Random DVD and Blu-ray announcements

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

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

wilder

Must admit I haven't gone too deep into DeMille, I'm only sure I saw The Ten Commandments at some point, but see the visual connection you're making to von Sternberg. Claudette Colbert even sort of looks like Marlene Dietrich, to me.

Cleopatra (1934) is one I really want to see. Interested in his films for their elaborate production design and deliberate artifice.

I'd never really been into that, before, but Anna Biller's twitter posts turned me on to the style. She's a fan of DeMille's Madame Satan (1930), as well as stuff I think of being in a similar vein like Robert Siodmak's Cobra Woman (1944), which also has theatrical styling and production design.

Speaking of Dietrich/Colbert, Karina Longworth did an episode on their supposed ties for her Hollywood history podcast 'You Must Remember This', which can be listened to .

jenkins

you really brought it with that reply. i think Madame Satan could warm me up for Cleopatra

wilder

Quote from: wilder on May 07, 2020, 10:35:47 AMJune 9, 2020

Reinhold Schünzel's Victor and Victoria (1933) on blu-ray from Kino



In this dazzling musical romance, a young woman (Renate Müller), unable to find work as a music hall singer, partners with a down-and-out thespian (Hermann Thimig) to revamp her act. Pretending to be a man performing in drag, Victoria becomes the toast of the international stage. But she soon finds that her playful bending of genders enmeshes her personal and professional life in a tangle of unexpected complications. Produced in the final days of the Weimar Republic, Victor and Victoria received limited exposure in the United States, and is today best known by Blake Edwards's 1982 remake and the 1995 Broadway production. Viewers will be delighted to discover that the original is every bit as charming and outrageous, reminiscent of the sly sex comedies of Ernst Lubitsch and Billy Wilder.)



Quote from: wilder on May 13, 2020, 02:48:29 PMJuly 14, 2020

Leontine Sagan's Mädchen in Uniform (1931) on blu-ray from Kino



After the death of her mother, teenage Manuela (Hertha Thiele) is sent off to a boarding school run by the autocratic Fräulein von Nordeck (Emilia Unda). Initially withdrawn from the other girls due to her grief and anger at being sent away, Manuela is drawn out of her shell by the beautiful and sympathetic young teacher Elizabeth von Bernburg (Dorothea Wieck). But when Manuela's fondness for her teacher turns into a romantic attachment, it becomes a school-wide scandal.



Will also be available to rent through Kino Marquee starting June 12th

wilder

September TBD

Fellini's Casanova (1976) on blu-ray from Kino



The myth of Giacomo Casanova, the notorious womanizer is presented as a pitiable and terrifying figure. A sex scandal lands him in prison, but an escape to Paris provides him a new lease of life.





September 1, 2020

Lindsay Anderson's Britannia Hospital (1982) on blu-ray from Kino. Also coming from Indicator in the UK.



Mick Travis is a reporter who is about to shoot a documentary on Britannia Hospital, an institution which mirrors the downsides of British Society...



September 22, 2020

Roger Corman's The Masque of Red Death (1964) on blu-ray from Shout Factory



Satan-worshiper Prince Prospero invites several dozen of the local nobility to his castle for protection against an oncoming plague, the "Red Death". Prospero orders his guests to attend a masked ball and, amidst a general atmosphere of debauchery and depravity, notices the entry of a mysterious hooded stranger dressed all in red. Believing the figure to be his master, Satan, Prospero is horrified at the revelation of his true identity...





2020 TBD

John D. Hancock's California Dreaming (1979) on blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing



T.T. (Dennis Christopher), a Midwesterner, has traveled to the beaches of California for a dose of the surfin' life. He believes that the people he finds there are glamorous and knowledgeable. They reject his Midwestern nerdiness, make fun of him, and generally give him a hard time for not fitting in and wanting to. However, eventually he figures out that they are no wiser than he is, and that their lives are surprisingly empty.





Fall 2020 TBD

Harry Kümel's Daughters of Darkness (1971) on 4K UHD blu-ray from Blue Underground



International screen icon Delphine Seyrig (Last Year at Marienbad) stars as Elizabeth Bathory, an ageless Countess with a beautiful young "companion" (Goth goddess Andrea Rau) and a legendary legacy of perversion. But when the two women seduce a troubled newlywed couple (French beauty Danielle Ouimet and John Karlen of Dark Shadows and Cagney & Lacey), they unleash a frenzy of sudden violence and depraved desire that shocked both art house audiences and grindhouse crowds worldwide.



August 24, 2020

Joseph Losey's Eve (1962) on blu-ray from Indicator (UK), from a new 4K master



A raw Welsh novelist in Venice is humiliated by a money-loving Frenchwoman who erotically ensnares him.





August 17, 2020

Billy Wilder's Five Graves to Cairo (1943) on blu-ray from Masters of Cinema (UK), from a 4K restoration



Only the second Hollywood film directed by Billy Wilder, the riveting World War II spy thriller Five Graves to Cairo is an underrated early gem from the filmmaker, who would ascend to the industry's highest ranks with his next project, Double Indemnity. Five Graves demonstrates that Wilder and screenwriter Charles Brackett—who would collaborate on thirteen films, winning screenplay Oscars for The Lost Weekend and Sunset Boulevard—were already working at the peak of their powers, delivering an espionage yarn that never lets up on the suspense.

