ARTWORK UPDATE: Bad Girls of Film Noir

Updated and newly added artwork to previous announcement. Click here to see.

Sabu Double Feature - Savage Drums, Jungle Hell in March

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Sabu Double Feature
March 30th
VCI
Retail $14.99, Our: $10.99
Savage Drums (1951), Jungle Hell (1956)
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More from VCI as they've announced the DVD release of a Sabu Double Feature for March 30th. The single disc release will feature Savage Drums (1951) and Jungle Hell (1956) with no bonus features expected.

Retail will be $14.99, but it's available at ClassicFlix.com for only $10.99.

SYNOPSES:

Savage Drums (1951, 72 min.)
Startling thrills and primitive passions as Sabu, a boxer training for a light heavyweight championship fight in Los Angeles, is implored to return to his Indo-Chinese island home and help rid the area of Communist sympathizers. As Red Chinese troops prepare to invade the island, Sabu and his fight manager Sid Melton stand up for democracy!

Jungle Hell (1956, 78 min.)
Still playing a "Jungle Boy" in his 30s, the inimitable Sabu of Thief of Bagdad fame made an unsuccessful 1950s stab at TV stardom, with the unsold episodes morphing into this feature-length film instead. As usual he’s up to his diaper-loincloth in trouble as the jungles of India bristle with danger, from a wicked witch doctor to rogue elephants and from radioactive rocks--to a flying saucer! David Bruce (The Mad Ghoul) and K.T. Stevens (Missile to the Moon) co-star.

Sea Devils (1953) in March

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Sea Devils (1953)
March 30th
VCI
Retail: $14.99, Our: $10.99
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VCI has announced March 30th for the DVD release of Sea Devils (1953). Starring Yvonne De Carlo and Rock Hudson, this Technicolor adventure-drama will be a single disc release with no bonus features expected.

Retail will be $14.99, but it's available at ClassicFlix.com for only $10.99.

Bigger Than Life (1956) - Standard & Blu in March

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Bigger Than Life (1956)
March 23rd
Criterion
Retail $39.95, Our: $29.99
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Bigger Than Life (Blu-Ray) (1956)
March 23rd
Criterion
Retail $39.95, Our: $31.99
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Criterion has announced a March 23rd release date for Bigger Than Life (1956). Both a standard and a Blu-Ray release are part of the announcement and each will be a single disc release. Bonus features and a synopsis are below.

SYNOPSIS:
Though ignored at the time of its release, Nicholas Ray's Bigger Than Life is now recognized as one of the great American films of the 1950s. When a friendly, successful suburban teacher and father (James Mason, in one of his most indelible roles) is prescribed cortisone for a painful, possibly fatal affliction, he grows dangerously addicted to the experimental drug, resulting in his transformation into a psychotic and ultimately violent household despot.

This Eisenhower-era throat-grabber, shot in expressive CinemaScope, is an excoriating take on the nuclear family. That it came in the day of Father Knows Best makes it all the more shocking—and wildly entertaining.

BONUS FEATURES

  • Audio commentary featuring critic Geoff Andrew (The Films of Nicholas Ray)
  • Profile of Nicholas Ray (1977), a half-hour television interview with the director
  • New video appreciation of Bigger Than Life with author Jonathan Lethem (Chronic City)
  • New video interview with Susan Ray, widow of the director and editor of I Was Interrupted: Nicholas Ray on Making Movies
  • Theatrical trailer
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic and video maker B. Kite

ARTWORK & DETAILS ADDED: The Ladykillers (Blu-Ray)

--Artwork added to previous announcement--

--Bonus features as well as languages and subtitles offered are below--

BONUS FEATURES:

  • Introduction by filmmaker Terry Gilliam
  • Audio commentary by film historian and The Ladykillers expert Philip Kemp
  • “Forever Ealing” - documentary on the famed British studio
  • Interviews with British filmmakers Allan Scott and Terence Davies and writer Ronald Harwood on the film
  • BD-Live (includes bonus interview with British filmmaker James Mangold)
  • PLUS: 20-page collectible booklet

Languages Dubbed: French, German, Spanish

Language Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish

ORIGINAL ANNOUNCEMENT

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The Ladykillers (Blu-Ray)
February 16th
Lions Gate
Retail $39.99, Our: $29.99
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Lions Gate has announced a February 16th release date for the 1955 Alec Guinness dark comedy The Ladykillers (Blu-Ray). Bonus features are not yet known.

