roundup confidential

It's time for the roundup, see. Yeah. See? So I'm gonna give it to ya straight, see? Yeah, straight. See? So let's get to it, see? Yeah. See? And you're gonna forget that I actually tried to imitate Edward G. Robinson, see? Yeah.
Yeah.

DVD
Top Shelf Pick of the Month!
MGM Film Noir
It seems with the success of the Warner's Film Noir Collections and the Fox Film Noir releases, more studios are digging into their vaults for Noir films. In some cases, that definition is stretched a bit to cover a release or two. We're not going to get into that argument here, but I will say that the new MGM Film Noir releases are fairly safe with the Noir genre. In fact, with a guy like Edward G. Robinson in the top bill, you can be assured something mysterious or nefarious is up. That's right, old Eddie G. is headlining three out of the four films here.

Unfortunately these appear to be bare bones releases, but the quality has been upped quite a bit. The Stranger was previously released several times on public domain DVD releases with a shoddy print. Kansas City Confidential wasn't faring too well, either. And great prints of those two films with solid releases of A Bullet for Joey and The Woman in the Window and you've got some great Noir going on. I am especially looking forward to a great print of The Stranger and George Raft and Eddie G. in A Bullet for Joey. See?


MGM Movie Legends Collection:
Frankie and Annette
Joan Collins Cinema Classics Collection
Kudos to MGM for the effort in rolling out the classics in their collections. The Frankie and Annette films are not exactly top tier in my book, but their is no denying that they have many fans and they are definitely entertaining and a product of their time. This set includes the films: Beach Blanket Bingo,How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Fireball 500, Thunder Alley, Muscle Beach Party, and Ski Party. That's 8 films on four flipper discs. No extras as far as I can tell.
The Joan Collins set includes five films: The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, Rally 'round the Flag, Boys!, Sea Wife, Seven Thieves, and Stopover Tokyo. Commentary and trailers are included. I haven't seen any of these films, but I am looking forward to the biopic The Girl in the Red Swing and Seven Thieves Why? Cause I read the DVD Savant's awesome review. You can too, check it out.

DVD NEWS!
We usually feature DVD news in our Passing Parade or our Preview posts, but I was pretty excited by this news so I had to share. Besides, our pal Sallie at The Vintage Place wouldn't want me holding out on her.

Coming from Paramount:
Funny Face, 50th Anniversary Edition
Yes, Sallie- this is what you've hoped for- an excellent print and special edition of Funny Face. If you are a fan of the film, you'll want to visit The Vintage Place for music from the film.
The 50th Anniversary Edition is available for preorder at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Here are the particulars:
Several documentaries including:
The Fashion Designer and His Muse
Parisian Dreams
Paramount in the 50's
Also included are a Photo Gallery and the Theatrical Trailer.
The DVD will be released October 2nd, 2007.

Coming from Warner Brothers:
The Jazz Singer: 80th Anniversary 3-Disc Deluxe Edition
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet! Wait a minute, I tell ya! You ain't heard nothin'!"
That's right, Shelfers. Finally, one of the most historically important pictures in Hollywood history is finally coming to DVD, just in time for it's 80th Anniversary. And not only that, Warner's is doing it right with a 3 disc deluxe edition. The film has been remastered from nitrate prints and quality sound recordings. But it doesn't stop there, for a boat load of special features including:
Documentaries, especially a feature length documentary on the creation of sound in pictures entitled: The Dawn of Sound
Radio Adaptations, Commentary, Vintage Shorts, and a 3rd disc of over three hours of Vitaphone shorts featuring many great acts of the era including Burns and Allen and Weber and Fields. And as with all of Warner's Deluxe and Ultimate Editions, this will also include reproductions of Lobby cards, photos, souvenir programs, and the telegram Al Jolson sent to Jack Warner after the debut of the film. This looks to be one of the most important DVD releases of the year. It's available for pre-order from Amazon. It will be released October 16th, 2007.

What a great bunch of releases for the roundup and some happy news on the DVD front. I'm very much looking forward to The Jazz Singer. Yes, it might be dated, but any serious student of films and film history should put it on their shelves. We most certainly will.

Stay tuned Shelfers, we have a DVD review coming up next.



They searched the woods. I watched them, here like God, looking at little ants.