New DVD • Blu-ray • 4K Ultra HD Activity For The Period Ending January 15, 2021

 

New DVD Additions:

 

Adult Source Media

01/12/21 — Released Sinful Sex Kittens

 

Alpha Video (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Ace of Hearts (Silent-1921), Camille (Silent-1921), Cisco Kid - Volume 5, Gentlemen with Guns, Ghost of Hidden Valley, Harold Lloyd One-Reel Comedy Classics (8 silent short films: The Non-Stop Kid, The City Slicker, I'm On My Way, Spring Fever, Just Neighbors, Never Touched Me, Captain Kidd's Kids), Molly and Me, Studio One Presents: Little Women and Sword-and-Sandal Double Feature (2 film set: Thor and the Amazon Women/Son of Samson)

 

Bayview Entertainment

03/16/21 — Sets Entombed, Her Name Was Fanny Kaplan (Ukrainian), Prosthesis (Spanish), Todd (Ukrainian) and Unbroken

 

Belle & Blade War Video (MOD)

01/05/21 — Released 12 O'Clock High: The Complete Series (20 disc set)

01/12/21 — Released Farewell Rabaul (Japanese)

 

Breaking Fate Entertainment (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Mac Isn't Gay

 

Burning Bulb Productions (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Desk Clerk, Mercy and Midnight

 

Championship Productions

01/05/21 — Released Mike Neighbors: 40+ Indicators that It's You (Not Your Players) Sabotaging Your Team's Success!, Mike Neighbors' Offensive Anatomy: "Our Plan to Make 'Em Wrong!", NABC On the Court Open Practice with Brad Underwood: Skill Development, Zone Offense & Transition, NABC On the Court Open Practice with Frank Martin: High-Intensity Defensive Focus & Man-to-Man Offense, NABC On the Court Open Practice with Matt Driscoll: Dead Ball Press Offense, Shooting & Build-Up Drills, NABC On the Court Open Practice with Matt Driscoll: Press Break & Early Offense + Conversion Drills, NABC On the Court Open Practice with Matt Driscoll: Press Break, Transition Defense & Full-Court Drills, NABC On the Court Open Practice with Scott Nagy: Offensive Sets, Defensive Breakdown Drills & 5-on-5 and Open Practice with Vermont's John Becker: Offense & Defense Practice Drills & Techniques

 

Cohen Media Group

01/12/21 — Released Sudden Fear

 

Criterion Collection

04/13/21 — Sets History is Made at Night

04/20/21 — Sets Furies and Memories of Murder (Korean) (2 disc set)

04/27/21 — Sets Irma Vep (French) (2 disc set) and Masculin Féminin (French)

 

Elvis DVD Collector & Movie Store (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Joe Butterfly

 

Eye Films Releasing (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Stained

 

Film Movement

01/12/21 — Released Queen Of Hearts: Audrey Flack, Once Upon A River and Road to Mandalay (Burmese)

 

Freestyle Digital Media (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Power of Movement

 

Graphyco Movie Collection (MOD)

01/05/21 — Released Buster Keaton Collection: College (silent-1927) (plus two bonus silent short: The Frozen North (1922), Cops (1922)), Buster Keaton Collection: Our Hospitality (silent-1923) (plus two bonus silent short: The Frozen North (1922), Cops (1922)) and Olive Thomas Collection (2 film set: The Flapper (silent-1920), Love's Prisoner (silent-1919)

01/12/21 — Danger Lights and Helen Twelvetrees Collection (2 film set: Millie, King for the Night)

 

Gunn Shot Productions (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released I Can, I Will, I Must

 

Icarus Entertainment

02/16/21 — Sets Softie

02/23/21 — Sets Yiddish

 

Kaczmarek Digital Media Group, Inc. (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Sacred Journey

 

Kino Lorber

01/12/21 — Released Buried Alive, Epicentro, Stretch and Thursday (ARR of 8,096 days; box office: $3,121)

 

Kitty Media

01/05/21 — Released First Love

 

