Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced its December slate of new-to-Blu-ray releases culled from its vast film library this past week. Just two in number, but nevertheless terrific selections for movie fans to enjoy.
Arriving on Dec. 7 is a new 4K scan (from the original nitrate camera negative) of director Michael Curtiz’s 1938 all-star crime drama, Angels with Dirty Faces.
A gangster film, a social commentary film and more, starring the likes of James Carney, Humphrey Bogart, Pat O’Brien, Ann Sheridan, Billy Halop (Dead End, Crime School, Little Tough Guy) and the future members of the East Side Kids — Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell and Bobby Jordan. What’s not like … a true film classic.
James Carney got the first of his three Best Actor Oscar-nominations (winning in 1942 for Yankee Doodle Dandy and nominated again in 1955 for Love Me or Love Me … he should have been nominated a fourth time for his performance as Cody Jarrett in White Heat), director Micheal Curtiz was nominated Best Director (he would win in 1943 for Casablanca) and Rowland Brown would be nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
This Blu-ray release comes loaded with bonus goodies, including an introduction by film critic Leonard Maltin, commentary by film scholar and author Dana Polan (“Power and Paranoia: History, Narrative and the American Cinema, 1940–1950”), a Porky Pig and Daffy Duck cartoon, the featurette titled “Whaddya Hear?, Whaddya Say?” and the 1939 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast.
Arriving one week later, Dec. 14, is the Blu-ray debut of director Richard Thorpe’s 1952 film adaptation of the Sir Walter Scott 1819 novel, Ivanhoe.
MGM began work on Ivanhoe in 1937, with plans to shoot the film on location in England, however a little thing called World War II got in the way of that and everything was put on hold. After the war the production was resurrected with Robert Taylor in the lead, Elizabeth Taylor as Rebecca and Deborah Kerr onboard to as Rebecca, but that fell through when she became pregnant and was replaced by Jon Fontaine.
This is a new 4K scan from the film’s Technicolor camera negative. Ivanhoe was nominated Best Picture, losing out to The Greatest Show on Earth (High Noon might have been the real Best Picture that year).
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