It will retail for $39.99, but it's available at ClassicFlix.com for only $29.99.

KINO: Talmadge Sisters Collections in March

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The Norma Talmadge Collection
March 16th
Kino
Retail $29.95, Our: $23.99
Kiki (1926), Within the Law (1923)

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The Constance Talmadge Collection
March 16th
Kino
Retail $29.95, Our: $23.99
Her Night of Romance (1924), Her Sister from Paris (1925)
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Kino has announced two double feature collections for release on March 16th.The first is The Norma Talmadge Collection featuring Kiki (1926) and Within the Law (1923). The second is The Constance Talmadge Collection featuring Her Night of Romance (1924) and Her Sister from Paris (1925).

Three of the four also star Ronald Colman. Each collection is on a single disc and no bonus features are expected. Details below.

They will retail for $29.95, but are available at ClassicFlix.com for only $23.99 each.

The Norma Talmadge Collection

From World War I until the Great Depression, the most famous sisters in the entertainment world were the Brooklyn-raised Talmadges: Norma, Natalie and Constance. Norma, the eldest, was a dramatic actress of great talent and restraint, and revered by a public that could identify with the brave, tragic heroine through a myriad of melodramas and tragedies. Appearing in vehicles with exceedingly high production values and helmed by some of Hollywood’s finest directors, Norma developed into one of the screen’s greatest actresses, and by 1920 had eclipsed Mary Pickford as the top worldwide female box-office attraction.

Kiki (1926, 96 min.)
Kiki showcases Norma in a rare comedic performance. A high-spirited Parisian gamine is determined to become a chorus girl and win the heart of the Follies manager (Ronald Colman) — even if it means performing some rather unladylike stunts.

Within the Law (1923, 105 min.)
Set and photographed in New York City, Within the Law follows a shopgirl who is unjustly accused of stealing, and then sent to jail. She plots revenge against her former employer, using “Rich Men’s” legal tricks, yet staying “within the law.” — Joseph Yranski, Film Historian

The Constance Talmadge Collection

While elder sister Norma devoted herself to tear-stained romance and tragedy, Constance Talmadge carved out her own reputation in a series of bubbly, Lubitsch-flavored comedies. Often appearing as the “virtuous vamp,” (a mesmerizing beauty who could be naughty yet nice), Constance had looks and comic timing that are as modern today as they were eighty years ago.

Her Night of Romance (1924, 85 min.)
An heiress traveling in England disguises herself to discourage fortune-hunters. She falls in love with a handsome nobleman (Ronald Colman) who is secretly impoverished. When they spend a night alone at his former estate, they are forced to pretend that they are married, a situation that threatens to unravel their storybook romance just as it is getting started.

Her Sister from Paris (1925, 74 min.)
Her Sister from Paris allowed Talmadge to demonstrate her comic range in dual roles: a frumpy-but-faithful housewife and her sophisticated twin sister. When a hausfrau’s husband (Colman) begins to lose interest in his wife, the arrival of her twin, a dancer and “woman of the world,” provides just the right impetus to reinvigorate their relationship. Talmadge was truly an icon of the silent screen. At the end of the era, she chose (without regret) to retire from motion pictures and enjoy her personal life, without ever having made a “talkie.” — Joseph Yranski, Film Historian

Have Gun Will Travel - Season 4, Vol. 1 in March

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Have Gun Will Travel - Season 4, Vol. 1
March 2nd
Paramount
Retail: $39.99, Our: $29.99
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After a four-year hiatus, Paladin is back as Paramount has announced a March 2nd release date for Have Gun Will Travel - Season 4, Vol. 1. No word on bonus features or disc count, but it's likely to be a three-disc set without bonus features.

