Showing posts with label Fritz Lang. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fritz Lang. Show all posts
Hangmen Also Die Debuting on Blu-Ray in September
Cohen Media has announced a September 9th street date for the 1943 Fritz Lang drama, Hangmen Also Die on DVD and Blu-Ray. Click here for details.
CRITERION: Ministry of Fear, Verdoux, Colonel Blimp & Blob in March
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The Blob (Blu-Ray) March 12th Criterion Retail: $39.95, Our: $31.99 |
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The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp March 19th Criterion Retail: $29.95, Our: $23.99 |
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WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: |
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Blu-Ray) March 19th Criterion Retail: $39.95, Our: $31.99 |
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Ministry of Fear March 12th Criterion Retail: $19.95, Our: $15.99 |
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WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: |
Ministry of Fear (Blu-Ray) March 12th Criterion Retail: $29.95, Our: $23.99 |
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Monsieur Verdoux March 26th Criterion Retail: $29.95, Our: $23.99 |
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Monsieur Verdoux (Blu-Ray) March 26th Criterion Retail: $39.95, Our: $31.99 |
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Criterion has announced their March slate and it includes 3 titles making their Blu debuts (Colonel Blimp, Ministry of Fear & Monsieur Verdoux) and one (Fritz Lang's Ministry of Fear) bowing on DVD & Blu-Ray.
Bonus features abound on Blimp and Verdoux, while The Blob's appear to be 100% carry over from the standard release. Ministry of Fear has the least and it is reflected in the lower price point for each respectively.
Details below.
"Beware Of The Blob!" One of the great cult classics, The Blob melds '50s schlock sci-fi and teen delinquency pics even as it transcends these genres with strong performances and ingenious special effects. Made outside of Hollywood by a maverick film distributor, a crew experienced in religious and educational shorts, and a collection of theatrical talent from Philadelphia and New York, The Blob helped launch the careers of superstud Steve McQueen and composer Burt Bacharach. BONUS FEATURES:
- Two audio commentaries: one by producer Jack H. Harris and film historian Bruce Eder; the other by director Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr. and actor Robert ("Tony") Fields
- Theatrical Trailer
- BLOB-abilia!: collector Wes Shank's rare trove of stills, poster, props (including the Blob itself!), and other ephemera
- PLUS :An essay by critic Kim Newman
Considered by many to be the finest British film ever made, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, is a stirring masterpiece like no other.
Roger Livesey dynamically embodies outmoded English militarism as the indelible General Clive Candy, who barely survives four decades of tumultuous British history (1902 to 1942) only to see the world change irrevocably before his eyes. Anton Walbrook and Deborah Kerr provide unforgettable support, he as a German enemy turned lifelong friend of Candy’s and she as young women of three consecutive generations—a socially committed governess, a sweet-souled war nurse, and a modern-thinking army driver—who inspire him.
Colonel Blimp is both moving and slyly satirical, an incomparable film about war, love, aging, and obsolescence shot in gorgeous Technicolor.
BONUS FEATURES:
- Audio Commentary Featuring Director Michael Powell with Martin Scorsese
- Video introduction by Scorsese
- A Profile of “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp,” a twenty-four-minute documentary
- Restoration demonstration, hosted by Scorsese
- Interview with editor Thelma Schoonmaker Powell, Michael Powell’s widow
- Gallery featuring rare behind-the-scenes production stills
- Gallery tracing the history of David Low’s original Colonel Blimp cartoons
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Molly Haskell
Suffused with dread and paranoia, this Fritz Lang adaptation of a novel by Graham Greene is a plunge into the eerie shadows of a world turned upside down by war. En route to London after being released from a mental institution, Stephen Neale (Ray Milland) stops at a seemingly innocent village fair, after which he finds himself caught in the web of a sinister underworld with possible Nazi connections.
