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston

"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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Post by Big Magilla »

In the works from Warner Bros.

2007
L.A. Confidential 10th Anniversary Edition
Greed
Caged
Up the Down Staircase
Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland box set
Spencer Tracy box set incl. Northwest Passage
Joan Crawford Collection II incl. Trog
John Wayne box set (6 films incl. Rio Bravo SE)
Twilight Zone the Movie
Cool Hand Luke SE
Blade Runner SE
The Candidate SE
O Lucky Man!
Deliverance SE
Mame
Forbidden Hollywood II (6 films)
Burt Lancaster Collection incl. Twilight’s Last Gleaming
James Stewart Collection II incl. Carbine Williams
Eleanor Powell box set
Royal Wedding (rescued from public domain hell)
The Jazz Singer (80th Anniversary edition)
Branagh's Hamlet

2008
The Magnificent Ambersons
Journey Into Fear
Brewster McCloud
Quo Vadis
Raintree County (roadshow edition)
Pete Kelly’s Blues
Kismet
Moonfleet
The Light in the Piazza
How the West Was Won (restored)
Goodbye Mr. Chips (1969)
Beetlejuice SE
Falling Down SE (why, God, why?)
Forbidden Hollywood III (2 films)
John Garfield box set
Lon Chaney Collection II
Andy Hardy Collection I
Busby Berkeley Collection II
More Cagney, Bogart and Edward G. Robinson
More Greer Garson, Norma Shearer and Ann Sheridan
Lana Turner box set
Natalie Wood box set incl. Splendor in the Grass SE, Inside Daisy Clover and Sex and the Single Girl

2009
Abe Lincoln in Illinois
North by Northwest SE
Forbidden Hollywood IV (2 films)

In the works
Cruising
Zabriskie Point
The Devils

Under consideration
The Emigrants
The New Land
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

No longer have rights to
Fanny (1961)




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Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of World War II Collection Vol. 2: Heroes Fight for Freedom for 5th June 2007. Never before seen on Region 1 DVD, the titles include Air Force, Command Decision, Hell to Eternity, The Hill, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and 36 Hours. These six films present stirring tales of front-line action, conflict and heroism and star Hollywood’s top leading men such as Clark Gable, Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery, Jeffrey Hunter, Spencer Tracy, John Garfield and James Garner. Extras reinforcing the excitement are World War II era shorts, classic cartoons, a vintage making-of featurette and trailer galleries. The six-disc World War II Collection Vol. 2 will be available for $59.92 SRP, with individual titles selling for $19.97 SRP.

Air Force (1943)
Howard Hawks guides one of Hollywood’s greatest battle epics, a film of courage, camaraderie and combat. This is the story of the Mary-Ann, a B-17 bomber which leaves San Francisco for Honolulu on the day before Japan’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor…and flies right into World War II. A gifted ensemble cast – including John Garfield, Harry Carey, Gig Young and Arthur Kennedy – plays ordinary Americans called upon to do the extraordinary. Air Force was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning one for Editing.

DVD Special Features:
Oscar-nominated Technicolor drama short Women at War
Classic cartoons The Fifth-Column Mouse and Scrap Happy Dafft
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Command Decision (1948)
Clark Gable heads the cast in a film about the wrenching choices officers must make in time of war. Gable plays a U.S. general who realizes that Allied victory depends on destroying the Nazi’s jet factories. Based on the Broadway hit play, Command Decision combines thrilling aerial pyrotechnics with tense war room battles to create an indelible portrait of the men whose judgment holds the power of life and death.

DVD Special Features:
Vintage Passing Parade Short Souvenirs of Death
Classic cartoon King-Size Canary
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Hell to Eternity (1960)
Tells the real-life story of Marine Guy Gabaldon (Jeffrey Hunter), a Hispanic kid from the streets of East L.A. who was raised in a Japanese-American foster family. In an astonishing true story of heroism during the Battle of Saipan, Gabaldon used his language and combat skills to convince 800 Japanese to surrender to American troops after their commander commits suicide. For this, he won the Navy Cross…and the gratitude of all America.