Liberation Hall

01/12/21 — Released Peter, Paul and Mary: Peter, Paul and Mommy, Too

 

Lionsgate Home Entertainment

01/12/21 — Released American Dream and Lena and Snowball

 

MPI Home Media

01/12/21 — Released Jonathan Scott's Power Trip

 

Media Blasters

01/12/21 — Released Shine of the Morning Mist (2 disc set)

 

Mill Creek Entertainment

03/16/21 — Sets Tropical Heat: Sweating Bullets - The Complete Series (12 disc set) (with Digital Copy)

 

Naxos

01/12/21 — Released Beethoven: Fidelio - Theatre au der Wien, 2020, Kit Armstrong Plays Warner, Liszt & Mozart and West-Eastern Divan Orchestra: Beethoven Triple Concerto

 

PBS Direct

01/12/20 — Released Nature: Australian Bushfire Rescue, Nova: Touching the Asteroid and Thousand Cuts

 

Paramount Home Media

01/12/21 — Released English Patient, Frida, Gone Baby Gone,   Like Water for Chocolate (Spanish) and Shakespeare in Love

 

Passion River

01/12/21 — Released Narratives of Modern Genocide

01/19/21 — Sets Disrupted

 

Quiet Revolution Pictures (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Maiden Danced to Death (Hungarian)

 

Showtime Networks, Inc. (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Citizen Bio

 

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released H2O Wrestling: Pay Your Dues #3 - The Receipt - Williamstown, NJ

 

Strand Releasing

01/12/21 — Released Monsoon

 

TLA Releasing

01/12/21 — Released Skeleton In The Closet (Spanish)

 

TPR Music (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Great Kat: Bach's Air on the G-String Mosh

 

The High School Sports Network (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released 2020 MHSAA Div 2 Volleyball Semifinals #1: Notre Dame Prep vs Lakewood - Battle Creek, MI and 2020 MHSAA Div 2 Volleyball Semifinals #2: St. Mary's vs Beaverton - Battle Creek, MI

 

Uncork’d Entertainment

01/12/21 — Released Bright Hill Road and Daria

 

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

01/12/21 — Released Ammonite (ARR of 60 days; box office: $160,930)

 

VIZ Media

01/12/21 — Released Boruto: Naruto Next Generations: Set 8 (2 disc set) and Pokemon the Series: Sun & Moon Ultra Legends - The Aloha League Begins (2 disc set)

 

Vertical Entertainment

01/12/21 — Released Brightheart: Let Your Light Shine, Parallel and Skylines

 

Vision Films (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Illegal

 

Vision Video

01/12/21 — Released Samuel The Last Of The Judges

 

Warner Bros. Home Ent. (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Legacies: The Complete Second Season (3 disc set)

01/19/21 — Sets Ball of Fire, Boogie Nights: Special Edition (2 disc set), Girl Happy and Please Don't Eat the Daisies

01/26/21 — Sets Princess and the Pirate, Speedway and There was a Crooked Man

 

Wild Eye Releasing

03/16/21 — Sets Shark Encounters of the Third Kind

 

ZapruderFlix (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Alien Contactee, Micro-Budget Marauders and Monsters in the Woods: Director's Cut

 

 

New Blu-ray Additions:

 

 

Arbelos Films

01/12/21 — Released Sátántangó (Hungarian) (2 disc set)

 

BMG Rights Management

01/12/21 — Released Stevie Nicks: Live in Concert - The 24 Karat Gold Tour

 

Burning Bulb Productions (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Desk Clerk, Mercy and Midnight

 

Cinema Guild

03/02/21 — Sets Liberté (French)

 

Criterion Collection

04/13/21 — Sets History is Made at Night

04/20/21 — Sets Furies and Memories of Murder (Korean) (2 disc set)

04/27/21 — Sets Irma Vep (French) (2 disc set) and Masculin Féminin (French)

 

Dark Force Entertainment

03/16/21 — Sets Journey Into Fear

 

