This week the news is equally as exciting as director Frank Capra’s 1944 film release of Arsenic and Old Lace will be getting a 4K digital makeover and will be sent home on Oct. 11 as both DVD and Blu-ray product-offerings.
The theatrical release was an odd affair. Warner Bros. won the bidding war for the rights to Joseph Kesselring’s Broadway stage play in early 1941 and it went into production later the same year, but a curious clause was written into the rights agreement that said that the film could not open theatrically as long as its Broadway run continued. No one could have guessed that it would continue for over 1,400 performances … hence the theatrical date in Sept. of 1944.
When the film wrapped in December of 1941, Frank Capra joined the Army Signal Corps. and spent the war years making films for the government … perhaps it was best that the film was held back (in hindsight).
Bonus features include commentary from author Charles Dennis (“There’s a Body in the Window Seat!: The History of Arsenic and Old Lace”) and the 1952 radio adaptation with Boris Karloff.
In other October release news from Criterion, a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack edition of director David Lynch’s Lost Highway will also street on Oct. 11, Kurosawa’s Cure arrives on Oct. 18, as does director Jayro Bustamante’s La Llorona, and the month wraps on Oct. 25 with a double-disc Blu-ray presentation of a restored edition of Kasi Lemmons’ 1997 film release of Eve’s Bayou.
No comments:
Post a Comment