Archive: 2015

  • Silent Cinema: Louise Brooks

    'There is no Garbo, there is no Dietrich, there is only Louise Brooks!' Or so curator Henri Langlois said when asked why he had chosen to prominently display a huge portrait of Louise Brooks rather than Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich at the entrance of the Musee National d'Art Moderne in Paris on the occasion of its retrospective of the first sixty years of motion pictures. Langlois was overselling his case-after all, I wouldn't want to imagine a movie histor...

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  • Bob Hope Classic Comedy Collection & Francis Artwork Too

    Universal has announced the Bob Hope Classic Comedy Collection for release on April 29th. While there is nothing new here, the 4-disc set is a nice compilation at a very good price. We've also added the artwork for the recently announced Francis Collection. The Bob Hope Classic Comedy Collection features 10 of the funniest movi...

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  • BLU CRITERION: Red River, Ace in the Hole in May

    Criterion has scheduled May street dates for their Blu-Ray / DVD Combo's of Howard Hawks' Red River (1948) and Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole (1951). Red River will be a 4-disc set (presumably with 2 DVDs and 2 Blu-Rays) with all new bonus features. Ace will be a 3-disc set (presumably with 2 DVDs and 1 Blu-Ray) with bonus features carrying over from their previous 2-disc release.

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  • WARNER ARCHIVE: What Price Hollywood? & Shemp Vitaphone Collection

    An early George Cukor drama, What Price Hollywood? (1932) starring Constance Bennett, has been announced by Warner as part of their Archive line. Also out is The Vitaphone Comedy Collection, Vol. 2 with 21 Shemp shorts (1933 - 1937) across two discs. Exact shorts have not been officially announced. Both will be available here at ClassicFlix on March 11th. These new DVDs add to the total of over 1,200 Warner Arch...

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  • Hollywood Valentines: Romantic Films of the Studio Era

    In 1896 two stage actors, May Irwin and John C. Rice, sat for Thomas Edison's motion picture camera and enacted The Kiss. It was a 22-second film loop and it is said, perhaps apocryphally, to be the first film shown on a screen to a paying audience. It also offended some viewers, for, although it recreated an embrace from 'The Widow Jones', which Irwin and Rice had done onstage, the projected image made it uncomfortably intimate. To our eyes the only jarring aspect is that the actors, who wer...

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  • Francis the Talking Mule - The Complete Collection in April

    A rare non-MOD, non-Blu-ray release is coming from Universal as they have announced Francis the Talking Mule - The Complete Collection for release on April 29th. After releasing the first four films in 'Volume 1' in 2004, the studio abandoned the series before releasing the final three films in a second volume. Now all seven films are being released in this 3-disc collection. Retail will be 9.99, but it's available at ClassicFlix.com f...

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  • Pre-Code Obsession: Redemption Tomorrow for Fallen Women

    If there was ever any doubt that movie studios in the pre-Code era were fully aware of the financial perks of naughtiness, films like Parachute Jumper and Call Me Savage (both 1932), with their laundry lists of violations of the Production Code, put those doubts to rest. Scandal sold so well that even otherwise innocuous dramas ensured a little titillation was included. These spicy bits, however, had to be set apart from the rest of the film so they could be removed by state censorship boards wi...

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  • TIMELESS: Gene Autry Collection, Vol. 6

    More Gene Autry from Timeless Media as they have announced Gene Autry Collection, Vol. 6 for release on May 6th. Two of the four titles are making their DVD debut (Barbed Wire & Winning of the West) and bonus features are expected, but have yet to be announced. The 2-disc set will retail for 6.97, but is available at ClassicFlix.com for only 4.99.

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  • FOX ARCHIVES: 5 Fingers & The Great Profile

    A James Mason thriller and 'The Great Profile' lampoons himself in this week's Fox Cinema Archives wave. They are: 5 Fingers (1952) - James Mason, Danielle Darrieux, Michael Rennie The Great Profile (1940) - John Barrymore, Mary Beth Hughes, Gregory Ratoff, John Payne, Anne Baxter, Lionel Atwill, Edward Brophy Due on March 4th, these new DVDs add to the total of over 200 Cinema Archive titles e...

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  • Joel McCrea: Life Imitates Westerns

    Joel McCrea is the quintessential California story, a remarkable life which included a childhood stint delivering the L.A. Times to movie industry names such as Cecil B. DeMille, attending the University of Southern California and Pomona College, decades in a highly successful career in the film business, and simultaneously working at the beloved job he listed as his occupation on his tax returns, rancher. Joel was born in Pasadena on November 5, 1905. Growing up in Los Angeles, h...

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