The only survivor in his unit after a battle with Rommel's soldiers in North Africa, British Corporal Bramble (Franchot Tone) staggers through the desert until arriving at the largely deserted Empress of Britain hotel, staffed only by owner Farid (Akim Tamiroff) and his French employee Mouche (Anne Baxter). While Bramble hopes to hide there, the hotel doesn't remain deserted for long – Rommel (a scene-stealing Erich von Stroheim) and his men arrive and take over the building as new headquarters. Bramble assumes the identity of a recently killed waiter...only to soon discover that this waiter was also serving as a German spy, a role Bramble now has to adopt for his own survival. And while Mouche knows Bramble's true identity, she has her own reasons for not wanting to aid in his plot.

Named by Quentin Tarantino as one of his favourite films, Five Graves to Cairo is filled with duplicity and danger at every turn. Wilder ratchets up the tension surrounding a disparate group of characters trapped together in wartime, with each hiding their own secrets and their own schemes. The director would soon become one of Hollywood's most lauded talents, but his genius was clearly evident in this early work. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the film in its UK debut on Blu-ray.




September 21, 2020

George Méliès' A Trip to the Moon (1902) on blu-ray from Arrow (UK), limited to 1,000 copies



Georges Méliès was not just a pioneer of early cinema, he was central to what we know as film today. An illustrator, magician, filmmaker, and inventor he paved the way for animation and multi-media filmmaking. Of all of Méliès films, his boldest and most well known is certainly A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune), loosely based on the writings of Jules Verne. A Trip to the Moon follows a group of travellers who jet off to the moon from earth on an exploration mission only to end up in peril and captured by the the local inhabitants, the Selenites. Featuring a who's who of theatrical cast from the era, with Méliès himself taking a lead role, this is one of the very first forays into sci-fi cinema, and spawned one of the most iconic images of cinema – the man in the moon with a rocket in his eye.



August 17, 2020

Sidney Lumet's Equus (1977) on blu-ray from BFI (UK). The US release from Twilight Time is OOP.



A psychiatrist attempts to uncover a troubled stable boy's disturbing obsession with horses.


wilder

September 29, 2020

Bette Gordon's Variety (1983) on blu-ray from Kino, from a 2K restoration of the original camera negative



Follows Christine (Sandy McLeod, Something Wild), a bright and unassuming young woman, after she takes a job selling tickets at a porno theater near Times Square. Christine soon develops an obsession that begins to consume her life, finding self-expression through an interest in porn.





September 22, 2020

George Axelrod's Lord Love a Duck (1966) on blu-ray from Kino, from a 2K restoration



With a special gift for manipulating the outcome of any situation, high-minded high schooler Mollymauk (Roddy McDowall) sets out to help beautiful new girl on campus Barbara Anne (Tuesday Weld). Trouble is, Barbara Anne wants everything,and Mollymauk's "help" is making a mess out of everyone's lives including hers.

Directed, produced and co-written George Axelrod, the acclaimed writer of The Seven Year Itch, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and The Manchurian Candidate.






September 29, 2020

James Whale's The Kiss Before the Mirror (1933) on blu-ray from Kino



When a famous doctor kills his adulterous wife, he is defended by his best friend, an attorney who suspects that his own wife is having an affair.



September 29, 2020

Billy Wilder's Five Graves to Cairo (1943) on blu-ray from Kino. Also available from Masters of Cinema in the UK.



The fate of Cairo is in the hands of a British corporal undercover in Rommel's headquarters.



September TBD

The Alfred Hitchcock Classic Collection on 4K UHD blu-ray from Universal





September 14/15, 2020

Bernard Rose's Ivans xtc. (2000) on blu-ray from Arrow US & Arrow UK



Danny Huston, Peter Weller and Lisa Enos star in this biting satire on the behind-the-scenes of the Hollywood film industry, with all its drink and drug-fueled excess, from director Bernard Rose (Candyman, Paperhouse).

Opening with the death of its titular protagonist, ivansxtc goes back in time to chart the final days of hot-shot Tinseltown agent Ivan Beckman (Huston) and his fast-paced, wheeler-dealer lifestyle, which will ultimately lead him to an early grave after a shock cancer diagnosis.

Loosely based on Leo Tolstoy's celebrated 1886 novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and featuring a searing performance by Danny Huston at its core and wonderfully sleazy turn from Peter Weller as Ivan's biggest client, ivansxtc is a powerful meditation on life, death and morality set against the glitzy backdrop of La La Land.




2020 TBD

Grindhouse Releasing is reissuing Frank Perry's The Swimmer (1968) with a remastered CD soundtrack



In suburban Connecticut, a handsome advertising executive heads home by swimming from pool to pool through his neighborhood. Along the way, more of his life story is revealed via his complicated interaction with his neighbors.

wilder

A very special announcement...

