WARNER ARCHIVE: Forties Fun & Film Noir in New Wave

Seven new Warner Archive titles, all from the 40's, have been posted over at WBShop.

A couple of Noir releases:

Comedies & Dramas:
  • Gallant Sons (1940) - Jackie Cooper, Bonita Granville, Gene Reynolds, Gail Patrick, Ian Hunter, June Preisser, Leo Gorcey, William Tracy
  • Two Smart People (1946) - Lucille Ball, John Hodiak, Lloyd Nolan
  • Young Ideas (1943) - Mary Astor, Susan Peters, Herbert Marshall
  • The Youngest Profession (1943) - Virginia Weidler, Edward Arnold, John Carroll & Numerous Cameos by MGM Stars

Hugh Sinclairs' Saint also streets in the double feature of The Saint's Vacation / The Saint Meets the Tiger (1941, 1943).

All will be available here at ClassicFlix on May 8th.

These new DVDs add to the total of over 800 Warner Archive titles exclusively available for rent at ClassicFlix.com.

OLIVE: The Colossus of New York (Blu), Space Children in June

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The Colossus of New York (Blu-Ray) (1958)
June 19th
Olive
Retail: 29.95, Our: $23.99
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The Space Children (1958)
June 19th
Olive
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The Space Children (Blu-Ray) (1958)
June 19th
Olive
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Sci-Fi treats are in store this June 19th as Olive has scheduled The Colossus of New York (Blu-Ray) (1958) and The Space Children (1958) on both standard DVD and Blu-Ray.

Bonus features are not expected.




The Grapes of Wrath (Blu-Ray) in June

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The Grapes of Wrath (Blu-Ray)
June 5th
Fox
Retail: $29.99, Our: $23.99
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The Grapes of Wrath (Blu-Ray) has been announced by Fox for release on June 5th.

The heart-wrenching John Ford drama will carry most of the bonus features over from the standard edition and will retail for $29.99.


Following a prison term he served for manslaughter, Tom Joad returns to find his family homestead overwhelmed by weather and the greed of the banking industry. With little work potential on the horizon of the Oklahoma dust bowls, the entire family packs up and heads for the promised land - California. but the arduous trip and harsh living conditions they encounter offer little hope, and family unity proves as daunting a challenge as any other they face.

BONUS FEATURES:
  • Commentary by Scholars Joseph McBride and Susan Shillinglaw
  • FMC Presents Fox Legacy with Tim Rothman
  • Darryl F. Zanuck - 20th Century Filmmaker
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
  • Fox Movietone News:
    • 1934: Worst Drought in Many Years Hits Mid-West
    • 1934: Drought Distress is Increasing in the Mid-West
    • 1934: Midwest Drought Distress Becomes National Disaster
    • 1934: Outtakes
    • 1941: Roosevelt Lands Motion Pictures at Academy Fete

WARNER ARCHIVE: Headliner Musicals & Early Sound in New Wave

Three musicals and five early sound films (all from 1930) are Warner's Archive releases this week. All eight are posted over at the newly revamped WBShop.

Big names headline the three musicals starting with Fred Astaire and his 18-year old dance partner Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit (1943). Featured are Robert Benchley and Robert Ryan.

Gene Kelly stars in 1947's Living in a Big Way along with Marie McDonald, Charles Winninger, Phyllis Thaxter and Spring Byington. Gregory La Cava directs.

Pre-Oz Judy Garland leads a great cast of Freddie Bartholomew, Mary Astor, Walter Pidgeon, Alan Hale, Scotty Beckett, Gene Lockhart and Charley Grapewin in the comedy-drama (with musical numbers) Listen, Darling (1938).

Rounding out this wave are comedies and dramas from 1930:

  • Conspiracy (1930) - Bessie Love, Ned Sparks
  • The Doorway to Hell (1930) - Lew Ayres, Charles Judels, Leon Janney, Robert Elliott, James Cagney. Dir. Archie Mayo.
  • Lovin' the Ladies (1930) - Richard Dix, Lois Wilson
  • The Matrimonial Bed (1930) - Frank Fay, James Gleason. Dir. Michael Curtiz.
  • Mothers Cry (1930) - Dorothy Peterson, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Edward Woods, Evalyn Knapp
All will be available here at ClassicFlix on May 1st.
These new DVDs add to the total of over 800 Warner Archive titles exclusively available for rent at ClassicFlix.com.

