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Ella and Louis / Ella and Louis Again
BD Audio - Two of the
most influential and popular voices in modern music, Ella
Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong form a jazz dream team on Ella
and Louis. A once-in-a-lifetime masterpiece, their distinctive
vocals meld seamlessly together along with Armstrong's
exceptional trumpet playing and the first-rate accompaniment of
pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown
and drummer Buddy Rich. This recording has become the touchstone
and template for jazz vocal duets.
Blu-ray Audio Release date: October 13th, 2013
Home Before Dark -
Charlotte Bronn (Jean Simmons), the wife of a college professor
(Dan O'Herlihy), has been released from a State Mental Hospital
only to return to the same environment that led to her
breakdown. Adapted by Robert and Eileen Bassing from Eileen's
novel of the same name and nominated for a Golden Globe in three
categories, Mervyn LeRoy's 1958 masterpiece Home Before Dark is
a devastating yet remarkably liberating exploration of a woman's
struggle to achieve mental health. I first saw this film many
years ago and I never forgot the towering performance of Jean
Simmons or the film's shattering emotional truth -- that some
people are simply incapable of showing compassion to those who
are vulnerable. On a bootleg copy taped from television, I was
able to revisit it again this week and it flooded my mind with
memories of those days of turmoil. DVD Release Date: January
25th, 2011
The Whip and the Body
BD - Marred by controversy
at the time of its release, this horror fantasy from Italy's
legendary horror director Mario Bava centers on the twisted
desires of a nobleman's son (Christopher Lee). Lee is ostracized
by his father for his dalliances with a servant girl (who later
commits suicide), but is allowed to return to the fold by his
brother, whose lovely wife (Dahlia Lavi) immediately becomes the
object of Lee's mad lust. Lee is later found murdered, along
with several other victims from the surrounding village, leading
superstitious locals to believe that Lee's evil spirit has
returned to destroy them; the twist ending reveals the real evil
at work. Uncut, Unrated European Version!
Blu-ray Release Date: December
17th, 2013
Carmen Jones
BD - Unique Preminger
offering with a super wide 2.55:1 aspect ratio. Songs from the
Bizet opera with modernized lyrics and an all-black cast. Sweet
Cindy Lou (Olga James) and soon-to-be pilot Joe (Harry
Belafonte) plan to wed, but sexy and wanton Carmen Jones
(Dorothy Dandridge) has her sights set on him. Everyone wants
her... and she wants Joe. Wonderful use of the familiar Bizet
music, this could be considered a classic in its own right.
Preminger uses long takes with a sweeping camera and tons of
choreographed staging. Blu-ray
Release Date: December 3rd, 2013
The Undefeated
BD - John Wayne and Rock
Hudson co-star in this action-packed Western set in the
aftermath of the Civil War. To explore uncharted territories and
begin new lives, Union cavalry officer John Henry Thomas (Wayne)
leads his men west while southerner James Langdon (Hudson) takes
his soldiers to Mexico. When the two forces find themselves
caught between Mexican rebels and the Emperor's army, they must
fight side by side to survive. Blu-ray
Release Date: December 3rd, 2013
Call of the Wild
BD Hollywood legend Clark
Gable stars in this soaring adaptation of the celebrated Jack
London novel. Jack Thornton (Gable) is a prospector who travels
the Yukon in search of gold. When Jack buys Buck, a strong and
loyal sled dog with part-wolf ancestry, their thrilling
adventure through the Alaskan wilderness begins.
Blu-ray Release Date: December 3rd,
2013
Forbidden Hollywood 7 -
Loose women. Unscrupulous heels. Adulterous husbands. Unfaithful
wives. Pre-Code Hollywood had them all, with most sins going
unpunished. Starring Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, Loretta
Young and quintessential screen scoundrel Warren William in two
of his best, Forbidden Hollywood: Volume Seven shines the
spotlight on four of the era’s most scandalous sizzlers. 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 "naïve" 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. DVD Release Date: April
30th, 2013
Dollman
BD - Brick Bardo (Tim
Thomerson - TRANCERS) is a traveller from outer space who
is forced to land on Earth. Though regular sized on his home
planet, he is doll-sized here on Earth, as are the enemy forces
who have landed as well. While Brick enlists the help of an
impoverished girl and her son, the bad guys enlist the help of a
local gang. When word leaks out as to his location all hell
breaks loose. Brick is besieged by an onslaught of curious kids,
angry gang members, and his own doll-sized enemies. Now he must
protect the family who has helped him and get off the planet
alive. Blu-ray Release date:
November 25th, 2013
North to Alaska
BD - John Wayne and Stewart
Granger strike it rich in this rousing comedy-adventure set in
the heyday of the Alaskan gold rush. When prospectors Sam McCord
(Wayne) and George Pratt (Granger) hit the mother lode, George
asks Sam to go to Seattle and fetch his sweetheart, Jennie, but
she has already married someone else. Determined to bring George
a new love, Sam invites a saloon dancer (Capucine) back to Nome
as Jennie's replacement. Blu-ray
Release Date: December 3rd, 2013
Desk Set
BD - This classic romantic
comedy stars Hollywood legends Katharine Hepburn and Spencer
Tracy. Bunny Watson (Hepburn) heads up the research department
at a TV network. Richard Sumner (Tracy) arrives to introduce
computers into the department. When electricity sparks between
Bunny and Richard, Bunny's boyfriend Mike is not happy. As the
tension mounts in the office, so do the laughs.