Summer 2020 TBD

Paul Flaherty's Clifford (1994) is coming to blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing



Clifford is a ten-year-old troublemaker, who puts not only his parents through hell, but also his uncle with whom his parents have discarded him to.


WorldForgot

If any of you have not seen this movie^ it iz one of the best ways to bully yourself. Pure, comedy out of anger.

Something Spanish

I saw it during its theatrical run, a childhood fave

wilder

Quote from: jenkins on May 18, 2020, 12:15:26 AMAdaptation. is 66 used on amazon today, and you can't even trust amazon oop, let's check ebay, okay it's 55 there you're fucked. that's fucked.

Being released by Shout Factory October 20, 2020


Alethia


wilder

#880
July 29, 2020

Phil Goldstone's The Sin of Nora Moran (1933) on blu-ray from Film Detective, restored from the original camera negative. A lower resolution version is available to watch on



The Poverty Row, Pre-Code marvel that stunned audiences when released in 1933 stars Zita Johann as Nora Moran, a young woman sentenced to death for a murder she did not commit. Awaiting her sentence, Nora explores the patterns of her life in a dream-like haze, including the dark secret that could change not only her own fate, but the fate of those she holds most dear.

Directed by Phil Goldstone, The Sin of Nora Moran masterfully utilizes flashbacks, dreams and hallucinations to tell the tale of fateful doom, true to the thematic style of the Pre-Code era.

A star of stage and screen, Johann was fresh from performances in Boris Karloff's The Mummy (1932) and Edward G. Robinson's Tiger Shark (1932) before delivering a haunting performance as Nora Moran. Also starring John Miljan, Alan Dinehart and Paul Cavanagh, as the many surrounding Nora Moran who play a part in sealing her fate.




September 15, 2020

Jack Nicholson's The Two Jakes (1990) on blu-ray from Paramount



The sequel to Chinatown finds Jake Gittes investigating adultery and murder... and the money that comes from oil.




September 1, 2020

Amos Poe's Alphabet City (1984) on blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome



Johnny (Vincent Spano, Baby It's You and Over the Edge) controls the drug trade in New York's rough Alphabet City neighborhood—as long as his mob bosses let him. But, when he refuses to follow orders to torch the tenement building he grew up in, Johnny puts himself and his loved ones in their unforgiving crosshairs. No Wave filmmaker Amos Poe's (The Blank Generation and Subway Riders) neo-noir cult favorite oozes '80s neon-lit, punk-tinged style.

The innovative and vividly colorful visuals spring from the lens of cinematographer Oliver Wood (TV's Miami Vice, The Honeymoon Killers and Face/Off). Chic co-founder and dance music legend Nile Rodgers' supremely catchy synth-pop score propels the action.


Quote from: Vinegar SyndromeFun City Editions is a new boutique label focused on creating deluxe home video editions of maverick repertory cinema that can best be described as works that exist "outside of their time." Spanning an array of genres and countries, but with a unifying focus on forgotten and overlooked treasures, the initial wave of titles will come from the New American Cinema. Each Fun City release will present stunning new restorations produced and overseen by Vinegar Syndrome and comprehensive extras which contextualize and illuminate the film's artistic and historic value. Vinegar Syndrome's sister company, OCN Distribution, is thrilled to be representing this diverse and unique home video line!





September 22, 2020

Frank Capra's The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933) on pressed blu-ray from Sony. The previously issued blu-ray was a BD-R



Set in war-torn Shanghai, this visually stunning melodrama opens as Megan, the fiancée of a missionary, arrives in China for their marriage. Their plans are interrupted by civil war and Megan finds herself caught in a riot after visiting an orphanage. General Yen, a ruthless Chinese warlord, rescues and whisks her away to safety in his palace. Megan soon suspects she is not his guest but his prisoner yet she begins to feel a strange attraction to her captor. The once controversial topic of interracial romance between a Caucasian woman and a Chinese man earned this film some notoriety upon its release but Capra considered it a "strangely poetic romance" which was a risky art film for its era.



September 22, 2020

Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger (1975) on blu-ray from Sony. Also available from Indicator in the UK



A melancholy, depressed and jaded television reporter assumes the identity of a dead man while at a hotel in a north African country, not knowing that the man was a renowned arms smuggler. The newsman sees this switch as a last desperate chance to escape his old life and start anew. However, as he begins to take on the characteristics of his new persona and understand his shady involvements, the decision becomes a risky one, which leads to an inevitable showdown.



September 1, 2020

William Wyler's Roman Holiday (1953) on blu-ray from Paramount



A runaway princess in Rome finds love with a reporter who knows her true identity.



Fall TBD

George Stevens' A Place in the Sun (1951) on blu-ray from Paramount



In this classic version of Theodore Dreiser's novel "An American Tragedy," George Eastman (Montgomery Clift), the nephew of a wealthy industrialist, is excluded from high society and given a blue-collar job at his uncle's factory. While ascending the ranks of the company, George becomes romantically involved with co-worker Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters). However, when he is introduced to socialite Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor), he quickly falls for her, leading to a tragic love triangle.