Retail will be $39.99, but it's available at ClassicFlix.com for only $29.99.

Previous Releases:

ARTWORK & DETAILS ADDED: Alice in Wonderland

Artwork added to previous announcement. Click here to see.

UNIVERSAL: Alice in Wonderland (1933) in March

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Alice in Wonderland (1933)
March 2nd
Universal Studios
Retail: $19.98, Our: $14.99
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One of the most requested films we've had over the years is finally coming to DVD -- Alice in Wonderland (1933). Universal has slated a March 2nd release date for this very entertaining star-studded classic.

Charlotte Henry stars as Alice, and along the way she meets the likes of Cary Grant, W.C. Fields, Gary Cooper, Edward Everett Horton, Charles Ruggles, Edna May Oliver and Jack Oakie, among others.

Bonus features are likely to be slim, if any. It will retail for $19.98, but it's available at ClassicFlix.com for only $14.99.

Father Knows Best - Season 4 in March

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Father Knows Best - Season 4
March 23rd
Shout! Factory
Retail: $39.99, Our: $27.99

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Shout! Factory has announced a March 23rd release date for Father Knows Best - Season 4.

The five disc set will retail for $39.99, but it's available at ClassicFlix.com for only $27.99.

No word on bonus features.

Previous Releases:

NOW AVAILABLE: Wagon Train - Season 1, SPECIAL 3-DAY PRICE

Announced back in September as being exclusive to Sam's Club, Timeless Media has now made Wagon Train - Season 1 available for general release.

We have the 10-disc collector's edition tin set in stock and ready to ship. It retails for $79.98, but we'll have it on sale for three days for only $49.98.

For the first time, NBC Universal and TMG bring you the complete, uncut first season of Wagon Train, one of America's most enduring and sought after TV westerns of all time. Direct from the NBC vaults, these 39 episodes have been re-mastered and presented on 10 dual layer DVD's in this special collector's edition.

Inspired by the classic western film "Wagonmaster", directed by John Ford (The Searchers, Stagecoach), Wagon Train debuted on Wednesday, September 18, 1957 on the NBC Television Network The ensemble acting, wonderful scripts and great western scenery soon made Wagon Train a fixture in American homes on Wednesday nights, as millions of Americans of all ages tuned in to NBC for great family entertainment.

Ward Bond, who starred in "Wagonmaster", recreated his role from the film as Major Seth Adams. He was joined by costars Robert Horton as Head Scout Flint McCullough, Frank McGrath as the cook Charlie Wooster, and Terry Wilson as Assistant Wagon master Bill Hawks, who all brought their skills as horsemen as well as wonderful actors to the show, giving Wagon Train a special, western flavor.

Each well crafted episode focused on a personal story of courage and perseverance of not just the main cast, but of the westward-bound emigrants as they made the perilous journey by Conestoga wagon from the banks of the Mississippi to California's Pacific shores, in the face of great odds. Their heart-warming (and sometimes heartbreaking) sagas tell the tale of how the American West was truly won, by hard-working and determined people driven by the promise of freedom and prosperity in the new land, and by those who saw them through the harshest of landscapes to the promised land that beckoned them.

Joining the cast each week were some of Hollywood's brightest stars in guest roles, including Ernest Borgnine (The Willy Moran Story), Sterling Hayden (The Les Rand Story), Agnes Moorehead (The Mary Halstead Story), Keenan Wynn (The Luke O'Malley Story), June Lockhart ( The Sarah Drummond Story), Debra Paget and Nick Adams (The Marie Dupree Story), and many, many more.

This 10 DVD collector's edition of Wagon Train – The Complete First Season, including all 39 great episodes, is sure to please both fans of the original broadcast, and newcomers who are seeing it for the first time. As Major Adams says as he leads his charges westward and they roll their Conestoga wagons out onto the prairie, "WAGONS, HO!"

WARNER ARCHIVE: More Early Sound

Warner Bros. added to its early sound output today by listing 4 new Warner Archive titles over at WBShop. They are also now available for rent at ClassicFlix.

