Classic Coming Attractions by Barrie Maxwell

Errol Flynn, Reviews Round-Up #55 and New Announcements (continued)

Beau Geste, the 1939 Paramount version, is making its second appearance on DVD. Universal first released it four years ago as part of The Gary Cooper Collection.

In that set of five films (I reviewed it on The Bits here), the rousing adventure film fared quite well, offering a sharp well-contrasted image that was quite consistent throughout. Now Universal has revisited the film as part of its Backlot Series, providing a new stand-alone release. Unfortunately the fact that it's available in its own case is about the only real physical difference. The full frame transfer is new, but the image improvements over the initial release are negligible. The sound seems unchanged with some hiss, though not particularly intrusive, obvious at times. The only supplement is still the theatrical trailer. The main difference is the fact that the price now is almost three times what it was per film as part of the Gary Cooper Collection. If you have the latter, there's no reason to upgrade to the new version. It you don't have the latter, get it. Then you'll not only have Beau Geste, but four other Cooper gems as well.

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is a 1936 Walter Wanger production distributed originally by Paramount that Universal has now released on DVD for the first time as part of its Backlot Series.

It is renowned as the first feature-length outdoor film to be shot in three-strip Technicolor. It's also one of the earliest entries in the careers of both Henry Fonda and Fred MacMurray. The story is that of a feud between two families in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Kentucky - the Tollivers and the Falins - in which a mining engineer (MacMurray) gets involved due to finding coal deposits on the Tollivers' property and eventually falling for the Tolliver daughter (Sylvia Sidney). Fonda plays a young man raised by the Tollivers who's also in love with Sidney. The story is a familiar one that unabashedly pulls at the heartstrings at times, but it's well played by the principal players (particularly Sidney) and one gets nicely caught up emotionally in their fortunes. A strong supporting cast highlighted by the work of Beulah Bondi as the Tolliver matriarch includes Fred Stone, Nigel Bruce, Robert Barrat, Spanky MacFarlane, and Fuzzy Knight. The story's setting (filming was done at Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains and at the Santa Susana Pass in California) is beautifully complemented by the Technicolor presentation. This is a title that Universal should long ago have brought to DVD, but at least the wait has been worthwhile. The full frame image is strikingly good in its cleanliness and colour fidelity. It's very sharp except for a very occasional soft patch or some minor mis-registration. The mono sound is also in good shape. There are no supplements unfortunately. This is a true classic that is highly recommended for being one of the strongest DVD transfers for a film of its vintage.

New Announcements

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

AC Comics reports that three more Republic serial titles are now available from them: Daughter of Don Q (1946), Trader Tom of the China Seas (1954), and Haunted Harbor (1944). Each of the releases, which range from 12-15 chapters in length, is on two DVD-Rs. Other serials in the works from AC Comics are: Federal Agent 99, King of the Carnival, Radar Patrol Vs. Spy King, Adventures of Frank and Jesse James, Man with the Steel Whip, Canadian Mounties Vs. Atomic Invaders, King of the Forest Rangers, Drums of Africa, and SOS Coast Guard.

Classic Media has plans to release the original Japanese film Gojira (Godzilla, 1954) on Blu-ray on September 22nd. It's not clear yet if the American version will also be included.

Criterion will have three offerings in its Essential Art House line for release on September 15th. The titles are: Mayerling (1936, directed by Anatole Litvak), Le jour se leve (1939, directed by Marcel Carne), and Gervaise (1956, directed by Rene Clement). Each will be a single disc release with only liner notes as a supplement, normal for the Essential Art House series. October 27th will bring Costa-Gavras's Z (1969), featuring audio commentary by Peter Cowie, new interviews with Costa-Gavras and cinematographer Raoul Coutard, and a number of archival interviews with cast and crew. Yugoslavian director Dusan Makaveyev is featured in Eclipse Series #18: Dusan Makaveyev Free Radical which includes his first three films - Man Is Not a Bird (1965), Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (1967), and Innocence Unprotected (1968). It's due on October 13th. The latest Criterion newsletter provides a hint of what may well be a forthcoming (perhaps December) release of John Ford's Stagecoach (1939). Warners has dropped the title from its September re-release of its John Wayne/John Ford box set, so its rights to the title may well have lapsed, opening the door for Criterion. A UCLA restoration of the title may be available for Criterion's use.

October 6th is the release date for Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Platinum Edition, on both DVD and Blu-ray.

E1 Entertainment (formerly Koch Vision) will release The Barbara Stanwyck Show: Volume 1 on October 13th. The three-disc set will contain a number of episodes from the show's single season run of 36 episodes in 1960. The release is being done in conjunction with The Archive of American Television.

Fox will release the original Miracle on 34th Street (1947) on Blu-ray on October 6th. There are some indications that both the original B&W and a colourized version will be included. The studio also has plans to bring both The Agony and the Ecstasy and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines to Blu-ray later this year (no specific release date yet specified).

Paramount hasn't wasted any time in capitalizing on the end of Warners' rights to My Fair Lady (1964). It'll release a single-disc version of its own on October 6th. Of course, if Paramount really wanted to handle this properly, they'd wait until they've got a carefully checked new high-def transfer and release a Blu-ray version, not an un-needed further DVD effort.