TCM VAULT: Women in Danger - 1950s Thrillers in June

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Women in Danger: 1950s Thrillers (TCM Vault)
June 5th
Universal
Woman in Hiding (1950), Female on the Beach (1955), The Unguarded Moment (1956), The Price of Fear (1956)


"Four glamorous leading ladies of the studio era are featured in a quartet of suspenseful melodramas that showcase them as endangered heroines" in Women in Danger: 1950s Thrillers due on June 5th.

Released via the TCM Vault line, the 4-disc set will come with the standard bonus features (stills, lobby cards, etc.).

Available exclusively for purchase at TCM.com, these four titles above will be available for rent here at ClassicFlix and nowhere else!


SKY OF BLU: Yellow Submarine Gets Remastered for DVD & Blu-Ray

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Yellow Submarine
May 29th
Capitol
Retail: 41.99, Our: $35.99
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Yellow Submarine (Blu-Ray)
May 29th
Capitol
Retail: 51.99, Our: $42.99
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Yellow Submarine (1968) is getting a makeover and will be released on standard DVD and Blu-Ray this May 29th.

No word on bonus features, but based on the price point, I'm guessing a lot will be included. Stay tuned.

COLUMBIA CLASSICS: Boston Blackie & More Crime Thrillers in May

Sony has announced four Columbia Classic DVDs for release on May 1st.

Two Boston Blackie quickies, One Mysterious Night (1944) and A Close Call for Boston Blackie (1946), are being released. Chester Morris stars with supporting players Janis Carter, Lynn Merrick, Richard Lane and George E. Stone. Lew Landers and Budd Boetticher direct.

Also out is Strange Affair (1944) starring Allyn Joslyn, Evelyn Keyes, Marguerite Chapman, Edgar Buchanan and Nina Foch; and She Played with Fire (1957) with Jack Hawkins and Arlene Dahl.

BRIT VCI: Bacall in Flame Over India, Plus Rome Express in June

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Flame Over India (1959)
June 5th
VCI
Retail: 14.99, Our: $12.99
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Flame Over India (Blu-Ray) (1959)
June 5th
VCI
Retail: 19.99, Our: $15.99
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Rome Express (1932)
June 5th
VCI
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Two more Rank films have been scheduled by VCI for release on June 5th.

First up is Lauren Bacall and Kenneth More starring in the 1959 adventure-drama Flame Over India (A.K.A. North West Frontier) on both standard DVD and Blu-Ray. Herbert Lom and Wilfrid Hyde-White co-star.

Also out is 1932's Rome Express which became the prototype for train thrillers such as Hitchock's The Lady Vanishes. It stars Muriel Aked and Joan Barry and features Donald Calthrop, Finlay Currie, Cedric Hardwicke and Conrad Veidt.

Bonus features are not expected.




CRITERION: 39 Steps, Gold Rush - Standard & Blu in June

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The 39 Steps (1935)
June 26th
Criterion
Retail: 29.95, Our: $23.99
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The 39 Steps (Blu-Ray) (1935)
June 26th
Criterion
Retail: 39.95, Our: $31.99
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The Gold Rush (1925)
June 12th
Criterion
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The Gold Rush (Blu-Ray) (1925)
June 12th
Criterion
Retail: 39.95, Our: $31.99
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Criterion has announced June release dates for standard and Blu-Ray versions of Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) and Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush (1925).

As typical with Criterion, bonus features abound (see below).


The 39 Steps is a heart-racing spy story by Alfred Hitchcock, following Richard Hannay (Oscar winner Robert Donat), who stumbles into a conspiracy that thrusts him into a hectic chase across the Scottish moors—a chase in which he is both the pursuer and the pursued—as well as into an expected romance with the cool Pamela (Madeline Carroll).w

Adapted from a novel by John Buchan, this classic wrong-man thriller from the Master of Suspense anticipates the director’s most famous works (especially North by Northwest), and remains one of his cleverest and most entertaining films.

BONUS FEATURES:
  • Audio essay by Hitchcock scholar Marian Keane
  • Hitchcock: The Early Years (2000), a British documentary covering Hitchcock’s prewar career
  • Original footage from British broadcaster Mike Scott’s 1966 television interview with Hitchcock
  • The Complete 1937 broadcast of the Lux Radio Theatre adaptation, performed by Robert Montgomery and Ida Lupino
  • Visual essay by Hitchcock scholar Leonard Leff
  • Excerpts from Francois Truffaut’s 1962 audio interview with Hitchcock
  • Original production design drawings
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic David Cairns

The first feature-length comedy by Charlie Chaplin—which charts a hapless prospector’s search for fortune in the Klondike and his discovery of romance (with the beautiful Georgia Hale)—forever cemented the iconic status of Chaplin and his Little Tramp character.

