Hope, Stanwyck, Durbin, Novak, More On The Way

04.14.10 | Irv Slifkin | Coming Attractions, DVD BeatPrint this Post

Tags: Bob Hope, Film Noir

High Hopes

The legendary comic Bob Hope is being feted by Universal with a set of terrific farces he made for Paramount, some of which have never seen the light of day on video in any format. The Bob Hope: Thanks For The Memories Collection boasts Thanks for the Memory (1938), with Bob as a writer who turns househubby to pen a novel while wife Shirley Ross heads to work. In the much-requested horror-comedy The Cat and the Canary (1939), Paulette Goddard is an heiress that Ol’ Ski Nose must protect when she agrees to stay in a creaky old house in order to gain an inheritance. Bob and Paulette reteamed for Nothing but the Truth (1941), where Hope played a stockbroker saddled with a $10,000 bet that he can refrain from telling a lie for 24 hours. Other titles in this three-disc set include The Ghost Breakers, Road to Morocco and The Paleface.

New Noir

We’re thrilled to report that Warner is back in the film noir game with the Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 5, a spanking new four-disc set of much-requested crime suspensers that are NOT part of their no-frills Archives collection, which means nifty packaging and great transfers as well as some trailers as extras. Included here are:

Cornered (1945): Dick Powell is the Canadian pilot attempting to track down the Nazi collaborator responsible for the death of his wife, a member of the French Resistance, during WWII. The trail leads Powell to France to Switzerland to Argentina, where he engages the aid of a tour guide (Walter Slezak) who turns out to play both sides of the fence. This marked the second collaboration between Powell and “Hollywood 10” member Edward Dmytryk, following Murder, My Sweet.

Desperate (1947): Director Anthony Mann tightens the screws with this thriller in which ex-GI-turned-truck driver Steve Brodie gets bamboozled into being the wheel man for a fur heist that leads him and his new bride into trouble with the law and a group of hoods. Audrey Long, Raymond Burr and Douglas Fowley co-star.

The Phenix City Story (1955): In Phil Karlson’s unique pseudo-documentary, the real-life events that occurred in a small Alabama city are expertly dramatized as Richard Kiley plays the WW II vet son of a slain politician trying to clean up a town overwhelmed by gambling, prostitution and corruption. John McIntire and Edward Andrews also star.

Dial 1119 (1950): Marshall Thompson is the unstable man who holds a group of bar patrons hostage with a gun in this gripping, little-seen suspenser. Virginia Field, Sam Levene and William Conrad co-star in this effort helmed by Gerald Mayer, nephew of MGM head Louis B. Mayer.

Armored Car Robbery (1950): A classic heist film, made on the cheap by Richard Fleischer, stars William Talman as a leader of a group of thugs (including Steve Brodie, Douglas Fowley and Gene Evans) who plot torob—big surprise—an armored car. The film was actually released the same day as The Asphalt Jungle, which stole a bit of its thunder.

Crime in the Streets (1956): From the great Don Siegel comes this powerful crime drama in which gang leader John Cassavetes targets a neighbor who ratted him out to police. Future filmmaker Mark Rydell and Sal Mineo play other hoods in the gang, and James Whitmore is the social worker who tries to steer the young punks in the right direction before they take everything too far.

Deadline at Dawn (1946): Susan Hayward is featured in this intense meller that was directed by theatrical great Harold Clurman from a script by Clifford Odets. She plays a nightclub dancer who attempts to help sailor Bill Williams find out who really killed a floozy when he was drugged.

Backfire (1950): A taut noirish story in which Gordon MacRae tries to locate ex-GI pal Edmond O’Brien, who’s now on the lam after a phony murder rap. Virginia Mayo, Dane Clark and Viveca Lindfors also star in this underrated suspense saga from helmer Vincent Sherman (The Young Philadelphians).

