For whatever reason, vintage titles dominate this week’s new releases — which is excellent news for fans of classic cinema! But if your tastes veer towards the contemporary, don’t worry, we’ve got you too! We encourage you to take a few moments and peruse this list of titles to see which ones you’ll be wanting to add to your physical media libraries. Enjoy!
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1949)
Bing Crosby is auto mechanic Hank Martin in 1912 Connecticut in this fanciful musical version of Mark Twain’s classic tale. Thrown back in time to 6th-century Camelot, Hank is pegged a wizard by Merlin and forced to joust Sir Lancelot for the hand of Arthur’s niece (Rhonda Fleming). With Sir Cedric Hardwicke and William Bendix; songs include “When Is Sometime,” “If You Stub Your Toe on the Moon.”
Here Is My Heart (1934)
Wealthy and popular radio crooner Jasper Jones (Bing Crosby) took a fancy to deposed Russian royal Princess Alexandra (Kitty Carlisle), who was wholly unimpressed by his riches and reputation. Tracking the princess to the French Riviera, Jasper poses as a humble waiter in a bid to get her attentions and affections. Romantic farce co-stars Roland Young, Alison Skipworth, Reginald Owen, William Frawley; score includes “Love Is Just Around the Corner,” “June in January,” “With Every Breath I Take, I Think of You.”
Welcome Stranger (1947)
Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald reunited to grab some of the “Going My Way” magic in this tune-filled tale, when a small town’s veteran doctor (Fitzgerald) gets off on the wrong foot with the unconventional young medico (Crosby) brought in to sub while he’s on vacation. Joan Caulfield, Wanda Hendrix, Frank Faylen, Percy Kilbride co-star; songs include “Country Style,” “As Long as I’m Dreaming.”
NCIS: Los Angeles: The Thirteenth Season (2021)
Action-packed “NCIS” spinoff follows the members of the elite L.A.-based Office of Special Projects as they use any and all means necessary to take down criminals who threaten national security. Legendary undercover operative G. Callen (Chris O’Donnell) heads up a team that also includes ex-Navy SEAL Sam Hanna (LL Cool J), psychologist Nate “Doc” Getz (Peter Cambor), forensic investigator Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah), and tech expert Eric Beal (Barrett Foa). Linda Hunt also stars. 22 episodes on 5 discs.
Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
The once peaceful and booming Yellowstone City has fallen on hard times, but when a local prospector strikes gold, things seem to be turning around. Any hope is soon shattered when the prospector is found dead and the Sheriff quickly arrests a mysterious newcomer. But nothing is so simple in this sleepy western town, and more than a few of the locals have secrets to keep and reasons to kill. As the brutal murders continue, pitting neighbor against neighbor, Yellowstone City goes down a bloody path to a final showdown that not all will survive. Gabriel Byrne, Thomas Jane, Isaiah Mustafa, Richard Dreyfuss star.
When Tomorrow Comes (1939)
Stopping at a diner, noted concert pianist Philip Chagal (Charles Boyer) felt an immediate and mutual attraction to working-class server Helen Lawrence (Irene Dunne). As he pursues the flirtation with a sailing invite to Long Island, he struggles with revealing that he’s unhappily married…and the reasons that he can’t abandon his infirm wife (Barbara O’Neil). Long-sought sudser adapted from a James M. Cain story, and famously sued over by the author, co-stars Onslow Stevens, Fritz Feld.
Chicago Med: Season Seven (2021)
Dick Wolf’s second spin-off from “Chicago Fire” follows the workaday challenges for another ensemble of Windy City crisis responders–the doctors and nurses staffing the emergency department at Chicago Gaffney Medical Center, as they strive to save lives among their interpersonal tensions. Nick Gehlfuss, Yaya DaCosta, Torrey DeVitto, S. Epatha Merkerson, and Oliver Platt star. 22 episodes on 5 discs.
Mr. Malcolm’s List (2022)
n 19th century London, humble vicar’s daughter Selina Dalton (Freida Pinto) was thrilled–initially–to be viewed as a marriage prospect by the wealthy and handsome Jeremy Malcolm (Sope Dirisu). As she comes to learn the arrogant longtime bachelor’s impossibly exacting requirements for a bride, however, she sets some ground rules of her own. Zawe Ashton, Theo James, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Ashley Park also star; Suzanne Allain adapted her novel for the screen.
It Started with Eve (1941)
An ailing father (Charles Laughton) wants to meet his son Johnny’s (Robert Cummings) future wife before he dies, but since she isn’t immediately available, Johnny chooses a stand-in: spunky hat-check girl Anne (Deanna Durbin). Things get romantically complicated when Dad takes a liking to Anne and Johnny’s real fiancée arrives for a visit. Margaret Tallichet co-stars.
