Classic Coming Attractions by Barrie Maxwell

Classic News, Reviews Round-Up #54 and New Announcements (continued)

It's a pleasure to report that E1 Entertainment (formerly Koch) has released the brilliant BBC comedy The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin in a 4-disc set that includes all three series that originally appeared during 1976-1979.

Adapted by David Nobbs from his darkly-comedic novel, the run of 21 episodes in total is a tour-de-force for Leonard Rossiter, one of Britain's finest comedy actors who would later die far too young at age 57 in 1984. It's hard to say which of Rossiter's two most well-known TV series is the better - Rising Damp or The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. Suffice it to say that he created memorable characters in both - the landlord Rigsby in the former and Reggie Perrin in the latter. In the Reginald Perrin saga, Reggie is caught in the middle management rat-race of modern corporate life at Sunshine Desserts where he is chief of marketing under incompetent boss C.J. The first series documents Reggie's increasing frustration with his life and his rather extreme method of coping with it. The second series finds Reggie starting his own company (Grot - dedicating to selling only useless items), which becomes an unexpected success and puts Reggie back in the same rat-race he had already escaped from once. In the third series, Reggie tries to develop a commune for the middle class and middle aged, a Perrin enterprise that once again looks likely to be a surprising success. The three series are all well written (although the third is not quite so engrossing as the first two) and feature a continuing cast of supporting characters, each well-developed in their own right - from Reggie's long-suffering wife Elizabeth (Pauline Yates) to boss "I haven't got where I am today" C.J. (John Barron), staff underlings Tony "great" Webster (Trevor Adams) and David "super" Harris-Jones (Bruce Bould), brother-in-law Jimmy "cock-up on the catering front" Anderson (Geoffrey Palmer), and secretary Joan Greengross (Sue Nicholls). But the glue holding it all together is Rossiter's brilliant personification of Reggie with his wealth of facial expressions and various voices, his impressive sense of comic reaction, and the slight glint in the eye that makes the audience feel privy to all of Reggie's thoughts about the people and situations in which he finds himself. It's Rossiter's work that will bring you back to watch the series over and over. E1's DVD presentation delivers the material on four discs with each series getting its own disc and a fourth being devoted to supplementary material. The full frame presentations are decent but certainly not among the best representatives of British comedy on DVD. The full frame images are fairly sharp and colour fidelity is all right, but there is frequent evidence of softness and visible video noise. The mono sound is fine. Supplements consist of a good mid-1990s retrospective profile of Rossiter (the 50-minute The Very Best of Leonard Rossiter, which focuses on his Perrin and Rigsby characters and features a number of interviews with co-stars from those series) and a 5-minute Christmas skit that reunited the cast in 1982 as part of a BBC Christmas comedy special. Highly recommended.

Almost passing under the radar is the recent Warner Bros. release of the Charles Bronson Collection, a rather grand title for a single double-sided disc that contains two mid-1970s titles - Telefon and St. Ives.

Neither will go down as great films, but both are entertaining in their own right and seem almost like masterpieces in comparison with something like this year's Taken, a mindless mess of frenetic editing and unbelievable action sequences that I had looked at just prior to the Bronson double header. Both films take their time to develop character and establish mood and there's just enough action to drive the stories along at a decent pace. Telefon (a 1977 MGM release) is the superior of the two, taking advantage of a good novel by Walter Wager as its source material. Bronson plays a KGB officer who comes to the U.S. to track down a Soviet defector who is activating a number of Soviet sleeper agents via lines from a Robert Frost poem communicated to them over the telephone. The story is ingenious and Bronson is believable in his role. Lee Remick, Donald Pleasence, and Tyne Daly provide good support. A somewhat perfunctory ending is the only disappointment. St. Ives (Warner Bros., 1976) has Bronson playing a retired crime writer who finds himself acting as a go-between for a rich benefactor who is trying to get back a number of important ledgers stolen from him. The film is somewhat a case of style over substance as its rather muddled story is more than compensated for by the Los Angeles location work and an engaging score by Lalo Schifrin. Bronson has real presence as the film's star and there's a great supporting cast that includes John Houseman, Jacqueline Bisset, Maximilian Schell, Dana Elcar, Elisha Cook, and Harry Guardino. Look for Jeff Goldblum and Robert Englund as a couple of hoods. Both films are given 1.85:1 anamorphic transfers. St. Ives is much the better-looking of the two, offering a bright, sharp image with generally vibrant colour. Telefon has an inconsistent image that fluctuates from sharp to hazy throughout with instances of video noise. The mono tracks on both films are satisfactory. Supplements include the original trailers for both and a four-minute vintage promo piece on Bronson's work on St. Ives. Recommended.

I've had the opportunity to sample but briefly Warner Bros.' latest Doris Day Collection (the third one from the studio and this time under the TCM Spotlight imprint). It contains three starring vehicles for Day (Tea for Two, 1950; April in Paris, 1952; and The Tunnel of Love, 1958) plus two others where she has a supporting (It's a Great Feeling, 1949) or cameo (Starlift, 1951) role.

