The Film Detective Restores Director Paul Guilfoyle's 1955 Film Noir Thriller A Life At Stake For Release On Blu-ray And DVD On Sept. 07

You are having a little bad luck.   An attractive woman gives you a deal you can’t refuse.   And then you think, maybe, just maybe, that you are being set up and about to be murdered.   That’s when a little bad luck turns into very bad luck.

That’s what Ed Shaw (Keith Andes — Project X, Split Second) is faced with in director Paul Guilfoyle’s 1955 film noir tale, A Life at Stake, which will be heading home on Sept. 7 as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings from the Film Detective.

This is a new 4K transfer from archival film elements.

As the story unfolds, we learn that poor Ed, an architect by trade, has been wiped out in a business deal gone south.   That’s the bad luck, but just when everything looks pretty bleak, up pops socialite Doris Hillman, played by Angela Lansbury, who had gone from being nominated for Best Supporting Actress Oscars in Gaslight and The Picture of Dorian Gray to appearing in random episodic television productions during the early 1950s.  This was her return to the screen (The Purple Mask, A Lawless Street, The Court Jester and Please Murder Me would quickly follow).

She had just hit 30-years-of-age and was cast in a film noir as the femme fatale.   It seemed a little off-mark, but that’s OK, she carries it off.   In any case, she approaches the down-on-his-luck architect with a proposal that is just too good to be true.  

It seems that Doris has a sugar-daddy for a husband by the name of Gus (Douglass Dumbrille) and she would like to enter into a business arrangement with Ed … she’ll find the real estate, he will design and build the homes.

And there is a bonus, Doris comes on to Ed like he’s the last man on earth!! 

Wow, money to burn and romance.   Oh, wait, wait, here comes the hook, the catch, that extra little detail.   Oh Ed, sweetie, my husband insists that you have a large life insurance policy just in case of an accident, or something.

Soon Ed, who has been a little dense to this point, begins to put two and two together and becomes convinced that Doris and her older husband, Gus, are scam artists and he’s their next victim … oh for the days of just bad luck!!

Bonus features include commentary by film noir scholar and critic Jason Ney and the featurette titled “Hollywood Hitch-Hikers: Inside the Filmmaker.”

 

 

 

 

 

Documentary Filmmaker Dieudo Hamadi's Downstream To Kinshasa Will Be Available On DVD From Icarus Films On Sept. 21

Icarus Films announced this past week that award-winning documentary filmmaker Dieudo Hamadi’s Downstream to Kinshasa will be making its domestic DVD debut on Sept. 21.

A native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hamadi provides a unique voice for what took place in Kisangani in June of 2000, which has come to be called the “Six Day War.”   That is something of a misnomer, since armed conflict between forces from Uganda and Rwanda had used the Congolese city on two previous occasions in the months before as a battle ground … the “Six Day War” was the culmination of the open conflict between these two East African nations, with thousands of Congolese civilians caught in the crossfire.

Hamadi’s very personal film documents the journey of war-survivors down the Congo River from the country’s capitol of Kisangani to Kinshasa to express their grievances and lack of reparations … the journey is filled with stories from the survivors, of what took place and memories of those who were killed.

The film has been working the international film festival circuit, pulling in awards and critical recognition, but Dieudo Hamadi’s Downstream to Kinshasa has also become something of a voice for horrific events in a far-off place that are often ignored by the Western world.

Downstream to Kinshasa is presented in Swahili (with some Lingala) and includes English subtitles throughout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Severin Films Restores Director Eungenio Martin's The Fourth Victim For DVD And Blu-ray Release On Sept. 28

Severin Films, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new 2K film restoration (from the original 35mm negative) of director Eugenio Martín’s ultra-rare 1971 giallo thriller, The Fourth Victim, starring Carroll Baker, ready for release as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings on Sept. 28.

In 1956, Carroll Baker was nominated Best Actress for her performance in director Elia Kazan’s Baby Doll.   She was 24 years old and for the next ten years she was featured in a series of big-budget Hollywood productions, including The Big Country, How the West was Won, The Carpetbaggers, Harlow and more … and then the “Hollywood” roles began to dry up (she got OLD … mid-30s, that is Hollywood old).

As a result, she did a “Rick Dalton” and moved to Italy, where she quickly picked up the language and starred in a series giallo films — and, we might add, a Spaghetti Western (Captain Apache).  She was sexy, she could do the films in either English or Italian and she was eager to work … and she had a bankable name.

In The Fourth Victim, we meet Arthur (Michael Craig), an Englishman living abroad, who has had a terrible string of luck.   All of his wives have died from tragic accidents.   So sad.   The most recent “victim” is featured in the opening sequence where we see her floating dead in the swimming pool … very suspicious, but Arthur is cleared and charges are dropped.

Upon returning home (we’ve learned in the meantime that he has collected substantial sums from the insurance policies that he had on Mrs. One, Mrs. Two and Mrs. Three), he finds another body in the pool.   Only this one is alive and kicking and her name is Julie (Carroll Baker) … she claims to be a neighbor and was just enjoying the unused pool.  

Without giving the mystery away, Julie and Arthur eventually become a couple and are married.   Will the seductive Julie be the “fourth victim?”   Or, is she up to something … revenge perhaps?   Sept. 28 from Severin to find out!!

Bonus features include both the Italian and English language tracks for the film, a deleted scene and the featurette titled “Eugenio Martín, Auteur.”

