Upcoming Releases

[edgeciff]

I also preordered SNOW WHITE. In addition with the discounts I preordered NORTH BY NORTHWEST (Blu Ray) and the ESTHER WILLIAMS COLLECTION. Got 25% off plus another bonus of $5. Along with Blu Ray of GWTW I will have plenty to watch through the holidays. Still catching up on other DVD's including Taylor-Burton collection. Looks like I will have a very small amount to buy with the fall DDD sale.

[HollywoodGolightly]

I might take my chances that much of what I'm interested in I can just get in the DD sale.

 

Snow White I'll be getting from BB because I already got the Steelbook case, and there's a $10 dollar coupon that pretty much matches the amazon coupon. I haven't decided if I just want the regular blu-ray, or the one that comes with the book. The one with the book, once I use the coupon and with what I paid with my pre-order, would only come to a little over $20 plus tax.

[HollywoodGolightly]

Last month, when the new partnership between Criterion and IFC films was announced, it was reported that Criterion would be releasing Steven Soderbergh's Che for the U.S. market. However, according to Home Theater Forum members, that title has now been pushed to the 1st or 2nd quarter of 2010.

 

For those willing to buy a non-Criterion edition, Che will be released on blu-ray in Canada on Nov. 24th; amazon.ca will be selling it for CDN$ 34.99.

 

The film has also been released on DVD and blu-ray in the UK; the DVD is certain to be R2 and I'm almost sure the blu-ray is region-locked, so you'd probably need a multi-region player in either case to watch the UK version.

[filmlover]

Mentioned on Blu-ray.com (http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=116090), it looks like *Apocalyse Now Redux* is getting a Blu-ray release from Germany's Universum Films on December 11. Prelim details are that it will have audio selections of both English and German in DTS-HD MA 5.1. Believed German subtitles will not be forced. The only drawbacks appear to be that it will be Region-B locked (thus not playable on regular U.S. players) and that the aspect ratio will be 2:00:1, as opposed to 2:35:1. No details on price, extras or ordering info yet, though I'm sure Amazon.de will carry it.

 

http://www.bluray-disc.de/blu-ray-filme/apocalypse-now-redux-blu-ray-disc

[HollywoodGolightly]

I don't believe I've seen this mentioned much, but Paramount is discreetly reissuing *My Fair Lady* on DVD this Tuesday (Oct. 6) with a SRP of $19.99.

 

(The only previous mention of this movie I could find in recent months when I searched this forum was from a Barrie Maxwell column noting that WHV was going to lose the rights to it as of June of this year).

 

Since there are no online reviews that I'm aware of, it's hard to know how good Paramount's transfer is, but it hard to imagine it could be much of an improvement over the last 2-disc DVD issued by WHV, which was from the recently restored print of the film.

 

Nor is there any reason to hope for much in the way of new bonus features, since Paramount could have released this as part of its ongoing "Centennial Collection" but apparently didn't (it's most recent addition to that collection is Chinatown, also coming out Oct. 6).

 

Hopefully, they'll try and get it out on blu-ray reasonably soon, which I hope is before the movie's 50th anniversary!

[HollywoodGolightly]

The recent blu-ray release of Luis Bunuel's Belle de Jour in the UK by Optimum Home Entertainment has been mentioned before.

 

Now, in addition to the UK version, a new French blu-ray version has been announced, to be released Nov. 3 by Universal Studio Canal Video, and selling on amazon.fr for about 23 euros. There is no word yet on whether it is going to be region-free or include English subtitles.

 

[filmlover]

Studio Canal is going to be releasing the classic Jean-Paul Belmondo film, *Breathless (? bout de souffle)*, on Blu-ray in Holland on Feb. 25th. No other details known yet.