Both of the latter two films are lightweight plot-wise, but do offer appealing looks at the Warner lot and/or pleasant cameo opportunities for a raft of Warner stars. Of the starring films, Tea for Two (suggested by the play "No! No! Nanette") works best with a great blend of recognizable music and delightful supporting performances from the likes of S.Z. Sakall, Billy DeWolfe, and Eve Arden. April in Paris teams Day with Ray Bolger, but the two have little spark together and a lackluster score doesn't make up for that. The Tunnel of Love is a bit of a mixed bag. It's well-composed in CinemaScope by director Gene Kelly, but Richard Widmark is miscast as Day's husband in this theatrical farce concerning a couple trying to have or adopt a child. There is a nice supporting opportunity for Gig Young as the couple's neighbor, however, and he makes the most of it. The Tunnel of Love (in B&W) is presented in a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer that excels in image detail and its overall film-like look. Of the other four titles (all full frame as originally shot) only one is not in Technicolor (Starlift - which has a few contrast variations but is otherwise nicely detailed). It's a Great Feeling has a very vibrantly colourful image with some mild grain and only some minor registration issues. Tea for Two and April in Paris are slightly below It's a Great Feeling in quality chiefly due to slightly darker images overall that seem to reduce image detail at times. The mono sound on all titles is quite adequate, with The Tunnel of Love seeming to offer slightly more presence. Each title is supplemented with a selection of vintage shorts, cartoons, and the original trailers. Highlights among these supplements are the 1949 studio blooper reel; the overture from the surviving Vitaphone discs of the otherwise lost 1930 No, No, Nanette film; the Joe McDoakes short So You Want to Be a Bachelor; and the 1958 CinemaScope Tom and Jerry cartoon Tot Watchers. Recommended.

Long in demand, The Friends of Eddie Coyle has finally been released on DVD by Criterion.

This spare, unadulterated tale of the edges of the Boston underworld has a real 1970s feel to it, from the mood and look created by the music by Dave Grusin and the clothing and hair styles to the realistic world created by director Peter Yates' emphasis on slightly seedy, everyday locations and a great piece of ensemble acting by actors many of whom look slightly familiar (Richard Jordan, Joe Santos, James Tolkan) but are only really known by name by film enthusiasts of the era. Then there's Robert Mitchum, the film's ostensible star, who seems to slip into the cast's air of anonymity with ease, his weary and now jowly face belying the typical movie star aura. He has the title role of a small-time crook who operates on the edge of the law, but with jail time looming must make a decision whether to help the cops or take the fall. The Friends of Eddie Coyle is a film for those who want to think rather than be lambasted by unrealistic and extreme action sequences. You'll find little gunfire in the film and only a very abbreviated car-chase sequence; rather you'll find an immersive experience that almost puts you along side all the characters, experiencing what they experience and only gradually realizing the big picture that leads to the unexpected conclusion. The film is one of the 1970s' best and a highlight of Robert Mitchum's lengthy careeer. Criterion's 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer does full justice to the film, which now looks sharp and clean with modest grain compared to less-than-optimal screenings I've seen over the years. Colour fidelity looks good with the somewhat muted tones perfectly in keeping with the film's low-key approach. The mono sound is clear and free of hiss, pops, or distortion. Director Peter Yates provides an informative and enthusiastic audio commentary for one of his three favorite films. Other supplements include a stills gallery and a 46-page booklet that provides a short, new essay on the film by Kent Jones and a lengthy profile of Robert Mitchum written by Grover Lewis that first appeared in "Rolling Stone" magazine in March 1973. Highly recommended.

A brace of director's cuts of Peter Bogdanovich films have appeared on a two-disc double feature release from Sony - The Last Picture Show and Nickelodeon. The former has been available on DVD for quite some time, but this is the first appearance for 1976's Nickelodeon.

The latter is a fanciful evocation of the 1910-1915 era of movie-making when the major film companies attempted to squeeze out the independent ones via the formation of the Patents Trust. The film tells the story of a film director who comes to his job by accident (Ryan O'Neal), the crew he surrounds himself with (Burt Reynolds, John Ritter, Stella Stevens, Tatum O'Neal, etc.), and the independent filmmaker he works for (an at times unrecognizable Brian Keith). Much the story is inspired by real incidents recounted to Bogdanovich by directors who worked in the silent era, such as Leo McCarey, Allan Dwan, and Raoul Walsh. The film is not a complete success as it seems at times too forced in its attempts at recreating well-known techniques from the silent era, but its overall enthusiasm is infectious enough that it leaves a good taste in the mouth after its two-hour running time. All the principal players come off very well and we're treated to some fine stunt work along the way. The film was originally released in colour, but Bogdanovich's original preference was for a black and white release. Both the colour theatrical and the B&W director's cut, which is also 3 minutes longer, are presented on a single disc and Bogdanovich's assertion that black and white would make the film more believable is readily borne out by comparing the two. Sony's 1.85:1 anamorphic transfers look very good indeed. The colour fidelity on the theatrical version is notable, but the black and white director's cut is the real standout. The image is crisp and offers a very fine grayscale with just a hint of grain. The mono sound is clear and free of age-related deterioration. The only supplement is a typically interesting audio commentary by Bogdanovich on the B&W version. The Last Picture Show (1971) has been available on DVD since 1999. That version was the director's cut of the film and the disc looked quite good for the time, capturing the gritty look of the film accurately. Supplements included a very good hour-long retrospective documentary, The Last Picture Show: A Look Back and a theatrical re-release featurette from 1974. The new transfer by Sony looks even better, offering a very crisp and well-detailed image with appropriate grain. It also looks a bit cleaner than the first version. The retrospective documentary and re-release featurette from the original DVD are included and they're supplemented by an interesting audio commentary from Bogdanovich, a 13-minute discussion with Bogdanovich on his filmmaking style, and the theatrical trailer. The new Nickelodeon/The Last Picture Show release from Sony is easily recommended, even to those who already have the original The Last Picture Show DVD.