DVD Special Features:
1960s war movies trailer gallery
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

The Hill (1965)
Sean Connery headlines and Sidney Lumet directs this jolting tale of life and mutiny inside British military prison walls in North Africa during World War II. The inmates are soldiers who once defied, rebelled, talked back. The wardens are sadists who perpetrate cruelty in the name of discipline, forcing soldiers on the brink of collapse beyond endurance to struggle up a brutal incline known as The Hill, a manmade, torturous tower of sand seared by a white-hot sun. Ossie Davis and Michael Redgrave also star.

DVD Special Features:
Vintage featurette The Sun…The Sand…The Hill
1965 war movies trailer gallery
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

36 Hours (1964)
James Garner does a heroic star turn as U.S. Major Jefferson Pike, an amnesiac who’s been kidnapped by the Germans as the key player in an elaborate ruse to get him to divulge the Allied D-Day plans. Rod Taylor makes a canny opponent as the duplicitous Doktor in this tense twist-filled wartime thriller. The clock is ticking with the Nazis having only 36 Hours and using any means necessary to pull off their complicated plan to get the D-Day details out of Pike.

DV Special Features:
James Garner war movies trailer gallery
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
“The Doolittle Raid” -- a true World War II event and a novel of the same name -- became the basis for this suspenseful saga about a bold mission that boosted morale in the war’s bleak, early days. Spencer Tracy stars as Lt. Col. James Doolittle, who devises a plan to launch fully-loaded bomber planes from a dangerously short aircraft carrier runway. Academy Award?-winning Best Special Effects recreate the squadron’s low-altitude, “hedge-hopping” sweep over Japan, and even utilize film footage from the actual raid. The intensive training, the daring bombing run, the subsequent forced landings in China and the perilous trek to safety: all the valiant touchstones of the true-life raid are captured in a beloved classic whose other stars include Van Johnson, Robert Walker and Robert Mitchum.

DVD Special Features:
Academy Award-nominated Pete Smith Specialty Short Movie Pests
Vintage Passing Parade Short A Lady Fights Back
Classic cartoon Bear Raid Warden
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English (feature film only)
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Some upcoming Criterion releases:

April

Product Description
Over the course of a nearly forty-year career, Louis Malle forged a reputation as one of the world’s most versatile cinematic storytellers, with such widely acclaimed, and wide-ranging, masterpieces as Elevator to the Gallows, My Dinner with Andre, and Au revoir les enfants. At the same time, however, with less fanfare, Malle was creating a parallel, even more personal body of work as a documentary filmmaker. With the discerning eye of a true artist and the investigatory skills of a great journalist, Malle takes us from his French homeland to India to the United States, in some of the most engaging and fascinating nonfiction films ever made.

Six Disc Set Includes:

Vive Le Tour

Humain, Trop Humain

Place de la Republique

An energetic evocation of the Tour de France, a meditative investigation of the inner workings of a French automotive plant, and an entertaining snapshot of the comings and goings on one street corner in Paris - Louis Malle's three French-set documentaries reveal, in an eclectic array of ways, the director's eternal facination with and respect for, the everyday lives of everyday people.

Phantom India

Malle called his gorgeous and groundbreaking Phantom India the most personal film of his career. And this extraordinary journey to India, originally shown as a miniseries on European television, is infused with his sense of discovery, as well as occasional outrage, intrigue, and joy.

Calcutta

When he was cutting Phantom India, Malle found that the footage shot in Calcutta was so diverse, intense, and unforgettable that it deserved its own film. The result, released theatrically, is at times shocking - a chaotic portrait of a city engulfed in social and political turmoil, edging ever closer to oblivion.

