Kino has announced the release of eight titles this September. September 8th: The Epic of Everest (1924) - Andrew Irvine, George Mallory The Honey Pot (1967) - Rex Harrison, Susan Hayward, Cliff Robertson, Capucine September 15th: Moby Dick (1956) - Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart September 22nd: The Satan Bug (...
Read moreI recently had the pleasure of attending the 2015 Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival, held annually at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs, California.The Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival is an intimate, relaxed setting providing an opportunity to chat with festival guests as well as fellow attendees. The movies were typically 75-95 minutes in length and spaced every three hours, beginning at 10:00 a.m., so unlike some other festivals, there was ample time to eat meals in between mov...
Read moreMill Creek has announced a September 15th for the DVD debut of Josef von Sternberg's 1935 adaptation of Crime and Punishment. Although being released in conjunction with the film's 80th anniversary, there hasn't been any reveal of bonus content but any is unlikely. ...
Read moreMany of cinema's greatest directors worked in Westerns over the years (particularly in the '50s) -- Ford, Hawks, Daves, Mann, Wellman, Ray, etc. With such names turning out great, often epic films at a steady pace, it makes sense that some talented, lesser-known people, making smaller Westerns, would get lost in the shuffle of cinematic history. It's a real shame, because as fans of these things know, the smaller pictures are where a lot of the real treasure is found.Some of those...
Read moreSeven new-to-DVD releases have been announced by Warner as part of their Archive Collection. Wallace Beery and Marjorie Main star in five including 1946's Bad Bascomb with Margaret O'Brien. The other four are: Barnacle Bill (1941) - Leo Carrillo, Virginia Weidler, Donald Meek, Barton MacLane Big Jack (1949) - Richard Conte, Edward Arnold The Bugle Sounds (1941) - Lewis Stone, George Bancr...
Read moreThough there were only three films noir programmed at the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival: Too Late For Tears (1949), Reign of Terror (1949) and Nightmare Alley (1947), they were among the most popular choices of festivalgoers. The first two played to full capacity houses, with many in line turned away. These played a second time, once again to packed houses, as TBA (To Be Announced) selections on the final day of the festival. Hopefully TCM will note this audience p...
Read moreFive new-to-DVD releases have been announced by Warner as part of their Archive Collection, including the arrival of the first season of the Western drama Lawman. They are: Callaway Went Thataway (1951) - Fred MacMurray, Dorothy McGuire, Howard Keel Count Your Blessings (1959) - Deborah Kerr, Rossano Brazzi, Maurice Chevalier The High Cost of Loving (1958) - Jose Ferrer, Gena Rowlands, Joan...
Read moreAn interesting thing about science-fiction serials of the 1930s is that, with the world poised on the brink of war yet again and scrupulously evil dictators presiding over much of the globe's territory, scenario writers and chapterplay directors really had to work hard to invent fictional villains who measured up to their real-life counterparts. The mid-1930s through the early 1940s gave matinee-goers some of the greatest evil-doers in the history of movies, thwarted week by week by square-ja...
Read moreIn her 1930s features, Una Merkel portrayed a variety of standout roles, including the shrill and frequently sobbing Sibyl in Private Lives (1931), the wronged girlfriend of David Manners in Man Wanted (1931), Jean Harlow's scheming secretary in Bombshell (1932), and a wisecracking chorus girl in 42nd Street (1933).She also portrayed some of the best pals a pre-Code gal could ask for -- characters who were not only loyal, dependable, and wise, b...
Read moreEven the most learned scholars of classic film consider Jeanne Eagels a mystery. Although she was one of America's leading actresses during the early twentieth century, her first love was the stage, and only a handful of film performances survive today. After her untimely death, a controversial biography was published, and later adapted into an equally contentious movie.And there the trail ended -- until now. For too long, Jeanne Eagels has languished in the shadows of rumor and m...
Read more