Hold the Mayo

A top-notch crime drama from helmer Archie Mayo (The Petrified Forest), The House Across The Bay (1940)—a Movies Unlimited exclusive!—stars George Raft as a nightclub owner who’s targeted by thugs. Mouthpiece Lloyd Nolan has an unusual idea to ensure his safety—and gets him sent to Alcatraz on a trumped-up tax evasion charge. When Raft finds out that Nolan’s endgame was to remove the competition for gal pal Joan Bennett, he tries a daring escape. A suave Walter Pidgeon turns out to have an important part in the film as well. Reportedly, Alfred Hitchcock directed a sequence in the film as a favor to Walter Wanger, who produced Hitch’s Foreign Correspondent.

Goodis to Go

David Goodis…To A Pulp offers a fascinating documentary look at the top-notch crime writer whose work made it to the screen in efforts as diverse as the Humphrey Bogart classic Dark Passage, Francois Truffaut’s French New Wave masterpiece Shoot the Piano Player and The Burglar with Jayne Mansfield. Goodis led a life as mysterious as one of his pulp novels, and this look at the author was written and directed by Larry Winters, whose mother happened to be married to the man. Interviews, archival footage, and long-lost documents are pieced together to help connect the dots to the life of a man whose legacy of darkness lives on long after his death.

And Speaking Of Crime…

VCI has unearthed a winning film noir that has been rarely seen. It’s called New York Confidential (1955), and stars Broderick Crawford as the NYC-based kingpin of a national syndicate of mobsters. When a troublemaker appears from the ranks, he enlists no-nonsense Chicago hood Richard Conte to do the hit. Broderick is so impressed with Conte’s work that he brings him to the Big Apple, makes him his right-hand man and tries to hook him up with his daughter (Anne Bancroft), who is weary of his criminal activities. Russell Rouse (House of Numbers, scripter of DOA) directs this prime thriller, offered on DVD with audio commentary, featurettes and more.

Walken Tall

Christopher Walken has managed to be one of the most revered and weirdest actors in Hollywood at the same time. Is he really similar to the menagerie of oddballs he plays on the silver screen? The list of fascinatingly creepy performances is seemingly endless: the haunted, Russian roulette-playing Vietnam soldier in The Deer Hunter, the tap-dancing pimp in Pennies from Heaven, the schoolteacher blessed and cursed with psychic abilities in The Dead Zone, the evil angel Gabriel in The Prophecy and the out-of-control drug kingpin in King of New York. Still, Walken at his most off-the-wall can be found in Communion, Phillipe Mora’s 1989 adaptation of Whitley Streiber’s supposedly true tale of being abducted by aliens. The ever-eccentric Walken is nothing short of riveting in a very disturbing way as the troubled author Streiber, struggling to make sense of his creepy dreams and discovering that he, in fact, was a guinea pig used by extraterrestrials to study. The DVD includes all sorts of interesting extras, including commentary by director Mora.

Hen’s Tooth is doing the releasing chores on Communion.  The indie company also has plans for two TV movie cult faves in the future: Born Innocent with Linda Blair and Gargoyles with Cornel Wilde.

Universal Sounds

Universal’s answer to MGM’s Judy Garland was Deanna Durbin, the Canadian-born performer who signed on with the studio at a young age and wowed the world with her operatic voice while being cast in films as a young woman who could really belt out contemporary songs or operatic offerings. In Deanna Durbin: The Music And Romance Collection, you’ll get to see Ms. Durbin’s special brand of musical screen magic in a deluxe five-disc set. Mad about Music (1938) stars Deanna as the daughter of thoughtless movie star Gail Patrick, who ships her to a Swiss boarding school. Deanna proceeds to tell tall tales about her adventures with her fictional father. In That Certain Age (1938), Ms. Durbin ditches local boyfriend Jackie Cooper for the older Melvyn Douglas, a journalist in town to file stories for his father’s newspaper. In Three Smart Girls Grow Up, a sequel to Three Smart Girls, Deanna attempts to find ideal partners for her two older sisters. And in Because of Him (1946), Deanna teams with screen great Charles Laughton, as she’s an aspiring actress to Laughton’s actor-impresario, whom she hopes will further her career. Finally, 1948’s For the Love of Mary stars Deanna as a telephone operator at the White House whose hiccups throw everyone into a tizzy. Edmond O’Brien and Don Taylor also star.