God's Country

In 1979, Louis Malle traveled into the heart of Minnesota to capture the everyday lives of the men and women in a prosperous farming community. Six years later, during Ronald Reagan's second term, he returned to find drastic economic decline. Free of stereotypes about America's "heartland," God's Country, commissioned for American public television, is a stunning work of emotional and political clarity.

...And the Pursuit of Happiness

In 1986, Malle, himself a transplant in the United States, set out to investigate the ever widening range of immigrant experience in America. Interviewing a variety of newcomers (from teachers to astronauts to doctors) in middle-and working-class communities from coast to coast, Malle paints a generous, humane portrait of their individual struggles in an increasingly polyglot nation.

May

Vengeance is Mine

Synopsis

A thief, murderer, and charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata) is on the run from the police. Director Shohei Imamura turns this fact-based story, of the seventy-three-day killing spree of a remorseless man from a devoutly Catholic family, into a cold, perverse, and at times diabolically funny tale of the primitive coexisting with the modern. More than just a true-crime case, Vengeance Is Mine bares mankind’s snarling id.


Special Features

New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Excerpts from a video interview with Shohei Imamura, produced by the Directors Guild of Japan
Theatrical trailer and teaser
New and improved English subtitle translation
LUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Michael Atkinson, a 1994 interview with Imamura by writer Toichi Nakata, and writings from Imamura on Vengeance Is Mine and his approach to filmmaking


About the Transfer

Vengeance Is Mine is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1. On standard 4:3 televisions, the image will appear letterboxed. On standard and widescreen televisions, black bars may also be visible on the left and right to maintain the proper screen format. This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit 2k Datacine from a new 35mm low-contrast print made from the original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System. To maintain optimal image quality through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9 has been encoded at the highest-possible bit rate for the quantity of material included.

The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from a 35mm optical track print, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on surround sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.

Sansho the Bailiff

Synopsis

When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife and children left to fend for themselves and eventually wrenched apart by vicious slave drivers. Under Kenji Mizoguchi’s dazzling direction, this classic Japanese story became one of cinema’s greatest masterpieces, a monumental, empathetic expression of human resilience in the face of evil.


Special Features

New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary by Japanese-literature professor Jeffrey Angles
New video interviews with critic Tadao Sato, assistant director Tokugo Tanaka, and legendary actress Kyoko Kagawa on the making of the film and its lasting importance
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A book featuring a new essay by scholar Mark Le Fanu; the story on which the film was based, Mori Ogai’s “Sansho dayu,” from 1915, in an acclaimed translation by J. Thomas Rimer; and a written form of an oral variation of the same tale, dating back to the fifteenth century, in a rare English translation

About the Transfer

Sansho the Bailiff is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. On widescreen televisions, black bars will appear on the left and right of the image to maintain the proper screen format. The picture has been slightly window-boxed to ensure that the maximum image is visible on all monitors. This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm fine-grain master positive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System. To maintain optimal image quality through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9 was encoded at the highest-possible bit rate for the quantity of material included.

The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from two optical soundtrack prints, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on 5.1-channel sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.
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Post by Precious Doll »

On 26th March Anchor Bay proudly releases on DVD a special edition, 10 disc box-set of Wim Wenders films. With the exception of three of the titles, Wings Of Desire, Paris, Texas and The American Friend, none of the titles have ever been released on DVD in the UK before. To accompany the 10 films will be a specially produced booklet which will undoubtedly make the box-set one of the “must have” collectors’ items of 2007.

Alongside some of Wenders’ best known films are some rarer but nonetheless important works such as the highly moving docu-drama Lightning Over Water. The diversity of films contained in the box-set only serves to highlight the impact and influence that Wenders has had on modern-day cinema around the world from his award winning partnership with cinematographer Robby Muller to his trademark use of eclectic musical soundtracks collaborating with artists such as U2/Bono, Ry Cooder, Nick Cave and Lou Reed.





