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This expensive production was dismissed as a flop, and literary critics scorned it for diluting the famed novel by Theodore Dreiser. But it plays well now: William Wyler gives star Laurence Olivier what may be his best film acting role ever. Jennifer Jones’ title part suffers from script changes that censor and sentimentalize Dreiser’s intentions, but the film remains a shattering tragedy. Eddie Albert co-stars in one of his first dramatic roles; this encoding includes a scene dropped from the original release.

Carrie (1952)

Region Free Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] #200

1952 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 121, 118 min. / Street Date February 22, 2023 / Available from [Imprint] / Aud 34.95

Starring: Laurence Olivier, Jennifer Jones, Miriam Hopkins, Eddie Albert, Basil Ruysdael, Ray Teal, Barry Kelley, William Reynolds, Mary Murphy, Charles Halton, William Baldwin, Dorothy Adams, Jacqueline de Witt, Don Beddoe, Royal Dano, Margaret Field.

Cinematography: Victor Milner

Art Directors: Hal Pereira, Roland Anderson

Costume Design: Edith Head

Film Editor: Robert Swink...

If a single WW2 Hollywood war epic can sum up the complexity of homefront morale-building, this one is it. Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard and Veronica Lake enlist as Army nurses and are plunged into the disastrous opening onslaught in the Philippines. Adroit screenwriting and direction use the clichés of Hollywood glamour to give mom & dad back home a dramatic idea of what it might be like for a company of nurses in a failing war zone. Great studio effects show the rough retreats and casualties, while George Reeves and Sonny Tufts serve as reassuring sentimental diversions. And a squad of ‘unglamorous’ actresses get to play strong, patriotic roles. It’s an entertaining winner.

So Proudly We Hail

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1943 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 126 min. / Street Date September 13, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake, George Reeves, Barbara Britton, Walter Abel, Sonny Tufts, Mary Servoss,...

This picture looks as modern and radical as anything from Italy in the 1960s, yet it’s a tough-talking take on hardboiled crime caper fiction. In three pictures Stanley Kubrick went from amateur to contender: now he has a like-minded producer, a top-flight cast, and the help of the legendary pulp author Jim Thompson. Sterling Hayden, Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook Jr., Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards peg the cynical film noir style, and Kubrick maintains the source book’s splintered chronology for the tense racetrack heist. All Hollywood took notice — at least that part of the industry looking out for daring, progressive storytelling. Now in 4K, Kubrick’s superb B&w images look better than ever.

The Killing

4K Ultra HD

Kl Studio Classics

1956 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date July 26, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 39.95

Starring: Sterling Hayden, Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook Jr., Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen,...

Hollywood acknowledges the existence of America’s proto- C.I.A. intelligence agency with this espionage tale of Yanks working with the resistance in occupied France. It’s basic cloak ‘n’ dagger action, with intrepid Alan Ladd and the daring Geraldine Fitzgerald risking life and limb to plant plastic explosive bombs. The details are fairly interesting: Ladd outwits the Gestapo by working with a turncoat inside their ranks. The outcome is grimly realistic, even if that old Paramount glamour is part of the package. The writer-producer is Richard Maibaum, who would later write almost thirty years’ worth of franchise James Bond 007 adventures.

O.S.S.

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1946 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 108 min. / Street Date August 10, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Alan Ladd, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Patric Knowles, John Hoyt, Gloria Saunders, Richard Webb, Richard Benedict, Harold Vermilyea, Don Beddoe, Onslow Stevens, Gavin Muir, Egon Brecher, Joseph Crehan, Bobby Driscoll, Julia Dean,...

Ya know, “It’s a Big Country!” Westerns and pacifism are like oil and water, but William Wyler, Jessamyn West and three other top writers found a way for Gregory Peck to surmount eight showdowns and never fire a pistol in anger. Jean Simmons and Charlton Heston win top acting honors, while Burl Ives earns his Oscar, Carroll Baker gets the thankless role and composer Jerome Moross makes western music history. MGM’s remastering job fixes the problems of an earlier Blu-ray, and even brings the title sequence up to tip top condition. Plus several hours of special extras.

The Big Country

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 166 min. / Street Date June 5, 2018 / 60th Anniversary Edition / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives, Charles Bickford, Alfonso Bedoya, Chuck Connors, Chuck Hayward, Dorothy Adams, Chuck Roberson.

Cinematography: Franz F. Planer

Film Editor: Robert Swink...