Criterion Corner

The latest batch of goodies from Criterion is a true mixed bag of films from American masters, experimental filmmakers, and foreign favorites. Here what’s in store:

Stagecoach (1939): John Ford’s classic western with John Wayne gets the Criterion treatment, loaded with all sorts of goodies;

By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volumes 1 & 2: Experimental legend Stan Brakhage’s films collected in two deluxe sets;

Close-Up (1990): Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami’s mix of fiction-documentary;

Mystery Train (1989): Jim Jarmusch’s wonderfully weird look at different lives that come and go in Memphis;

Everlasting Moments (2008): Jan Troell’s tale about life in Sweden at the turn of the 20^th Century; and

Red Desert (1964): Michelangelo Antonioni’s groundbreaking experiment in color and alienation with Monica Vitti and Richard Harris.

We’ve also heard that Criterion is about to strike deals with the Charlie Chaplin estate to put out a series of Chaplin classics, and with MGM, to give special treatment to such films as Karel Reisz’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman with Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons.

Moviegoers Take a Stanwyck

For decades, she was one of Hollywood’s most popular stars, equally adept in whatever genre she chose, whether it be drama, comedy, western or thriller. Now, in The Barbara Stanwyck Collection, you can check out the actress’s versatility in a dandy three-disc set.

Here are the films on the collection:

Internes Can’t Take Money (1937): Joel McCrea is Dr. Kildare and Ms. Stanwyck is the ex-con who has stolen loot but seeks helping from the caring medico, in this effort that kicked off the popular medical series which later starred Lew Ayres.

The Great Man’s Lady (1942): An elderly Stanwyck looks back on her life, recounting her relationship with gambler Brian Donlevy and with landowner Joel McCrea, who becomes a successful politician.  William Wellman directs.

The Bride Wore Boots (1946): A screwball comedy in which Missy plays a horse-loving farm owner hooks up romantically with horse-loathing novelist Bob Cummings.  Their differences may be too much—and other woman Diana Lynn and other man Patric Knowles aren’t helping matters.

The Lady Gambles (1949): Ms. Stanwyck scores as the gambler addicted to betting who ends up losing everything except the support of her journalist hubby Robert Preston. Look for Tony Curtis in a small role as a bellhop.

All I Desire (1953): Douglas Sirk directed Missy in this melodrama in which she plays an adulterous actress returning to her hometown to see her daughter in a play and coming in contact with her ex-husband (Richard Carlson), old beau (Lyle Bettger) and other family members and old friends in the process.

There’s Always Tomorrow (1956):  Another collaboration between Sirk and Stanwyck, with Missy as the ex-flame of married but stifled toy manufacturer Fred MacMurray, who tries to reignite their relationship 20 years after she left him.

Charlie in Charge

The world of Charlie Chan on DVD continues for completists of the Asian sleuth’s adventures in a four-disc set called TCM Spotlight: Charlie Chan Collection. These Monogram Studios releases offer two actors (of non-Asian heritage) playing the detective, Sidney Toler and Roland Winters.  Dark Alibi (1946) finds Toler wrestling with a gang of crooks who have figured out how to forge their fingerprints. In Dangerous Money (1946), Charlie (Toler) and Jimmy Chan (Victor Sen Young) encounter murder while on a ship bound for Pago Pago. And in The Trap (1946), Toler says farewell to the role as Charlie tries to uncover the killers of a performing troupe in Malibu. Then, Winters takes over in The Chinese Ring (1947), where Chan investigates missing money meant for airplanes delegated to protect China.