North West Frontier is a terrific action film set in colonial India, now available on DVD from MGM.

Later retitled Flame Over India for American release, it stars Kenneth More and Lauren Bacall as an English army officer and American governess respectively who are tasked with transporting a young Indian prince to safety when rebel forces attack his father's palace. The route through a hostile environment of rebel fighters in India's North West province must be negotiated by railroad using a dilapidated old steam locomotive. Blown-up tracks and a precarious bridge crossing not to mention possible sabotage from within are but some of the trip's hurdles. There's certainly a familiarity to the plot of a group of diverse passengers thrown together on a trip facing formidable obstacles, but this film manages it all successfully. Most of the characters may be stereotypes but the acting from More, Bacall, and the rest (including Wilfred Hyde White, Herbert Lom, I.S. Johar, and Ursula Jeans) is first-rate and director J. Lee Thompson creates plenty of suspense that really makes the 130-minute running time speed by. Thompson also makes good use of CinemaScope in the location work in India. The film may have a British Raj mentality in its view of Hindu/Muslim issues, but that doesn't detract from its basic entertainment value. This is another spare release from MGM with no menu and no supplements, but at least the 2.35:1 anamorphic image is well done. Colour brightness and fidelity are both very good and the image is quite sharp for the most part. The mono sound is fine. Recommended.

Sony continues with its commitment to the complete Three Stooges with its new release of The Three Stooges Collection: Volume Six - 1949-1951.

The Three Stooges Collection: Volume Six – 1949-1951

As with the previous volumes, it's a two-disc set containing 24 digitally remastered shorts, this time all featuring Shemp as the third Stooge. The titles are: 1949 - The Ghost Talks, Who Done It?, Hokus Pokus, Fuelin' Around, Malice in the Palace, Vagabond Loafers, Dunked in the Deep, Punchy Cowpunchers; 1950 - Hugs and Mugs, Dopey Dicks, Love at First Bite, Self Made Maids, Three Hams on Rye, Studio Stoops, Slaphappy Sleuths, A Snitch in Time; and 1951 - Three Arabian Nuts, Baby Sitters Jitters, Don't Throw That Knife, Scrambled Brains, Merry Mavericks, The Tooth Will Out, Hula-la-la, Pest Man Wins. For myself, these are Shemp's prime years from the 1947-1956 period during which he was the third Stooge. Much of the material here is fresh and so well done that Columbia and the Stooges would mine it extensively when remaking many of their shorts in later years. These were also the final years before Columbia cut back its shorts production unit substantially. As identified on the packaging, Self Made Maids (the Stooges play themselves, their fiancées, and their three babies) and Don't Throw That Knife (an improvisation with nothing but household items while confined to a single room) are both highlights of the set, but other items that particularly appealed to me were: Vagabond Loafers (the boys are called in to re-plumb a mansion), Hugs and Mugs (the Stooges' possession of a valuable necklace attracts crooks and scheming women), A Snitch in Time (the Stooges are furniture makers who agree to do some redecorating for a friend of Moe's), Scrambled Brains (Shemp has hallucinations and falls for a gal who's beautiful only to him, leading to a classic Stooge telephone booth scene), and The Tooth Will Out (the Stooges as dentists - ‘nuff said!). Sony continues its fine work on these shorts and save for the odd isolated soft stretch, they all look sharp and clean. The mono sound has been well cleaned up as well. There is no supplementary material. Recommended.

VCI has been doing us a welcome service with its recent succession of multi-disc releases of British classic films, mainly from the 1940s and 1950s. I recently reviewed British Cinema: Classic B Film Collection - Volume 1, and now I've had a chance to look at British Cinema: Renown Pictures - Literary Classics Collection.

