News

800x600 Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

By Doug Oswald

The Duke teams up with Robert Ryan as Marine pilots fighting the Japanese in the Pacific during WWII in “Flying Leathernecks,” just released on Blu-ray via the Warner Archive Collection. The story picks up in Hawaii in the middle of 1942 as Major Daniel Kirby (John Wayne) takes command of a Marine Corps aviation squadron about to ship out for combat in the Pacific. A veteran of the Battle of Midway, Kirby meets the men in his unit along with his executive officer, Captain Carl “Griff” Griffin (Robert Ryan), who is a bit ruffled after being passed over to take command. While a great pilot, Griff is not good at making difficult life and death decisions regarding the other pilots and has become their friend.

On Guadalcanal, the squadron pilots become experts at close air support which is precision...

John Wayne, Robert Ryan and some thrilling color combat footage grace this Howard Hughes WW2 aviation epic, that’s famous for being the odd-title-out in the filmography of Nicholas Ray. Just how did the politically diverging Ray and Hughes get along so well? The Wac’s sensational Technicolor restoration does the real combat footage a big favor: minus scratches and dirt, it looks better than ever.

Flying Leathernecks

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1951 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 102 min. / Street Date September 15, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: John Wayne, Robert Ryan, Don Taylor, Janis Carter, Jay C. Flippen, James Bell, Adam Williams, Barry Kelley, Gordon Gebert, Lynn Stalmaster, Mona Knox.

Cinematography: William E. Snyder

Film Editor: Sherman Todd

Original Music: Roy Webb

Written by James Edward Grant, Beirne Lay Jr. story by Kenneth Gamet

Produced by Edmund Grainger, Howard Hughes

Directed by Nicholas Ray

This by-the-numbers Naval aviation epic — more precisely the Marine Corps.

John Wayne, Robert Ryan and some thrilling color combat footage grace this Howard Hughes WW2 aviation epic, that’s famous for being the odd-title-out in the filmography of Nicholas Ray. Just how did the politically diverging Ray and Hughes get along so well? The Wac’s sensational Technicolor restoration does the real combat footage a big favor: minus scratches and dirt, it looks better than ever.

Flying Leathernecks

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1951 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 102 min. / Street Date September 15, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: John Wayne, Robert Ryan, Don Taylor, Janis Carter, Jay C. Flippen, James Bell, Adam Williams, Barry Kelley, Gordon Gebert, Lynn Stalmaster, Mona Knox.

Cinematography: William E. Snyder

Film Editor: Sherman Todd

Original Music: Roy Webb

Written by James Edward Grant, Beirne Lay Jr. story by Kenneth Gamet

Produced by Edmund Grainger, Howard Hughes

Directed by Nicholas Ray

This by-the-numbers Naval aviation epic — more precisely the Marine Corps.

Once upon a time, MGM launched a big spectacle Western remake with the top star Glenn Ford and the bright import Maria Schell — and then second-guessed the whole production, cutting back on everything so severely that director Anthony Mann ankled the set for Spain and El Cid. The storytelling is a mess — after starting big, the show soon falls into pieces. But many of individual scenes and set pieces are exemplary, especially Mann’s re-run of the Oklahoma Land Rush, staged in Arizona and augmented by classy special effects. The large cast rounds up some big talent — Mercedes McCambridge, Russ Tamblyn — to tell Edna Ferber’s multi-generational story about ambition, intolerance and dreams of glory on the frontier.

Cimarron (1960)

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1960 / Color / 2:35 anamorphic widescreen / 147 min. / Street Date January 21, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Glenn Ford, Maria Schell, Anne Baxter, Arthur O’Connell, Russ Tamblyn, Mercedes McCambridge, Vic Morrow,...

Jacques Tourneur’s ‘big sky’ western gives us the beauty of Colorado mountains plus stunning color images (originally Technicolor) of his attractive cast: Robert Stack, Virginia Mayo, Ruth Roman. North-South antagonisms break out in Denver City, before the Civil War begins, and Robert Stack’s loner opportunist must choose a side. The Wac’s disc includes four Jacques Tourneur short subjects, with mystery themes.

Great Day in the Morning

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1956 / Color / 1:2 widescreen (Superscope) / 92 min. / Street Date November 26, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Virginia Mayo, Robert Stack, Ruth Roman, Alex Nicol, Raymond Burr, Leo Gordon, Regis Toomey, Carleton Young, Donald MacDonald, William Phipps, Peter Whitney.

Cinematography: William Snyder

Film Editor: Harry Marker

Original Music: Leith Stevens

Written by Lesser Samuels, from the novel by Robert Hardy Andrews

Produced by Edmund Grainger

Directed by Jacques Tourneur

(Note: none of these images reflect the fine quality of the Blu-ray.)

The...

He-bull womanizer Robert Mitchum spars with wife Eleanor Parker for the future of their son George Hamilton in Vincente Minnelli’s attractive, sprawling tale of cruel family unrest. The real winners in the picture are the fresh-faced George Peppard and Luana Patten, whose small-town romance is more interesting than the main bout.

Home from the Hill

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1960 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 150 min. / Street Date August 14, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Robert Mitchum, Eleanor Parker, George Peppard, George Hamilton, Everett Sloane, Luana Patten, Constance Ford, Ray Teal, Bill Hickman, Denver Pyle, Stuart Randall, Dub Taylor, Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams.

Cinematography: Milton Krasner

Film Editor: Harold F. Kress

Original Music: Bronislau Kaper

Written by Harriet Frank Jr., Irving Ravetch from the novel by William Humphrey

Produced by Edmund Grainger, Sol C. Siegel

Directed by Vincente Minnelli

Two and a half hours for a dramatic film was considered long in 1960, but...