Do you think older crime thrillers weren’t violent enough? This shocker from 1948 shook up America with its true story of a vicious killer who has a murderous solution to every problem, and uses special talents to evade police detection. Richard Basehart made his acting breakthrough as Roy Martin, a barely disguised version of the real life ‘Machine Gun Walker.

He Walked by Night

Blu-ray

ClassicFlix

1948 / B&W /1:37 flat full frame / 79 min. / Street Date November 7, 2017 / 39.99

Starring: Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell, James Cardwell, Jack Webb, Dorothy Adams, Ann Doran, Byron Foulger, Reed Hadley (narrator), Thomas Browne Henry, Tommy Kelly, John McGuire, Kenneth Tobey.

Cinematography: John Alton

Art Direction: Edward Ilou

Film Editor: Alfred De Gaetano

Original Music: Leonid Raab

Written by John C. Higgins and Crane Wilbur

Produced by Bryan Foy, Robert T. Kane

Directed by Alfred L. Werker

Talk about a movie with a dynamite...

Dana Andrews movies: Film noir actor excelled in both major and minor crime dramas. Dana Andrews movies: First-rate film noir actor excelled in both classics & minor fare One of the best-looking and most underrated actors of the studio era, Dana Andrews was a first-rate film noir/crime thriller star. Oftentimes dismissed as no more than a “dependable” or “reliable” leading man, in truth Andrews brought to life complex characters that never quite fit into the mold of Hollywood's standardized heroes – or rather, antiheroes. Unlike the cynical, tough-talking, and (albeit at times self-delusionally) self-confident characters played by the likes of Alan Ladd, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and, however lazily, Robert Mitchum, Andrews created portrayals of tortured men at odds with their social standing, their sense of ethics, and even their romantic yearnings. Not infrequently, there was only a very fine line separating his (anti)heroes from most movie villains.

Germany's Explosive Media company has a serious itch for American westerns, and they have a trio of new releases. One is a minor Hollywood classic with major graces, from the late 1950s. A second sees an American producer based in England filming in Italy with a rising international star, and for the third an established American star goes European  to stay in the game. The best thing for Yankee buyers? The discs are Region-free.

Gunman's Walk, Land Raiders, A Man Called Sledge Three Westerns from Explosive Media Blu-ray Separate Releases 1958-1970 / Color Starring Van Heflin, Tab Hunter; George Maharis, Telly Savalas; James Garner

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The majority of American studios now choose not to market their libraries for digital disc, and license them out instead. Collectors unwilling to settle for whatever's on Netflix or concerned about the permanence of Cloud Cinema, find themselves increasingly tempted by discs from Europe,...

Stars: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen, Ted de Corsia, Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook Jr., Joe Sawyer, Timothy Carey, Kola Kwariani, Dorothy Adams | Written and Directed by Stanley Kubrick

It goes without saying that film fans know that Stanley Kubrick was a master of his art. All masters though have a starting point where they were learning and in some respects were yet to evolve into the legends that they would become. With the Arrow Academy release of The Killing on Blu-ray, which also includes Killer’s Kiss we get to see a director who had a vision, but was yet to perfect his style.

The Killing is a heist movie that when it was first released didn’t make that much of an impact, but not surprisingly when it comes to Kubrick’s work has grown to be respected and revered as a true classic of the genre.

Cary Grant movies: 'An Affair to Remember' does justice to its title (photo: Cary Grant ca. late 1940s) Cary Grant excelled at playing Cary Grant. This evening, fans of the charming, sophisticated, debonair actor -- not to be confused with the Bristol-born Archibald Leach -- can rejoice, as no less than eight Cary Grant movies are being shown on Turner Classic Movies, including a handful of his most successful and best-remembered star vehicles from the late '30s to the late '50s. (See also: "Cary Grant Classic Movies" and "Cary Grant and Randolph Scott: Gay Lovers?") The evening begins with what may well be Cary Grant's best-known film, An Affair to Remember. This 1957 romantic comedy-melodrama is unusual in that it's an even more successful remake of a previous critical and box-office hit -- the Academy Award-nominated 1939 release Love Affair -- and that it was directed...

Celebrated crime author James Ellroy, whose books have been adapted into films such as L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia, has signed on to write the screenplay for a remake of the 1944 film noir thriller Laura.

Otto Preminger directed Laura, which centered on a detective who falls for the woman whose murder he is investigating. Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb and Vincent Price starred in the thriller, which was nominated for five Oscars, including Clifton Webb for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Otto Preminger for best director, with Joseph Lashelle winning the Oscar for Best Cinematography.

Stuart Till is serving as executive producer for Fox 2000, but the project doesn't have a director attached at this time.

