Random DVD and Blu-ray announcements

Started by wilder, November 01, 2011, 01:54:56 AM

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Jeremy Blackman


wilder

#676
September 5, 2017

Sydney Pollack's They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) on blu-ray from Kino



In Depression-era America, desperation spawned a bizarre fad: the dance marathon. Couples competed to stay on their feet for thousands of hours, and audiences flocked to watch. But Gloria (Fonda) doesn't think of herself as a spectacle. She is a fierce, unforgiving contestant in a battle she's determined to win. At stake is much more than the $1.500 prize. The marathon is her only hope for dignity, accomplishment...and salvation.   






July 24, 2017

Arthur Penn's Mickey One (1965) on blu-ray from Indicator (UK)



Influenced by the French New Wave, director Arthur Penn's ground-breaking and wildly inventive Mickey One is a tale of a man on the run - his first teaming with Warren Beatty, two years before Bonnie and Clyde. The film also boasts a classic jazz score by Eddie Sauter and Stan Getz. World premiere Blu-ray.

Mickey One (1965) - Amazon UK






July 24, 2017

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953) on blu-ray from Indicator (UK)



Produced by Stanley Kramer and based on an original screenplay by Dr. Seuss, Roy Rowland's pioneering wild fantasy adventure is visually stunning and remains one of American cinema's most beloved – and bizarre – children's films.

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953) - Amazon UK



July 24, 2017

G.W. Pabst's Westfront 1918 and Kameradschafton (1930-1931) on blu-ray from Masters of Cinema (UK)



Georg Wilhelm Pabst (Pandora's Box, Diary of a Lost Girl) made a flawless transition from silent to sound filmmaking with, Westfront 1918 and Kameradschaft, a pair of strongly anti-war titles (Pabst himself was a prisoner of war for the duration of WWI) that combined elements of Expressionism and New Objectivity to stunning effect.

In Westfront 1918, four infantrymen on the Western Front suffer the everyday hardships and insanity of trench warfare, and in Kameradschaft, a team of German miners risk their lives to rescue a team of French miners left trapped after an underground explosion.

Sharing many thematic elements, as well as key cast and crew (most notably cinematographer Fritz Arno Wagner, M, Nosferatu, Der müde Tod), Westfront 1918 and Kameradschaft represents a master director at the height of his powers, and The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present both these titles for the first time ever on Blu-ray in a special Dual Format edition.


Westfront 1918 & Kameradschafton (Two films by G.W Pabst) - Amazon UK

wilder

Available Now

Daryl Duke's The Silent Partner (1978) on blu-ray from TC Entertainment (Japan)



A timid bank teller anticipates a bank robbery and steals the money himself before the crook arrives. When the sadistic crook realizes he's been fooled, he tracks down the teller and engages him in a cat-and-mouse chase for the cash.

The Silent Partner (1978) - YesAsia

Also currently streaming on Filmstruck


wilder

Quote from: wilder on May 09, 2016, 03:50:12 PM
Another unbelievable, was-never-going-to-happen announcement. Everything is on the table, now. I love the cinematography in this film.

Fall 2016 TBD

Francis Delia's Freeway (1988) on blu-ray from Kino



There are 600 miles of freeway in Los Angeles. Every night, millions of angry motorists speed through its asphalt maze. Some of them have guns. One of them enjoys killing people. Now a traumatized ER nurse (Darlanne Fluegel of Crime Story), an acerbic talk-radio host (Richard Belzer of Homicide and Law & Order: SVU) and a stranger with a dark secret (James Russo of Donnie Brasco) must join to stop the bible-quoting madman (Billy Drago of The Untouchables) who has promised the panicked city one final fast lane massacre. Michael Callan, Kenneth Tobey and Clint Howard co-star in this suspense thriller directed by Francis Delia that shocked audiences at the height of LA's real-life freeway shooting sprees.




New release date: July 18, 2017

wilder

August 29, 2017

Robert Aldrich's The Big Knife (1955) on blu-ray from Arrow Academy, from a new 2K restoration from original film elements produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release



Mere months after delivering one of the definitive examples of film noir with Kiss Me Deadly, Robert Aldrich brought a noir flavour to Hollywood with his classic adaptation of Clifford Odets stage play, The Big Knife.

