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Burbank, Calif., February 15, 2023 – As part of the year-long centennial celebration for the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. Studio, three classic and beloved films from the Warner Bros. library – The Maltese Falcon, Cool Hand Luke, and Rebel Without a Cause – will be available for purchase on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital this April.

On April 4, The Maltese Falcon and Cool Hand Luke will be available to purchase on Ultra HD Blu-ray™ Disc from online and in-store at major retailers and available for purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more.

On April 4, Rebel Without a Cause will be available to purchase on Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc from online and in-store at major retailers. On April 18 it will be available for purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more.

The Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc will include each feature film in 4K with Hdr...

Ricardo Cortez in 'Mandalay,' making love to Kay Francis – not long before he sells her into the 'white slave trade,' in which Francis reaches the top of her profession as a lavishly garbed Rangoon nightclub hostess known as 'Spot White.' Cortez was featured opposite a whole array of female stars during both the silent and the talkie eras. Earlier on, plots usually revolved around his heroic characters; later on, plots usually revolved around the characters of his victimized-but-heroic leading ladies, with Cortez cast as a heel of varying degrees of egotism. Besides 'Mandalay,' Ricardo Cortez and Kay Francis were featured together in 'Transgression,' 'The House on 56th Street,' and 'Wonder Bar.' (See previous post: “'Latin Lover' Ricardo Cortez: Q&A with Biographer Dan Van Neste.”) I am reminded of a humorous review of the melodramatic film Mandalay (1934), penned by Andre Sennwald in the...

We've seen plenty of classic films remade, rebooted, and "re-imagined" over the entire history of film. One year "The Maltese Falcon" is released, but only five years later it's remade and renamed "Satan Met A Lady," only to be remade a third time because the original name sounded good, but this kid named Bogart wants to play the lead. It's almost like the entire entertainment industry is stuck in its own version of Groundhog Day now that you think about it. Which is really funny, because guess what's looking to come to a musical stage near you? I-t's Groundhog Day! THR says Tim Minchin, the lyricist and composer behind the Tony Award winning adaptation of Matilda, has been named the as the lucky guy to write the music and lyrics to a stage adaptation of the Harold Ramis/Bill Murray classic. The book will be written by Danny Rubin, the...

Humphrey Bogart movies: ‘The Maltese Falcon,’ ‘High Sierra’ (Image: Most famous Humphrey Bogart quote: ‘The stuff that dreams are made of’ from ‘The Maltese Falcon’) (See previous post: “Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Movies.”) Besides 1948, 1941 was another great year for Humphrey Bogart — one also featuring a movie with the word “Sierra” in the title. Indeed, that was when Bogart became a major star thanks to Raoul Walsh’s High Sierra and John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon. In the former, Bogart plays an ex-con who falls in love with top-billed Ida Lupino — though both are outacted by ingénue-with-a-heart-of-tin Joan Leslie. In the latter, Bogart plays Dashiel Hammett’s private detective Sam Spade, trying to discover the fate of the titular object; along the way, he is outacted by just about every other cast member, from Mary Astor’s is-she-for-real dame-in-distress to Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nominee Sydney Greenstreet. John Huston...

Dashiell Hammett's classic pulp-fiction novel The Maltese Falcon has adapted into film no less than three times. First, in 1931, and then again in 1941 but with better actors and a better script than the first one. However, in between the original adaptation and the best adaption, there's this terrible mess of a film.   William Dieterle's Satan Met A Lady (1936) is a very, very loose adaptation of Hammett's classic pulp-fiction story. So loose in fact that the film looks more like a parody of Hammett's story rather than an adaptation of...

Top Ten Movie Remakes

Contrary to popular belief, remakes are nothing new in Hollywood. They're actually older than Hollywood. Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory, the first film screened for a paying audience all the way back in 1895, is a remake of a version screened privately 9 months earlier. Personally, remakes don't bother me much. Take the upcoming remake of Clash of the Titans for example. The original film had a nifty concept, but it was executed horribly. So why not redo that solid concept? Nothing wrong with that. And if filmmakers want to take on the crushing expectations of remaking a classic, well more power to them. It's not like the remake will magically erase the original film.

So let's celebrate remakes.

But first, what's a remake? Surprisingly, it's a rather subjective definition. Sometimes, a story such as Pride and Prejudice has been filmed multiple times before. Yet, is the 2005 version a remake of the 2003 movie,...

Your cinematic birthdays for 12/02. If it's your big day, let us know.

Steven, Lucy and Warren

1894 Warren William, charming snake, pre-code movie star who was often paired with formidable actresses like Claudette Colbert (Imitation of Life, Cleopatra), Joan Blondell (Gold Diggers of 1933, Stage Struck) and Bette Davis (Three on a Match, Satan Met a Lady)

1914 Ray Walston, the Damn Yankees! devil had a lengthy career on screens small and large

1914 Adolph Green, musical giant of 'Comden & Green' fame. I can't even begin to choose a favorite song by that duo. Plus they wrote the screenplay to Singin' in the Rain!

1923 Maria Callas, La Divina. Fanny Ardant recently played her in Callas Forever. The next actress who'll have a go at her is Eva Mendes in Greek Fire

1925 Julie Harris was Oscar nominated for her film debut (The Member of the Wedding), co-starred with James Dean (East of Eden) and...