Flicker Alley

01/12/21 — Released Laurel or Hardy: The Early Solo Films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy (35 silent short films: Mother's Baby Boy (1914); The Servant Girl's Legacy (1914); An Expensive Visit (1915); A Lucky Strike (1915); The New Adventures of J. Rufus Wallingford: The Lilac Splash (1915); The Serenade (1916); Hungry Hearts (1916); The Candy Trail (1916); The Chief Cook (1917); Hello Trouble (1918); Married to Order (1918); He's In Again (1918); The Rent Collector (1921); The Bakery (1921); The Show (1922); Rivals (1925); Wandering Papas (1926); Say It With Babies (1926), Bears and Bad Men (1918); The Egg (1922); A Weak-End Party (1922); The Pest (1922); When Knights Were Cold (1923); The Handy Man (1923); Pick and Shovel (1923); Collars and Cuffs (1923); Gas and Air (1923); A Man About Town (1923); The Whole Truth (1923); Brothers Under the Chin (1924); Zeb Vs. Paprika (1924); Wide Open Spaces (1924); Detained (1924); Twins (1925); Pie-Eyed (1925)) (2 disc set)

 

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Go/Don't Go, Goodbye, Butterfly, Heart of the Home and Hot Mess

 

Herb Albert Presents (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Herb Albert Is ...

 

Indie Rights, Inc. (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Origin Story

 

Kaczmarek Digital Media Group, Inc. (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Sacred Journey

 

Kino Lorber

01/12/21 — Released Buried Alive, Stretch and Thursday

 

MPI Home Media

01/12/21 — Released Jonathan Scott's Power Trip

 

Media Blasters

01/12/21 — Released Devilman and Shine of the Morning Mist (2 disc set)

 

Naxos

01/12/21 — Released Beethoven: Fidelio - Theatre au der Wien, 2020, Kit Armstrong Plays Warner, Liszt & Mozart and West-Eastern Divan Orchestra: Beethoven Triple Concerto

 

Raro Video

01/12/21 — Released Falchi: Falcons Special Squad (Italian)

 

Retrosploitation Direct (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released City of the Dream Demons

 

Scorpion Releasing

01/12/21 — Released Rituals (aka The Creeper)

 

Sentai Filmworks

01/12/21 — Released Bang Dream! Film Live and Girls Und Panzer: This Is The Real Anzio Battle

 

Shout! Factory

01/12/21 — Released Lupin III: The First (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack)

 

Sony Pictures Home Ent.

01/12/21 — Released Raid Collection (2 film set: The Raid, The Raid 2) (Indonesian) (with Digital Copy) (2 disc set)

 

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

01/12/21 — Released Ammonite

 

Warner Bros. Home Ent. (MOD)

02/09/21 — Sets Six by Sondheim and Tale of Two Cities

02/16/21 — Sets Baby Doll and San Francisco

02/23/21 — Sets My Dream is Yours, On Moonlight Bay, Pump Up the Volume and Show Boat

 

ZapruderFlix (MOD)

01/12/21 — Released Alien Contactee, Micro-Budget Marauders and Monsters in the Woods: Director's Cut

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mill Creek Entertainment Tabs Mar. 16 For The DVD Release Of Tropical Heat: The Complete Series

Mill Creek Entertainment announced this past week that the Sam Egan-created detective series, Tropical Heat, which was also known as Sweating Bullets, will be released on DVD on Mar. 16 as a 12-disc collection titled Tropical Heat: The Complete Series.

Nick Slaughter (Rob Stewart — Nikita, Killjoys … and of late such films as Angel Falls: A Novel Holiday, Christmas in Montana, A Very Country Christmas, Too Close for Christmas), a former DEA agent, has set up shop as a private detective in Key Mariah, Florida.   He goes into partnership with an unlikely woman by the name of Sylvia Girard (Carolyn Dunn), a local travel agent who, as it turns out, has a knack for sleuthing.