Titles released:

These four, as well as other newly added titles, can also be found HERE in the Recent Additions section.

This brings the total Warner Archive titles exclusively available for rent at ClassicFlix.com to 332.

The Virginian - Season 1 in March

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The Virginian - Season 1, Vol. 1
March 9th
Timeless Media
Retail: $69.98, Our: $44.99
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The Virginian - Season 1, Vol. 2
March 9th
Timeless Media
Retail: $69.98, Our: $44.99
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Timeless Media Group has announced a March 9th release date for Season 1 of The Virginian. Broken up into two separate volumes (above), each set contains 6 discs and over 19 hours.

The Virginian was filmed in color from its inception and was the first western series to air in 90 minute episodes.

Exclusive bonus features include:

  • An interview with James Drury (Vol. 1)
  • Interviews with Robert Fuller, Peter Brown and Gary Clark (Vol. 2)

Retail for each is $69.98, but they are available at ClassicFlix.com for only $44.99 per set.

My Three Sons - Season 2, Vol. 1 in February

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My Three Sons - Season 2, Vol. 1
February 23rd
Paramount
Retail: $39.99, Our: $29.99
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Paramount has announced a February 23rd release date for My Three Sons - Season 2, Vol. 1. The three disc set will cover the first half of the 1961 season.

Retail will be $39.99, but it's available at ClassicFlix.com for only $29.99.

Previous Releases:

WARNER ARCHIVE: 3 More Added Including Journey for Margaret

Warner Bros. has listed 3 new Warner Archive titles over at WBShop and they're now available for rent at ClassicFlix. They are:

They can also be found HERE in the Recent Additions section.

They are available for rent, but may be approximately four weeks before they are available for shipment.

These three bring the total Warner Archive titles exclusively available for rent at ClassicFlix.com to 328.

WARNER ARCHIVE: 17 More in Early Sound, Drama Wave

Warner Bros. has listed 17 new Warner Archive titles over at WBShop including nine early sound features and some longed-for dramas.

Among the early sound entries is the all-star cast The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929) with Jack Benny, Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford among others. Wheeler and Woolsey's first on screen teaming in Rio Rita (1929) is also making its home-video debut.

Dramas The Enchanted Cottage (1945) starring Dorothy McGuire, Robert Montgomery and Herbert Marshall and The Next Voice You Hear (1950) starring James Whitmore and Nancy Davis are also part of this wave.

Another title high on the list of many, The Canterville Ghost (1944) starring Charles Laugton, Robert Young and Margaret O'Brien, is finally out.

All 17 titles can be found HERE in the Recent Additions section.

They are now available for rent at ClassicFlix, but may be approximately four weeks before they are available for shipment.

And thanks to Jimmy in Ohio for catching one we missed on October, Tribute to a Bad Man (1956) starring James Cagney. It's now also in the system and available.

This new wave brings the total Warner Archive titles exclusively available for rent at ClassicFlix.com to 325.

M.G.M. Begins MOD Line With Trapeze, Return to Paradise

Dormant since May, M.G.M. is quietly re-entering classic film distibution with the almost stealth placement of some classics over at Amazon.com. However, these aren't standard pressed DVDs, but MOD (manufactured-on-demand) DVD-R's with generic packaging like the Warner Archive line. Due out later this month are:

With no press release forthcoming, we are assuming these are exclusive to Amazon for now. But we have pre-ordered them and they are available to put in your queue.

UNIVERSAL: Remember the Night (1940)

Continuing with their MOD program, Universal has now made available Remember the Night (1940). While it's only available for sale through TCM and Movies Unlimited, it is only available for rent here at ClassicFlix.com.

It is now available to put in your queue, but may be approximately three to four weeks before it's available for shipment.

Next up in January will be three early Cary Grant films: The Eagle and the Hawk (1933), The Devil and the Deep (1932) and The Last Outpost (1935). We'll let you know as soon as they're available.

Incidentally, while Universal states this new line is MOD (Manufactured-on-Demand), the DVDs in the already released Universal Cult Horror Collection are actually all pressed discs.