Lang was among the most illustrious of the European émigré filmmakers working in Hollywood during World War II, and Ministry of Fear is one of his finest American productions, an unpredictable thriller with style to spare. BONUS FEATURES:
- New interview with Fritz Lang scholar Joe McElhaney
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by critic Glenn Kenny
Charlie Chaplin plays shockingly against type in his most controversial film, a brilliant and bleak black comedy about money, marriage, and murder. Chaplin is a twentieth-century Bluebeard, an enigmatic family man who goes to extreme lengths to support his wife and child, attempting to bump off a series of wealthy widows (including one played by the indefatigable Martha Raye, in a hilarious performance).
This deeply philosophical and wildly entertaining film is a work of true sophistication, both for the moral questions it dares to ask and the way it deconstructs its megastar’s loveable on-screen persona. BONUS FEATURES:
- Chaplin Today: “Monsieur Verdoux,” a 2003 program on the film’s production and release, featuring filmmaker Claude Chabrol and actor Norman Lloyd
- Charlie Chaplin and the American Press, a new documentary featuring Chaplin specialist Kate Guyonvarch and author Charles Maland
- New video essay featuring an audio interview with actress Marilyn Nash
- Radio advertisements and trailers
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PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky and reprinted pieces by Chaplin and critic André Bazin
KINO: Scarlet Street, A Star is Born (1937) Coming to Blu-Ray
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Scarlet Street (Blu-Ray) (1945) February 28th Kino Retail: 29.95, Our: $23.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | A Star Is Born (Blu-Ray) (1937) February 7th Kino Retail: 29.95, Our: $23.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | A Star Is Born (1937) February 7th Kino Retail: 24.95, Our: $19.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Spiders (1919) February 28th Kino Retail: 29.95, Our: $23.99 | |
Joan Bennett in HD! And that's not all...
Kino has announced Scarlet Street (Blu-Ray) for release on February 28th. Directed by Fritz Lang, the gripping, and unapologetic noir stars Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea. Bonus features will carry over from the standard version.
Also coming is A Star is Born (1937) on standard and Blu-Ray this February 7th. Released by Image Entertainment on standard DVD way back in 1998, the multi-Oscar nominated film (and two-time winner) makes its Blu-Ray debut and will be mastered in HD from an original 35mm nitrate print. The sole bonus feature will be the original theatrical trailer.
Another former Image property that will be reissued by Kino is Fritz Lang's Spiders (1919). It will also be due on February 28th.
KINO: The Complete Metropolis - Standard & Blu in November
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | The Complete Metropolis November 16th Kino Retail $29.99, Our: $23.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | The Complete Metropolis (Blu-Ray) November 16th Kino Retail $39.99, Our: 29.99 | |
Kino has announced a November 16th release date for The Complete Metropolis in both Standard and Blu-Ray formats.
Previously released by Kino in 2003 in what was, at the time, it's most complete version at 124 minutes, this new edition boasts 25 minutes of newly found footage. Each will be a single disc release and feature an all-new documentary on the making and restoration of the film.
Details below.
SYNOPSIS:
Metropolis takes place in 2026, when the populace is divided between workers who must live in the dark underground and the rich who enjoy a futuristic city of splendor. The tense balance of these two societies is realized through images that are among the most famous of the 20th century, many of which presage such sci-fi landmarks as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner. Lavish and spectacular, with elaborate sets and modern science fiction style, Metropolis stands today as the crowning achievement of the German silent cinema.
Kino International is proud to announce the DVD and long awaited first time ever Blu-ray release of the new restoration of Fritz Lang's 1927 science fiction masterpiece Metropolis, now with 25 minutes of lost footage and the original Gottfried Huppertz score. This new 147-minute version (being released as The Complete Metropolis), opened theatrically in April 2010 earning over $350,000 at the box office, and since it’s original restoration, has gone on to earn $1,000,000 in theatrical ticket sales!