Sony has announced its third wave of Martini Movies for release on September 8th. The titles are Model Shop (1969, with Anouk Aimee and Gary Lockwood), The Buttercup Chain (1970 Golden Palm nominee at the Cannes Film Festival), The Pursuit of Happiness (1971, directed by Robert Mulligan, with Michael Sarazin and Barbara Hershey), Summertree (1971, with Michael Douglas and Barbara Bel Geddes), and Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (1973, directed by Alan J. Pakula, with Timothy Bottoms and Maggie Smith). The forthcoming Sony set of Rita Hayworth films, tentatively targeted for early November and expected to include Tonight and Every Night, Salome, Miss Sadie Thompson, Gilda, and Cover Girl, will feature new transfers of the latter two films.

Timeless Media will offer two separate western releases - The San Francisco Story (1952, with Joel McCrea) and The Treasure of Ruby Hills (1955, with Zachary Scott) - on August 25th.

VCI will have its first Blu-ray release this November 3rd. It'll be the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol, using a new high definition transfer from the original negative. The standard definition version will be included as a bonus feature. Meanwhile, the company's DVD program brings us several goodies on August 25th - the 1937 Universal serial Radio Patrol starring Grant Withers and the two-disc British Cinema - Renown Pictures Comedy Collection. The latter will contain Where There's a Will (1955), Down Among the Z Men (1952), Love in Pawn (1953), Those People Next Door (1953), No Smoking (1955), and Not So Dusty (1956). Also coming on the same date is A Walk in the Sun: Restored Collector's Edition which will be digitally restored and un-cut with a new transfer from the 35mm negative, and a World War II Double Feature of Jungle Patrol (1948) and The Silent Raiders (1954).

Warner Bros. has announced that three new bundles are now available from the Warner Archive and all are packagings of titles previously released through it. There is a six-film Cary Grant Collection (Dream Wife, Mr. Lucky, Room for One More, The Toast of New York, Once Upon a Honeymoon, Crisis); a five-film MGM Musicals of the 1940s (Luxury Liner, Thousands Cheer, Two Girls and a Sailor, Meet the People, Broadway Rhythm); and a five film Crime Dramas (Convicts 4, Lepke, Al Capone, King of the Roaring 20s, Crime and Punishment U.S.A.). Each bundle offers a 50% savings off the regular price of the individual titles. Warners has released the list of films being added to the WB Archive in July. For the 7th, the following eleven titles were made available: Deep Valley (1947), Get To Know Your Rabbit (1972), Green Mansions (1959), Juke Girl (1953), Nora Prentiss (1947), The Fox (1967), The Hard Way (1942), The Man I Love (1947), The Moon Is Blue (1953), The Unfaithful (1947), and Who is Killing the Great Chiefs of Europe? (1978). Six of these films will also be packaged in a Women of Warner Bros. collection (Ann Sheridan in Juke Girl/Nora Prentiss/The Unfaithful and Ida Lupino in Deep Valley/The Man I Love/The Hard Way) at 50% off the regular $19.95 single disc prices. For July 21st, thirteen new titles will be added to the Archive. They include six Al Jolson titles - The Singing Fool (1928), Say It with Songs (1929), Big Boy (1930), Wonder Bar (1934), Go into Your Dance (1935), and The Singing Kid (1936) - plus five Elizabeth Taylor ones - Cynthia (1947), Conspirator (1949), Love Is Better Than Ever (1952), The Girl Who Had Everything (1953), and Rhapsody (1954). (Jolson fans should note that Mammy (1930) is not being included at this time as it is being newly remastered for release in the Archive later this year. It will include the long-lost Technicolor sequences.) Also available on July 21st will be The Story of Mankind (1957) and It's a Big Country (1951). In retail DVD releases, Warners will have Saturday Morning Cartoons - 1960s: Volume Two on October 27th. It will be a two-disc set containing 27 cartoons from the likes of The Jetsons, The Road Runner Show, The Porky Pig Show, Peter Potamus, Magilla Gorilla, etc. The studio will also make a Blu-ray single-disc version of Casablanca available on September 15th, for those who didn't wish to spring for last year's Ultimate Collector's Edition. Not included in this release is the Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul documentary. October 6th will bring Blu-ray editions of A Charlie Brown Christmas (including a bonus Peanuts TV special) and Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Warners has also announced the release of a 50th anniversary edition of North By Northwest on November 3rd. A DVD SE version and a Blu-ray edition will both be made available. For these releases, the 1959 Hitchcock classic has been newly mastered in 1080p from the original VistaVision elements by virtue of an 8K resolution scan. Two new documentaries supplement the extras carried over from the previous DVD release. And finally, if you skipped over the Errol Flynn article above to get down to these new announcements, check back there for some welcome Flynn retail DVD news.

Well, once again that's it for now. I'll return again soon. In the meantime, I hope you're all enjoying the summer.

Barrie Maxwell
barriemaxwell@thedigitalbits.com