Kino Lorber have detailed several upcoming Blu-ray releases. Amongst them are
Clambake (1967),
Beggars of Life (1928), and
Varieté (1925).
Varieté
Synopsis: A key work of German silent cinema and an international smash on its release, E. A. Dupont's Varieté (Variety) is an audacious revenge melodrama set under the canvas of the big top.
When Boss Huller (the iconic Emil Jannings) meets the young émigré Berta-Marie (Lya De Putti), it kindles his desire to relaunch his career as a trapeze artist, stalled due to an injury and the pressures of domestic life. But with passion comes obsession, and with the involvement of the famed Artinelli into their act, tensions rise to a fever pitch.
Special Features:
- NEW 2K restoration completed by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung and Filmarchiv, Austria
- NEW score by Berklee Silent Film Orchestra
- 2015 musical score performed by The Tiger Lillies
- Visual essay by Bret Wood
- Varieté: The Making of - a 7-minute documentary on the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra
- The complete OTHELLO (German 1922) - Starring Emil Jannings and Lya De Putti, Werner Krauss - Directed by Dimitri Buchowetzki
STREET DATE: AUGUST 22.
Beggars of Life
Synopsis: Louise Brooks has become a legend of cinema who continues to fascinate and
Beggars of Life showcases her timeless beauty, her striking modernity, and the depth of her talent. While costar Wallace Beery receives top billing, it is Brooks who captivates the camera and captures our imagination.
The scenario for
Beggars of Life is based on the 1924 autobiographical novel by Jim Tully, a writer called "the missing link between Jack London and Jack Kerouac" by one of his biographers. Tully spent several years of his childhood in an orphanage and, when he was twelve, worked for a farmer who abused him, perhaps planting the seeds for this story of escape and survival riding the rails. Dubbed the "Hobo Writer" because of his knockabout past, Tully held a wide variety of jobs, including as a publicist for Charlie Chaplin, before becoming an acclaimed writer for Vanity Fair and H.L. Mencken's American Mercury.
Louise Brooks, in her best American film, is luminous as a freight-train hopping runaway who dresses in a flat cap and trousers to escape capture by the police. She joins up with young vagabond Richard Arlen, and along the way they encounter a hobo encampment and its charismatic leader, played by Wallace Beery in a performance that Brooks later called "a little masterpiece." William A. Wellman, whose
Wngs (1927) had just won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Picture, directs with nuance and grace. (San Francisco Silent Film Festival).
Special Features:
- NEW 2K restoration from 35mm film elements preserved by the George Eastman Museum
- Audio commentary by actor William Wellman, Jr.
- Audio commentary by Thomas Gladysa, founding director of the Louise Brooks Society
- Booklet essay by film critic Nick Pinkerton
- Musical score compiled and performed by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, employing selections from the original 1928 Paramount cue-sheet
STREET DATE: AUGUST 22.
Clambake
Synopsis: Elvis Presley sizzles as a lovelorn million-heir in this riveting and romantic rock 'n' roll romp. Vying for the attentions of the lovely Shelley Fabares ("Coach"), Elvis finds himself caught up in a rivalry with playboy Bill Bixby ("The Incredible Hulk") "against a tuneful background of comedy, romance and speedboat racing" (Film Daily)! Clambake is "pleasing escape entertainment" (Boxoffice) and the wildest party to hit the beach since they invented the beach ball!
It's a hip version of The Prince and the Pauper as Elvis relinquishes his oil baron father's fortune and trades identities with a penniless water ski instructor (Will Hutchins) to learn about life from the bottom up. Suddenly short on money but long on determination, he repairs a radically designed powerboat in order to win the regatta and the affection of a girl who's determined to marry rich!
Special Features:
- Audio commentary by Videodrome's Gideon Kennedy, Matt Owensby and John Robinson - (Opened in 1998, Videodrome is now Atlanta, Georgia's only video rental store)
- Trailers for Clambake & Frankie and Johnny
- Optional English SDH subtitles
STREET DATE: AUGUST 8.
Frankie and Johnny
Synopsis: The Mississippi River's never seen as many wild twists as in this spirited and extravagant riverboat ride which stars the King of Rock 'n' Roll Elvis Presley and the lovely Donna Douglas of "The Beverly Hillbillies!" Featuring hilarious support from Harry Morgan ("M.A.S.H.") and eleven original Presley tunes, Frankie and Johnny is a "sure-fire romp - pretty girls, toe-tapping score and Elvis all the way" (Variety)!
Presley is Johnny, a riverboat singer whose life, according to girlfriend and singing partner Frankie (Douglas), has become "one great big roulette wheel." And he's so obsessed with that wheel of misfortune that when a gypsy woman prescribes a redhead to be his good luck charm, Johnny sets out to find one. Trouble is, Frankie is most definitely a blonde... and a jealous blonde at that. When she sees Johnny with curvaceous carrot-top Nellie Bly (Nancy Kovack of The Silencers), Frankie decides that she'll break off her romance with Johnny - and end their big number - with a bang!
Special Features:
- Original trailers
- Optional English SDH subtitles
STREET DATE: AUGUST 8.