 

 

 

 

Bayview Entertainment Lands Mart Sander's Behind The Random Denominator And Eerie Fairy Tales For DVD Release On Sept. 28

Bayview Entertainment has gone the extra mile on Sept. 28 to land not one, but two films from the Baltic nation of Estonia for release on DVD in the domestic market. 

Estonia?  A country not normally known as a film production hot spot, but the writer and director of these two films is an international celebrity and he’s bound and determined to put his country on the map … and he’s doing a very good job of just that!

Two films from Estonia’s famous writing, singing, world class-dancing, directing, acting and yes, he is even a very talented painter, Mart Sander.   His films have worked the international film festival circuit — and that happens when he’s not recording records, appearing on countless European shows or writing children’s books — and now both Eerie Fairy Tales and Behind the Random Denominator will be available here on DVD.

In 2015, his fans and friends encouraged him to write and direct films (he was already an established author) … and go the extra mile and star in his own creation, which is the very creepy — or some might say, a very “atmospheric” tale — which is titled Behind the Random Denominator.

Here Sander plays a loner, a drinker and with the rain, there is a gothic feel to his home, and with that you have to figure that he’s more than a little depressed.  The phone rings.   And then begins an evening where the turning-of-the-screws become ever more intense as the caller temps him into a game that can only end one way.

In Eerie Fairy Tales, Estonia’s “everyman,” Mart Sander has assembled a collection of horror and suspense tales from various parts of the world … a truly inspired collection that will give the viewer the chills. 

One last thing, your likely knee-jerk is “presented in Estonian with English subtitles” … you would be wrong.   Filmmaker Mart Sander shot both of his films in English, we forgot to mention that he is fluent in several languages. 

 

 

 

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Prepares A 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack Edition Of The Shawshank Redemption For Release On Sept. 14

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced this past week that writer/director Frank Darabont’s 1994 film adaptation of the Stephen King short story, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption,” which was shortened for its theatrical run to just The Shawshank Redemption, will be get a 4K Ultra HD/ Blu-ray Combo Pack release on Sept. 14.

1994 was one of those really wonderful years for the movies.   Not only was The Shawshank Redemption nominated for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay (Frank Darabont) and a Best Actor nod went to Morgan Freeman, but so too were Forrest Gump (Best Picture-winner … also winning Best Actor for Tom Hanks’ performance and Best Director and more) and Pulp Fiction nominated for Best Picture as well (John Travolta was nominated for Best Actor and more).

Pick one … they are all terrific films.

Bonus features include commentary from Frank Darabont (in 1999 he would adapt another Stephen King story, The Green Mile … his second Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay) and three featurettes — “Hope Springs Eternal: A Look Back at The Shawshank Redemption,” “Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature” and “The Sharktank Redemption.”

 

Boss Baby: Family Business Heads Home On Sept. 14 From Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has selected Sept. 14 as the street date for a three-SKU helping of writer/director Tom McGrath’s The Boss Baby: Family Business.

The ARR is a swift-to-market 74 days and box office receipts currently stand at $50.4 million, down sharply from the 2017 original Boss Baby theatrical run, which generated $175 million in box office coin.   The big falloff is likely a combination of Covid-19 Delta Variant panic — propelled by the legacy media — and the decision by Universal to day/date the film’s launch with its Peacock streaming platform.

Whether that strategy works for a film with a reported production budget of $82 million is for the brass (and accountants) at Comcast to decide … the practice seems very cannibalistic, but perhaps there is method in the madness.

Planned for release are Combo Pack editions for the 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray) and Blu-ray (with DVD) formats, plus a stand-alone DVD edition.

Bonus features include the new short animated film titled Precious Templeton: A Pony Tale, the featurette “Never Grow Up: The Big Babies Behind The Boss Baby: Family Business,” the interactive feature titled “Boss Baby Art Class: How to Draw“ and the Ariana Greenblatt music video, “Together We Stand.”

 

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Tabs Sept. 14 As The Official Street Date For Director Cate Shortland's Black Widow

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has selected Sept. 14 as the “official” street date for a three-SKU helping of director Cate Shortland’s Black Widow, starring Scarlett Johansson as the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name (aka: Natasha Romanova).

We say “official,” since it has been available from unofficial/unsanctioned online “retail” sites since 1:45 in the afternoon on July 13 as a Blu-ray edition (complete with closed captioning) and even earlier as a DVD selection.  

The official street date is Sept. 14, which yields an ARR of just 67 days.  Box office revenues currently stand at $154.8 million.  

Of note, the film’s star, Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against the studio. Her contention is that theatrical box office receipts are impacted by the day/date Disney+ streaming release.  

According to the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, July 29 … Disney’s response to the lawsuit was: “The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

There will be no comment on the merits of such a lawsuit or the Covid-19 defense from Disney.  However, the likely unintended consequence of Disney+ providing the equivalent of a pristine master of Black Widow for certain “online retailers” (dare we say, pirates) to replicate as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings — well before the “official” street date — will certainly have some impact on home entertainment packaged media product sales … how much, that’s anyone’s guess.

As to SKU configuration, there will be a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack and stand-alone editions for both the DVD and Blu-ray formats.

Bonus features included a blooper reel, deleted scenes and a trio of featurettes — “Filmmaker Introduction,” “Sisters Gonna Work It Out” and “Go Big If You're Going Home.”