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Frank Tuttle, the man who made a star of Alan Ladd with the twisted film noir This Gun for Hire (1942), began as a comedy specialist, churning out three or more films a year as vehicles for Eddie Cantor, Edgar Bergen and his knee-pal Charlie McCarthy, Burns & Allen et cetera. Pleasure Cruise (1933) is a pre-Code farce centered on improbably couple Roland Young and Genevieve Tobin.Young plays a penniless author working as house-husband to the gainfully employed Tobin, while seething with jealousy at the thought of the young blades romancing her in the office. In one of many unusual stylistic touches, we see her portrait come to life and watch as she mingles with the staff, none of whom looks to be under sixty, and they're not exactly silver foxes. The stage is set for a film mocking male paranoia and jealousy and questioning notions of fidelity, virtue, and honesty.Young is his usual self,...

Hissable villain Bela Lugosi is in denial --- no, it's actually star Edmund Lowe who is in the Nile, deep-sixed in a sunken sarcophagus. Lugosi's up top trying to get his art deco death ray in running order -- opposed only by some nubile babes and a Great White Hypnotist from the Swami school of mind control. Chandu the Magician Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1932 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 71 min. / Street Date August 23, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Edmund Lowe, Irene Ware, Bela Lugosi, Herbert Mundin, Henry B. Walthall, Weldon Heyburn, June Lang, Michael Stuart, Virginia Hammond. Cinematography James Wong Howe Art Direction Max Parker Written by Barry Conners, Philip Klein, Guy Bolton, Bradley King, Harry Segall from a radio drama by Harry A. Earnshaw, Vera M. Oldham, R.R. Morgan Directed by William Cameron Menzies, Marcel Varnel

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Around 2008 Fox Home Video made a last big push with genre releases on DVD,...

Chandu the Magician (1932) features Roxor (Bela Lugosi), who is so hell-bent on world domination that he kidnaps inventor Robert Regent (Henry B. Walthall) in order to steal his death ray and rule over all of humankind. It’s up to Chandu (Edmund Lowe) to stop him. Kino Lorber announced that Chandu the Magician will be released on Blu-ray soon.

Special features, cover art, and an official release date for Kino Lorber’s Chandu the Magician Blu-ray have yet to be revealed, but we will keep Daily Dead readers up-to-date on this release when more information becomes available.

From Kino Lorber Studio Classics: “Coming Soon on Blu-ray!

Chandu the Magician (1932) Starring Bela Lugosi, Edmund Lowe, Irene Ware, Herbert Mundin, and Henry B. Walthall – Directed by William Cameron Manzies and Marcel Varnel.

Synopsis (via Blu-ray.com): “Megalomaniac and would-be world dominator Roxor has kidnapped Robert Regent, along with his death ray invention,...

Cavalcade (1933) Direction: Frank Lloyd Cast: Clive Brook, Diana Wynyard, Herbert Mundin, Una O'Connor, Beryl Mercer, Irene Browne, Merle Tottenham, Frank Lawton, Ursula Jeans, Margaret Lindsay Screenplay: Reginald Berkeley, Sonya Levien; from Noel Coward's 1931 play Oscar Movies, Pre-Code Movies Herbert Mundin, Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor, Cavalcade Synopsis: Upstairs, Robert and Jane Marryot (Clive Brook, Diana Wynyard), and downstairs, Alfred and Ellen Bridges (Herbert Mundin, Una O'Connor), in a British household, from 1900 to 1933. The Pros: Cavalcade won Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for the period 1932-33 (basically from Aug. '32-Dec. '33) and was reportedly the biggest box-office hit of 1933, grossing more than $3.5m (approx. $121m today*). That makes it a historical curiosity. Best Actress Oscar nominee Diana Wynyard has one remarkable moment, walking among armistice revelers but not feeling at all like celebrating after having lost a son to the Great War. Noel Coward, for his [...]...