Blu-ray Release Date: December 3rd,
2013
The Black Swan
BD - A sweeping pirate epic
with Power as an aide to notorious buccaneer Henry Morgan (Cregar),
the film opens with Morgan pardoned from the gallows and sent to
Jamaica as its new governor. Trying to prevent his former
associates from continuing their villainous activities, Morgan
encounters resistance from two renegades (Sanders and Quinn).
Power, meanwhile, falls for the daughter (O'Hara) of the former
governor, but she spurns his brazen advances. Although
kidnapping her and taking her along on his warship doesn't
initially help matters, things change when Sanders and Quinn
overpower his ship, forcing Power to fight for the woman he
loves. Blu-ray Release Date:
December 3rd, 2013
Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 6
- Audacious, controversial and shockingly frank, Forbidden
Hollywood: Volume Six turns the spotlight on adultery,
alcoholism, prostitution and racism, issues the Production Code
would soon ban from the screen. Starring the pre-Code era’s
biggest stars, including John Gilbert, Richard Barthelmess,
Myrna Loy, Kay Francis and Ann Dvorak, these four rarely seen
gems are a provocative reflection of American mores in a
not-so-innocent time. The Wet Parade (1932): Demon
whiskey brings ruin to two families in this all-star adaptation
of Upton Sinclair’s impassioned novel. Downstairs (1932):
A philandering chauffeur (Gilbert) creates havoc in an
upper-class household. Mandalay (1934): A Russian refugee
(Francis) seeks revenge upon the ex-lover (Ricardo Cortez) who
sold her into lavery. Massacre (1934): A college-educated
Sioux (Barthelmess) wreaks vengeance upon the white officials
who abused his family and cheated his people. DVD Release
Date: April 2nd, 2013
My Forbidden Past -
Romantic melodrama hung with Spanish moss, My Forbidden Past is
so much gaudy claptrap. Taking several actors who made their
names in the hot crucible of film noir and plunking them into a
tired, costumed period-piece showed perverse ingenuity. The plot
involves duplicitous machinations within a
love...trapezoid?...in New Orleans at some vague juncture
between the Surrender at Appomatox and the Guns of
August, 1914. Both Robert Mitchum and Ava Gardner, as the
"good" lovers, flail around like fish out of water; the best
performances come from the skunks: Melvyn Douglas, Lucile Watson
and, especially, Janis Carter, as Gardner's rival (and in the
same league of tough cookies; she has been called, from her
relative few appearances, the "poor man's Barbara Stanwyck").
DVD Release Date: November 27th, 2013
Remember the Night - Screen
legends Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray star in the
heartwarming holiday classic Remember the Night (1940).
Lee Leander (Stanwyck) is a petty shoplifter on trial for
swiping an expensive bracelet from a local jewelry store. When
her trial is postponed until after New Year's, sympathetic
Assistant District Attorney John Sargent (MacMurray) bails her
out of jail. Together, they find themselves falling in love when
he invites her to his family's home for the holidays where she
discovers the warmth and love she's never had but always wanted.
Featuring a wonderful supporting cast (Beulah Bondi, Sterling
Holloway and Elizabeth Patterson), stylish costumes by Edith
Head, a charming script by Preston Sturges, and superb direction
by Mitchell Leisen, Remember the Night (1940) is a
timeless holiday favorite that can be enjoyed every season.
DVD Release Date: October 18th, 2010
The Ghost of Mrs. Muir
BD - Gene Tierney and Rex
Harrison co-star in one of the most romantic ghost stories of
all time. Newly widowed Lucy Muir (Tierney) moves with her
daughter (Natalie Wood) into a seaside cottage haunted by the
handsome Captain Gregg (Harrison). Lucy eventually captures the
captain's heart, but their spirited love affair is challenged by
a flesh-and-blood suitor. Blu-ray
Release Date: December 3rd, 2013
Jesse James
BD - The first film on the
notorious James brothers that attempted historical authenticity
led to dozens more on the subject. It sets out, in a rather
sprawling manner, to prove that the outlaws were wronged.
(Jesse's granddaughter is given a research credit.) According to
this version, they were defenders of a rural Southern Arcadia
against Northern capitalism, represented by banks and railways,
becoming outlaws only after killing the man trying to force
their mother off their land. There is some splendid Technicolor
photography, and Power's and Fonda's performances as Jesse and
Frank, and Scott as the sheriff, are superb.
Blu-ray Release Date: December 3rd,
2013
The Fugitive (1947) - When
director John Ford and actor Henry Fonda collaborate, audiences
know they are in for a powerful screen experience. To such films
as
The Grapes of Wrath,
My Darling Clementine
and
Fort Apache add this
brave, unsparing, magnificently lensed (by Mexico's Gabriel
Figueroa) work. Based on Graham Greene's novel The Power and the
Glory, the story follows a priest (Fonda) in Latin America
pursued by a ruthless police lieutenant carrying out the
dictates of an oppressive, anti-clerical government. There's
another fugitive as well: an American killer on the run - and
the paths of the two hunted men cross with fateful consequences.
A haunting paean to the resilience of faith, The Fugitive
remains a filmmaking triumph. DVD Release Date: January 17th,
2013
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