The Film Detective Restores Director Lloyd Corrigan's Technicolor Presentation Of The Dancing Pirate For Release As Blu-ray And DVD Editions On Feb. 22

The Film Detective’s latest 4K film restoration (from surviving 35mm film elements) will be arriving home on Feb. 22 as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings.

This latest effort is none other than director Lloyd Corrigan’s 1936 Technicolor musical, The Dancing Pirate, starring Charles Collins, a former vaudeville dancer, stage actor and later as a talent agent, he only starred in two films, The Dancing Pirate and in 1940, Swing Hostess.  

The Dancing Pirate was the first three-strip Technicolor musical and over the years only “black and white” versions have made their way to DVD.   This is the real deal, fully restored in all of its Technicolor glory … toss your old copies, you WILL want this one!!

Here Collins plays Jonathan Pride, a dance instructor in Boston in 1820 … he is a whiz at teaching the waltz, it is the latest thing from Europe and it is quite the thing!!  It’s 1820, whalers and pirates still roam the seven seas, Maine and Missouri become states (making St. Louis the gateway to the west) and Mexico’s independence from Spain is still over a year away (not until August of 1821). 

It is on these streets of Boston that Pride is shanghaied and forced to become a crew member of a pirate ship.   During his long voyage from Boston around South America and up the west coast to the Spanish colony of New Spain (aka: California), Pride is transformed from a dancing dandy to a pirate, a dancing pirate, complete with early 19^th Century pirate garb.

At anchorage off the coastal town of Las Palomas, the pirate ship is spotted and the locals are alerted to the danger.   The mayor, Don Emilio Perena (played by Frank Morgan — nominated for Best Actor in 1934 for his performance in The Affairs of Cellini and again in 1940 for Best Supporting actor in Tortilla Flat, is certainly best-remembered as “The Wizard” in the 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz) and his lovely daughter, Serafina (Steffi Duna — Anthony Adverse, Way Down South, Waterloo Bridge … she married Dennis O’Keefe in 1940, the same year as Waterloo Bridge, and retired from the screen) arrive to see what all the fuss is about.

Meanwhile, Pride uses the opportunity to escape his captors and arrives in Las Palomas only to be met by a volley of gun fire (the villagers think he is a pirate), but his dancing skills save the day as he is able to “magically” dodge the bullets.   Desperate, he finds a hiding place, which in a “small world sort of way” turns out to be Serafina’s bedroom … frying pan into the fire!!

A pirate in the bedroom of the mayor’s daughter in 1820 California … that was a hanging offense.   So, there’s poor Jonathan Pride standing there on the gallows, a rope around his neck, when Serafina stops everything and says that she wants to learn the Waltz and that this pirate is really a dancing pirate and he can teach her and the other lovely young ladies of Las Palomas as well (included in the cast of young ladies are Rita Hayworth, Thelma Catherine Ryan (aka: Pat Nixon) and Marjorie Reynolds).   Saved!

A local band magically appears, Pride does some fancy moves, with a rope around his neck, and everyone agrees that he’s no ordinary pirate, he’s a dancing pirate.   The dancing lessons can now begin, Serafina will learn the waltz and Pride will not hang.  

But, no sooner does the first lesson begin when he suddenly finds himself going from the frying pan to the fire and then back to the frying pan.  He does the forbidden thing in 1820 Las Palomas, he puts his hand around the waist of an unmarried woman, Serafina, the mayor’s daughter!!   Back to jail!!

Soon Serafina learns that this “affront” is part of the dance, so all is forgiven, but things get complicated when Capt. Don Balthazar (Victor Varconi — as Pontius Pilot in the 1927 version of The King of Kings, as Painted Horse in The Plainsman and as Rudolph Hess in The Hitler Gang, quite the gamut of characters in his long film career) and his men arrive from Monterey.   He wants Serafina for his bride.

Can a dancing pirate defeat the dashing captain in a duel for the hand of Serafina, armed only with his aunt’s umbrella (which he has kept with him all this time)?   To find that out, pick up a DVD or Blu-ray edition of The Dancing Pirate on Feb. 22 and discover the answer (hint: it involves some clever dance moves).