British Cinema: Renown Pictures – Literary Classics Collection

Renown Pictures, an independent British production company, was mainly active in the early 1950s and is probably best known for its production of Scrooge (1951, with Alastair Sim). The company attempted to raise its profile thereafter with several films adapted from well-known literary sources, three of which are presented in VCI's three-disc set. The best and most successful of the three is 1951's Tom Brown's Schooldays, a fairly faithful adaptation of Thomas Hughes' novel of a boys' boarding school in the 1800s. In it, Tom Brown (John Howard Davies) is a new student at Rugby where he undergoes the usual rites of passage in his first year, but runs afoul of the school bully Flashman - a symbol of all that is wrong with the school and a clear target of the school's reform-minded headmaster (Robert Newton). The film is particularly well acted by the British cast although John Howard Davies does not give the lead role quite the energy it needs. Newton's headmaster is a commanding presence, although we don't see enough of him for my liking. The film does offer a good flavour of school life (aided by some actual filming at the real Rugby) and resolves the Brown/Flashman issues in a satisfying manner. VCI's full frame presentation is quite satisfactory too. The black and white image is somewhat dark at times, but is reasonably sharp for the most part. Many scratches and speckles have been repaired in the restoration process and contrast has been noticeably improved. The mono sound is quite acceptable. Supplements include the film's trailer, a demonstration of the restoration improvements, a colourized version of the film that muddies the film's images at the same time it colours them, and an interesting audio interview in which Richard Gordon remembers producer George Minter of Renown Pictures. The Pickwick Papers (1952) is a generally enjoyable adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel about a fictional English social club headed by Samuel Pickwick (James Hayter). Dickens' tale of the club's travels to observe English life and its subsequent misadventures involving one Mr. Jingle (Nigel Patrick) is quite atmospherically transferred to the screen, with the film managing to hit all the major aspects of the novel. As with Tom Brown's Schooldays, the casting is very effective (particularly Hayter as Mr. Pickwick) and we get to see many familiar British actors of the era, including James Donald, Joyce Grenfell, Hermione Gingold, Hermione Baddeley, George Wolfit, Hattie Jacques, Alexander Gauge, and Harry Fowler. The black and white full frame image is quite satisfying, as sharp as Tom Brown's Schooldays, but better detailed without that film's tendency towards darkness. The mono sound delivers nicely. The supplements include a reading of Charles Dickens' original dedication on his novel. Svengali (1954) is a rather turgid retelling of the Georg du Maurier novel about the mysterious control that musician Svengali is able to exert over model Trilby O'Ferral. The British casting seems uninspired aside from Donald Wolfit's Bela Lugosi-like take on Svengali. Hildegarde Neff as Trilby looks the part, but fails to give the role much emotion. One is much better off sticking to the 1931 Warner Bros. production of the story that starred John Barrymore and Marian Marsh in the two key roles. VCI makes that quite easy to do by providing a copy of it as a supplement on the disc. The 1954 Svengali is presented in colour and full frame as originally shot. The image is rather soft and the colours bleed at times. On the other hand, the black and white 1931 Svengali looks very nice - quite sharp and offering very good contrast. There is some minor hiss apparent in the mono tracks of both versions. The other supplements are a photo gallery and a repetition of the Richard Gordon interview on the Tom Brown's Schooldays disc. Recommended.

Western Reviews

You know, I'm still bemused by these Paramount Centennial Collection releases, admirable as they may be as DVD special editions go. This struck me particularly so this past month when I received a package of releases from Paramount that included the new Centennial efforts for El Dorado and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Also in the package were a number of Blu-ray releases including catalogue titles such as Saturday Night Fever, 3 Days of the Condor, Enemy at the Gates, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. As good as some of those titles are, none of them warrants a Blu-ray release more than either of the John Wayne westerns, especially when the studio trumpets the fact that both of the latter are mastered in high definition. If you've got a newly restored effort as all of the Centennial Collection titles are proving to be and you're mastering in high definition, why not deliver the product in high definition too? It makes no sense to me whatsoever, except I'm sad to say, to suggest that it's all just an attempt at a final cash grab out of the DVD buyer's pocket before a Blu-ray offering in the not-too-distant future. Anyway, both of these editions offer improvement over the original DVD releases but in different ways. El Dorado (Howard Hawks' first variation on his Rio Bravo film - the second would be Rio Lobo) was first released on DVD almost 9 years ago (and repackaged later at least once) as a bare-bones edition with a rather decent 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer. The new Centennial offering improves on that. The colour on the first release was rather striking, but here it looks even more vibrant with some scenes appearing almost three-dimensional. The image is sharp with very good detail and a slight level of grain. The mono sound also offers a somewhat stronger presence than before and dialogue is clear with just a hint of background hiss on occasion. We get a very interesting 7-part documentary on the making of the film plus two audio commentaries (the better one is by Peter Bogdanovich and the other is by Richard Schickel with additional comments from Hawks biographer Todd McCarthy and actor Ed Asner). Two other minor featurettes and the usual galleries and trailer round out the two-disc set. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Wayne, James Stewart and Lee Marvin together in a John Ford film) was originally released in a bare bones version about 8 years ago. The 1.85:1 black and white image was quite sharp with good detail and a moderate amount of grain. The new Centennial offering has been cleaned and brightened up resulting in some loss of detail and an overall softer look. The sound offerings appear to be the same as on the original - a mono track in great shape and a 5.1 surround track that has some directionality but little surround effect. The supplements are very impressive - an audio commentary by Peter Bogdanovich, archival recordings of John Ford, James Stewart, and Lee Marvin, and a new 7-part documentary on the making of the film plus galleries and the trailer. The new edition of El Dorado is recommended as an upgrade over the original release. The case is less clear for Liberty Valance where the fine selection of new supplements is balanced by a less pleasing image transfer. Both come with the usual caveat about the likelihood of upcoming Blu-ray versions.

One of VCI's most recent multi-disc offerings is Darn Good Westerns: Volume 1, which delivers six films on two discs. Despite the title, there are no "darn good" westerns in this bunch.