OK, there is no such place as Key Mariah in Florida.   In fact, not a single episode was actually filmed in Florida.   Have your illusions been shattered … get over it, it’s the magic of film production.

The first season was actually filmed in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and featured just nine episodes, coming in as a late-season replacement on CBS in April of 1991.  The quirky chemistry of Stewart and Dunn proved to be so popular that the series was renewed for a second season.

Production shifted to the Israel resort of Eilat and the second season clocked in with a full slate of 21 episodes.   It was renewed for a third season, which was actually a third and fourth season that simply ran together for 36 installments beginning in September of 1992 and finishing up in October of the following year with a two month break in December and January.   This third season was filmed in Pretoria, South Africa.

Mill Creek Entertainment is releasing all 66 episodes of the series, plus, as bonus, the 2001 feature film titled Criss Cross is also included in the 12-disc box set.

 

 

 

Dark Force Entertainment Prepares The Blu-ray Debut Of Director Daniel Mann's Jouney Into Fear For Release On Mar. 16

Dark Force Entertainment, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new 4K restoration (with extensive scene-by-scene color correction) from the original 35mm negative of director Daniel Mann’s 1975 remake of the 1940 spy novel by Eric Amber, Journey Into Fear.

The Blu-ray debut, and for that matter, the home entertainment debut (excluding VHS), will be take place on Mar. 16.

Back in 1942, director Norman Foster adapted the novel with Mercury Players such as Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles starring … the film was released theatrically by RKO in 1943.   A number of pirate sources have released it on DVD, but there has never been, as far as we can document, a legitimate DVD or Blu-ray release of the original film.

Dark Force Entertainment, has gone one better, unearthing the remake, which is even rarer, meaning fewer pirates have been able to find “source” material.  

Daniel Mann (Willard, Come Back, Little Sheba, The Teahouse of the August Moon, The Rose Tattoo), working with producer/screenwriter Trevor Wallace (producer of The Groundstar Conspiracy and writer/producer of Christina), updated the storyline from World War II Nazi intrigue to the conflict in the Middle East over oil.

San Waterston took on the role of Howard Graham (played by Joseph Cotton in the 1943 version), while the role of Josette passed from Dolores Del Rio in the original to Yvette Mimieux in this 1974 remake.

The story remains basically the same, Graham is being stalked by interests that want his recent oil discovery blocked (control the price and output, etc.) and so he attempts to flee on a passenger ship only to find that he is still in danger.   It is a whodunit thriller … who can be trusted!!

The all-star cast includes such familiar faces as Vincent Price, Shelley Winters, Ian McShane, Jackie Cooper, Stanley Holloway and Donald Pleasence.

For the most-part, the film was shot in Canada (a few establishing shots before boarding the set-bound ship) and released theatrically in the United States in August of 1975 by indie distributor Stirling Gold (Black Emanuelle, Children of Rage … and then folded up shop in 1976) and then the film pretty much disappeared … until now!! 

 

 

 

Bayview Entertainment Has Set Mar. 16 For The Domestic DVD Debut Of Kjell Hammerø’s Entombed

Bayview Entertainment has selected Mar. 16 as the street date for writer/director Kjell Hammerø’s pandemic thriller, Entombed.

Filmed in Norway, we learn that a pandemic has devastated the planet, leaving modern civilization in ruins.   In this bleak wasteland we are introduced to Seamus (Jan Neal Holden, his feature film debut), who has happened upon an underground complex, which is looking pretty good to him.    A place to hide; a safe place.

He soon finds that he is not alone in this underground paradise.   Here lives Konrad (Sigurd Aae Klausen — Falling Sky), who seems to be a nice enough sort, perhaps some sort of scientist.  Konrad offers Seamus all sorts of advice on staying safe in this underground sanctuary.   Too good to be true?

Konrad also has a wife, Mila (Martine Johansen), who is laid out on an operating table, comatose.   Of course, Seamus is curious.   Konrad’s explanation, well, she’s been in a coma for the past few days.   Wife?  Experiment?   A visitor like himself?   Best not to ask too many questions.