Bonus goodies include commentary from author Jennifer Churchill (“Movies are Magic”) and two newly-prepared featurettes — “Ambushed by Mediocrity: Remembering the Dancing Pirate” and “Glorious Pioneers: The Birth of Technicolor.”

 

 

 

 

Bayview Entertainment Celebrates The 50th Anniversary Of Director Bruce Brown's On Any Sunday With Newly Enchanced DVD Release On Mar. 22

Bayview Entertainment announced that Bruce Brown’s Oscar-nominated documentary, On Any Sunday, will be getting a 50^th Anniversary special edition DVD release (with a new digitally-enhanced soundtrack supervised by Emmy Award-winner Chris Drozdowski) on Mar. 22.

Bruce Brown was the surf god; the surf dude of film … he would go out and film surfers, turn the material into a feature-length film, add in music and then find as many beach venues that he could and rent theatres (four-wall is what it was called) to exhibit his films. 

In 1965, he hit the motherlode with the release of The Endless Summer, which was picked for national theatrical distribution by Cinema V Distributing (an indie that quickly developed a reputation for cutting-edge films … Putney Swope, Gimme Shelter, The Hellstrom Chronicle, etc.) and became a huge hit.  It put surf dude, Bruce Brown, on the map.

He remembered the iconic scene of Steve McQueen jumping barbed wire fences on a motorcycle in the 1963 film release of The Great Escape, and, as they say, one thing led to another and Bruce Brown ends up tracking down McQueen, asks him about doing a film and the next thing you know he is making a motorcycle documentary with Steve McQueen.

But it gets better, McQueen’s own company, Solar Productions, bankrolls the film and, of course, Cinema V Distributing was all over it — after the success of The Endless Summer — and handles the distribution.   McQueen, motorcycles, and Bruce Brown, it proved to be a winning combination, On Any Sunday was an indie smash hit … and was nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary, ironically losing out to Cinema V Distributing’s release of The Hellstrom Chronicle.

In other release news this past week from Bayview Entertainment, Mar. 22 will also be street date for the latest entry in the company’s popular “HNN Presents” line of horror films from around the globe.

The directing team of Tilke Hill and David R. Williams, working with actor/writer Aaron Krygier, have come up with a pure 70s/80s splatter throwback in the form of HNN Presents: Rust Belt Driller.

Renn Maxwell (Aaron Krygier) has it all, a following as an artist, a trophy bride, Carol (Jillian Geurts) and a manager, Abel (Stephen Jakiel), who keeps the art sales humming for Renn.   Renn, you see, has a style, a following and his art is, well, creepy.  Unique.

As with any “gifted” artist, Renn is perhaps not always dealing with reality … and as things progress that “reality” goes off the deep end, but sales of this very dark “art” are booming.   You see, Renn is nuts, he gets his “inspiration” from the various murders he commits … and things are starting to get a little too close to home!!

HNN Presents: Rust Belt Driller is a marvelous splatter throwback … indeed, grab your copy of director Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer (as any good genre fan certainly has in their film library), pop the popcorn and settle in for a deep red double feature come Mar. 22.

 

 

 

Writer/Director Frank Martinez's Dreaming Hollywood Arrives On Blu-ray And DVD From Cleoplatra Entertainment On Mar. 22

Cleopatra Entertainment, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, announced this past week that their September of 2021 domestic distribution acquisition, the film festival delight, writer/director Frank Martinez’s Dreaming Hollywood, will be heading home on Mar. 22 as both DVD and Blu-ray editions.

In the always sunny world of Hollywood, there are thieves, and then there are filmmakers.   They are often one and the same.   This is what would-be screenwriter Raymond Balfi (Turk Matthews) is about to learn … and he won’t be happy.