Charles Castle, one of Hollywood s biggest stars, looks like he has it all. But his marriage is falling apart and his wife is threatening to leave him if he renews his contract. Studio boss Stanley Shriner Hoff isn't taking the news too well, and he'll do anything he can to get his man to sign on the dotted line even if means exposing dark secrets...


The Big Knife (1955) - Amazon



wilder

#680
August 15, 2017

Martin Ritt's The Long, Hot Summer (1958) on blu-ray from Twilight Time



Accused barn burner and con man Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.

Pre-order from Screen Archives on August 2nd








August 15, 2017

Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) on blu-ray from Twilight Time



The only son of wealthy widow Violet Venable dies while on vacation with his cousin Catherine. What the girl saw was so horrible that she went insane; now Mrs. Venable wants Catherine lobotomized to cover up the truth.

Pre-order from Screen Archives on August 2nd






September 5, 2017

William Friedkin's adaptation of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party (1968) on blu-ray from Kino



The down-at-heel lodger in a seaside boarding house is menaced by two mysterious strangers, who eventually take him away.

wilder

2017 TBD

Sidney Lumet's Running on Empty (1988) from Warner Archive



After antiwar activists Annie and Arthur Pope (Christine Lahti and Judd Hirsch) blew up a napalm lab in 1971, they became lifelong fugitives. They and their children have stayed just one step ahead of the law, running from state to state, job to job, identity to identity. But now elder son Danny (River Phoenix) wants to stop running from a past not his. And to do so, he might never see his on-the-lam family again.



wilder

2017 TBD

Douglas Sirk's La Habanera (1937) on blu-ray from Kino, from a new restoration



Trapped in Puerto Rico, a beautiful young Swede is torn between her passionate, but mildly abusive South American oligarch husband and her longing for her European homeland.

Legendary director Douglas Sirk's (Written on the Wind, Imitation of Life) La Habanera is a lushly poetic and boldly modern musical drama decades ahead of its time. Working at Germany's famed UFA Studios (Metropolis), under the very noses of the Nazi authorities that would later him into Hollywood exile and eminence, Sirk transformed a glossy musical vehicle for UFA's "new Garbo" Zarah Leander into a dark an intimate anti-colonial melodrama.

Desperate to escape the "cold Swedish minds" of her homeland, beautiful Astree (Leander) falls under the enchanting spell of the Caribbean love serenade La Habanera and into the arms of Puerto Rican land baron Don Pedro de Avila (Ferdinand Marian). But ten years later, when Astree's old flame Dr. Sven Nagel (Karl Martell) arrives in Puerto Rico on an errand of mercy, all is far from heavenly. Astree is trapped in a loveless marriage to Don Pedro and the island wind that once conveyed the music of romance now carries death in the form of an outbreak of airborne tropical fever. While racing to find a cure for Astree's fever stricken son, Dr. Nagel most elude both the island authorities that would have him jailed for revealing their fatal cover-up and a psychotically jealous Don Pedro who would rather see Astree dead than reunited with her last love.

Douglas Sirk gilds La Habanera with all the dazzling compositions, swooping camera work and ravishing but doomed characters that distinguish his revered 50's Universal melodramas. Cooly precise yet extravagantly emotional, La Habanera is the work of an assured cinematic poet and compelling tragedian already at the peak of his skill.




jenkins

has anyone seen this movie? i bought it before canceling the order because i realized i needed to buy Out 1, i just needed to do that, but now i'm stalled on this

QuoteWhile travelling the countryside to locate his nephew, a small town doctor finds himself interacting with people from his past and future.



i mean some of those places feel straight lifted from Zhangke's Unknown Pleasures

it was warmly but moderately received by critics. Film Comment placed it 15th on its 2016 list. i liked reading internet people feeling pissed about this movie being underappreciated.

wilder

August 21, 2017

Sidney Lumet's The Deadly Affair (1966) on blu-ray from Powerhouse Films/Indicator (UK)



Director Sidney Lumet tackles this cold war spy thriller based on a novel by master of the genre, John Le Carre. James Mason plays British secret agent Charles Dobbs, who's puzzled by the sudden suicide of a man he's recently investigated. The suicide seems contrary to his own findings, and Dobbs questions the recent widow (Simone Signoret) in an effort to understand the man's state of mind. When the Foreign Office tells Dobbs to drop the inquiry, he persists, even enlisting a retired investigator when he turns up further disturbing evidence. All of this takes place while Dobbs is dealing with the news that his frequently unfaithful wife (Harriet Andersson) has been carrying on an affair with his friend and protege (Maximilian Schell).

