Random DVD and Blu-ray announcements

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

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wilder

Q4 2015 TBD

The Crooked Way (1949) on blu-ray from Kino



A war hero recovers from amnesia and is confronted by his criminal past.






A Bullet for Joey (1955) on blu-ray from Kino



In Montreal, a police inspector slowly discovers a plot to kidnap a nuclear physicist, American mobsters, foreign spies, and a blonde seductress are all involved.

wilder

Another title I never thought would make it to this format...


November 17, 2015

André De Toth's Pitfall (1948) on blu-ray from Kino



Dick Powell plays a returning World War II veteran who at first blush would seem to have everything going his way, a good marriage with a beautiful and loving wife in Jane Wyatt and a healthy, energetic young son in Jimmy Hunt, along with a position as a Los Angeles insurance executive and a lovely home. Powell exhibits the restlessness that many returning servicemen experienced following a global military conflict. His penchant for excitement leads him into an extra-marital affair with sexy blonde model Lizabeth Scott. What propels "Pitfall" into the ranks of a chilling film noir drama is the appearance of a ruthless sociopath willing to destroy all in his path to secure his objective, which in this case is possessing Liz Scott, body and soul. Corrupt private detective Raymond Burr overlooks the unyielding rebuff of Scott, who detests him. Burr convinces himself that eventually her feelings will change. The element thrusting Powell into the combustible picture is Burr's selfish realization that Scott holds true feeling for the decent but fallible insurance executive. He believes that to have Scott all to himself he needs to destroy both Powell and her boyfriend, who is about to be released from jail, played by Byron Barr. If he can successfully play off one man against the other they will be removed from the picture, leaving him to take up romantically with Scott.





Some reading about the movie:

It Might Get Quiet: "Ramrod" (de Toth, 1947) and "Pitfall" (de Toth, 1948)

Film Noir of the Week - Pitfall (1948)

Classic Movie Rambligs - Pitfall (1948)

"The relative lack of overt noir visuals works to the film's advantage. This is a nightmare played out in broad daylight and bright sunshine."

wilder

August 25, 2015

Sidney Lumet's Daniel (1983) from Olive Films



The fictionalized story of Daniel, the son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed as Soviet spies in the 1950s.

Daniel (1983) - Amazon


wilder

July 14, 2015

John Huston's Beat the Devil (1953) on blu-ray from Film Detective



A quartet of international crooks -- Peterson, O'Hara, Ross and Ravello -- is stranded in Italy while their steamer is being repaired. With them are a British couple, the Dannreuthers. The four are headed for Africa, presumably to sell vacuum cleaners but actually to buy land supposedly loaded with uranium. They are joined by others who apparently have similar designs.

Beat the Devil (1953) - Amazon




wilder

October 6, 2015

Eric Rohmer's Full Moon in Paris (1984) on blu-ray from Film Movement



Full Moon in Paris (1984) - Amazon






Eric Rohmer's The Marquis of O (1976) on blu-ray from Film Movement



The Marquis of O (1976) - Amazon



wilder

August 11, 2015

Michael Tolkin's The New Age (1994) on blu-ray from Fox



The New Age (1994) - Amazon






The Power of One (1992) on blu-ray from Fox


wilder

2015 TBD

Lucio Fulci's A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971) on blu-ray from Mondo Macabro








September 21, 2015

Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon (1975) 40th Anniversary Edition from Warner Bros. (includes the documentary I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale (2009))



Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - Amazon








October 20, 2015

G.W. Pabst's  Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) on blu-ray from Kino



Thymiane Henning, an innocent young girl, is raped by the clerk of her father's pharmacy. She becomes pregnant, is rejected by her family, and must fend for herself in a harsh, cruel world.



jenkins

Quote from: wilder on July 06, 2015, 01:40:21 PM
October 20, 2015

G.W. Pabst's  Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) on blu-ray from Kino



Thymiane Henning, an innocent young girl, is raped by the clerk of her father's pharmacy. She becomes pregnant, is rejected by her family, and must fend for herself in a harsh, cruel world.




That's front page news.

