The Criterion Collection Announces It November Of 2019 Release Calendar

Bette!  Bette!!  Bette!!   The past week the Criterion Collection announced its latest slate of film restorations destined for release as Blu-ray and DVD products during the month of November … and Bette Davis is front and center with two films that earned her Oscar nominations for Best Actress.

The first of these (in chronological order) is director Irving Rapper’s 1942 film adaptation of the Olive Higgins Prouty novel, Now, Voyager.   A new 4K transfer is in the works for Blu-ray and double-disc DVD editions on Nov. 26.  

Not only was Bette Davis nominated for Best Actress, but Gladys Cooper received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress as well, with Max Steiner carrying home the gold for his Musical Score (he had an amazing 19 Oscar nominations during his career with three wins).

Bonus goodies include select-scene commentary featuring professor Jeff Smith and two newly-prepared video sessions, one with film critic Farran Smith and the second featuring costume historian Larry McQueen.   There is a vintage interview with Paul Henreid (circa 1980), an episode of The Dick Cavett Show featuring Bette Davis (1971) and two radio adaptations of Now, Voyager — 1943 (Lux Radio Theatre teaming Ida Lupino with Paul Henreid) and 1946 (Lux Radio Theatre featuring Bette Davis and Gregory Peck).

The other Bette Davis film heading home on Nov. 26 is writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s Best Picture winner (he also won Best Director), All About Eve.   We will never know for sure, but it seems certain that the Best Actress nominations for both Bette Davis and Anne Baxter, coupled with Gloria Swanson’s brilliant performance in Sunset Blvd., split up the votes just enough to allow Judy Holliday to collect the Oscar on that March night in 1951 at the Pantages Theatre.

 

Best Picture laurels were richly deserved and the Criterion Collection is delivering a new 4K restoration that will arrive as double-disc DVD and double-disc Blu-ray product offerings.

As to bonus features — and there are a ton (which accounts for the two-disc sets) — we have not one, but two vintage commentary options.  The first featuring actress Celeste Holm (nominated for Best Supporting Actress), Christopher Mankiewicz, and author Kenneth L. Geist, while the second is hosted by author Sam Staggs (“All About All About Eve,” “Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard” and “When Blanche Met Brando”).

There is documentary filmmaker Luc Béraud’s 1983 feature-length documentary titled All About Mankiewicz, plus documentary filmmaker’s Michele Farinola and Mimi Freedman’s 1980 short documentary, Backstory: All About Eve, and two additional short films devoted to the production of All About Eve.

Still more … two The Dick Cavett Show episodes, the October 1951 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation featuring Bette Davis, Gary Merrill and Anne Baxter and a new video session with costume historian Larry McQueen.

Rounding out the November selections from the Criterion Collection are: Writer/director Greg Mottola’s 1997 film release of Day Trippers (Nov. 12) and two foreign-language imports, Betty Blue (French) and Cold Warrior (Polish) (both on Nov. 19).