February 23, 2021

Noah Baumbach's Mr. Jealousy (1997) on blu-ray from Moonstone Entertainment



After his first date at age 15 ended with the girl making out with another man at a party, aspiring writer Lester Grimm has treated all his girlfriends with jealousy and suspicion. While dating Ramona Ray, paranoia gets the best of him when he discovers that her most recent ex is successful novelist Dashiell Frank. Lester begins attending the same group therapy sessions as Dashiell to learn about Ramona's past with him.





September 7, 2020

Edmund Goulding's Nightmare Alley (1947) on blu-ray from Signal One (UK)



Stanton Carlisle is a lowlife working in a carnival. Knowing a good con when he sees one, he learns the tricks of a mind-reading act from Zeena, then tosses her aside. In time, he becomes "The Great Stanton," star attraction of swanky nightclubs and the darling of society. But with all his notoriety built on lies, it's only a matter of time before exposure brings Stanton's world crashing down around him.



July 27, 2020

Michelangelo Antonioni's Story of a Love Affair (1950) on blu-ray from Cult Films (UK)



Paola is a young, beautiful woman married to a wealthy entrepreneur. She meets her former lover Guido after seven years, but their relationship is marked by tragic events.


wilder

Film Aficionado is shutting down for real this time on July 30, 2020.

Quote from: FilmAF on FacebookThe server is shutting down July 30th and not coming back (we assume).

We recommend exporting or saving your collections now.

Samuel Scott, who generously came to the rescue of FilmAF when it was recently set to expire, before, died earlier this month:

Quote from: DVDcompareRIP - SITE OWNER SAMUEL SCOTT (1984-2020)
Monday 13th July 2020 - posted by Eric_Cotenas

It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that we have to inform you our site owner Samuel Scott suddenly passed at the young age of 36. His passing was far too early and he will be missed.

Sam had a profound love for movies and it showed in his collection and his devotion to keeping this website alive. If you've met Sam in person or through this site you would have met a wonderful human. Sam has been a good friend to a lot of us.

As it stands, we will be keeping DVDcompare going, since this is what Sam would have wanted. For the time being, operations as usual. But do expect certain changes to occur in the near future.

Rest in peace Sam, you will be missed dearly.

wilder

September 22, 2020

Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987) on 4K UHD blu-ray from Warner Bros., also coming in a box set along with 2001 and The Shining



The story of an 18-year-old marine recruit named Private Joker - from his carnage-and-machismo boot camp to his climactic involvement in the heavy fighting in Hue during the 1968 Tet Offensive.





August 19, 2020

Nicolas Roeg's Cold Heaven (1991) on blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing



From Nicolas Roeg (Walkabout, Performance, Don't Look Now), comes this haunting, wild and chilling psychological thriller. Seduction, deception and death all lead to the ultimate test of an unfaithful woman's love and fate when her deceased husband comes back to life.





November 10, 2020

Clint Eastwood's Play Misty for Me (1971) on blu-ray from Kino, from a new 2K restoration



Popular radio show host Dave Garver (Clint Eastwood) becomes restless in his relationship with his girlfriend (Donna Mills). Impulsively, he goes out and sleeps with a woman (Jessica Walter) he meets at a nightclub. After the fact, he finds out she was not an anonymous hookup, but an obsessive fan who has called in repeatedly to request he play the song "Misty." Garver soon discovers extricating himself from the woman will be no easy feat as she becomes increasingly psychotic.



November 10, 2020

Don Siegel's The Beguiled (1971) on blu-ray from Kino, remastered



During the civil war, injured Yankee soldier, John McBurney is rescued on the verge of death by a teenage girl from a southern boarding school. She manages to get him back to the school, and at first the all-female staff and pupils are scared. As he starts to recover, one by one he charms them and the atmosphere becomes filled with jealousy and deceit.



Fall 2020 TBD

John Carpenter's They Live (1988) on 4K UHD blu-ray from Shout Factory



Nada (Roddy Piper), a wanderer without meaning in his life, discovers a pair of sunglasses capable of showing the world the way it truly is. As he walks the streets of Los Angeles, Nada notices that both the media and the government are comprised of subliminal messages meant to keep the population subdued, and that most of the social elite are skull-faced aliens bent on world domination. With this shocking discovery, Nada fights to free humanity from the mind-controlling aliens.



October 6, 2020

Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island (2010) on 4K UHD blu-ray from Paramount



In 1954, a U.S. Marshal investigates the disappearance of a murderer who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane.



November 17, 2020

The Rita Hayworth Collection (19490-1959) on blu-ray from Mill Creek



Rita Hayworth is the epitome of Hollywood glamour with an unparalleled on-screen presence whose talent was only surpassed by her beauty. Her rise from a Spanish dancer and vaudeville performer to one of the world's greatest movie goddesses is chronicled in this song, dance, drama, and suspense-filled film collection.