Creepy, an underground maze, the lights are on, it seems safe, certainly safer than the surface, but as Seamus beings to explore, he gets the uneasy feeling that things are not as they seem.   Perhaps, the surface might be better after all.

Norwegian filmmaker director Kjell Hammerø has fashioned a “Nordic” suspense thriller.   Dark, filled with mind games, twists … and things that go bump in the dark.   A chiller.   

Ironically, his script and the subsequent production of the film all occurred before the Covid-19 outbreak, making Entombed all the more prophetic in its observations of human-kind and the effects of isolation.   A miniaturized version of what is all around us in today’s “real” world.

 

 

 

 

Wild Eye Releasing Looks To Mar. 30 For The DVD Release Of Director Mark Polonia's Shark Encounters Of The Third Kind

Wild Eye Releasing, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has tabbed Mar. 30 for the DVD debut of director Mark Polonia’s latest mind-bending genre flick, Shark Encounters of the Third Kind.

They have come before.  In 1951 alone, theatres witnessed the arrival of The Thing (April, directed by Christian Nyby) and director Robert Wise introduced us to Klaatu (Michael Rennie) and his unstoppable robot named Gort, in the fall that of that year with the release of the landmark sci-fi film, The Day the Earth Stood Still. 

Alien visitors, all kinds … War of the Worlds (1953), It Came from Outer Space (1953), This Island Earth (1955), Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956), Not of This Earth (1957), Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957), and more, many more.   Steven Spielberg delivered Close Encounters of the Third Kind during the Christmas season of 1977.   Good aliens, bad aliens … take your pick.  Movies have been their favorite gathering place.

Spielberg also put the oceans off limits with the 1975 blockbuster, Jaws.   A zillion shark movies followed.

We are sure that prolific filmmaker Mark Polonia, who is no stranger to aliens and sharks — Feeders (1996), Preylien: Alien Predator (2004), Sharkenstein (2016), Land Shark (2017), etc. — has seen all of the classics.   Aliens, sharks, dinosaurs … and creatures of the night.  He knows them all.

Now, boldly, he has married two classic genre lines together with Shark Encounters of the Third Kind.   Aliens have landed on earth and recruited the ultimate predators of the sea, killer sharks, to do their bidding.  They appear to be an unstoppable combination.

Only Kay Radtke (played by Polonia regular Jennie Russo — It Kills, Hi-8, She Kills, Return to Splatter Farm) understands the full menace of what mankind faces.   She’s grown up with a father who ran a UFO support group and now she manages it.   Things are happening and her members are tuned into it.  

Meanwhile, amateur treasure hunter Sloan (Jeff Kirkendall, another Polonia regular — Amityville Island, Return to Splatter Farm, Sharkenstein, Bigfoot Vs. Zombies) has noticed that the sharks are becoming more aggressive … things are happening.   Bad things!!

Can Sloan and Kay team up in time to stop the unthinkable … sharks and aliens dominating the world!!   Mar. 30, catch the DVD debut of Shark Encounters of the Third Kind from Wild Eye Releasing to find out.

Bonus features include commentary from director Mark Polonia, a behind-the-scenes featurette and an extensive photo gallery.

 

 

 

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Readies Eight New Blu-ray Releases For Delivery During The Month Of February

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has gone to its vast film library for new Blu-ray product offerings — eight to be precise — that will be heading home during the month of February.

The place will be rocking on Feb. 16 with the Blu-ray debut of director W. S. Van Dyke’s summer of 1936 blockbuster, San Francisco, starring Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald and Spencer Tracy.   Arriving in theatres on the 30^th anniversary of the devastating quake, the film would be nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screen Play (Robert E. Hopkins) and Spencer Tracy would be nominated for Best Actor (his first of nine Oscar nominations … he won for Captains Courageous and Boys Town) … ironically, the film’s icon title song, “San Francisco,” sung by Jeanette MacDonald, was not recognized.