 

Edited by: filmlover on Oct 5, 2009 3:06 AM

[HollywoodGolightly]

Barrie Maxwell has a new column today over at the digitalbits.com

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/barriemaxwell/maxwell100509.html

(There's some good new info in with the old, so here is the whole enchilada)

 

*Classic News*

Classic fans will be pleased to know that Warners has just recently been able to complete clearing the rights to two titles long in demand by fans. *No Time for Sergeants* (1958, with Andy Griffith) and *The Breaking Point* (1950, with John Garfield) are both now planned for pressed DVD release sometime in 2010. The studio hopes that *No Time for Sergeants* will have Andy Griffith's participation in appropriate supplementary material. *The Breaking Point* might get slotted into Warners' Film Noir Collection: Volume 5 (which is a definite go for 2010), but will more likely see a separate release.

 

Warner Bros. also continues to work actively on *The Hanging Tree* (1959, with Gary Cooper). There is much more work to do on the photochemical restoration for the original elements, but the results should be worth the wait. A pressed DVD release is currently planned, but no release timing has yet been set.

 

Sony has created a new classics website at which fans can get updates on the studio's plans with regard to its classic Columbia titles. At the moment it consists of a blog, a short discussion of titles in planning for release, and information on titles already released. According to Sony's Grover Crisp, as reported at the Home Theater Forum, there are apparently plans to introduce some sort of mechanism to allow fans to interact with the site so that they can get answers to questions they may have. The address is: http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/columbiaclassics.

 

In other Sony news that updates the timing of some releases we already were expecting, the Rita Hayworth box set has been definitely delayed into early 2010 partly to give more attention to the supplement package, but also recognizing the healthy slate of other classic releases from the studio in the final quarter of this year. The titles to be included are: *Tonight and Every Night* (1945), *Salome* (1953), *Miss Sadie Thompson* (1953), *Cover Girl* (1944), and *Gilda* (1946). The latter two, both previously released on DVD, are being restored and remastered for this new release. It would be nice to see Sony give them a Blu-ray release at the same time, although there's no suggestion that that's going to happen. Again according to Sony's Grover Crisp as reported at the Home Theater Forum, Hayworth's *The Lady from Shanghai* will receive a new restoration in 2010 and may get a re-release at some point though nothing is scheduled as of now. A possible second Rita Hayworth box set is likely very much dependent upon how well the first one sells.

 

For reasons similar to the Hayworth set, the second Columbia film noir set has been moved back to a 2010 release also (the first volume is due out on November 3rd). This second set is expected to include: *Pushover* (1954), *Nightfall* (1956), *The Brothers Rico* (1957), *City of Fear* (1959), and *In a Lonely Place* (1950).

 

There are discussions on various internet fora of another exclusive set from Universal. Supposedly coming on October 15th and exclusive to the TCM website this time is the Universal Cult Horrors Collection. The set would include the much-requested *Murders in the Zoo* as well as *House of Horrors*, *The Mad Ghoul*, *The Mad Doctor of Market Street*, and *The Strange Case of Doctor Rx*. It would apparently retail for $50, although there has been no official announcement of the release as yet. One presumes the release will be of pressed rather than burnt discs. If the release does appear and past history is any indication, it may be a lengthy wait before it makes its way from being an exclusive to a wider release. For example, the Universal Horror Classic Movie Archive ( *The Black Cat, Man Made Monster, Horror Island, Night Monster, Captive Wild Woman* ) was a Best Buy exclusive two years ago if I remember correctly and it's only getting wide distribution as of this September 15th. Mind you, one wonders how many people will know about it. Universal told The Digital Bits that it wasn't making review copies available, so it's unlikely to get much publicity beyond word-of-mouth and internet chatter amongst enthusiasts.

 

 

*New Announcements*

Note that the new announcements database has been updated to include the announcements listed below.