QuoteMusic in My Heart (1940)
You'll Never Get Rich (1941)
Tonight and Every Night (1945)
Down To Earth (1947)
The Lady from Shanghai (1948)
The Loves of Carmen (1948)
Affair in Trinidad (1952)
Salome (1953)
Miss Sadie Thompson (1954)
Fire Down Below (1957)
Pal Joey (1957)
They Came to Cordura (1959)



November 3, 2002

Paul Leni's Waxworks (1924) on blu-ray from Flicker Alley, from a 2K restoration, also coming to blu-ray in the UK from Masters of Cinema



Waxworks (Das Wachsfigurenkabinett) was the final film Paul Leni directed in Germany before striking out for Hollywood, where he made such classic genre films as The Cat and the Canary, The Man Who Laughs, and The Last Warning. Its sophisticated medley of genres was in fact what inspired Universal's Carl Laemmle to invite Leni to come to Hollywood, as Laemmle was hoping to capitalize on the emerging comedy-horror craze of the 1920s. Stylistically, Waxworks was celebrated as a late example of German Expressionism. Its stylized sets (designed by Leni), fantastical costumes, chiaroscuro lighting, and startlingly bold performances are characteristic of that cinematic movement and contribute to the film's lasting appeal.

The three episodes of Waxworks are united by the character of a young poet (William Dieterle), who is hired by the owner of a wax museum to create backstories for a trio of the museum's figures: Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid (Emil Jannings), Ivan the Terrible (Conrad Veidt), and Jack the Ripper (Werner Krauss). The stories with leading actors of Weimar cinema are depicted successively, the poet casting himself together with the daughter of the wax museum's owner at the center of each tale. Though the poet and the daughter play different characters every time, they are always lovers threatened by an animated wax figure tyrant.

As the original German version of Waxworks has not survived, this newly restored English edition—a joint effort by the Deutsche Kinemathek and Cineteca di Bologna, L'Immagine Ritrovata (with funding from the German Commission for Culture and the Media)—is composed of vintage export prints and additional film materials from archives around the world. The elements, including English intertitles, were scanned in 4K resolution and then restored in 2K.






November 16, 2020

Abel Ferrara's King of New York (1990) on 4K UHD blu-ray from Arrow (UK)



In New York, crime gets done Frank's way - or it doesn't get done at all. Recently freed from prison, Frank White hooks up with his old crew to challenge his fellow drug lords. Each bloody battle aims at a piece of the high-priced action where being at the top of the chain can mean the difference between life and death. Unable to keep him behind bars, the cops declare war on him. Frank's answer-put a contract out on the cops.



November 2, 2020

Bernardo Bertolucci's The Sheltering Sky (1990) on blu-ray from Arrow (UK)



In the hopes of rekindling their marriage, sophisticated American couple Port and Kit Moresby (John Malkovich and Debra Winger) set off for North Africa intending to travel through Algeria – uncertain of exactly where they are heading but determined to leave the modern world behind. They are instead tested to their limits by the unfathomable emptiness and impassive cruelty of the desert.



November 16, 2020

Columbia Noir #1 on blu-ray from Indicator (UK)



Six tough, no-nonsense noirs from six of the genre's toughest, no-nonsense directors: Budd Boetticher's Escape in the Fog, in which a nurse and a war veteran take on Nazi spies in San Francisco; Joseph H Lewis' The Undercover Man, inspired by the real-life case against Al Capone; Richard Quine's Drive a Crooked Road, which finds Mickey Rooney moving away from comedies and musicals to a tougher persona; Phil Karlson's 5 Against the House, starring Kim Novak as a nightclub singer embroiled in a casino heist; Vincent Sherman's The Garment Jungle, from which Kiss Me Deadly director Robert Aldrich was famously fired; and Don Siegel's police procedural The Lineup, based on the radio and television series, and as brutal a film as he ever made.

QuoteESCAPE IN THE FOG  (Budd Boetticher, 1945)

Veteran nurse Eilene Carr (Nina Foch) experiences disturbing nightmares and wakes up screaming in a hotel in San Francisco. To her amazement the man she was dreaming about, Barry Malcolm (William Wright), is at her hotel. Relating her dream of three men attempting to kill him, Eilene then agrees to accompany Barry to a meeting, unaware that he's involved in an espionage plot relating to Japanese agents. In spite of her continued dreams and blackouts, Eilene proves invaluable to Barry's mission.

THE UNDERCOVER MAN  (Joseph H Lewis, 1949)

Determined Treasury Department investigator Frank Warren (Glenn Ford) goes after a ruthless mobster known as The Big Fellow. When a key informant is murdered, Warren pursues the gangster on charges of tax evasion. But, with a slick mob lawyer hampering him at every turn, and threats being lobbed toward Warren's wife (Nina Foch), the lawman's chances of achieving a conviction are slim to none. His only hope is that one syndicate bookkeeper will have the courage to turn state's evidence.

DRIVE A CROOKED ROAD  (Richard Quine, 1954)

Eddie Shannon (Mickey Rooney) is a guileless Los Angeles auto mechanic with dreams of one day racing in European car meets. Eddie encounters fetching Barbara Mathews (Dianne Foster) and, much to his surprise and delight, she agrees to date him. But Barbara's true intentions are revealed when she introduces Eddie to her associates -- Steve Norris (Kevin McCarthy) and Harold Baker (Jack Kelly) -- who, as it turns out, need a getaway driver for a planned bank heist.