The Wim Wenders 10 Disc Box-Set contains:

THE AMERICAN FRIEND (Drama) - Starring: Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz. Running Time: 126 Minutes approximately.

Adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s novel and featuring her infamous character, Thomas Ripley, this is the story of Jonathan Zimmerman, a man dying of an incurable disease who, in order to ensure his family’s financial security, agrees to become a hit-man for the mob.

Extras include: Audio commentary with Wim Wenders and Dennis Hopper, Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Wim Wenders, Theatrical Trailer, Biographies.

LIGHTNING OVER WATER (Docu-drama)
Running Time: 86 Minutes approximately.

Director Nicholas Ray is diagnosed with cancer and is determined to complete his final film before his untimely demise. Wim Wenders follows his quest and in this moving film charts the death of a rare talent. The film features an outstanding soundtrack which adds to the impact.

A NOTEBOOK ON CITIES AND CLOTHES (Documentary)
Running Time: 78 Minutes approximately.

Wenders meets renowned Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto to talk about their ideas on the creative process and to ponder on the relationship between cities, identity and the cinema in the digital age.

PARIS, TEXAS (Drama) - Starring: Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski
Running Time: 139 Minutes approximately.

A man suffering from amnesia stumbles from the desert not knowing who he is. With the help of his brother he gets his memory back but as he does so has to face his demons in order to be reconciled with the family he’d abandoned four years before.

Extras include: Wim Wenders and Nastassja Kinski in Cannes – Featurette, Commentary by Wim Wenders, Deleted Scenes, UK Trailer, Biographies, Filmographies, Photo Gallery.

ROOM 666 (Documentary)
Running Time: 44 Minutes approximately.

During the Cannes Film Festival of 1982 Wenders persuades a number of film directors to lock themselves in a hotel room, switch on the camera and ponder on the question “What is the future of cinema?”.


THE SCARLET LETTER (Drama) - Starring: Senta Berger, Hans Christian Blech
Running Time: 86 Minutes approximately.

In 17th Century Salem, Hester is forced to wear a Scarlet letter A because she is an adulteress who has had a child out of wedlock. Having disappeared many years earlier, Hester’s much older husband returns unrecognised by anybody in the town and determines to trap the man he believes had an affair with his wife.

TOKYO-GA (Documentary)
Running Time: 89 Minutes approximately.

Having been moved by the work of acclaimed director Yasujiro Ozu, Wenders travels to Japan to search out the Tokyo he has seen in his films, discovering along the way how the country is losing its identity and culture to Americanisation.

A TRICK OF THE LIGHT (Docu-drama) - Starring: Udo Kier, Otto Kuhnle
Running Time: 66 Minutes approximately.

Weaving together docu-drama, fictional re-enactment and experimental photography, the film is a powerful and beautifully crafted exploration into the early days of German cinema and tells the story of the Skladanowsky Brothers who invented the Bioskop, the forerunner of the film projector.

WINGS OF DESIRE (Drama) - Starring: Bruno Ganz, Peter Falk
Running Time: 122 Minutes approximately.

Mixing images of post-War and modern-day Berlin, two angels roam the earth, invisible to humans but still able to offer solace to all who need it. Dissatisfied with his never-ending existence, one of the angels yearns to enjoy all the emotions and experiences of mortals and eventually finds the fulfillment he has been seeking.

Extras Include: Commentary by Wim Wenders, Deleted Scenes, Curt Bois Trailer, Theatrical Trailer, Biographies, Photo Gallery.

THE WRONG MOVE (Drama) - Starring: Rudiger Vogler, Nastassja Kinski
Running Time: 100 Minutes approximately.

Loosely based on a work by Goethe, this film follows six days in the life of Wilhelm, an inconsequential and alienated young man who wants to write and leaves home to pursue his goal . This road movie sees him meeting a series of other ‘outsiders’ with whom he shares his ideology and sometimes his bed on a journey of self-discovery.