 

Alpha has 22 new releases set for October 27th. *Air Maniacs - Rare Aviation Shorts, Below the Deadline* (with Russell Hopton), *Border Guns* (with Bill Cody), *Down to the Sea* (with Ben Lyon), *Fantastic World of William Cameron Menzies: A Collection of Historic Shorts*, *Flirting with Danger* (with Robert Armstrong), *Harlem Double Feature* ( *Miracle in Harlem*, 1948/ *Ten Minutes to Live*, 1932), *Judge Roy Bean: Volume 4* (four TV episodes), *Jungle Siren* (with Buster Crabbe), *La Cucaracha and Other Early Color Rarities*, *Robert Livingston Double Feature* ( *Law of the Saddle*, 1945/ *Wild Horse Rustlers*, 1943), *Meet Corliss Archer: Volume 4* (four TV episodes), *North of the Border* (with Russell Hayden), *Roy Rogers Collection: Volume 1* (ten films on 5 DVDs), *Savage Fury* (with Noah Beery Jr.), *The Singing Cowgirl* (with Dave O'Brien), *Something to Sing About* (with James Cagney), *Strangers in the Evening* (with Zasu Pitts), *Streamline Express* (with Victor Jory), *Sweat and Blood Double Feature* ( *Flesh and the Spur*, 1957/ *Yellowneck*, 1955), *Unforgotten Crime* (with Dennis O'Keefe), and *You Bet Your Life: Volumes 1&2* (8 TV episodes on 2 DVDs). Quality can be an issue with the Alpha releases, but they are available at 5 for $25 on the Alpha website (www.oldies.com).

 

Criterion has announced AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa for release on December 8th. This deluxe, linen-bound DVD collector's set includes each film in its own slim-case and an illustrated book with an introduction and notes on each film by Stephen Prince and a remembrance by Donald Richie (both are authors of books on the films of Kurosawa). The films included are: *The Bad Sleep Well* (1960), *Dodes'ka-den* (1970), *Drunken Angel* (1948), *The Hidden Fortress* (1958), *High and Low* (1963), *I Live in Fear* (1955), *The Idiot* (1951), *Ikiru* (1952), *Kagemusha* (1980), *The Lower Depths* (1957), *Madadayo* (1993), *The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail* * (1945), *The Most Beautiful* * (1944), *No Regrets for Our Youth* (1946), *One Wonderful Sunday* (1947), *Rashomon* (1951), *Red Beard* (1965), *Sanjuro* (1962), *Sanshiro Sugata* * (1943), *Sanshiro Sugata, Part II* * (1944), *Scandal* (1950), *Seven Samurai* (1954), *Stray Dog* (1949), *Throne of Blood* (1957), and *Yojimbo* (1961). The titles with asterisks are new to DVD.

 

Disney will have a new Special Edition of *Dumbo* (1941) on both Blu-ray and DVD in February 2010.

 

Grapevine Video will have Ladies of the German Cinema available in early September. It will contain two 1921 films - *Sappho* (with Pola Negri) and *Backstairs* (with Henny Porten).

 

Infinity Entertainment will offer *Route 66: Season 3, Volume 2* (15 episodes) on October 20th as well as *The Judy Garland Holiday Special*. Coming on November 17th will be *The Jerry Lewis Show Collection*, a two-disc set containing highlights from 13 episodes of the show's original 1967-1969 run. On November 24th, Infinity will release a three-disc set, *The Best of Spike Jones*, culled from the Spike Jones Show that aired on NBC and CBS from 1954-1961.

 

Milestone has announced the release of Kent Mackenzie's *The Exiles* (1961) on DVD on November 17th. It will be a two-disc set with a number of short films by Mackenzie and others forming just part of an extensive list of extras.

 

Paramount adds to its TV releases with *Perry Mason: Season 4, Volume 2* and *The Fugitive: Season 3, Volume 2* - both coming on December 8th as four-disc sets.

 

Sony's previously expected Columbia Film Noir: Volume 1 ( *Five Against the House/The Lineup/Murder by Contract/The Sniper/The Big Heat* ) is now confirmed for November 3rd.

 

Timeless Media Group plans a November 24th release for *Laredo: The Complete Series*. The set will offer 12 discs containing all 56 episodes from the western series that lasted for two seasons. There will also be an exclusive interview with one of the stars of the series, Peter Brown.