Aside from his novels, James Ellroy has also written the screenplays for Street Kings and Rampart.

Laura was released October 11th, 1944 and stars Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price,...

Network: HBO

Episodes: Ongoing (half-hour)

Seasons: Ongoing

TV show dates: August 8, 2014 -- Tbd

Series status: Has not been cancelled

Performers include: Chris Lilley, Tama Tauli'i, Isaia Noa, Linda Horan, Jane Reupena-Niko, Eigawe Hunt, Tevita Manu, Doug Bowles, Uli Latukefu, Meaghan Butler, Dorothy Adams, Jason Moleli, Lafaele Tauli'i, Tana Laasia, Bryce Padovan, Belinda Sharp, Mose Mose, and Braydan Pittman.

TV show description:

This Australian mockumentary series is a follow-up to the Summer Heights High TV show. It follows the story of Jonah Takalua (Chris Lilley), a rebellious Tongan teen who just can't help himself when it comes to stirring up trouble.

At the end of Summer Heights High, Jonah was expelled midway through Year eight. The story picks up four months later, with Jonah banished by his father to the island of Tongapatu and...

Laura

Written by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein and Elizabeth Reinhardt

Directed by Otto Preminger

U.S.A., 1944

A detective’s work is challenging enough already without the complications that arise when he or she is involved with one of the suspects of a crime. Determining the innocence or guilt of an individual or party would be a lot simpler were it not for the mind games suspects so often play with investigators, evading conviction with lies and half truths. The sudden emotional attachment to one of the targets of police suspicion could send everything into a tailspin, provided the assigned investigator is capable of keeping a lid on his or her emotions. However, what if a detective grew attached to a person he could not physically relate to, such as the victim of a murder? What if, after believing the object of one’s desire was unattainable, a new reality...

Rank the week of November 1st’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases Cars 2

(Blu-ray & DVD | G | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #2213

Win Percentage: 48%

Times Ranked: 3502

Top-20 Rankings: 35

Directed By: John Lasseter

Starring: Larry the Cable Guy • Owen Wilson • Michael Caine • Emily Mortimer • Eddie Izzard

Genres: Action Comedy • Adventure • Adventure Comedy • Animation • Comedy • Family • Family-Oriented Adventure • Family-Oriented Comedy

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Water For Elephants

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #3022

Win Percentage: 51%

Times Ranked: 2226

Top-20 Rankings: 17

Directed By: Francis Lawrence

Starring: Reese Witherspoon • Robert Pattinson • Christoph Waltz • Paul Schneider • Hal Holbrook

Genres: Animal Picture • Drama • Romance • Romantic Drama

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Crazy Stupid Love

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #816

Win Percentage: 57%

Times Ranked: 3830

Top-20 Rankings: 19

Directed By: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Starring: Steve Carell • Ryan Gosling • Julianne Moore • Emma Stone • Marisa Tomei

Genres: Comedy Drama • Comedy of Manners • Drama • Romance • Romantic Comedy

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Snow Flower And The Secret Fan...

For this edition Shadows of Film Noir, we take a look at Otto Preminger's Laura, produced by Twentieth Century Fox in 1944. It was a glossy, high-class production that was well regarded, and it was a hit, even though it was not one of the year's top grossers. It won an Oscar for its black-and-white cinematography, and received nominations for directing, screenplay, art direction, and supporting actor. Since then, it has come to be known as one of Preminger's greatest films, along with Anatomy of a Murder (1959). It's an odd combination of class and back-alley emotions, all coming together in a bizarre, brilliant way.

What It's About

Police detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) is investigating the murder of Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), a beautiful advertising executive. His first stop is powerful newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), who first appears in his bathtub, perched at his typewriter (which rests on...

Her Night of Romance (1924) Direction: Sidney Franklin Screenplay: Hans Kräly Cast: Constance Talmadge, Ronald Colman, Jean Hersholt, Albert Grand, Robert Rendel   Directed by Sidney Franklin and written by frequent Ernst Lubitsch collaborator Hans Kräly, Her Night of Romance is certainly on my list of top three favorite films at Cinesation 2009. Constance Talmadge, whose extant films are hard to come by, is always a delightful comedienne. In Her Night of Romance, Talmadge plays Dorothy Adams, a wealthy young woman who goes about in hideous disguises to ward off fortune hunters only interested in her money. Eventually, Dorothy meets and falls in love with an impoverished English Lord (Ronald Colman), who is mistaken for a doctor. The "doctor" goes along with [...]...