Upcoming Releases for This Month

[silentscreen]

Wow! Tons of new releases for April! Something for everyone, from silents to comedies, to foreign films and documentaries. Some we're all familiar with, some are more obsure. Watch out for the company that's releasing them though. Televista and Jef Films have gotten negative reviews on Amazon for poor quality prints and are known to rip off the hard work of others. I would never support them.

April, 2008

1916 – The Ocean Waif, SILENT, directed by Alice Guy–Blaché
1925 – The Red Kimona, SILENT, starring Priscilla Bonner & Tyrone Power, Sr.
1931 – The Viking, FOREIGN (Canadian), directed by Varick Frissell & George Milford (the
first Canadian sound film) (the quality of this print is unknown)
1933 – Secrets, WESTERN, starring Mary Pickford & Leslie Howard (Mary Pickford's last film)
(the quality of this print is unknown)
1933 – She Done Him Wrong, COMEDY, Mae West & Cary Grant
1934 – Talispin Tommy, SERIAL, starring Maurice Murphy & Noah Berry, Jr.
1935 – Tailspin Tommy & The Great Air Mystery, SERIAL, starring Clark Williams & Noah
Berry, Jr.
1936 – Stowaway, FAMILY, starring Shirley Temple & Robert Young
1937 – Easy Living, COMEDY, starring Jean Arthur & Edward Arnold
1937 – Wee Willie Winkie, FAMILY, starring Shirley Temple & Victor McLaglen
1937 – The Wife of General Ling, FOREIGN (British), starring Griffith Jones & Valéry
Inkijinoff (the quality of this print is unknown)
1939 – Midnight, ROMANTIC COMEDY, starring Claudette Colbert & Don Ameche
1940 – Young People, FAMILY, starring Shirley Temple & Jack Oakie
1942 – The Major & the Minor, COMEDY, starring Ginger Rogers & Ray Milland
1943 – Mexicanos Al Grito de Guerra, FOREIGN (Mexican), starring Pedro Infante & Lina
Montes
1944 – Escandalo de Estrellas, FOREIGN (Mexican), starring Pedro Infante & Blanquita
Amaro
1948 – A Date With Judy, MUSICAL, starring Jane Powell & Wallace Beery
1949 – La Oveja Negra, FOREIGN (Mexican), starring Pedro Infante & Amanda del Llano
1950 – All About Eve, DRAMA, (2–disc Special Edition) starring Bette Davis & Anne Baxter
1950 – No Desearas la Mujer de Tu Higo, FOREIGN (Mexican), starring Pedro Infante &
Amanda del Llano
1952 – Phone Call From a Stranger, DRAMA, starring Gary Merrill & Shelley Winters
1952 – White Mane, FOREIGN (French), directed by Albert Lamorisse
1955 – Death of a Cyclist, FOREIGN (Spanish), directed by Juan Antonio Bardem
1955 – The Virgin Queen, HISTORICAL DRAMA, starring Bette Davis & Richard Todd
1956 – The Red Balloon, FOREIGN (French), directed by Albert Lamorisse
1960 – Road to the West, FOREIGN (Polish), directed by Bohdan Poreba (the quality of this
print is unknown)

Box–sets & Collections:
1904–1908: The Magic of Meliès, SILENT, (15 films + documentary on 1 disc)
1915 / 1916: Hypocrites / Eleanor's Catch, SILENT, directed by Lois Weber
1919–1923: Houdini: The Movie Star, SILENT, (4 films + extras on 3 discs)
1931–1933: Silent Ozu – Three Family Comedies, SILENT, directed by Yasujiro Ozu
(3 films on 3 discs)
1933–1958: Woody Wookpecker & Friends Classic Cartoon Collection, Vol. 2, (3 discs)
1936–1940: Shirley Temple – America's Sweetheart Collection, Vol. 6, (3 films on
3 discs)
1936–1955: Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory, Vol. 3, (9 films on 6 discs)
1937–1962: The Bette Davis Collection, Vol. 2, (5 films + documentary on 7 discs)
1939–1946: The Bette Davis Collection, Vol. 3, (6 films on 6 discs)
1939–1952: The Bette Davis Collection, Vol. 1, (5 films on 5 discs)
1942 / 1945: Saludos Amigos / The Three Caballeros, (Disney animated movies)
1947–1950: Forgotten Noir, Vol. 8, (3 films on 1 disc)
1947–1953: Forgotten Noir, Vol. 9, (3 films on 1 disc)
1947–1954: Forgotten Noir, Collection #3, (9 films on 3 discs)
1950–1954: Forgotten Noir, Vol. 7, (3 films on 1 disc)
1950–1965: The Bette Davis Centenary Celebration Collection, (5 films on 6 discs)


Documentaries:
1982 – Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter, (includes 16
Porter films from 1896–1906)
1994 – Audrey Hepburn Remembered (Hollywood Collection), (the quality of this
print is unknown)
2002 – The British Empire in Color, (a collection of rare vintage films)
2008 – The First World War 1914–1918, (includes rare archival film footage)

[Ollie]

While I'm usually chagrined at poor-quality DVDs, my excuse for buying them is "It's all we have" and at least those companies put them out, rather than letting the so-called rightsholders bury them until all prints have deteriorated past salvation or they think the potential audience has died off.

The FORGOTTEN NOIR collections might be OK, but with "3 films on one disc", I generally lower my expectations. At the same time, when the HAMMER NOIRs arrived, the films were unknown and unexpectedly good, so I'm "hopeful" that these won't be the washed-out prints seen in some of the Dollar Bins. Not that this ever stopped me... hrumph...

I am excited mostly about the HOUDINI Collection. Like the Will Rogers collections (one or two in the FORD AT FOX, too) from last year, this could be a group of films that are unexpectedly entertaining for me.

[silentscreen]

Midnight and The Major and the Minor! Finally- Wahoo!