Bonus goodies include the alternate ending (“modern San Francisco), the featurette titled “Clark Gable: Tall, Dark and Handsome,” two FitzPatrick Traveltalks — Cavalcade of San Francisco and Night Descends on Treasure Island — and the theatrical cartoon titled Bottles.

Newly remastered and making its debut on Blu-ray on Feb. 9 is another 1936 Best Picture nominee, director Jack Conway’s film adaptation of the Charles Dickens' novel, A Tale of Two Cities (San Francisco and A Tale of Two Cities both lost out to The Great Ziegfeld).

Producer David O. Selznick invested an incredible 18 months in pre-production work on the film, “borrowed” Ronald Coleman from 20^th Century-Fox for the lead role of Sydney Carton and then a search began for a look-alike.   Donald Woods (who was cast for his close resemblance to Coleman) was brought on board as Darnay and Elizabeth Allan (Mark of the Vampire, Camille, David Copperfield) got the key role of Lucie.

Bonus features include the short film titled Audioscopiks (1935 on the “future” technology of 3D), a pair of theatrical cartoons — Hey, Hey Fever and Honeyland — and the 1946 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation, also featuring Ronald Colman, with Heather Angel as Lucie.

Rounding out the new-to-Blu-ray selections in February from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment are Six by Sondheim (Feb. 9), director Elia Kazan’s 1956 film adaptation of the Tennessee Williams one-act play, “27 Wagons Full of Cotton,” which was titled for the screen as simply Baby Doll (Feb. 16) and all arriving on Feb. 23 are My Dream is Yours, On Moonlight Bay, Pump Up the Volume and Show Boat.

 

The Criterion Collection Announces Its April Slate Of New Film Restorations

The Criterion Collection announced its April slate of film restorations this past week.   One need look no further than the DVD and Blu-ray release of director Frank Borzage’s 1937 melodrama of love, jealousy, honor and murder, History is Made at Night as being the month’s front-runner.  

This will be a new 4K digital transfer and the street date will be Apr. 13.

Irene (Jean Arthur) is in a miserable marriage to a shipping tycoon by the name of Bruce Vail (Colin Clive) and has informed the bully that a divorce is in the offing.   He will not allow his ego to make it easy for her and decides to cook up an affair that will destroy her case against him.

The plan is put in motion in Paris, but Vail is thrown a curve by a waiter, Paul Dumond (Charles Boyer), who overhears the scheme and comes to Irene’s rescue by staging a robbery and kidnapping.   It seems simple enough, even romantic, but when Vail begins to put two and two together, he murders her intended liaison, his driver, Michael (played by Ivan Lebedeff), and then blackmails her into sailing with him to New York … or her lover will be revealed. 

She thinks it is Paul, the man who rescued her, so she agrees to go to New York.  Paul, upon reading this in the society page, feels that it is Vail who has kidnapped her and so, desperate, he follows her there, bringing along his buddy, Cesare (Leo Carrillo), a chef.   Once in New York, the pair land jobs at a fancy restaurant … and in one of those small world kind of things, in walks Irene and Bruce.  

Bruce has framed an innocent man for Michael’s murder and Paul and Irene have to go back to Paris to set things right.   They board one of Vail’s passenger ships, but Vail discovers and orders the captain to … whoa, not giving the ending away.   Let’s just say that Paul and Irene, now desperately in love, will face death on the high seas … will they survive?  

Bonus features include a newly prepared video session with writer Hervé Dumont (“Frank Borzage: The Life and Films of a Hollywood Romantic”) and film historian Peter Cowie, the 1940 radio adaptation (featuring Charles Boyer) and more.

Also on the film restoration calendar from The Criterion Collection for the month of April are Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho’s Memories of Murder (Apr. 20), a new film restoration of Anthony Mann’s 1950 Western starring Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston, The Furies (also available on Apr. 20), and the month closes out on Apr. 27 with new Blu-ray and DVD editions of French-language imports, Irma Vep and Masculin Féminin.