 

VCI has announced that it will be releasing 1948's *No Orchids for Miss Blandish*, an example of British film noir that has only recently been seen in the U.S. in its original uncut version. Details on the DVD's exact release date and supplementary features will be forthcoming soon.

 

Virgil Films' release of *The Donna Reed Show: Season 3* has been delayed from October to December 1st to accommodate some changes in the bonus content.

 

Warner Bros. brings more John Wayne to Blu-ray with the release of *The Green Berets* (1968) on January 5th. The only supplement will be a vintage featurette, The Filmmakers: The Making of The Green Berets. Meanwhile, standard DVD releases include *Get Smart: Season 5* on December 8th.

 

The Warner Archive has added the following titles for early September: *Berlin Express* (1948, with Robert Ryan), *Highway 301* (1950, with Steve Cochran), *I Died a Thousand Times* (1955, with Jack Palance), *Lightning Strikes Twice* (1951, with Richard Todd), *Pay or Die* (1960, with Ernest Borgnine), *Suspense* (1946, with Barry Sullivan), and *The Tall Target* (1951, with Dick Powell). Also available are an *Our Gang Collection* (a five disc set of 52 shorts from 1938-1942 at an attractive $35 price) and a *Randolph Scott Westerns 5 DVD Collection* at $50, half the standard price (includes *Badman's Territory, Carson City, Return of the Bad Men, Trail Street, Westbound* ). Mid-September has brought a further batch of titles: *Crossroads* (1942), *Dogville Shorts* (1930-31, 2-disc set), *Experiment Perilous* (1944), *I Take This Woman* (1940), *Ice Palace* (1960), *Killer McCoy* (1947), *The Heavenly Body* (1944), and *The Search* (1948). A complete set of the Joe McDoakes shorts is set for an early October release and more Archive releases of classic theatrical short subjects originally produced by both Warner Bros. and MGM can be expected in the future. The Archive is also making three new value packs available, each consisting of 6 discs (all already available in the Archive) at 50% off the regular price. The *Gable & Crawford* set includes *Chained, Dance Fools Dance, Forsaking All Others, Laughing Sinners, Love on the Run*, and *Possessed*. The *Robert Taylor* set includes *Above and Beyond, Billy the Kid, Party Girl, Johnny Eager, Quentin Durward*, and *All the Brothers Were Valiant*. The *Biography* set includes *Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Edison the Man, Young Tom Edison, The Magnificent Yankee, Carbine Williams*, and *The Adventures of Mark Twain*. Finally, to complement the 70th Anniversary retail releases of *The Wizard of Oz*, the Archive is offering a *Stars of the Wizard of Oz 4-Pak* that includes *Everybody Sing* (1938, Judy Garland, Billie Burke), *Flying High* (1931, Bert Lahr), *George White's Scandals* (1945, Jack Haley, Margaret Hamilton), and *Rosalie* (1937, Ray Bolger, Frank Morgan). It's available at $40, half off the price of the individual discs.

[HollywoodGolightly]

Previously available exclusively as part of the Pedro Almodovar DVD boxset, Law of Desire is being released as a single DVD on Nov. 3rd by Sony Pictures Home Video. The suggested retail price is $19.99, but is available for pre-order at 10% off SRP:

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B002M2T1U4

[filmlover]

Amazon has priced matched Toys R Us $19.99 price on Snow White and this applies to both the DVD and the Blu-ray packages since both contain the same items, plus you can use the Amazon code of snowhite to bring it down $10 more...so your price is only $9.99! YAY!

 

By the way, I had placed my order preciously and they are in the process of shipping it now, so the previous price had been charged to my card...but I called them and they gave me $5 credit. If you have ordered it, give them a buzz because they state their pre-order price guarantee is to be in effect until the end of the release date.