The Deadly Affair (1966) - Amazon UK






2017 TBD

Woodey Allen's Take the Money and Run (1969) on blu-ray from Kino



Virgil Starkwell (Allen), having no talent for his beloved cello, turns to larceny as a career. Unfailingly optimistic, he is nevertheless a complete criminal failure - although his prison breakouts are often successful. And with the support of his loving wife Louise (Janet Margolin), he may yet pull off a successful bank heist...if he can just manage to write out a legible stickup note!


   

jenkins

Quote from: wilder on July 01, 2016, 05:53:37 PM
2017 TBD

Toshio Matsumoto's Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) on blu-ray from Cinelicious Pics



A loose adaptation of Oedipus Rex set in the underground gay counterculture of 1960s Tokyo. Cross-dressing club-kid Eddie (played by real-life transvestite entertainer extraordinaire Peter, famed for his role as Kyoami the Fool in Akira Kurosawa's Ran) vies with a rival drag-queen for the favours of drug-dealing cabaret-manager Gonda. Passions escalate and blood begins to flow — before all tensions are released in a jolting climax that prefigures by nearly thirty years Tsai Ming-liang's similarly scandalous The River.

An important work of the Japanese New Wave, Funeral Parade of Roses combines elements of arthouse, documentary and experimental cinema. The film was a major influence on Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971).



yeah sorry this just landed on my radar. because it's playing at Cinefamily the end of this month


wilder

June 22, 2017

Larry Cohen's The Ambulance (1990) on blu-ray from Koch Media (Germany)



Josh meets a young woman who shortly afterwards collapses and is rushed to hospital in an ambulance. He follows after her only to find that there is no record her being admitted, and he soon learns that her room mate also vanished after being picked up by the same ambulance. Convinced of a conspiracy, Josh proceeds to investigate, despite the discouragement of the police.
      
The Ambulance (1990) - Amazon Germany






wilder

August 10, 2017

Sydney Pollack's The Electric Horseman (1979) on blu-ray from Koch Media (Germany).

Shot by Owen Roizman (Network, Straight Time, The Exorcist, The Stepford Wives, The French Connection)



A former champion rodeo rider is reduced to using his saddle skills to promote a breakfast cereal in a gaudy Las Vegas show. When he's asked to perform with a $12 million horse that he discovers is being doped to remain docile, he flees into the desert astride the beast in an act of defiance. A story-hungry female reporter gives chase.

The Electric Horseman (1979) - Amazon Germany



wilder

June 13, 2017

James Landis' Rat Fink (1965) on blu-ray from Retromedia, from a new 2K restoration, limited to 1,000 copies



One of the most exciting cinematic finds of the year was the discovery of a 35mm print of Rat Rink. Considered lost for over 50 years, its original elements destroyed in a fire, a print was recently located in an old warehouse. The film, severely damaged by crippling arc burns, was successfully restored to its present condition by Retromedia and represents the final "missing link" in the stellar career of Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Heaven's Gate).

Cult director, James Landis (The Sadist), skillfully employs Zsigmond's brilliant black and white imagery to bring RAT FINK's story of betrayal and murder to vivd life. The bizarre story of the film's history continues with its star, Schuyler Hayden, an enigmatic personality who mounted the production in an effort to achieve stardom after only appearing a spattering of small, inconsequential roles on TV. His performance here is outstanding, generating solid reviews from Variety and other showbiz journals. He was at one point compared to a young Warren Beatty.


Rat Fink (1965) - Amazon




wilder

Fall 2017 TBD

The Outer Limits: The Complete Original Series (1963-1965) on blu-ray from Kino

Season 1 (32 Episodes - 8 Discs) is expected to arrive on the market in later this year, and Season 2 (17 Episodes - 5 Discs) is planned for early 2018