Posted November 10, 2024 07:59 PM by Sean Greenwood
For the week of November 11th, the Criterion Collection has a 4K UHD release for Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (七人の侍) (1954), starring Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki, Kamatari Fujiwara and Daisuke Katô. Sourced from a new 4K master, Criterion presents Seven Samurai with a choice of original Japanese: LPCM Mono or DTS-HD MA 2.0 Surround audio tracks, with optional English subtitles and in 4K SDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include two audio commentaries, one from 1988 with Japanese film expert Michael Jeck and another from 2006 with scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Stephen Prince, Tony Rayns and Donald Richie, while two Blu-rays include the video extras from Criterion's 2010 Blu-ray release, including a 50-minute making of documentary from the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create, My Life in Cinema: A two-hour conversation between Kurosawa and filmmaker Nagisa Oshima from 1993 and the 56-minute documentary Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences, along with several trailers and galleries. Also included is a 60-page booklet with "essays by Kenneth Turan, Peter Cowie, Philip Kemp, Peggy Chiao, Alain Silver, Stuart Galbraith IV, Arthur Penn, and Sidney Lumet, and an interview with actor Toshiro Mifune from 1993". For a full release breakdown, read Svet Atanasov's 4K UHD review.
Coming to Blu-ray and 4K UHD from Criterion is Howard Hawks' Scarface (1932), starring Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, Osgood Perkins, C. Henry Gordon, George Raft. Sourced from a new 4K master, Criterion presents Scarface with LPCM Mono audio and in 4K SDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include an alternate ending from the censored version of the film, a new conversation between author Megan Abbott and actor Bill Hader and a new interview with film scholar Lea Jacobs. Also included is an essay by critic Imogen Sara Smith. For full release breakdowns, read Svet Atanasov's Blu-ray review and 4K UHD review.
New on Blu-ray from Paramount Home Media Distribution is Star Trek: Prodigy - Season 2 (2024). The three-disc set contains all 20 episodes, along with the exclusive featurettes Producing Prodigy: The Legacy and The Odyssey of Prodigy.
Also new on Blu-ray from Paramount is Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 1 (2024), starring the voices of James Sie, Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, Brady Noon and Ayo Edebiri.
Description: Gear up for twice the Turtle Power with Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, featuring two epic 6-episode story arcs that find Leo, Mikey, Raph, and Donnie facing greater challenges and even bigger baddies than they've ever encountered before!
Paramount's Blu-ray release of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 1 is a two-disc set with all 12 episodes.
New on Blu-ray from Cohen Media Group is Stephen Soucy's Merchant Ivory: The Documentary, starring Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Vanessa Redgrave, Felicity Kendal and Simon Callow.
Description: Merchant Ivory is the definitive documentary of the legendary Merchant Ivory partnership, which produced such award-winning masterpieces as A Room with a View, Maurice, Howards End, and Remains of the Day. It is anchored by an interview with James Ivory and forty-one collaborators detailing and celebrating their experiences of being a part of the "wandering company" helmed by legendary producer Ismail Merchant. With six Academy Award®-winners among the notable artists participating, including Emma Thompson and Vanessa Redgrave, the documentary provides new and compelling perspectives on a unique partnership that produced seminal films over four decades.
Cohen Media Group's Blu-ray of Merchant Ivory: The Documentary contains a deleted scene, introductions from James Ivory and Stephen Soucy at the NY Indian Film Festival and NYSWI Film Festival, the featurette Rich Atmosphere: The Music of Merchant Ivory Films and a theatrical trailer.
Also coming to Blu-ray from Cohen Media Group is James Ivory's Roseland (1977), starring Teresa Wright, Lou Jacobi, Don De Natale, Hetty Galen, Carol Culver and Geraldine Chaplin. Sourced from a new remaster, Cohen Media Group's Blu-ray of Roseland contains a new conversation between James Ivory and Larry Kardish on the making of the film, as well as a trailer.