By any standard, Ray Balfi is a loser, but he has the Hollywood dream of writing a hit screenplay that will earn him millions and allow him to break free of his low-life grifter ways.   He is the new Walter Mitty, a bespectacled nebbish, who has written a script for a major animated production and that will be his ticket out of the rundown tenement he calls home … no longer paying for ladies of the night for dates, the beautiful women of Hollywood will certainly come flocking to him.

But before we go further down the rabbit hole of Ray Balfi and his soon-to-be-Pixar animation smash, we should look back at how Frank Martinez and his producer/actor partner, Turk Matthews, got the inspiration for this indie gem and how it got made.

As Martinez tells it, he was standing in line at a copy store and overheard a conversation between two other customers.   Basically, they were musing as to what assurances did they have that one of the employees wouldn’t make a copy for themselves of what they had turned in … that’s all it took for Martinez to spring into action.

The script came together and then Matthews (who stars as Ray) and Martinez began filming.   Not as you might imagine in a traditional way, but when they had money, they would see who was available and what scenes could be blocked and shot.   A few scenes at a time.

What materialized is nothing short of genius.   The film played at a couple of festivals, was noticed by Cleopatra Entertainment and snapped up for distribution.   Dreaming Hollywood is virtually unseen, but don’t let that stop you from seeking it out come Mar. 22.

The backbone of the plot is about Ray Balfi and his moment of inspiration.   He is an ex-con, living in squalor, surrounded by drug dealers, hookers and lowlifes … it’s just a matter of time before he is back in trouble with the law. 

But Ray has a dream, and he turns that into a script which is titled “The Dog’s Meow,” an animated film that will be his ticket out.   It is, by any standard, a horrible script and his 100 (exactly 100) copies that he sends out to studios and producers are all rejected.

He’s also secretly in love with a prostitute named Maureen (Madelyn Allen), who he plans to rescue from drug dealer and pimp, Rudy (Eliot, aka: Mark Eliot).   Maureen is completely oblivious to Ray’s plan, he’s just a customer; one of many.

Rejection after rejection … after rejection.   And then our boy Ray discovers that someone has stolen his idea.   He snaps.   He will find out who, he will have his revenge and he will rescue Maureen from Rudy … it will be the perfect Hollywood happy ending.   He just needs to kill the right person!!

For a movie that was put together on weekends over months, this has a slick look to it that belies its budget.   From the script, to the acting, to the technical elements of cinematography (Adam Brant and Alexander Zingaro), the editing by the filmmaker himself and the music soundtrack (Zocotroco), Dreaming Hollywood is certainly one of the best indie productions to surface in recent memory.   

 

 

 

 

Arrow Video Announces 4K Ultra HD Edition Of Director John Landis' An American Werewolf In London For Release On Mar. 15

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new 4K Ultra HD edition of writer/director John Landis’ summer of 1981 iconic creature feature, An American Werewolf in London, set for genre-fans to savor once again — in all of its 4K glory (or is that gory?) — on Mar. 15.

The 4K film restoration is from the original camera negative.

This was the first film that Landis wrote, but being a nobody in 1969 he couldn’t get it produced, it had to wait.   His first film turned out to be a masterwork; genius and let the world of cinema know that a new auteur had arrived.   Of course, that was his 1973 debut film, Schlock, starring Eliza Garrett (aka: Eliza Roberts) as Blind Mindy and the Schlockthropus (aka: John Landis), with special makeup by another newcomer, Rick Baker, who has been nominated 13 times for Oscars, winning six times … How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Men in Black, The Nutty Professor, Ed Wood, Harry and the Hendersons and An American Werewolf in London.

Which brings us full circle to An American Werewolf in London.  Landis hit it big with Animal House and The Blues Brothers, so suddenly he was able to put into production this film, and turned to Rick Baker, the genius who created the iconic Schlockthropus monster to create the Oscar-winning creature that would be the centerpiece of An American Werewolf in London.

The story goes that Baker needed months to fashion the creature and the transformation process that Landis had envisioned, so that meant that the key cast members, backpacking buddies, David Kessler (David Naughton — Hot Dog … The Movie, Steel and Lace) and Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne — After Hours, Dallas Buyers Club, Straight Talk), had to be locked-in long before the actual filming commenced in order for Baker to design everything around them. 