The Wim Wenders 10 disc box-set is released on 26th March 2007, RRP £49.99.
"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 Precious Doll »

Fox Home Entertainment have announced the Region 1 DVD release of Tyrone Power: The Swashbuckler Box Set for 1st May 2007. Known for his masterful swordplay and irresistible charm, Tyrone Power was destined to silver-screen stardom, hailing from one of the most prominent acting dynasties dating back to the late 18th century. Five of Power’s most renowned action-adventure films are featured for the first time in an all-new DVD collection. The set includes The Black Rose, based on a novel about a 13th century Saxon nobleman and his search for prestige and wealth in the Far East; Blood and Sand, the tale of a matador who inevitably becomes spoiled by greed, fame and adulterated lust; Captain from Castile, based on the epic novel about a Spanish soldier’s escape from the Spanish Inquisition; Prince of Foxes, which earned two Oscar nominations, is set in the 1500s and portrays Power as Captain Andrea Orsini who is under the charge of military commander and aristocrat Cesare Borgia; and Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake, an action-adventure saga in which an orphaned son, played by Power, rebels and leaves his family in order begin a new life and create his own fortune. Available together for the first time on R1 DVD, the all-new box set offers revealing bonus materials, such as audio commentaries, fearurettes, photo galleries, original theatrical trailers and more.

Tyrone Power: The Swashbuckler Box Set is available priced at $59.98 SRP. Each title is also available individually for $19.98 SRP.

The Black Rose features a widescreen presentation with English Stereo sound, as well as Spanish & French Mono sound and English & Spanish subtitles. Bonus material includes a Tyrone Power biography, photo gallery and trailer.

Blood and Sand features a full screen presentation with English Stereo sound, as well as Spanish & French Mono sound and English & Spanish subtitles. Bonus material includes a commentary by cinematographer Richard Crudo and a restoration comparison.

Captain from Castile features a full screen presentation with English Stereo sound, as well as Spanish & French Mono sound and English & Spanish subtitles. Bonus material includes commentary by film historians Rudy Behlmer, Jon Burlingame and Nick Redman, “The Leading Ladies” featurette , a photo gallery and trailer.

Prince of Foxes features a full screen presentation with English Stereo sound, as well as Spanish & French Mono sound and English & Spanish subtitles. Bonus material includes an isolated score and FX track, Movietone News: “Tyrone Power Weds Linda Christian in Rome Ceremony,” a photo gallery and trailer.

Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake features a full screen presentation with English Stereo sound, as well as Spanish Spanish & French Mono sound and English & Spanish subtitles. Bonus material includes an isolated score, a photo gallery and trailer.
"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 »

Except for the TV movie version of The Corn Is Green, this is minor Hepburn, but even the minor stuff has its virtues - Morning Glory, the film she oddly won her first Oscar for despite superior work in the same year's Little Women is worth seeing for Adolphe Menjou and C. Aubrey Smith; Sylvia Scarlet, pretty bad despite its revered camp reputation is worth seeing just once; Dragon Seed, in which Aline MacMahon's moving Oscar nominated performance only somewaht compensates for Hepbuirn's outrageous miscasting serves to make us grateful that they don;t cast Caucasians as Asians anymore; Without Love is worth seeing for Lucille Ball who actually outshines Hepburn and Tracy and Undercurrent is worth seeing for the real undercurrent which is the clash of acting styles between Hepburn and Mitchum.

Now, when will Warners fianlly release the 1945 Bette Davis version of The Corn Is Green?
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Warner Home Video and Turner Classic Movies have announced the Region 1 DVD release of TCM Spotlight: Katharine Hepburn Collection for 29th May 2007. Together the studios will honour one of Hollywood’s legendary “grand dames” on the anniversary of her 100th birthday (May 12) with the debut of this collection which includes six films never on R1 DVD before -- The Corn is Green, Dragon Seed, Morning Glory, Sylvia Scarlett, Undercurrent and Without Love.

