We begin with a new 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack (Steelbook) edition of director Frank Capra’s timeless Christmas-season classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, which will be available on Nov. 3.
It started out as a Christmas card insertion to writer Philip Van Doren Stern’s friends in 1943, during the dark days of World War II. It was a short story that he titled “The Greatest Gift,” and apparently, Cary Grant was on his Christmas card list.
The Hollywood trades at the time reported that Grant persuaded RKO to buy the screen rights with himself to be cast in the lead. At some point in 1945, RKO transferred the rights to Frank Capra’s Liberty Films and James Stewart, who had been in active military service for the previous four years, now was to play the lead role.
Once this was settled, history records that there was flurry of press reports on who might be in the Capra/Stewart film. Ann Dvorak, who had co-starred with John Wayne in the 1945 film release of Flame of Barbary Coast, was rumored as Mary. Martha Scott, who had been nominated for Best Actress in director Sam Wood’s Our Town, was rumored as well … so too, the late Olivia de Havilland.
Capra’s personal choice was Jean Arthur, who had co-starred with James Stewart in Capra’s 1939 classic, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but her schedule didn’t permit her participation in the film. Donna Reed, who had scored well with audiences in two 1945 films, director John Ford’s They Were Expendable (opposite John Wayne) and The Picture of Dorian Gray, was cast in the role of Mary … and, as they say, the rest is history.
Bonus goodies include a colorized presentation of the film (on the Blu-ray disc) and a trio of featurettes — “Restoring a Beloved Classic,” “Secrets from the Vault” and “It’s A Wonderful Wrap Party.”
Next up is the latest edition to the very popular “Paramount Presents” line of remastered Blu-ray releases. The tenth entry in the series arrives on Oct. 20 and it will be none other than a 4K film restoration of director Jan de Bont’s 1999 horror hit, The Haunting, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Liam Neeson, Owen Wilson, Bruce Dern and Lili Taylor.
This update interpretation of Shirley Jackson’s 1959 gothic horror novel, “The Haunting of Hill House,” is even more intense that the earlier film version (director Robert Wise’s 1963 version of The Haunting) and the Hill House is far more deadly!
Bonus features include a Behind-the-Scenes featurette and the newly-prepared “Filmmaker Focus: Director Jan de Bont on The Haunting.”
Next comes news about something that been developing for quite some time over at Paramount. In April of this year, the studio concluded the purchase of the Miramax/Dimension Films library and has targeted Sept. 22 for the reintroduction of 36 Blu-ray releases (actually more films than 36 as there are promotional packages included in the mix).
Key among these are six films from auteur filmmaker Quentin Tarantino — Pulp Fiction, From Dusk Till Dawn, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Volume 1, Kill Bill: Volume 2 and Sin City (where he was a “guest director” for one segment in Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez’s anthology of stories). For fans looking to fill holes in their respective Tarantino libraries, Paramount Home Media has a deal for you … the SRP for each film is just $14.99 each.
You read that right, these films are out of print, and in some cases hard to find, but on Sept. 22 you can snatch up newly minted editions at just $14.99 each. And each of these includes Digital Copy with your purchase!!
So, what else is here … how about Best Picture winners, Chicago (2002) and No Country for Old Men (2007)!! Again, just $14.99 each and Paramount is including Digital Copy with your purchase.
Other single-film releases on Blu-ray on Sept. 22 include: Adventureland, Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Bad Santa: Unrated Version/Director's Cut, Bridget Jones's Diary, Brothers Grimm, Cop Land, The Crow, Don't Be a
Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, Ella Enchanted, Extract, The Faculty, Finding Neverland, Good Will Hunting, The Others, Serendipity, She's All That, Swingers and Switch.
Not done yet!! Also included in the Sept. 22 Blu-ray mix are film collections … these are: Children of the Corn 4-Movie Collection (included in this set are: Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering, Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return), Dracula Double Feature (featuring both Dracula 2000 and Dracula II: Ascension), Halloween 3-Movie Collection (in this collection you will find Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers, Halloween: H2O and Halloween: Resurrection), Hellraiser 4-Movie Collection (here you will get Hellraiser: Bloodline, Hellraiser: Inferno, Hellraiser: Hellseeker and Hellraiser: Hellworld), Kevin Smith Triple Feature (featuring Chasing Amy, Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back), Mimic Movie Collection (the trilogy of subway horrors includes Mimic, Mimic 2 and Mimic 3), Prophecy: The Complete Collection (all five films in the series are included here: The Prophecy, The Prophecy 2, The Prophecy 3, The Prophecy: Uprising and The Prophecy: Forsaken), Scream 3-Movie Collection (you will find: Scream, Scream 2 and Scream 3, plus two bonus documentaries: Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective and Scream: The Inside Story) and Spy Kids: Triple Feature (the series includes Spy Kids, Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams and Spy Kids 3: Game Over).
There is just one word to describe this Blu-ray blitz from Paramount Home Media on Sept. 22 … WOW!!
No comments:
Post a Comment