Audio Video News

Time and tide wait for no man, and neither do DVD release dates. Somehow these excellent boxed sets managed to avoid getting reviewed by me, but I think they deserve a plug anyway, and what better place for plugging than a blog. So here's a dozen sets, with more to follow. -Josef Krebs

Robert Mitchum: The Signature Collection [6-disc set] (Warner, $59.92)
The 6 films in the set are Otto Preminger's Angel Face, Josef Von Sternberg's Macao, Vincente Minnelli's Home from the Hill, Fred Zinnemann's The Sundowners, Sydney Pollack's The Yakuza (written by Paul Schrader and Robert Towne), and The Good Guys & the Bad Guys. Extras include 3 commentaries, a TCM private screening of Macao with Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell, and 3 vintage featurettes.

Alfred Hitchcock: The Early Years of the Master of Suspense [3-disc set] (Lionsgate, $39.98)
The 5 films in the set are The Ring, The Manxman, Murder!, The Skin Game, and Rich and Strange.
All titles are re-mastered and have new soundtracks for the silent films. Extras include Pure Cinema: The Birth of the Hitchcock Style featurette featuring home movies from Hitchcock's early days.

The Infernal Affairs Trilogy Special Collector's Edition Boxed Set [3-disc set] (The Weinstein Company/Genius Products, $39.99)
The Hong Kong crime trilogy directed by Wai Keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak, starring Tony Leung, Andy Lau, and Edison Chen.
Extras include 3 behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, a commentary with filmmakers and cast (Cantonese with English subtitles).

Gary Cooper: The Signature Collection [6-disc set] (Warner, $49.92)
The 5 films in the set are Howard Hawks' Sergeant York Special Edition [2-disc set], King Vidor's The Fountainhead (adapted by Ayn Rand from her classic novel, André De Toth's Springfield Rifle, The Wreck of Mary Deare, and Dallas.
All films are remastered and new to DVD. Extras include a commentary, 3 featurettes, a vintage short, a vintage cartoon, and a Cooper trailer gallery.

Literary Classics Collection [5-disc set] (Warner)
The 5 films in the set are Peter Ustinov's Billy Budd, Raoul Walsh's Captain Horatio Hornblower, Vincente Minnelli's Madame Bovary, The Three Musketeers, and the 1937 and 1952 versions of The Prisoner of Zenda.
Extras include a commentary by Terence Stamp and filmmaker Steven Soderbergh on Billy Budd, a Lux Radio Theater adaptation with Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo and a classic cartoon Captain Hareblower on Captain Horatio Hornblower, 5 vintage shorts, 4 classic cartoons, and a Lux Radio Theater adaptation with Ronald Colman of The Prisoner of Zenda.

The Hemingway Classics Collection [5-disc set] (20th Century Fox, $69.98)
The 5 films in the set are Henry King's The Sun Also Rises and The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Charles Vidor's A Farewell to Arms (1957), Jean Negulesco's Under My Skin, and Martin Ritt's Adventures of a Young Man.

The W.C. Fields Comedy Collection Vol. 2 [5-disc set] (Universal, $59.98)
The 5 films in the set are You're Telling Me!, The Old Fashioned Way, The Man on the Flying Trapeze, Poppy, and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break.
Extras include a rarely seen 1965 television retrospective Wayne and Schuster Take an Affectionate Look at W.C. Fields.

Errol Flynn: The Signature Collection, Vol. 2 [5-disc set] (Warner, $49.92)
The 5 films in the set are Adventures of Don Juan, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Dawn Patrol, Michael Curtiz's Dive Bomber, and Raoul Walsh's Gentleman Jim.
Extras include a commentary by director Vincent Sherman and historian Rudy Behlmer on Adventures of Don Juan, 12 vintage short, 2 classic cartoons, 9 trailers, and Radio Show adaptation of Gentleman Jim with Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, and Ward Bond.

The Mario Bava Collection Volume 1 [5-disc set] (Anchor Bay, $49.98)
The set contains both the Italian (with subtitles) and international versions (dubbed into English) of Black Sunday, Black Sabbath, and The Girl Who Knew Too Much, as well as Knives of the Avenge, and Kill Baby Kill (remastered from all-new elements).
Extras include 3 commentaries, 2 featurettes, the U.S. and international trailers, and posters and stills galleries.

Jean Renoir Collector's Edition Box Set [3-disc set] (Lionsgate, $29.98)
The 7 completely re-mastered films in the set are La Fille de L'Eau (Whirlpool of Fate), Nana, Sur Un Air de Charleston (Charleston Parade), La Petite Marchande D'Allumettes (The Little Match Girl), La Marseillaise, Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier (The Doctor's Horrible Experiment), Le Caporal Epingle (The Elusive Corporal), and Jean Renoir: An Auteur to Remember, a documentary created specifically for this box set.

James Cagney: The Signature Collection (Warner, $49.92)
The 5 films in the set are The Bride Came C.O.D. (scripted by Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein), Michael Curtiz's Captains of the Clouds, The Fighting 69th, Torrid Zone, and The West Point Story (with songs by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn.
Extras include 2 featurette, 6 vintage cartoon, 6 vintage newsreel, 10 trailers, a radio adaptation of The Fighting 69th with Pat O'Brien, Robert Preston, and Ralph Bellamy.

Tyrone Power: Swashbuckler Box Set [5-disc set] (20th Century Fox, $59.98)
The 5 films in the set are Captain From Castile, The Black Rose, Blood and Sand, Prince of Foxes, and Son of Fury.
Extras include commentaries on Blood and Sand and Captain From Castille, a handful of featurettes, and an isolated score on Prince of Foxes, and some photo and trailer galleries.

More to follow soon.