New on Blu-ray from Magnolia Home Entertainment is James Marsh's Dance First, starring Gabriel Byrne, Aidan Gillen, Bronagh Gallagher, Robert Aramayo, Maxine Peake and Lisa Dwyer Hogg.
Description: Literary genius Samuel Beckett lived a life of many parts: Parisian bon vivant, WWII Resistance fighter, Nobel Prize-winning playwright, philandering husband, recluse. But despite all the adulation that came his way, he was a man acutely aware of his own failings. Titled after Beckett's famous ethos Dance first, think later, the film is a sweeping account of the life of this 20th-century icon.
Turning to catalog titles, Kino Lorber have several coming this week. They are:
Dwain Esper's Maniac (1934), starring Horace B. Carpenter, Ted Edwards, Phyllis Diller, Bill Woods, Thea Ramsey and Jenny Dark. Sourced from a new 4K master, Kino presents Maniac with audio commentary by author Bret Wood (Marihuana, Motherhood, and Madness: Three Screenplays from the Exploitation Cinema of Dwain Esper), an audio interview with Dwain Esper and screenwriter Hildagarde Esper, the short films You Can't Beat the Rap (1936), The Last Hour of Killer Mears, The March of Crime, and The March of Crime (2nd Ed.), original and re-release trailers, and trailers for other Dwain Esper films.
A remastered Blu-ray and 4K UHD for Sidney Hayers' Circus of Horrors (1960), starring Anton Diffring, Erika Remberg, Yvonne Monlaur, Donald Pleasence, Jane Hylton and Kenneth Griffith. Sourced from a 2018 4K master, Kino presents Circus of Horrors in 4K SDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include a new audio commentary with film historian David Del Valle, a theatrical trailer and TV spots.
A reissue of Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three (1961), starring James Cagney, Horst Buchholz, Pamela Tiffin, Arlene Francis, Howard St. John and Hanns Lothar. Kino presents One, Two, Three with audio commentary by film historian Michael Schlesinger, two featurettes and a theatrical trailer.
A remastered Blu-ray of Jules Dassin's Topkapi (1964), starring Melina Mercouri, Peter Ustinov, Maximilian Schell, Robert Morley, Jess Hahn and Akim Tamiroff. Originally released by Kino in 2014, this new edition of Topkapi is sourced from a new 4K master by MGM. Extras include a new audio commentary by film historian / writer Julie Kirgo and writer / filmmaker Peter Hankoff, as well as a newly remastered theatrical trailer.
A remastered Blu-ray and 4K UHD for Stanley Donen's Arabesque (1966), starring Gregory Peck, Sophia Loren, Alan Badel, Kieron Moore, John Merivale and George Coulouris. Sourced from a new 4K master by Universal, Kino presents Arabesque in 4K SDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include a new audio commentary with film historian David Del Valle, a theatrical trailer and TV spots.
And finally from Kino, a Blu-ray for Robert M. Young's Triumph of the Spirit (1989), starring Willem Dafoe, Edward James Olmos, Robert Loggia, Wendy Gazelle, Kelly Wolf and Costas Mandylor. Extras include audio commentary by film critic Manuela Lazic and a theatrical trailer.
Coming to remastered Blu-ray from Raro Video is Fernando Di Leo's The Boss (Il boss) (1973), starring Henry Silva, Richard Conte, Gianni Garko, Antonia Santilli, Corrado Gaipa and Marino Masé. Sourced from a new 4K master, Raro presents The Boss with a choice of Italian or English audio tracks. Extras include audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan and trailers.
Coming to 4K UHD from Universal Pictures Home Entertaionment is Steven Spielberg's The Sugarland Express (1974), starring Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, Michael Sacks, William Atherton, Gregory Walcott and Steve Kanaly. Sourced from a new 4K master, Universal presents The Sugarland Express with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio. New extras include the featurette From Vault to Screen: The Art of Restoring Universal's Cinematic Legacy.
