Warner Bros. Home
Entertainment has announced a tribute to screen and recording legend Frank
Sinatra that will take place on May 5.
Planned for delivery on that date are the debut of three new Blu-ray
gems and the launch of a five-film Blu-ray collection.
Making its Blu-ray debut
is director George Sidney’s 1945 Best Picture nominee, Anchors Aweigh, which
teamed Frank Sinatra with Gene Kelly (nominated Best Actor for his performance
here) and Kathryn Grayson.
Of note, the film opened
theatrically one month before the end of World War II and would remain as an active
theatrical release for the next eight years as world markets reopened … Anchors
Aweigh finally making its theatrical debut in Japan almost eight years
to the day after its opening in the United States.
Bonus features here
include a pair of vintage short films — “Football Thrills of 1944” and Tex
Avery’s 1945 theatrical cartoon, “Jerky Turkey” — there is also a featurette
titled “Hanna & Barbera on the Making of
The Worry Song."
Next up as a first time Blu-ray
release is the 1949 musical comedy, On the Town, which once again teams
Frank Sinatra with Gene Kelly … Ann Miller, Betty Garrett and Vera-Ellen join
the fun.
Bonus features include
the 1949 Tex Avery theatrical cartoon, “Doggone Tired,” plus the Passing
Parade short film titled “Mr. Whitney Had a Notion” (with Lloyd Bridges
as Eli Whitney).
The last of the new
Blu-ray SKUs starring Frank Sinatra is director Gordon Douglas’ 1964 “rat pack”
comedy, Robin and the 7 Hoods.
In addition to Sinatra, the cast of characters includes “rat pack”
cohorts Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr., plus Bing Crosby, Peter Falk, Barbara
Rush … and such familiar faces as Victor Buono, Jack La Rue and Allen Jenkins.
Bonus nuggets include
commentary by Frank Sinatra Jr., the featurette “What They Did to Robin Hood”
and three classic theatrical cartoons sporting the Robin Hood theme — “Robin
Hood Makes Good,” “Robin Hood Daffy” and “Rabbit Hood.”
As mentioned, these three
new Blu-ray releases — along with the previously released Blu-ray versions of Guys
and Dolls and Ocean’s 11 — are included in a
five-film collection titled The Frank Sinatra Collection. The SRP for the entire collection is $69.95,
while the individual Blu-ray releases are priced at $19.98 each … so it is
quite the bargain for those who do not already own either Guys and Dolls or Ocean’s
11.
Also added to the release
schedule this week by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is director Jay Oliva’s
latest feature-length animated film, Batman vs. Robin. Both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions
will be available for fans to own on Apr. 14.
Robin/Damian Wayne
(voiced by Stuart Allen) is seduced to the dark side by the mysterious Talon (voiced
by Jeremy Sisto) and secretive Court of Owls.
This places him on a collision course with Batman (voiced by (Jason
O'Mara) … will Gotham survive this clash of super heroes?
Bonus features include
two production featurettes — “Gotham's City Secret: The Mythic Court of Owls”
and “Talons of the Owl” — plus commentary and unspecified cartoons from the DC
Comics film vault.
Lastly, a three-disc DVD
edition of The Mentalist: The Complete Seventh Season will be released on Apr.
28.
No comments:
Post a Comment