WARNER ARCHIVE: Westerns and Liberace in Latest Wave

Westerns and Liberace make up this week's wave from the Warner Archive Collection.

The Westerns are:

• Rider on a Dead Horse (1962) - John Vivyan, Bruce Gordon
• Short Grass (1950) - Rod Cameron, Cathy Downs, Johnny Mack Brown, Alan Hale Jr.
• Stampede (1949) - Rod Cameron, Gale Storm, Johnny Mack Brown, Don Castle
• Wild Stallion (1952) - Ben Johnson, Edgar Buchanan, Martha Hyer, Hayden Rorke, Hugh Beaumont

as well as the Monogram Cowboy Collection, Vol. 6.

Sincerely Yours (1955) stars Liberace and also features Joanne Dru, Dorothy Malone, Alex Nicol and William Demarest.

All will be available here at ClassicFlix on June 4th.

These new DVDs add to the total of over 1,200 Warner Archive titles exclusively available for rent at ClassicFlix.com. 

TCM VAULT: Sony's Film Noir Classics, Vol. 4 in August

WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: TITLES:

Film Noir Classics, Vol. 4 (TCM Vault) August 6th Sony So Dark the Night (1946), Johnny O'Clock (1947), Walk a Crooked Mile (1948), Between Midnight and Dawn (1950), Walk East on Beacon! (1952)

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Sony's Film Noir Classics sets continue with Film Noir Classics, Vol. 4 due on August 6th.

Released via the TCM Vault line, all five films are new to DVD. Bonus features abound like previous Vault releases. Available exclusively for purchase at TCM.com, this set will be available for rent here at ClassicFlix and nowhere else!


Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, The Film Foundation and Turner Classic Movies again partner to present the fourth collection in this series, Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics IV.

These five films, all fully restored and remastered and never before released on DVD, showcase the work of directors Joseph H. Lewis, Robert Rossen, Gordon Douglas and Alfred L. Werker—all of them masters at creating taut and atmospheric visions from morally-strained hard-boiled stories.

The collection also highlights the genre-defining cinematography of Burnett Guffey and George E. Diskant, and iconic performances by film noir mainstays Dick Powell, Evelyn Keyes, Lee J. Cobb, Dennis O'Keefe and Edmond O'Brien, who excelled at revealing the raw heart that beat beneath noir's tough exteriors.

So Dark the Night (1946)
Director Joseph H. Lewis (Gun Crazy, 1950) established his reputation as a talented stylist by wrangling a complicated story—of a Parisian detective (Steven Geray) who falls in love while on vacation, only to see the woman murdered—into a taut and atmospheric film noir.

Overcoming the challenges of recreating the French countryside in Canoga Park, California, and working with a cast of virtual unknowns, Lewis and noir cinematographer extraordinaire Burnett Guffey craft one of the great surprise endings in all of noir, which would inspire such films as Possessed (1948) and Memento (2000).

Johnny O'Clock (1947)
Johnny O'Clock (Dick Powell) is a junior partner in a posh casino with Guido Marchettis (Thomas Gomez), but is senior in the eyes of Nelle (Ellen Drew)—Guido's wife and Johnny's ex. This love triangle leads to a web of complications, leaving Police Inspector Koch (Lee J. Cobb) to unravel the threads of deceit and a murdered casino employee's sister (Evelyn Keyes) to tug on Johnny's heartstrings before it's too late.

Applying Raymond Chandler's dictum that a good plot is an excuse for a series of exciting scenes, rookie director Robert Rossen strings together tense vignettes—brought vividly to life by cinematographer Burnett Guffey.

Walk a Crooked Mile (1948)
Director Gordon Douglas drew on mounting anti-Communist fervor to create one of the first Cold War films—the tale of an FBI agent (Dennis O'Keefe) and a Scotland Yard detective (Louis Hayward) who must bust a spy ring led by a ruthless agent (Raymond Burr) working to infiltrate an atomic research facility.

Producer Eddie Small stood tall in a battle against FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to produce the film without interference, arguing the Bureau was fair game for fictionalization. But Hoover had the last word, writing The New York Times to say the FBI had not sanctioned the film.