[HollywoodGolightly]

Optimum Home Entertainment have announced the UK DVD and Blu-ray Disc release of *Coco Before Chanel* on 23rd November 2009. Audrey Tautou plays the legendary Coco Chanel in this exploration of her early life before she rose to worldwide fame as the most celebrated fashion designer of the 20th Century.

 

Extras are TBC.

 

Reportedly, this is a _Region B_ blu-ray. Price on amazon.uk is ?14.98

 

 

Sources: DVDTimes and blu-ray.com

[lzcutter]

*Amazon has priced matched Toys R Us $19.99 price on Snow White and this applies to both the DVD and the Blu-ray packages since both contain the same items, plus you can use the Amazon code of snowhite to bring it down $10 more...so your price is only $9.99! YAY!*

 

Filmlover,

 

Thanks for the heads up on the price match for *Snow White*. With the holidays coming, it's a great deal for gift-giving.

 

And thanks for the heads up on the shipping as well!

[HollywoodGolightly]

Dave Kehr of The New York Times has written a great review of the Snow White blu-ray with a lot of historical context, which you don't always get from the tech-driven websites:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/movies/homevideo/04kehr.html

[HollywoodGolightly]

WHV has announced the DVD release of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (according to imdb, this title had apparently never been released on DVD before). The street date is January 26, 2010, and the SRP is $19.99

 

The DVD will include a featurette narrating the history of how the Clark Gesner album evolved into an off-Broadway hit before becoming a TV special.

[HollywoodGolightly]

And in news from across the Atlantic....

 

Network have announced the UK Blu-ray Disc release of *Night of the Living Dead* on 26th October 2009 priced at ?14.99 SRP. George A. Romero?s seminal horror film gets its second UK Blu-ray Disc release. This new version from Network contains a brand-new transfer taken from original 35mm film elements, plus the original cinema trailer.

 

The disc is coded for all regions (A, B and C). The English Mono soundtrack is PCM.

[filmlover]

A great announcement from classicflix.com:

 

*The Music Man* is coming to Blu-ray February 2nd. YAY!!!!!!

 

 

Extras are not yet announced but expected to be those of the DVD:

Documentary Right Here in River City: The Making of Meredith Willson's "The Music Man"

Introduction by Shirley Jones

Production Notes

2 Trailers

 

http://www.classicflix.com/music-bluray-p-9307.html

[HollywoodGolightly]

*Get your dose of the Bardot in December*

 

*The Brigitte Bardot Classic Collection* is among the titles that Image Entertainment has scheduled for DVD release in December.

The screen?s sexiest bombshell, Brigitte Bardot, sizzles in three of her most unforgettable roles! First she teams up with director Roger Vadim ( *Barbarella* ) as a virginal temptress running amok in rural Spain on *The Night Heaven Fell* then she?s a comic nymphet who takes Paris by storm as an amateur striptease artist in *Plucking the Daisy*. Finally, a grown-up Brigitte scorches up the screen as a female *Don Juan*, a proud destroyer of men (and women) who even drives a priest mad with her wicked misadventures! This trio of tantalizing tales of love, scandal, and betrayal will titillate seasoned Bardot fans and newcomers alike!

Arriving as a 3-disc DVD set, the release will feature anamorphic widescreen versions of the movies and complement them with Dolby Digital mono audio tracks. The collection will arrive on December 8 for $29.98.

[HollywoodGolightly]

*Lola Montes*, a title that is OOP in the U.S., was already available in an R2 DVD from the UK.

 

Now, comes news from France that a blu-ray edition of *Lola Montes* is to be released on Oct. 20th by Paramount Home Entertainment. It is available for pre-order from amazon.fr for about 23 euros:

http://www.amazon.fr/Lola-mont%C3%A8s-Blu-ray/dp/B002MVO3AS

 

According to blu-ray.com, the disc is region B - no word yet on whether or not it will have English subtitles, or whether this is the recently restored version that was given a brief theatrical re-release here in the U.S.