There are two pretty decent offerings, two passable ones, and two clunkers. Hellgate is one of the pretty decent ones - a black and white 1952 Lippert Pictures production in which Sterling Hayden stars as a veterinarian who treats an injured stranger. He doesn't realize that the stranger was a Civil War guerrilla raider and he finds himself unjustly arrested and sentenced to a prison headed by sadistic commandant Ward Bond. The story is a little offbeat for a western and has a satisfying conclusion involving a typhoid sub-plot. Both Hayden and Bond play their parts effectively and it's interesting to see James Arness in a pre-Gunsmoke western. The presentation (full frame as originally shown) is quite workable - some softness and plenty of scratches and speckles but nothing too distracting. Operation Haylift is the other pick of the bunch in this set. It's based on an actual airlift of hay to cattle herds threatened with decimation as a result of severe blizzards in Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana in the winter of 1949. The film uses a simple yet effective framing story of a rancher (Bill Williams) who hopes to expand his operation with the help of his brother (Tom Brown) who has just returned from flying bombers during World War II. The 1950 Lippert Pictures production benefits substantially from being filmed entirely in and around Ely, Nevada. The DVD viewer benefits from a bright and for the most part crisp image that is the best in the entire set. Panhandle is one of the two passable films in the set. It's a strictly formulaic western in which reformed gunman Rod Cameron (sort of a poor man's Randolph Scott) straps on his guns to avenge his brother's murder. Reed Hadley plays the chief heavy with his usual skill, but the rest of the cast is generally forgettable. The action quotient is typical of a B western with a good fistfight being staged between Cameron and one of Hadley's henchman. Location shooting in Lone Pine helps the film to some degree. The full frame image is presented in sepia tone and looks rather soft and slightly out of focus at times. Wildfire: The Story of a Horse, despite its title, is simply a 1945 Bob Steele B series western. I previously reviewed Grapevine Video's release of the film here and there's little more to add. The transfer of the Cinecolor feature is no better than Grapevine's effort - a rather fuzzy image with colour that starts off not too badly but becomes increasingly murky. Bringing up the rear in the set are a 1950 Lippert production of Train to Tombstone and 1954's Fangs of the Wild. Train to Tombstone should have been better with Don Barry and Tom Neal among a group of passengers on a train under threat of Indian attack, but the film's action sequences are pathetic studio-bound efforts and there's too much emphasis on moronic humour from Wally Vernon as a traveling corset salesman. Fangs of the Wild looks like it was cheaply made with uninspiring sets despite location work in the Big Bear Lake area of California. With a derivative storyline about a boy who sees a killing but is not believed, it's of interest only as an early film in Charles Chaplin Jr.'s brief career. The image transfer of Train to Tombstone is one of the clearer ones in the set, but Fangs of the Wild suffers from notable contrast issues. The mono sound on these two and all others in the set is quite workable. VCI adds a number of trailers (some for titles in this set, some for other VCI releases) and two shorts including a nice-looking Technicolor one for Born in Freedom: The Story of Temple Drake (with Vincent Price in the story of developing the drilling technique for oil). Certainly worth a rental for western fans.

The King and Four Queens (originally a United Artists release, new on DVD from MGM) is one of four westerns that Clark Gable appeared in during the 1950s.

Turning to westerns in that decade was typical of many of the classic film stars, with some such as James Stewart being particularly successful at it. Gable's efforts were a mixed bag. Lone Star was the best of them, with Across the Wide Missouri and The Tall Men lagging somewhat behind. Then we have The King and Four Queens, a leaden affair that finds Gable looking for a stash of gold hidden on a ranch ruled by matriarch Jo Van Fleet and her four daughters (chief among whom is Eleanor Parker). The film does make good use of CinemaScope at times, but it lacks the spark that director Raoul Walsh was usually able to inject into his westerns. Endless talky scenes involving Gable and one or other of the five women is one's chief memory of the film, while the few uninventive action scenes that are included seem rather cursorily thrown together. Gable is still a sly and commanding presence on the screen in this outing, but the vehicle is hardly worthy of him. Those looking for favorite character actors will find Jay C. Flippen, Roy Roberts, and Arthur Shields among the cast. MGM provides us with a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer that's quite decent. There are some speckles and scratches, but colour fidelity and image sharpness are good though a bit inconsistent. There is the very occasional hint of edge effects, but even on a large screen, they're not particularly intrusive. The mono sound is in good shape. There are no supplements. Worth a rental only for Gable fans.

The story of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral has certainly been filmed many times over the years, including My Darling Clementine, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Tombstone, and Wyatt Earp as but some examples. In them, the likes of Victor Mature, Kirk Douglas, Val Kilmer, and Dennis Quaid have all given their own different and interesting takes on the Doc Holliday character. Then there's the 1971 United Artists revisionist release, Doc, in which Stacy Keach essays the role.

This is about the most one-dimensional portrayal of the character committed to film, even including Cesar Romero's rather dubious if energetic attempt in 1939's Frontier Marshal. Keach looks merely like a humourless gunfighter dressed up in a gambler's outfit, a fixed stare on his face for most of the film and looking rather too hale to be the frail-looking Holliday. Even the action scenes he's involved in don't seem to move him one way or the other. Aside from Keach's efforts if one can call them that, we get a rather impotent Wyatt Earp from Harris Yulin and a somewhat manic take on Doc's girlfriend from Faye Dunaway. But at least their efforts give one something to discuss; Keach's leaves one speechless. (The disc cover art seems to recognize all this, relegating Keach to a small insert while playing up the faces of the film's other stars.) The film was shot in Spain with apparently plenty of available extras if little wit. MGM's 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer captures the predominant browns of the film quite well, but the image is inconsistent in its sharpness and shadow detail with plenty of video noise evident in darker scenes. The mono sound is in good shape. There are no supplements, not even a menu. Even western fans should avoid this one.