5 AGAINST THE HOUSE[  (Phil Karlson, 1955)

When college buddies Ronnie (Kerwin Mathews) and Roy (Alvy Moore) are briefly detained by the Reno police in association with a casino robbery, Ronnie becomes obsessed with figuring out how to plan the perfect heist. At first it is a strictly intellectual exercise, but when the emotionally disturbed Korean War vet Brick (Brian Keith) gets involved, the friends -- including straitlaced Al (Guy Madison) and his nightclub-singer girlfriend, Kaye (Kim Novak) -- have to pull the job for real.

THE GARMENT JUNGLE  (Vincent Sherman and Robert Aldrich, 1957)

New York garment factory owner Walter Mitchell (Lee J. Cobb) goes the extra, deceitful mile in battling his employees' efforts to unionize. He hires gangster Artie Ravage (Richard Boone) to interfere with the grassroots efforts. After Mitchell's son, Alan (Kerwin Matthews), returns from Europe and befriends one of the union organizers (Robert Loggia), Mitchell eventually tries to mend his unethical ways. Unfortunately, this does not sit well with the violent, vengeful Ravage.

THE LINEUP (Don Siegel, 1958)

From legendary director Don Siegel (Dirty Harry) comes this compelling crime thriller based on a popular television series. Dancer (Eli Wallach, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) is a psychopathic San Francisco gangster who uses unwitting tourists to bring in heroin from the Orient. When one of the deliveries goes awry, a cop gets killed, bringing the police into action. But Dancer and his associate, Julian (Robert Keith, Guys and Dolls), have three new unsuspecting carriers, including a little girl with a Japanese doll. It is up to the police to solve the case before Dancer kills innocent people.



September 21, 2020

Tony Richardson's Mademoiselle (1966) on blu-ray from BFI (UK)



In a French village, Manou is an Italian logger, virile, with a broad laugh. He can't say no to women's sexual invitations, and jealous villagers blame him for recent fires and a flood. He is innocent; the culprit is "Mademoiselle," town schoolmarm, a recent arrival admired by all, but sexually repressed and obsessed with Manou.


wilder

February 21, 2021

Paul Leni's The Last Warning (1928) on blu-ray from Masters of Cinema (UK), also available from Flicker Alley in the US



Adapted from Thomas F. Fallon's 1922 Broadway play of the same name, THE LAST WARNING is based on the story THE HOUSE OF FEAR by Wadsworth Camp and centres on an unsolved murder that occurs during a live Broadway performance. When the victim's body goes missing, the death remains unsolved and the theatre is condemned. That is, until years later when a suspicious new "producer" arrives to restage the play with the original cast and crew.

THE LAST WARNING was Paul Leni's final film before his untimely death, and a prime showcase for Universal's leading lady of the era, Laura La Plante (THE CAT AND THE CANARY, SKINNER'S DRESS SUIT). A visual artist at the peak of his career, Leni's camera never stops shifting, offering cutaways and trick shots involving nervous could-be culprits, a highly suspicious sleuth, and cast members who suddenly disappear in the darkened theatre. The result is a cinematic funhouse that restlessly cross-examines the suspense of the story's stage play against the "real" murder mystery saga, all unfolding amid the outstanding production design of Charles D. Hall.






March 29, 2021

Tales From the Urban Jungle: Brute Force and The Naked City on blu-ray from Arrow (UK)



Writer, director, producer and actor Jules Dassin was one of Hollywoods most remarkable talents. Between 1947 and 1955 he directed a string of stylish, gritty, and hard-hitting Film Noir classics including Thieves Highway and Night And The City. Blacklisted in the communist witch hunts of the House Un-American Activities, he would continue that run with Rififi, directed in France. Each film is a diamond hard classic, weathering the test of time with sharp edges intact.

Tales from The Urban Jungle brings together the two films which started that extraordinary streak of hits. In Brute Force, Burt Lancaster is Joe Collins, one of a number of convicts squeezed into cell R17 and intent on breaking out. Desperate to return to his cancer-ridden wife (Ann Blyth), and to escape the clutches of sadistic warden Captain Munsey (an unforgettable performance from Hume Cronyn) who enjoys a reign of terror over the inmates.

Meanwhile, in The Naked City, a blonde ex-model is murdered in her bathtub and detectives Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald) and Halloran (Don Taylor) are assigned to the case. Their investigation leads them all over New York City, from Park Avenue to the Lower East Side, reaching its thrilling climax atop the Williamsburg Bridge. Inspired by the work of infamous tabloid photographer Weegee, The Naked City was the first major Hollywood production to be shot entirely on the streets of New York, making use of more than a hundred authentic locations. Both films feature stark cinematography and taut writing to land an incredible one-two punch that remains impactful to this day.

Sourced from new 4K restorations, and complemented by a wealth of bonus features, this Special Edition Blu-Ray set is both the perfect entry point for newcomers to the work of a great director, and a must have for die-hard fans of Film Noir and Jules Dassin.