[HollywoodGolightly]

Good news for animation fans! WHV has just announced the DVD release of Bugs Bunny's Cupid Capers, with a SRP of $14.95 and a street date of January 12, 2010.

 

WHV is also reducing the SRP of Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (Deluxe Remastered Edition) to $19.97, effective Nov. 17th.

 

I realize some people don't consider Pixar's animated movies to be classics in quite the same way as Disney animation; but, since for some most animation is timeless, I thought I might was well mention: anyone planning on buying Pixar's Up on DVD or blu-ray and wanting to get a Best Buy-exclusive steelbook for it, should know they can get the steelbook starting next Tuesday when they pre-order the movie at BB. (This apparently is going to work a bit like it did with the Snow White exclusive steelbook.

[filmlover]

 

As I mentioned sometime back, the Blu-ray release of Miracle on 34th Street that came out this week only has the original black and white version on it, which is great news for film purists. However, the back cover says it contains a colorized version of it, which it does not. They?re even showing colorized pictures on the back cover:

 

 

 

If one looks at the bottom, it says it is in black and white:

 

 

 

For those interested, one can check out reviews of the title here:

 

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Miracle-on-34th-Street-Blu-ray-Review/5584/

 

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews47/miracle_on_34th_street_blu-ray.htm

[HollywoodGolightly]

Three new classic movies are being released in R2 DVD in the UK in November - only *To Hell and Back* is already available in DVD here in North America:

 

 

*Gambit, To Hell and Back & Boom! in November*

 

Second Sight Films have announced the UK DVD release of three titles on 30th November 2009.

 

 

*Gambit* - Ronald Neame's action-packed comedy crime caper stars Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine as partners in crime.

 

The disc includes a commentary by Neame.

 

*To Hell and Back* - The highest grossing Universal film for 20 years until *Jaws*, *To Hell And Back* is a true story based on the autobiography of America's most decorated war hero. This true-life WWII account of Audie Murphy stars Murphy himself and recounts his incredible courage and valour displayed in action, ultimately earning him the Congressional Medal of Honour.

 

There are no extras.

 

 

*Boom!* - Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton star Joseph Losey's cult classic Boom! Based on Tennessee Williams' play The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here, Taylor plays the ageing, self-obsessed beauty Sissy Gosforth, a terminally ill widow who has taken up residence on a secluded Mediterranean island to see out her final summer.

 

There are no extras.

 

RRP is ?15.99 each on the first two while *Boom!* is ?19.99

[HollywoodGolightly]

According to digitalbits.com,

Criterion has officially set Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale (cat# 492) for Blu-ray Disc release on 12/1 (SRP $39.95). Extras will include everything that's on the DVD release, which has been previously announced for release on the same day.

[filmlover]

www.dvdbeaver.com has a review up for the new Blu-ray edition of *Easy Rider*:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews47/easy_rider_blu-ray.htm

 

It got an excellent recommendation.

[HollywoodGolightly]

Ordinarily, another release of *Angel and the Badman* on DVD might not seem like such a big deal: the movie is in the public domain and there have been dozens of versions released over the years.

 

But there is reason to be cautiously optimistic about a new version being released in Canada on Oct. 27th:

http://www.amazon.ca/Angel-and-the-Badman/dp/B002MD2YPM/

 

This is because it is being released by Alliance, one of Canada's larger home video companies, and the price ($26 Canadian dollars at amazon.ca) would suggest that this is going to be a really well-done DVD, hopefully with a new transfer.

[filmlover]

Something that got right by me when I got the new Criterion newsletter a few days back but some at Blu-ray.com are discussing is that the bottom right image of blue dogs --- eight and a half of them, actually ---

 

 

is really a clue that we can expect to see a ?BD? release (blue dogs = BD = Blu-ray Disc) of *Federico Fellini?s* classic film *8?* in the next few months?since the film musical version, ?Nine? (from the stage musical of the same name, which was in turn based on ?8??) will be opening in theaters in December and it would be a great tie-in.