New Announcements

Please note that the Classic Announcements database has been updated to reflect the following news...

All Day Entertainment has re-announced Becoming Charlie Chase, the four-disc set initially to have been released in January, for July 28th. Content is unchanged from that originally planned - some 42 shorts and several supplementary featurettes/interviews. The release will, however, be distributed on All Day's behalf by VCI rather than Image (as had been the case in the past).

Alpha Video has added some 43 titles to its release plans, almost equally split over May 26th and June 30th. All titles are listed on the New Announcements database, but they comprise the usual combination of older feature films and early television material, with an emphasis this time on western titles. The latter are mainly presented as double feature discs highlighting the likes of Bob Steele, Kermit Maynard, Tom Keene, etc. There are also several multi-disc releases, including two seven-disc sets of Bob Steele westerns (some 28 features in all).

Criterion's August offerings include a Blu-ray edition of Jacques Tati's Playtime (1967) on the 18th. The release will feature a restored 1.85:1 high-definition digital transfer with uncompressed stereo soundtrack; a video introduction by writer, director, and performer Terry Jones; selected scene audio commentary by film historian Philip Kemp; Au-del� de "Playtime", a short documentary featuring archival behind-the-scenes footage from the set; Tati Story, a short biographical film about Tati; Jacques Tati in Monsieur Hulot's World, a 1976 BBC Omnibus program featuring Tati; a rare audio interview with Tati from the U.S. debut of Playtime at the 1972 San Francisco International Film Festival; a video interview with script supervisor Sylvette Baudrot; Cours du soir, a 1967 short film written by and starring Tati; and an essay by Jonathan Rosenbaum. Eclipse Series #17: Nikkatsu Noir, coming on August 25th, will present five crime films produced at Nikkatsu, the oldest film studio in Japan. The titles are: I Am Waiting (1957), Rusty Knife (1958), Take Aim at the Police Van (1960), Cruel Gun Story (1964), and A Colt Is My Passport (1967). Criterion will release That Hamilton Woman (1941, with Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier) on September 8th and Pierrot le fou (1965, Jean-Luc Godard) on Blu-ray on September 22nd. The former will contain audio commentary by Ian Christie, a new video interview with Alexander Korda's nephew, and a 1942 promotional piece for the movie.

Disney's next Walt Disney Treasures offerings will appear on November 3rd. They will be Zorro: The Complete First Season (1957-58) and Zorro: The Complete Second Season (1958-59). Each release will consist of six discs and also contain two one-hour Zorro specials along with the usual Leonard Maltin introductions.

Flicker Alley has announced its next release (in conjunction with Film Preservation Associates) for July 7th. It will be a two-disc set of Bardelys the Magnificent and Monte Cristo - Lost Films of John Gilbert. The two films were originally 1926 MGM and 1922 Fox releases respectively and both considered prestige pictures of their time. The source for the former is a print found in France in 2006 while that for the latter is a worn and choppy print found in the Czech Republic. Supplements will include a full-length audio essay on Bardelys the Magnificent by film historians Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta and a new 30-minute documentary, Rediscovering John Gilbert, featuring an on-camera interview with Gilbert's daughter and biographer Leatrice Gilbert Fountain.

Grapevine Video's May releases include four silent and two sound ones. The silents are: a Bob Custer double feature of Manhattan Cowboy (1928)/Code of the West (1929); The Comeback (1930, story of Max Schmeling with added dialogue); Ranson's Folly (1926, with Richard Barthelmess); and Bolshevism on Trial (1919). The sound ones are a Charles Starrett pre-Durango Kid double feature of Sons of Steel (1934)/Make a Million (1935) and Hi Diddle Diddle (1943 screwball comedy with Adolph Menjou). The June releases follow the same pattern of four silent titles and two sound ones. The silent releases are D.W. Griffith, Director: Volume #6 (nine short films from 1910); Dangerous Traffic (1926, with Francis X. Bushman); The Family Secret (1924, with Baby Peggy); and The Heart of a Hero (1916, with Robert Warwick). The sound releases are: Ecstasy (1933, with Hedy Lamarr) and The Bashful Bachelor/ Two Weeks to Live (two Lum and Abner comedies from 1942/1943)

Infinity Entertainment will have Route 66: Season Three, Volume 1 for release on July 21st, a delay from the original June 23rd date. It will be a four-disc set containing the third season's first 16 episodes. Route 66: Season Three, Volume 2 will follow on August 25th. Infinity will also begin a series of 13 volumes of The Judy Garland Show with Volume One appearing on July 28th. Each release will contain 2 hour-long shows digitally remastered from the shows' original masters.

Kino has set September 1st as the date for its three-disc set devoted to the early French film industry, Gaumont Treasures: 1897-1913. Each of Alice Guy, Louis Feuillade, and Leonce Perret will be featured on their own disc, with the latter's including the 1913 feature L'Enfant de Paris.

Koch Entertainment will have The Dog of Flanders (1960, with David Ladd and Donald Crisp) on July 14th, but there's no indication if it will appear in the proper OAR. Readers will remember that lack of same was an issue with Koch's recent Blu-ray release of Gulliver's Travels.