Olive Branches Out

A relatively small Chicago-based video company has made a big play for some much-requested Paramount titles. Olive Video has struck a deal with the big studio to license several films, which will begin debuting on DVD in September or thereabouts. The titles are quite varied, and expect them to be expertly mastered on DVD with great sound and picture quality. Some will likely also appear on Blu-ray. Among the highlights of the package are:

Three films from director Otto Preminger: the all-star spoof Skidoo (1968), with Jackie Gleason and Carol Channing; Hurry Sundown (1967),  with Jane Fonda and Michael Caine in a Southern scorcher; and Such Good Friends (1971), with Dyan Cannon as the woman who discovers her hubby’s infidelities while he’s in the hospital and James Coco as the doctor not-so in charge.

Sands of the Kalahari (1965): A charter flight goes down in the deserts of South Africa, and the survivors must battle the hazards of the elements and themselves in this adventure favorite directed by Cy Endfield (Zulu) and starring Stuart Whitman, Susannah York and Nigel Davenport.

Classic comedies such as My Favorite Spy (1952), with Bob Hope as a burlesque performer recruited by the Feds to act as a secret agent; Knock on Wood (1954), with Danny Kaye as a ventriloquist with some emotional problems who gets missed up with spies (the ballet scene is a riot!);  Off Limits (1953), in which Hope teams with Mickey Rooney for a funny boxing farce; and On the Double (1961), a WWII-set laugher in which Kaye is asked to impersonate a British general in order to mislead the enemy.

Nicholas Ray’s The Savage Innocents (1960), a rugged adventure, stars Anthony Quinn as an Eskimo hunted by two Mounties (one played by the debuting Peter O’Toole) after murdering a priest.

There are lots more—27 in all—and we’ll tell you about them as street date grows closer.

Blonde Ambition

In The Kim Novak Collection, the beautiful and talented Kim Novak is featured in some of her best work. This five-film, three-disc set presents the DVD debuts of Jeanne Eagels (1957), an entertaining, now-camp ictionalized biopic of the ambitious, doomed actress of the 1910s and ‘20s, who rises from dancer to Broadway sensation to Hollywood stardom under the guidance of carnival operator Jeff Chandler; and Middle of the Night (1959), written by Paddy Chayefsky, showcasing Novak as the young garment worker whose relationship with much older boss Fredric March causes friction among her relatives. Also in the set are Bell, Book and Candle; Picnic; and Pal Joey.

Sony Suspensers

Sony is getting into the noir act as well, with a spectacular five-film set of dark thrillers. Here’s what’s included in this re-scheduled set called Columbia Film Noir Collection 2:

The Brothers Rico (1945): More a crime drama than a noir, this top-notch tale stars Richard Conte, James Darren and Paul Picerni as siblings involved in graft whose own lives are targeted for extinction after former mob bookkeeper Conte goes straight. Phil Karlson (The Phenix City Story) directs.

City of Fear (1959): Tense suspenser with Vince Edwards as an escaped convict dodging the LAPD, who has no idea he’s carrying a deadly radioactive substance in a canister he swiped from a prison hospital. John Archer and Lyle Talbot also star.

Human Desire (1954): Dark tale of deceit and murder from Fritz Lang with Glenn Ford as a train engineer who gets mired in the deadly toils of short-tempered colleague Broderick Crawford and abused, calculating spouse Gloria Grahame. Based on La Bete Humaine from Jean Renoir.

Nightfall (1954): David Goodis’ pulp novel is expertly brought to the screen by Jacques Tourneur (Out of the Past) as pals Aldo Ray and Frank Albertson encounter Brian Keith and Rudy Bond, survivors of a car crash. Little do they know that the men are bank robbers with lots of stolen cash—cash that is soon desired by others, including insurance investigator James Gregory. Anne Bancroft co-stars.

Pushover (1954): Richard Quine (Bell, Book and Candle) takes a rare noir assignment—and it’s a dandy! Fred MacMurray is the down-and-out cop smitten with bombshell Kim Novak, the girlfriend of a crook. Dorothy Malone and E.G. Marshall also star.