Coming to Blu-ray from Fun City Editions is Stuart Gillard's Paradise (1982), starring Phoebe Cates, Willie Aames, Tuvia Tavi, Joseph Shiloach, Richard Curnock and Neil Vipond. Fun City Editions presents Paradise with several minutes of never-before-seen footage and a choice of pre-release or theatrical audio tracks. Extras include new audio commentary by Nathaniel Thompson, radio spots, an image gallery, theatrical trailers, a TV spot an isolated score track and a limited edition booklet with essays by Margaret Barton-Fumo and Amanda Reyes.
Also coming to Blu-ray from Fun City Editions is Lawrence Dane's Heavenly Bodies (1984), starring Cynthia Dale, Richard Rebiere, Stuart Stone, Patricia Idlette, Linda Sorensen and Reiner Schwarz. Fun City Editions presents Heavenly Bodies with a new interview with star Cynthia Dale, new audio commentary by Millie De Chirico and Jeffrey Mixed, radio spots, an image gallery and a limited edition booklet with essays by Margaret Barton-Fumo and Nathan Holmes.
Coming to 4K UHD from Arrow Video is James Signorelli's Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988), starring Cassandra Peterson, Larry "Flash" Jenkins, Edie McClurg, Pat Crawford Brown, William Duell and William Morgan Sheppard. Sourced from a 4K master by Arrow, they present Elvira: Mistress of the Dark with original LPCM 2.0 audio and Dolby Vision HDR. Extras replicate Arrow's 2020 Blu-ray release and include three audio commentary tracks, the 97-minute documentary Too Macabre: The Making of Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, the featurette Recipe for Terror: The Creation of the Pot Monster, a director's introduction, several different image galleries and storyboards, a teaser and a theatrical trailer. Limited edition content includes an "illustrated collector's booklet featuring writing on the film by Sam Irving, Kat Ellinger and Patterson Lundquist". For a full release breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's 4K UHD review.
Coming to remastered Blu-ray and 4K UHD from Arrow is Oliver Hirschbiegel's The Invasion (2007), starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam, Jackson Bond, Jeffrey Wright and Veronica Cartwright. Sourced from a new 4K master by Arrow, they present The Invasion with DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD edition. Extras include new audio commentary by film critics Andrea Subisati and Alexandra West, new visual essays by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelsen, and archival extras, including the featurette We've Been Snatched Before three behind-the-scenes featurettes, an image gallery and a theatrical trailer. Limited edition content includes an "illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by film critics William Bibbiani and Sally Christie". Packaging includes a double-sided, fold-out poster and reversible artwork. For full release breakdowns, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review and 4K UHD review.
Finally this week, Shout Factory has two releases to offer. First is a 4K UHD upgrade for Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July (1989), starring Tom Cruise, Kyra Sedgwick, Raymond J. Barry, Jerry Levine, Frank Whaley and Caroline Kava. Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative (supervised and approved by Oliver Stone), Shout presents Born on the Fourth of July with a new Dolby Atmos audio mix and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. New extras include audio commentary by film critic Matt Zoller Seitz, new interviews with Oliver Stone, special makeup effects artist Gordon J. Smith and associate producer Clayton Townsend, as well as archival audio commentary by Oliver Stone, TV spots, theatrical trailers and a music video.
Also from Shout is the Blu-ray box set Golden Harvest Vol. 1: Supernatural Shockers (1990-1992), a six-disc set which includes Doctor Vampire (1990), Erotic Ghost Story (1990), Erotic Ghost Story II (1991), Robotrix (1991), Sex and Zen (1991) and Erotic Ghost Story III (1992). All films contain original Cantonese: DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono audio tracks with optional, newly-translated English subtitles, as well as new audio commentaries and interviews. Also included are the alternate Mandarin-language cuts of Erotic Ghost Story and Erotic Ghost Story III, trailers, image galleries and more.