Legend Films will be releasing a two-disc SE of the perennial public domain favorite, The Outlaw (1943), on June 16th. The release advertises a restored black and white version as well as a colourized one. Video commentary by Jane Russell and Terry Moore will accompany the latter version. Also coming on the same date is The Best of Abbott and Costello (3-disc set of Funniest Routines: Volumes 1 and 2, and the Christmas Show in colour), Suddenly (1954, presumably colourized), and a whole slew of the studio's "Rifftrax" takes on the usual public domain suspects (Plan 9 from Outer Space, House on Haunted Hill, etc). The latter are not included in the new release database.

Lionsgate has now rescheduled the previously postponed Ulysses (1954, with Kirk Douglas) for release on August 4th.

There's was a brief flurry of excitement recently when Movies Unlimited suggested that Paramount would finally release The African Queen on October 13th as an entry in the studio's Centennial Collection (even though it's not a Paramount picture). The listing was later removed from the website, however. The studio has been actively working at restoring the title and had earlier suggested that a release later this year was a possibility. It is possible then that an October release is planned but the studio just doesn't want anything definite about its plans to be announced as yet. If there is any truth to a possible release this coming fall, that should become clear over the next couple of months. Also apparently in the plans is a Blu-ray release of It's a Wonderful Life, with November 3rd mentioned as a tentative date. In more concrete news, Paramount will have The Untouchables: Season Three, Volume 1 for release on August 25th and in welcome news, Bonanza: The Official First Season, Volume 1 and Bonanza: The Official First Season, Volume 2 both on September 1st. Coming on September 15th is the classic 1950s TV series One Step Beyond: Season One. It's previously been available only via public domain releases of selected episodes. While it's great to see releases of classic TV series such as these and the likes of Perry Mason, Rawhide, and Gunsmoke continuing, where are the remaining seasons of Have Gun, Will Travel? The studio said it did intend to get them out, so how about it?

Ryko will be offering the Italian-made spaghetti-war film Eagles Over London (1969, with Van Johnson) on July 28th.

Shout! Factory will release The Patty Duke Show: The Complete First Season on September 29th. It will include all of the 1963-64 season's 36 half-hour episodes on six discs. The company will also make Mr. Ed fans happy with its October 6th release of Mr. Ed: Season One. Episodes from the series were previously available from MGM, but only in two best-of volumes.

Sony will be releasing The Norman Lear Collection on June 9th. It will be a 19-disc set containing the first seasons for seven TV series - All in the Family, Sanford & Son, Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times, One Day at a Time, and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Six hours of newly-produced featurettes and interviews are included. Bewitched: The Complete Eighth and Final Season will be released on July 14th (26 episodes on 4 discs) by Sony. The studio has announced the Icons of Sci-Fi: Toho Collection for release on August 18th. As expected, the titles included are Mothra, The H-Man, and Battle in Outer Space. Even better, August 4th will bring Icons of Screwball Comedy: Volume 1 and Icons of Screwball Comedy: Volume 2. Each will be a two-disc set. Volume 1 will contain Jean Arthur in If You Could Only Cook (1935) and Too Many Husbands (1940), and Rosalind Russell in My Sister Eileen (1942) and She Wouldn't Say Yes (1945) while Volume 2 will offer Irene Dunne in Theodora Goes Wild (1936) and Together Again (1944), and Loretta Young in The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940) and A Night to Remember (1943). Each volume will contain a bonus short. August 18th will bring John Cassavetes' Husbands (1970, with Ben Gazzara and Peter Falk). Sony has also added a Blu-ray release of Easy Rider (1969) to its September 15th plans. Meanwhile rumours also abound regarding Rita Hayworth, William Castle and two Columbia film noir sets in the works for release this autumn. Some e-tailers are even taking orders for them although there have been no studio announcements as yet. The Rita Hayworth Collection would apparently include Tonight and Every Night, Salome, Miss Sadie Thompson, Gilda, and Cover Girl. The William Castle Collection would include Homicidal, Mr. Sardonicus, Zotz!, The Old Dark House, The Tingler, 13 Ghosts, 13 Frightened Girls, and Strait-Jacket. The Film Noir Collection: Volume 1 (as mentioned in my previous column) would include The Sniper, 5 Against the House, The Lineup, Murder by Contract, and The Big Heat. The Film Noir Collection: Volume 2 would include Pushover, Nightfall, The Brothers Rico, City of Fear, and In a Lonely Place. Each of these obviously includes some titles previously released on DVD, but it's likely that each of them will get at least a new transfer. A Study in Terror (1965, with John Neville) may also be on the way. The titles in the planned Sam Fuller Film Collection also appear to be crystallizing with the contents now expanded from 3 titles to 7, apparently to include: It Happened in Hollywood (1937); Adventure in Sahara (1938); Power of the Press (1943); Shockproof (1949); Scandal Sheet (1952); The Crimson Kimono (1959); and Underworld U.S.A. (1961). Some e-tailers are showing a release date of September 29th, but there's been nothing official from the studio.

Timeless Media Group has added Tales of Wells Fargo to its July 14th release plans. The release will be a six-disc set containing a selection of 46 of the best episodes from seasons 1-5 of the TV show that starred Dale Robertson. A supplement on the set will be an interview with Robertson. The company will also have Laramie: The Final Season available on September 15th. Released in conjunction with NBC Universal, the set will comprise 32 episodes on 6 discs.

Universal will offer a Legacy Series release of The Wolf Man (1941) on September 15th.