Shot partly on location in the Sierra Nevadas and featuring such timeless gags as Chaplin’s dance of the dinner rolls and meal of boiled shoe leather, The Gold Rush is an indelible work of nonstop hilarity.

This special edition features both Chaplin’s definitive 1942 version, for which the director added new music and narration, and a new restoration of the original silent 1925 film.

BONUS FEATURES:

  • New audio commentary for the 1925 version by Chaplin biographer and archivist Jeffrey Vance
  • Three new programs:
    • Presenting “The Gold Rush,” which traces the film’s history from original release to rerelease to 2003 reconstruction and features film historian Kevin Brownlow and Jeffrey Vance
    • Music by Charles Chaplin, featuring conductor and composer Timothy Brock
    • Visual Effects in “The Gold Rush,” featuring effects specialist Craig Barron and Chaplin cinematographer Roland Totheroh
  • Chaplin Today: “The Gold Rush” (2002), a short documentary featuring filmmaker Idrissa Ouedraogo
  • Four theatrical trailers
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Luc Sante and James Agee’s review of the 1942 version

OLIVE: Cassavetes, Losey Dramas in May

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The Lawless
May 22nd
Olive Flims
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Too Late Blues
May 22nd
Olive Flims
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Too Late Blues (Blu-Ray)
May 22nd
Olive Flims
Retail: 29.95, Our: $21.99
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More from the Paramount vault courtesy of Olive Films as they have announced a May 22nd release date for John Cassavetes's Too Late Blues on standard DVD and Blu-Ray. The 1961 drama stars Bobby Darin and Stella Stevens.

Out the same day on standard DVD is Joseph Losey's The Lawless (1950) starring Macdonald Carey and Gail Russell.

Bonus features are not expected.




ARCHIVE: Sothern Wind Blows In Hooray For Love and Panama Hattie

Ann Sothern stars in two of four Warner Archive releases this week that have been posted over at WBShop. They are:
  • Hooray For Love (1935) - Ann Sothern, Gene Raymond, Bill Robinson
  • Joan of Paris (1942) - Michele Morgan, Paul Henreid, Thomas Mitchell, Laird Cregar, May Robson
  • Panama Hattie (1942) - Red Skelton, Ann Sothern, Rags Ragland, Ben Blue, Marsha Hunt
  • Rage in Heaven (1941) - Robert Montgomery, Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders, Lucile Watson, Oskar Homolka
All will be available here at ClassicFlix on April 24th.

NOTE: Warner hinted that a release of Sothern's Maisie series is in the works, but no exact date is forthcoming. Also, season one of the 1960's TV series Tarzan is being released, however, we will not carry it as many of the multi-disc sets released through the Archive program are more easily breakable and have had to be discontinued.
These new DVDs add to the total of over 800 Warner Archive titles exclusively available for rent at ClassicFlix.com.

KINO: Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) Standard & Blu in June

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Little Lord Fauntleroy
June 26th
Kino
Retail $24.95, Our: $19.99
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Little Lord Fauntleroy (Blu-Ray)
June 26th
Kino
Retail $29.95, Our: $23.99
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More from the estate of David O. Selznick as Kino has announced a June 26th release date for Little Lord Fauntleroy (1932) on both standard DVD and Blu-Ray.

A public domain title, this is the only authorized edition from the estate of David O. Selznick, restored and remastered in high definition from the George Eastman House.

Bonus features are not expected.

VCI: Stewart Granger in Fanny by Gaslight, Caravan, Love Story in May

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Caravan (1946)
May 15th
VCI
Retail: 14.99, Our: $12.99
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Fanny by Gaslight (1945)
May 15th
VCI
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Love Story (1944)
May 15th
VCI
Retail: 14.99, Our: $12.99
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Three Stewart Granger films have been announced by VCI for release on May 15th. They are:
  • Caravan (1946) - Jean Kent, Anne Crawford
  • Fanny by Gaslight (1945) [a.k.a. Man of Evil] - James Mason, Phyllis Calvert
  • Love Story (1944) [a.k.a. A Lady Surrenders] - Margaret Lockwood, Patricia Roc
Bonus features are not expected.