December 1, 2020

Robert Altman's Popeye (1980) on blu-ray from Paramount



The sailor-man travels to a town called Sweet Haven, falls in love with Olive Oyl, adopts Swee' Pea, and makes an enemy with Bluto.



February 9, 2021

Bert Stern's Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959) on blu-ray from Kino



Filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island and directed by world-renowned photographer, Bert Stern. JAZZ ON A SUMMER'S DAY features intimate performances by an all-star line-up of musical legends including Louis Armstrong, Thelonius Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Anita O'Day, Chuck Berry, Dinah Washington, and closes with a beautiful rendition or The Lord's Prayer by Mahalia Jackson at midnight to usher in Sunday morning.

The 1959 classic is considered one of the most extraordinary and possibly the first concert film ever made. Its sparkling new 4K restoration by IndieCollect, recently premiered at the 57th New York Film Festival. The film was named to the National Film Registry in 1999, and its restoration was funded by the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress in time to celebrate the film's 60th Anniversary.






April 2021 TBD

Douglas Sirk's Battle Hymn (1957) on blu-ray from Kino



A remorseful bomber pilot-turned-minister rejoins for the Korean War.



March 9, 2021

Sam Peckinpah's Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) on blu-ray from Kino, from a 4K restoration completed in 2017



An American bartender and his prostitute girlfriend go on a road trip through the Mexican underworld to collect a $1 million bounty on the head of a dead gigolo.



February 16, 2021

Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera (1929) on blu-ray from Kino



One of the most innovative and influential films of the silent era, Dziga Vertov's Man With A Movie Camera utilizes rapid editing and innumerable other cinematic effects to create a work of amazing modernity and power. This dawn-to-dusk view of urban Soviet life shows people at work, at play, and at the machines that endlessly whirl to keep the metropolis alive. It was Vertov's first full-length film, and it employs all the cinematic techniques at the director's disposal—dissolves, split-screens, slow-motion, and freeze-frames—to produce a work that is as exhilarating as it is intellectually brilliant. Restored by the British Film Institute, this edition features an orchestral score composed and conducted by Michael Nyman (The Piano), first performed on May 17, 2002 at London's Royal Festival Hall.



February 16, 2021

Film Worker (2018) on blu-ray from Kino



It's a rare person who would give up fame and fortune to toil in obscurity for someone else's creative vision. Yet, that's exactly what Leon Vitali did after his acclaimed performance as Lord Bullingdon in Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon.





February 16, 2021

The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002) on blu-ray from Kino



Robert Evans' rise from second-string actor to head of one of Hollywood's biggest movie studios to legendary producer is told from the viewpoint of Evans himself.



December 15, 2020

Frank Perry's Ladybug Ladybug (1963) on blu-ray from Kino



Staff and students at a rural school react to a warning of an imminent nuclear attack, not knowing whether it is real or a mistake.



March 23, 2021

Frank Perry's Doc (1971) on blu-ray from Kino



Revisionist retelling of the familiar Wyatt Earp/Doc Holliday story in Tombstone with fascinating character development, stressing such details as Wyatt's campaign for the Sheriff's seat, the romance between Doc Holliday and Kate Elder, their addiction to gambling, the conflict with local cowboys and concluding with a blistering depiction of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.



Q1 2021 TBD

Dennis Hopper's The Hot Spot (1990) on blu-ray from Kino, from a new 2K restoration



Harry Madox (Don Johnson) is a drifter who settles into a small Texas town, taking a job at a used car dealership. He proceeds to have affairs with the sultry Dolly Harshaw (Virginia Madsen), the wife of the dealership's owner, and pretty accountant, Gloria Harper (Jennifer Connelly), all while plotting to rob the local bank. When Harry is arrested for the robbery, Dolly provides him with an alibi, but when he plans on leaving town with Gloria, Dolly is understandably upset.



Q1 2021 TBD

Francesco Rosi's Illustrious Corpses (1976) on blu-ray from Kino, from a 4K restoration



A detective (inspector Rogas) is assigned to investigate the mysterious murders of some Supreme Court judges. During the investigation he discovers a complot that involves the Italian Communist Party.



November 24, 2020

Vincente Minelli's The Pirate (1948) on blu-ray from Warner Archive



On a Caribbean isle in the early 19th century, sheltered young Garland comes to believe that travelling troubadour Kelly is in reality "Mack the Black," a notorious pirate. Kelly realizes that the surest way to win Garland's heart is to impersonate the romantic buccaneer, and this is what he does--nearly getting himself hanged in the process.



December 22, 2020

Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner (1940) on blu-ray from Warner Archive



A Budapest store clerk finds himself feuding with his pretty co-worker, who, unbeknownst to him, is the secret pen pal with whom he is falling in love.



November 3, 2020

Frank Borzage's The Mortal Storm (1940) on blu-ray from Warner Archive



The Roth family lead a quiet life in a small village in the German Alps during the early 1930's. When the Nazis come to power, the family is divided and Martin Breitner, a family friend, is caught up in the turmoil.