VCI has now revealed a release date for the previously anticipated The Green Hornet (1940) and The Green Hornet Strikes Again (1941). They will appear on July 28th. Both will be two-disc sets and will include liner notes, Green Hornet radio shows, photo galleries, and trailers. A British film, Serious Charge (1959, with Anthony Quayle), is set for a June 30th release. VCI's August releases are set for the 4th. They include Actors and Sin (1952, with Edward G. Robinson and Marsha Hunt); the Mascot serial The Last of the Mohicans (1932, with Harry Carey); and the Big Iron Collection of 6 James Ellison/Russell Hayden B westerns from 1950 (Crooked River, Colorado Ranger, Fast on the Draw, Hostile Country, Marshal of Heldorado, West of the Brazos). All are remakes of Bob Steele or Johnny Mack Brown westerns of the 1930s.

Virgil Films and Entertainment (formerly Arts Alliance America) will release The Donna Reed Show: The Complete Second Season on July 21st.

Further additions to the Warner Bros. Archive since my previous column include Above and Beyond (1952), All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953), Billy the Kid (1941), Bright Leaf (1950), Bye Bye Braverman (1968), Castle on the Hudson (1940), Colleen (1936), The Fallen Sparrow (1942), Flirtation Walk (1934), Four Daughters (1938), Four's a Crowd (1938), Freebie and the Bean (1974), The Great Garrick (1937), Happiness Ahead (1934), Hard to Get (1938), It's Love I'm After (1937), Johnny Eager (1942), One Sunday Afternoon (1933), Operator 13 (1934), Party Girl (1958), Pride of the Marines (1945), Princess O'Rourke (1943), Ready, Willing and Able (1937), Roughly Speaking (1945), Saratoga Trunk (1945), Shipmates Forever (1935), The Skin Game (1971), Soldier in the Rain (1963), Tarzan and the She-Devil (1953), Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950), Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949), Tarzan's Peril (1951), Tarzan's Savage Fury (1952), Task Force (1949), Today We Live (1933). The five Tarzan discs are also available all together at 50% off, as is a six-disc set of Gary Cooper titles (Bright Leaf, One Sunday Afternoon, Operator 13, Saratoga Trunk, Task Force, and Today We Live), a five-disc set of the Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler ones (Colleen, Flirtation Walk, Happiness Ahead, Ready Willing and Able, Shipmates Forever) and several other title groupings based on specific actors or themes. June 15th will bring a further 11 Archive titles with focuses on silents and Marie Dressler - Beau Brummell (1924), The Better 'Ole (1926), The Divine Lady (1929), The First Auto (1927), Let Us Be Gay (1930), Min and Bill (1930), Old San Francisco (1927), Politics (1931), Reducing (1931), The Sea Hawk (1924), and When a Man Loves (1927). The Dressler and silent films are also each packaged in half-price bundles. A handful of other titles have also recently been added including Nora Prentiss (1947), The Man I Love (1946), and The Hard Way (1942). September 15th will bring a proper DVD release of Directed by John Ford, an updated version of the 1971 documentary written and directed by Peter Bogdanovich. The disc will be available separately or as part of a repackaging of the John Wayne and John Ford Collection that Warners released a couple of years ago. Also available on the 15th will be Ford's Wagon Master (1950, with Ben Johnson and Joanne Dru). Those interested in You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story - Richard Schickel's 5-part tribute to the studio shown on PBS last year - should be aware that it will appear on August 4th as a two-disc set exclusive to Amazon.com. September 29th will bring, as previously expected for this autumn, The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Edition. Available will be a 2-disc DVD version, a 4-disc DVD Ultimate Collector's Edition, and a 2-disc Blu-ray Ultimate Collector's Edition. These new releases are based on a new remastering, with each of the original Technicolor camera negatives scanned using 8K resolution. Full details on the release including a rundown on the new supplements plus those carried over from previous DVD versions are listed in the June 10th news posting on The Digital Bits. Recently announced by Warners is an October 6th release of Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics. It'll be a two-disc set containing The Walking Dead (1936), Frankenstein-1970 (1958), You'll Find Out (1940), and Zombies on Broadway (1945). The first two titles will both offer audio commentaries. The studio has announced the release of TCM Spotlight: Esther Williams Volume 2, also for October 6th. The set will deliver six Technicolor features: Million Dollar Mermaid, Thrill of a Romance, This Time for Keeps, Easy to Love, Fiesta, and Pagan Love Song. Each are newly remastered and will be supplemented by rarely-seen deleted musical outtakes, vintage shorts and classic cartoons. The films will be available only as a complete collection. October 20th will bring the 1971 version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to Blu-ray and Gone with the Wind: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition is apparently being targeted for a November 30th Blu-ray release. Get Smart: Season 4, initially expected in mid-September, has been pushed back to October 15th. Warners has now indicated (via Ron Epstein of the HTF) that they are still looking to release the Bowery Boys films (on pressed discs and not part of the WB Archive) in original release order by the end of 2010, although it's unclear if that means just beginning the releases or actually completing them all by that time - likely the former though. The later films will be released in 16x9 as appropriate. Classic fans should also be aware that Warners no longer holds the home video rights to My Fair Lady or the Charlie Chaplin library as of the end of June.

Well, once again that's it for now. I'll return again soon.

Barrie Maxwell
barriemaxwell@thedigitalbits.com