Thunder on the Hill (1951)
Based on the British play “Bonaventure,” this involving mystery from director Douglas Sirk stars Claudette Colbert as Sister Mary Bonaventure, a nun who befriends Valerie Carns (Ann Blyth), a convicted murderess whose trip to death row has been delayed by a raging flood. Beginning to doubt Valerie’s guilt, Sister Mary becomes determined to clear her name and find the real killer. Robert Douglas, Anne Crawford also star.
Naomi: The Complete Series (2022)
Well-adjusted, average-seeming Oregon high schooler Naomi McDuffie (Kaci Walfall) was hardly the only teenager to ever stan over Superman. She’d discover an incredible reason for her affinity–as she learned she herself was an alien foundling with strange abilities, and that she’d better master them before those responsible for her exile came looking. Season-lived CW take on the DC heroine from Ava DuVernay co-stars Cranston Johnson, Alexander Wraith, Mouzam Makkar, Barry Watson. 3 episodes on 3 discs.
100 Men and a Girl (1937)
With her out-of-work trombonist dad (Adolphe Menjou) at his wit’s end, plucky teen soprano Patsy Cardwell (Deanna Durbin) resolves to help him–and 99 of his colleagues in the same boat–by whipping them into an orchestra! Will her sales pitch fly with a skeptical patron couple (Alice Brady, Eugene Pallette) or an also-doubtful Leopold Stokowski (as himself)? Charming hit co-stars Mischa Auer, Billy Gilbert; songs include “It’s Raining Sunbeams,” “A Heart That’s Free.”
FernGully: The Last Rainforest (30th Anniversary Edition)(1992)
Wonderful, environmentally conscious animated feature from Diana Young’s novel, about a human lumberjack boy named Zak (voiced by Jonathan Ward) who is saved by young fairy Crysta (Samantha Mathis) and joins a group of fairies on an adventure through the Amazon rain forest that is in danger of being destroyed by a greedy logging company. Also stars Robin Williams, Tim Curry, Christian Slater, and Cheech and Chong.
Buck and the Preacher (Criterion Collection)(1972)
This funny, exciting, and unique Western depicts the unlikely partnership that unfolds between an ex-soldier (Sidney Poitier) and a conniving man of the cloth (Harry Belafonte). At first suspicious and disdainful of each other, the two eventually find no one else to trust–and end up working together to lead a group of ex-slaves to homestead sites while dealing with hostile whites…and each other! Poitier’s first credit as director co-stars Ruby Dee, Cameron Mitchell.
Lone Wolf Mcquade (1983)
Before he was “Walker, Texas Ranger,” Chuck Norris was J.J. McQuade, Texas Ranger, in this action-packed saga. McQuade goes up against Rawley Wilkes (David Carradine), a ruthless arms dealer who hijacks U.S. military weapons to sell to international terrorists. But the mission becomes dangerously personal for the Texas lawman when Wilkes kidnaps his daughter, setting the stage for a deadly martial arts face-off. Barbara Carrera, Robert Beltran, Leon Isaac Kennedy also star.
Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939)
A delightful sequel to “Three Smart Girls” offers Deanna Durbin as Penny Craig, a young woman who gets mixed up with sisters Joan’s and Kay’s’ love affairs, and gets herself in a pickle when one sister falls for the other’s boyfriend. Nan Grey, Helen Parrish, Robert Cummings, and Charles Winninger star; Henry Koster directs. Songs include “Because” and “The Last Rose of Summer.”
Get Mean (1975)
Tony Anthony is back as wandering gunslinger the Stranger in this off-the-wall Euro-western. Near as we can reckon, the story finds the Stranger hired by Gypsies to escort a Spanish princess back to her people. Along the way he winds up in the middle of a feud between Vikings and Moorish warriors, battles evil spirits and a hunchback who quotes from “Richard III,” and is nearly barbecued alive! Diana Lorys, Lloyd Batista co-star.
Surburban Sasquatch (Visual Vengeance Collector’s Edition)(2004)
If you think you know Sasquatch-inflicted terror, you ain’t seen nothing Yeti! In a quiet suburban neighborhood, a dangerous Bigfoot begins a rampage packed with camp, carnage and craziness. Now, a reporter covering the story of the hairy beast, a mysterious and beautiful huntress and two local lawmen attempt to stop the creature once and for all. Troy Stephen, Mary Wascavage, Dave Bonavita star.
Hotel Du Nord (Criterion Collection)(1938)
Having holed up in a seedy Paris boardinghouse, frustrated young lovers Renée (Annabella) and Pierre (Jean-Pierre Aumont) botch their suicide pact–and pimp resident Edmond (Louis Jouvet) advises Pierre to flee. As a recovering Renée pleas for her captured man’s innocence, Edmond finds himself falling for her…with disastrous consequences. Marcel Carné’s long-sought slice of poetic realism co-stars Arletty, André Brunot, Jane Marken, Bernard Blier.
Click here for a complete overview of this week’s new releases!