Between Midnight and Dawn (1950)
Dan Purvis (Edmund O'Brien) and Rocky Barnes (Mark Stevens) are lifelong pals who survived WWII and continue their armed service as uniformed prowl car boys on the night shift in LA. But their friendship is tested by their ongoing battle with a ruthless racketeer (Donald Buka), the love they share for a beautiful radio announcer (Gale Storm) and Dan's uncompromising and exaggerated sense of justice.

Often seen as the first example of the now commonplace buddy cop movie, this film demonstrates that the genre has always been rife with tension.

Walk East on Beacon! (1952)
Director Alfred L. Werker (He Walked by Night) adapted this tale of Communist spies stealing secrets about the Manhattan Project. The source material was a Reader's Digest article by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and the movie shares Hoover's obsession with surveillance, creating an atypical noir focused on technology rather than obsessed with character psychology.

However, the film did make abundant use of the mean streets with over 14 weeks of location shooting throughout the northeast, thus providing a rare snapshot of an era in American life—its physical locations and its mental state.

BONUS FEATURES:

• Intro
• Scene Stills
• Publicity Stills
• Movie Posters
• TCMDb Article

FOX BLU: Marilyn, Elvis, 300 Spartans & Blood and Sand

Five new-to-Blu titles are coming from 20th Century Fox in July. They are:

• The 300 Spartans (1962)
• Blood and Sand (1941)
• Bus Stop (1956)
• Love Me Tender (1956)
• Niagara (1953)

Bonus features are slim. Details can be found in the recent additions section.

WARNER ARCHIVE: Margaret O'Brien, Popeye TV Series & More

Margaret O'Brien headlines this week's wave from the Warner Archive Collection with two films: Tenth Avenue Angel (1947) and The Secret Garden (1949).

Also out are:

• Duffy of San Quentin (1954) - Louis Hayward, Joanne Dru, Paul Kelly, Maureen O'Sullivan, George Macready
• Penrod and Sam (1931) - Leon Janney, Frank Coghlan Jr.
• Popeye - The 1960's Animated Classics Collection, Vol. 1

All will be available here at ClassicFlix on May 28th.

These new DVDs add to the total of over 1,100 Warner Archive titles exclusively available for rent at ClassicFlix.com.

OLIVE: Crashout, Standard & Blu in June

WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE:

Crashout June 25th Olive Films Retail: $24.95, Our: $17.99

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WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE:

Crashout (Blu-Ray) June 25th Olive Films Retail: $29.95, Our: $21.99

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The prison escape noir Crashout (1955) has been scheduled for release by Olive Films on standard DVD and Blu-Ray this June 25th.

Six ruthless convicts breakout of prison and frantically try to avoid an extensive manhunt. Once the coast is clear, the gang sets out on a long and dangerous journey by foot, train and car to retrieve bank loot. After barely surviving two deadly incidents, the men take refuge in a farmhouse as the action reaches a fever pitch. Ironically, the men start to realize that it’s not the law that they need to worry about, but each other.

Arthur Kennedy (Champion) co-stars with legendary Hollywood villains, William Bendix (The Blue Dahlia), Luther Adler (Hoodlum Empire), William Talman (Big House, U.S.A.), and Gene Evans (The Steel Helmet). This classic film noir will keep you at the edge of your seat. 

KINO: Foolish Wives (Blu-Ray) in July

WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE:

Foolish Wives (Blu-Ray) July 30th Kino Retail: $34.95, Our: $27.99

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Kino has set a July 30th release date for Erich von Stroheim's Foolish Wives (Blu-Ray).

The sole bonus feature is the 78 minute documentary The Man You Loved to Hate.

It will retail for $34.95, but is available at ClassicFlix.com for only $27.99.


Artistically brilliant, Foolish Wives is Erich von Stroheim's epic-scale account of an American diplomat's wife (Miss. Dupont) who falls under the spell of a phony Russian Count (von Stroheim). With his trademark eye for visual metaphor and gritty detail, von Stroheim infuses the aristocratic splendor of Monte Carlo (rebuilt in all its majesty on the Universal backlot). The result is a Grimm's fairytale romance that is no less fascinating today than it was 80 years ago.

BONUS FEATURE:

• The Man You Loved To Hate (1979, 78 min.) blends revealing interviews, rare photographs and clips from von Stroheim's legendary and lesser-known works to create a fascinating tribute to one of American cinema's most complex artists.

WARNER ARCHIVE: Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 7

The Forbidden Hollywood line continues with the announced release of Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 7 from the Warner Archive Collection.