When it was first screened in Berlin on January 10, 1927, the sci-fi epic ran an estimated 153 minutes. After its premiere engagement, in an effort to maximize the film's commercial potential, the film's distributors (UFA in Germany, Paramount in the U.S.) drastically shortened Metropolis, which had been a major disappointment at the German box office. By the time it debuted in the United States later that year, the film ran approximately 90 minutes (exact running times are difficult to determine because silent films were not always projected at a standardized speed).
Metropolis went on to become one of the cornerstones of science fiction cinema foreshadowing Blade Runner and the Matrix to name just a few recent examples. Testament to its enduring popularity, the film has undergone restorations in 1984 and again in 1987. The 2001 restoration combined footage from four archives and ran at a triumphant 124 minutes. And at the time was widely believed that this would be the most complete version of Lang's film that contemporary audiences could ever hope to see.
But, in the summer of 2008, the curator of the Buenos Aires Museo del Cine discovered a 16mm dupe negative that was considerably longer than any existing print. It included not merely a few additional snippets, but 25 minutes of "lost" footage (about a fifth of the film) that had not been seen since its 1927 debut in Berlin. The discovery of such a significant amount of material called for yet another restoration, carefully executed by Anke Wilkening of the Murnau Stiftung (Foundation) (the German institution that is the caretaker of virtually all pre 1945 German films), Martin Koerber, Film Department Curator of the Deutche Kinemateque and on the music side, by Frank Stoebel.
Regarding the quality of the added footage Ms. Wilkening has said: "The work on the restoration teaches us once more that no restoration is ever definitive... Even if we are allowed for the first time to come as close to the first release as ever before, the new version will still remain an approach. The rediscovered sections which change the film's composition, and at the same time always be recognizable through their damages as those parts that had been lost for 80 years."
Contains The Original 1927 Orchestral Score
BONUS FEATURES:
- Voyage to Metropolis: A 50-minute documentary on the making and restoration of the film
- Interview with Paula Felix-Didier -- Curator of the Museo del Cine, Buenos Aires, where the missing footage was discovered
- 2010 re-release trailer
CRITERION: M (Blu-Ray) in May
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | M (Blu-Ray) (1931) May 11th Criterion Retail: $39.95, Our: $31.99 |  |
Creepiness comes to Blu-Ray as Criterion has announced a May 11th release date for Fritz Lang's M (1931).
The bonus features (below) on this single DVD release will be identical to the previous 2-disc standard version, with the exception of the addition of M's long-lost English-language version.
It will retail for $39.95, but is available here at ClassicFlix.com for only $31.99.
SYNOPSIS:
A simple, haunting phrase whistled off-screen tells us that a young girl will be killed. "Who is the murderer?" pleads a nearby placard as serial killer Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) closes in on little Elsie Beckmann.
In this harrowing masterwork M, Fritz Lang merges trenchant social commentary with chilling suspense, creating a panorama of private madness and public hysteria that to this day remains the blueprint for the psychological thriller. The Criterion Collection is proud to present a new restoration of this landmark film.
BONUS FEATURES:
- Audio Commentary by German Film Scholars Anton Kaes, author of the BFI Film Classics volume on M and Eric Rentschler, author of The Ministry Of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife
- A Conversation with Fritz Lang - A 50 minute interview film by William Friedkin
- Claude Chabrol's M Le Maudit, a short film inspired by M, plus an interview with Chabrol by Pierre-Henri Gibert and Lang's filmmaking techniques.
- Classroom tapes of M editor Paul Falkenberg discussing the film and its history
- Interview with Harold Nebenzal, the son of M producer Seymour Nebenzal
- The long-lost English-language version of M.
- A physical history of M
- Stills gallery with behind the scenes photos, and production sketches by art director Emil Hasler
- PLUS: A 32 Page Booklet featuring an essay by film critic Stanely Kauffmann, a 1963 interview with Lang and the script for a missing scene, and contemporaneous newspaper articles
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