That’s not the normal way it usually goes, but it turned out to be genius … the onscreen transformation from human to werewolf was groundbreaking.   

Two unknowns in leading roles, so the film needed at least one familiar name in the credits, so Jenny Agutter came onboard as Nurse Alex Price, and, as they say, the rest was history … An American Werewolf in London was a smash. 

Arrow Video has loaded this 4K Ultra HD edition up with a ton of bonus goodies, including two commentary options, one featuring actors David Naughton and Griffin Dunne, while second is with filmmaker Paul Davis.

Documentary filmmaker Daniel Griffith’s feature-length film, Mark of The Beast: The Legacy of the Universal Werewolf, is include here as a bonus, plus video sessions with both Landis and Baker, outtakes, a massive still library and eight featurettes — “An American Filmmaker in London,” “I Think He’s a Jew: The Werewolf’s Secret,” “The Werewolf’s Call,” “Wares of the Wolf,” “Beware the Moon,” “An American Werewolf in Bob’s Basement,” “Causing a Disturbance: Piccadilly Revisited” and “Making An American Werewolf in London.”

 

 

 

Paramount Home Entertainment Tabs Mar. 22 As The Release Date For 50th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD Collection Of The Godfather Trilogy

Hard to believe, but one of the greatest films of the 20^th Century, auteur filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola’s Best Picture-winner in 1972, The Godfather, celebrates its 50^th Anniversary this year.

To mark this milestone, Paramount Home Entertainment has selected Mar. 22 for the 4K Ultra HD debut of this iconic classic.   But wait, the party continues as Paramount has gone the extra mile and made this a collection that also includes the 4K Ultra HD debut of The Godfather, Part II and the recently re-edited presentation of The Godfather, Part III, which is included here as a 4K Ultra HD edition as well and titled The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.

Bonus nuggets include an introduction to The Godfather by Coppola, the featurettes titled “Full Circle: Preserving The Godfather” and “Capturing the Corleones: Through the Lens of Photographer Steve Schapiro,” plus before-and-after restoration comparisons.

In addition, vintage material from previous DVD and Blu-ray versions are also included with this magnificent 50^th Anniversary collection.

 

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Picks Feb. 22 As The Street Date For Director Ridley Scott's House Of Gucci

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment will be teaming up with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on Feb. 22 for the home entertainment packaged media launch of director Ridley Scott’s film adaptation of the Sara Gay Forden’s 2001 tell-all book, House of Gucci.

The ARR from theatrical debut to home entertainment rollout is 88 days and domestic box office receipts currently stand at $50.1 million.

This tale of intercine warfare in the famous Italian fashion giant, Gucci, stars Lady Gaga as the devious (and ultimately murderous) Patrizia, Al Pacino as the patriarch, Aldo Gucci, plus Jerry Irons, Jared Leto and Adam Driver as other members of the family.  

Planned for distribution are a stand-alone DVD edition, plus a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack buying option.

Bonus features are a trio of featurettes — “The Rise of the House of Gucci,” “The Lady of the House” and “Styling House of Gucci.”

 

 

Undercrank Productions' Latest Marion Davies Silent Film Classic – Zander The Great — Will Be Available On Feb. 1 As Both DVD And Blu-ray Selections

Undercrank Productions announced this past week that their fifth silent film restoration starring the legendary Marion Davies will be heading home on Feb. 1 as both DVD and Blu-ray editions.  

The latest is director George W. Hill’s 1925 film release of Zander the Great, teaming Marion Davies with Harrison Ford (not that Harrison Ford) in a Western adventure.  This new 2K film restoration is from the surviving 35mm nitrate print, with Undercrank’s Ben Model delivering a newly composed organ score.  

The other four Marion Davies films remastered and released by Undercrank Productions are: Little Old New York, When Knighthood was in Flower, The Bride’s Play and Beauty’s Worth.