The Film Detective Announces 27 New Film Restorations For DVD Delivery On Sept. 15

The Film Detective’s love affair with the cinema continues on Sept. 15 with 27 newly restored film treasures!!

There is always something for everyone and this time around the selections range from Oscar contenders to those famous B-programmers.  Classics all!!!

Kicking off the hit parade is one of auteur filmmaker Jean Renoir’s Hollywood-based productions (during his war years stay in the United States), The Southerner, starring Zachary Scott and Betty Field, with co-stars including Beulah Bondi and J. Carrol Naish. 

 

The film, based on the George Sessions Perry novel “Hold Autumn in Your Hand,” was nominated for Best Sound and Best Music, with Jean Renoir nominated for Best Director (despite a film career that included The Rules of the Game, Boudu Saved from Drowning and La Grande Illusion, this was his only Oscar nomination … he lost out to Billy Wilder for The Lost Weekend).

Another Oscar-nominated film in the mix is director Henry Hathaway’s World War II thriller Sundown, starring Bruce Cabot and George Sanders in East Africa (Kenya — actually, New Mexico), with Gene Tierney as the mysterious Zia.  The film was nominated for Best Cinematography (black and white), Best Art Direction and Miklós Rózsa’s music received an Oscar nomination for Best Music (it was his second of 14 Oscar nominations … he won for Spellbound, A Double Life and Ben-Hur).

Another war film included in this Sept. 15 product mix from The Film Detective is director Frank McDonald’s 1943 spy thriller, Submarine Alert, which was filmed on the streets of Los Angeles and stars Richard Arlan and Wendy Barrie.

As to those marvelous B-movie (and there’s nothing “B” about them) treasures, we have screen legend Bela Lugosi starring in Scared to Death (his only color film) and White Zombie, plus teaming up with the East Side Kids in director Phil Rosen’s 1941 horror/comedy, Spooks Run Wild.

And speaking of the East Side Kids — Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan and friends — their 1942 film, Smart Alecks (directed by Wallace Fox) will also be available as part of this mid-September release package.

Westerns?  You want Westerns?   How about Range Defenders (1937, one of the Three Mesquiteers entries … Ray “Crash” Corrigan, Robert Livingston and Max Terhune star), Song of Texas (1943, directed by Joseph Kane and teaming Roy Rogers with Sheila Ryan) and The Star Packer (1934, John Wayne and his sidekick Yakima Canutt team to bring The Shadow to justice)?   They are all here for fans to enjoy.

The Stork Club was released at Christmas of 1945 and was a post-war box office smash.  The direction is by Hal Walker with Betty Hutton in the starring role, Barry Fitzgerald and Don DeFore are her co-stars.

For a complete listing of all the films included in this Sept. 15 release package, see page 06 of this week’s report or visit The Film Detective website (thefilmdetective.com).