The 4-disc set includes: The Hatchet Man (1932), Skyscraper Souls (1932), Employees’ Entrance (1933) and Ex-Lady (1933).

This new set adds to the total of over 1,100 Warner Archive titles exclusively available for rent at ClassicFlix.com.
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Forbidden Hollywood, Volume Seven shines the spotlight on four of the era’s most scandalous sizzlers starring Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, Loretta Young and quintessential screen scoundrel Warren William in two of his best.

The Hatchet Man (1932)
A Tong executioner (Robinson) allows his wife (Young) to run off with a gangster only to learn she’s been sold into prostitution.

Skyscraper Souls (1932)
A financier (William) stops at nothing to gain control of a 100-story office building and a "naive" Maureen O’Sullivan.

Employees’ Entrance (1933)
A tyrannical department store manager (William) chases after profits and Loretta Young.

Ex-Lady (1933)
An artist (Davis) who doesn’t believe in marriage reluctantly weds her lover (Gene Raymond) only to discover he’s seeing another woman.

BRIT VCI: Attenborough, Bogarde in Boys in Brown This June

WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE:

Boys in Brown (1949) June 18th VCI Retail: $19.99, Our: $15.99

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VCI has set a June 18th release date for Boys in Brown (1949) starring Richard Attenborough, Dirk Bogarde and Jack Warner.

Retail will be $19.99, but it's available at ClassicFlix.com for only $15.99.

SYNOPSIS:
Jackie (Attenborough) lives with his widowed mother and dreams of marrying Kitty (Barbara Murray), the girl across the street. To escape the poverty trap, he participates in a robbery that goes wrong and is sentenced to three years in reform school.

Based on a play by Reginald Beckwith.

BONUS FEATURE:

• Photo Gallery

TIMELESS: The Virginian - The Complete Eighth Season in July

WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE:

The Virginian - The Complete Eighth Season July 16th Timeless Media Group Retail $59.99, Our: $44.99

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Timeless Media has set a street date of July 16th for The Virginian - The Complete Eighth Season.

With today's announcement, Timeless completes the series by making all episodes of The Virginian available on DVD (Season 9 "The Men from Shiloh" came out in October 2011).

The 9-disc set will retail for $59.99, but is available at ClassicFlix.com for only $44.99.

SHOUT!: Many Loves of Dobie Gillis - The Complete Series in July

WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE:

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis - The Complete Series July 2nd Shout! Factory Retail: $139.99, Our: $109.99

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More great TV from Shout! Factory as they have announced a July 2nd street date for The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis - The Complete Series.

The 20-disc set will feature all 147 episodes from the comedy series which had a four-year run.

No word on single season sets, but hopefully their release schedule will be similar to their Leave it to Beaver output, which had Season 3 and the complete series come out in the same month (June 2010), followed by Seasons 4, 5 and 6 every three months. When single season sets are released, we will have them available for rent.

Retail will be $139.99, but it's available at ClassicFlix.com for only $109.99.


"Hello, I'm Dobie Gillis, and I love girls - tall ones, short ones, blonde ones, dark ones, any kind of girl..."

Based on the novels created by Max Shulman, this television classic starred Dwayne Hickman as Dobie, a middle-class 17-year-old whose main goal in life was to find the girl of his dreams, Bob Denver (Gilligan’s Island) co-stars as Dobie’s beatnik friend Maynard G. Krebs, whose passion was to avoid work at any cost, and Frank Faylen and Florida Friebus as Dobie’s parents, who were never too far away to worry about Dobie’s future.

Throughout its 147 episodes, the series ran the gamut from the hilarious (Dobie and Maynard sharing a tuxedo in order to attend a society party together), to the ridiculous (Maynard drinking a student chemist’s formula and turning into a monster) to the touching (Dobie convincing a poor but brilliant student to stay in school).

Guest stars include Rose Marie, Bill Bixby, Sally Kellerman, Ronny Howard, Sherry Jackson, Michele Lee, John Banner, Norman Fell, Howard McNear, Charles Lane, and a host of others.

A ground-breaking series that has often been said to be far ahead of its time, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis premiered on CBS in the fall of 1959 and was a counter-culture hit through all four years of its network run.

BONUS FEATURES:

• New Interviews
• Radio Show
• Promos
• Still Gallery