The first in a series of joint releases with Turner Classic Movies (TCM), The TCM Spotlight series will represent a broad group of classic films from various eras, all of which have earned an important place in film history. The selections from the Warner Bros. Entertainment library (the industry’s largest) also represent the kind of motion pictures that have become the hallmark of TCM’s classic film programming. The companies are looking forward to multiple releases under this banner in the coming year.

The TCM Spotlight: Katharine Hepburn Collection features the beloved screen legend in some of her most memorable roles, and will also include special features such as Oscar-nominated vintage shorts and classic cartoons. The films will be available all together in a collectible gift set for $59.92 SRP, or individually at $19.97 SRP.

The Corn is Green (1978)
Katharine Hepburn stars in director George Cukor’s exquisite television version of Emlyn Williams’ beloved play about a dedicated teacher who is determined to make a difference in an early 1900s Welsh mining community. This is Hepburn’s 10th and final collaboration with her dear friend Cukor.

Dragon Seed (1944)
Hepburn headlines this dramatic saga of the World War II Chinese war effort, playing heroic Chinese peasant woman Jade in this adaptation of the bestseller by Pearl S. Buck (The Good Earth). Stellar support includes Walter Huston and Aline MacMahon (Academy Award? nominee for her stirring performance) as a long-married couple whose peaceful farm life is disrupted by enemy troops – and plunged into a tumult of hardships, wartime atrocities and fiery resistance.

Features include:
Vintage short Romance of Celluloid: Twenty Years After
Classic cartoon
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (feature film only)

Morning Glory (1933)
Hepburn earned the first of four Best Actress Academy Awards® for her portrayal of stage-struck Eva Lovelace, a role with strong parallels to Hepburn’s own theatrical beginnings. The story of an innocent country girl who seeks fame and fortune on Broadway, Eva’s story encompasses setbacks, human frailties and courage, talent and triumph.

Features include:
Oscar-nominated Pete Smith short Menu
Classic cartoon Bosko’s Mechanical Man
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (feature film only)

Sylvia Scarlett (1936)
This offbeat movie marks the first of the four screen pairings of legends Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, who play half of a roving team of swindlers and performers. Hepburn’s gender-bending dual roles as Sylvia and Sidney caused consternation then, but today the film finds an avid cult following. And Grant’s performance as a ne’er-do-well cockney con artist gave him a role that showcased for the first time his wider talents.

Features include:
Vintage Fitzpatrick TravelTalk short Los Angeles: Wonder City of the West
Classic cartoon Alias St. Nick
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (feature film only)

Undercurrent (1946)
This noir-styled melodrama directed with deft, screw-tightening skill by Vincente Minnelli sets a brooding tone. Newlywed Ann Garroway (Katharine Hepburn) is blinded by happiness, unable to see the true nature of her husband (Robert Taylor). She overlooks the menace that creeps into his words and trusts him when he says his mysterious, long-unseen brother (Robert Mitchum) is a psychopath. This is a suspenseful psychological thriller, with doubt and fear lurking under the surface.

Features include:
Oscar-Nominated Theater of Life short Traffic with the Devil
Classic cartoon Lonesome Lenny
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (feature film only)

Without Love (1945)
Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn team for the third time in the romantic comedy Without Love, playing a couple doing their part for the wartime lodging crunch by sharing her Washington DC home. Donald Ogden Stewart adapts Philip Barry’s play (five years earlier, both helped shape Hepburn’s comeback movie The Philadelphia Story). Supporting stars Keenan Wynn as a bon vivant, Lucille Ball’s wisecracking Girl Friday and Gloria Grahame’s flower girl add to the movie’s urbane wit and warmth.

Features include:
Vintage Crime Doesn’t Pay Short Purity Squad
Classic cartoon Swing Shift Cinderella
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (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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