December 15, 2020

Michael Curtiz's Young Man with a Horn (1950) on blu-ray from Warner Archive



Stars Kirk Douglas as a driven trumpet player who devotes his life to music, to the exclusion of almost everything else. Doris Day and Lauren Bacall are the women in his life; Harry James performed Douglas' tunes.



December 14, 2020

Richard Franklin's Road Games (1981) on blu-ray from Indicator (UK)



A truck driver plays a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious serial killer who uses a young female hitchhiker as bait to lure victims on a desolate Australian highway.



January 18, 2021

Paul Schrader's Light Sleeper (1992) on blu-ray from Indicator (UK)



Light Sleeper tells of John LeTour (Willem Dafoe, Auto Focus), a drug dealer servicing a high-society clientele of Manhattan professionals. When his boss (Susan Sarandon, The Hunger) announces she is going straight and John encounters an old flame he still loves, his life is thrown into crisis. As he becomes involved in a police investigation surrounding a mysterious drug death, John prowls the night-time streets in search of redemption.



February 15, 2021

Columbia Noir #2 (1947-1958) on blu-ray from Indicator (UK)



Our second Columbia Noir box set takes a dive once more into the studio's archives and the world of film noir – a world of undercover detectives (The Mob) and emotionless hitmen (Murder by Contract), a world where film is inspired by real-life criminal activities (Tight Spot, based loosely on Virginia Hill's testimony against Bugsy Siegel) and real-life criminal activities are inspired by film (711 Ocean Drive, which attracted the unwanted attention of mobsters), and a world where Glenn Ford finds himself unwittingly embroiled in murder – twice (Framed, Affair in Trinidad).



March 22, 2021

David Mamet's Things Change (1988) on blu-ray from Indicator (UK)



An elderly cobbler agrees to take the rap for a Mafia don and a low-level mobster is tasked with guarding him before he testifies.



March 22, 2021

Howard Hawks' Twentieth Century (1934) on blu-ray from Indicator (UK)



A tempestuous theatrical director tries to win back the star he created and then drove away.



March 22, 2021

Howard Hawks' The Criminal Code (1931) on blu-ray from Indicator (UK)



Howard Hawks (Twentieth Century) made his first film for Columbia Pictures with this pre-Code prison movie. The great Walter Huston (Dragonwyck) stars as a district attorney-turned-prison warden who gets to witness first-hand the effects of his convictions, especially Phillip Holmes (An American Tragedy), imprisoned after killing a man in a drunken brawl. Co-starring Boris Karloff (Frankenstein), The Criminal Code is tough, no-nonsense, quintessential Hawks.



October 28, 2020

Essential Film Noir Collection Volume 1 (1947-1957) on blu-ray from Impulse (Australia).



Essential Film Noir Collection 1 includes four acclaimed and much sought after classics including Framed (1947), Alias Nick Beal (1949), Detective Story (1951) and The Garment Jungle (1957). Join Hollywood's legendary tough guys and femme fatale film noir icons such as Glenn Ford, William Bendix, Audrey Totter, Ray Milland & Eleanor Parker and Directing greats including William Wyler & John Farrow. Bonus material includes feature audio commentaries from Hollywood's top film noir historians including Eddie Muller & Alan K. Rode. FRAMED (1947) Mike Lambert takes to driving a truck when he falls on hard times. When his rig breaks down in a small town, he is quickly drawn into a criminal plot. ALIAS NICK BEAL (1949) The mysterious Nick Beal materialises to offer honest politician, Joseph Foster, not only wealth but also the charms of Donna Allen. DETECTIVE STORY (1951) The personal conflict between a principled, rigid police detective and his tormented wife reaches an explosive, unforgettable climax. THE GARMENT JUNGLE (1957) Alan Mitchell must join forces with rebellious labour union leaders in order to save his family's dress company from the mob.



Q1 2021 TBD

Ralph Bakshi's Fire and Ice (1983) on 4K UHD blu-ray from Blue Underground



It began as a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between two of the greatest icons of the fantasy genre: Controversial animator Ralph Bakshi (director of 'Fritz the Cat', 'Wizards' and the original 'The Lord of the Rings') and legendary illustrator Frank Frazetta (creator of the iconic Conan the Barbarian, Vampirella and Edgar Rice Burroughs book covers). It became – and remains – one of the most startling animation epics of all time. Now experience a world unlike any ever seen, where savage warriors, horrific monsters and luscious maidens battle for the soul of a civilization in a time of good and evil, pleasure and pain, and Fire and Ice.



August 21, 2020

Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin (2003) on blu-ray from Camera Obscura (Germany). See comparison to the US blu-ray here.



A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.



March 22, 2021 TBD

Peter Bogdanovich's Targets (1968) on blu-ray from BFI (UK)



A quiet insurance agent/Vietnam veteran murders his young wife, his mother and a grocery delivery boy at home and then initiates an afternoon shooting rampage from atop a Los Angeles area oil refinery. When the police respond and start to close in on him, he flees and resumes his shootings at a Reseda drive-in theater where an aging horror film icon is making a final promotional appearance before retirement.


Find Your Magali

Really stoked for that Kino release of "Ladybug Ladybug"
Incredibly unsettling film