Beginning approximately with It, starring Clara Bow in '27, there's a terrific streak of female-lead Hollywood movies, in which women are empowered and impassioned and smart and fighting back against a world that could try to bring them down. I say it all the time -- women have been strong since the beginning of cinema. To put some greats next to some greats, Greta Gerwig does Clara on her Tuesdays. Amy Schumer is doing Mae West on a Friday morning. This streak ends with the introduction of the Hays Code, which code for me exemplifies the need to allow movies to be as honest and open as they can be.

Diary of a Lost Girl is a centerpiece for the melodramatic dimensions of this style. Sirk comes later you know, after the code, and certainly within the movies of Stirk there's art and fiery passions. But what's gone is the grit. Maybe someone thinks "Pabst in the 20s, oh who cares that's old," but I don't think you get again the grit of the pre-code until the 60s. Louise Brooks gets right down to portraits of dark girls, working again with Pabst for Pandora's Box, and as long as movies exist she'll be remembered.

Haven't worked into the conversation Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Blondell, Mary Pickford, Bebe Daniels. So I mentioned my problem with the Hays Code, what about how bad it got after, with Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn. Oh, awful. I think Diary of a Lost Girl is a good movie for seeing the power of female-lead movies.


jenkins

Finally watched Equus last night. Thought it did a good job of exploring what it means to be human, and how difficult that is, and also there was the horse stuff. Its edits have a temporal rhythm, like Don't Look Now. And I appreciate the theatrics of the human condition: a beaten down Richard Burton admires the outrageously free Peter Firth, whose eyes are loaded with curiosity through the entire movie, and Burton's eyes are loaded with weariness. This movie is "realistic depressing" and a kinda classy first-world problems movie. It's reality converted into emotional perspective. Our culture now isn't serious enough about psychology to make this kind of movie. I think Firth would be into New Age and no one would have any questions about that "horse sprinkle" on his personality. That's just a side tale about ol' Firth. Robinson Devor's Zoo raised the horse love notch to a catastrophe, and the insanest always help the near-insane appear realistically ok. Thanks for recommending Equus, hand raise, spin, Magic Mike XXL, leave room.

wilder

September 15, 2015

Walerian Borowczyk's The Beast (1975) from Arrow Films US



The head of a failing French family thinks that fate has smiled down on him when the daughter of a wealthy man agrees to be married to his son. The daughter and her aunt then travel out to the French countryside to meet with the family, unaware that a mysterious 'beast' is stalking the vicinity.

The Beast (1975) - Amazon





Walerian Borowczyk's Immoral Tales (1974) from Arrow Films US



Four erotic tales in various historical eras. The first, 'The Tide', is set in the present day, and concerns a student and his young female cousin stranded on the beach by the tide, secluded from prying eyes. 'Therese Philosophe' is set in the nineteenth century, and concerns a girl being locked in her bedroom, where she contemplates the erotic potential of the objects contained within it. 'Erzsebet Bathory' is a portrait of the sixteenth-century countess who allegedly bathed in the blood of virgins, while 'Lucrezia Borgia' concerns an incestuous fifteenth-century orgy involving Lucrezia, her brother, and her father the Pope.





Quote from: blu-ray.comSadly, these will be the only discs from Arrow's legendary Borowczyk box to get a US release, at least from Arrow - the US rights for the other three features and all the shorts are with another label.

Because of this, the two supporting shorts that were included on the UK discs of Immoral Tales and The Beast had to be dropped - but in their place we've added all the non-film-specific extras from the other three UK discs, including the hour-long Borowczyk portrait Obscure Pleasures.

wilder

September 15, 2015

Christopher Guest's The Big Picture (1989) from Mill Creek



When a film student wins an award for his artsy short, Hollywood comes calling and insists that he compromise his vision.

The Big Picture (1989) - Amazon







jenkins

^Its MSRP is going to be $15, but I bet it'll drop below $10 in no time. I have no inside knowledge about Mill Creek Entertainment, but I appreciate them in a general philosophical sense, and in fact they're so cheap and great I wish their releases would just arrive at my doorstep upon release.

This one's from January and currently costs $7 new: