From noirish gems and classic silent films to recent theatrical releases and comedy classics, this week’s new offerings have it all. Do you want to check out what is now available? In the words of Curly Howard, why soitenly!
Women in Danger: 1950s Thrillers
Mill heiress Ida Lupino thought she had the ideal man in new hubby Stephen McNally, but when she learns of his intent to take a murderous shortcut to her family fortune, she becomes a “Woman In Hiding” (1950). Howard Duff, John Litel co-star. Lonely widow Joan Crawford learns that her newly purchased seaside abode comes with a deadly legacy in “Female On The Beach” (1955). Jeff Chandler, Jan Sterling, Cecil Kellaway co-star. Esther Williams may be out of the pool, but not out of danger, as a high school teacher stalked by an unknown degenerate in “The Unguarded Moment” (1956). John Saxon, George Nader, Jack Albertson co-star. Lastly, dog track owner Lex Barker gets charmed by Merle Oberon, only to be made the fall guy for a hit-and-run she committed, in “The Price Of Fear” (1956).Warren Stevens co-stars.
Thrilling adventure set in rural India, as British forces commandeer a run-down train in order to save a Maharajah’s son from Moslem rebels. Kenneth More stars as the Army officer leading the desperate race, and Lauren Bacall is the boy’s governess. With Wilfrid Hyde-White, Herbert Lom. AKA: “North West Frontier.”
The missions may be fictional, but the action and the actors are as real as it gets in this white-knuckle combat thriller depicting the exploits of an elite team of Navy SEALs. First, when a CIA agent (Roselyn Sanchez) is kidnapped, the SEALs go into action to rescue her; the soldiers then take on a nefarious plot to smuggle terrorists into the U.S. through tunnels dug from Mexico. Real-life SEALs “Chief Dave,” “Lt. Rorke,” and others play starring roles in this patriotic blockbuster.
The next eight episodes of the second season–including “Hobo Jack,” “Frank Flips,” “Mike’s Breakdown,” “Danielle Goes Picking,” and “What’s In The Box?”–are featured in a two-disc set.
Breaking Bad: The Complete Fourth Season
All 13 episodes from season four–including “Box Cutter,” “Open House,” “Cornered,” “Bug,” and “Face Off”–are featured in a four-disc set.
All 18 episodes from the fifth season–including “Company Man,” “Enemy Of My Enemy,” “Breaking Point,” “Necessary Evil,” and “Fail Safe”–are featured in a four-disc set.
Carry On Henry VIII/Carry On At Your Convenience
The British aristocracy gets ribbed unmercifully in the funny “Carry On” entry “Carry On Henry VIII,” in which the much-married monarch learns that the queen is having an affair right under his nose. Sidney James, Kenneth Williams, and Joan Sims star. AKA: “Carry On Henry,” “Carry On Henry or Mind My Chopper!” Then, you’ll be left flushed with laughter by “Carry On At Your Convenience,” which finds the “Carry On” zanies operating a toilet factory. You’ll be bowled over by this lalapa-loo-za that’s sure to leave you potty. James, Williams star.
Carry On Up the Jungle/Carry On Loving
“Carry On Up The Jungle” offers more than one bungle in the jungle, when the “Carry On” crazies go on expedition in search of a rare bird. What they find instead are a lost tribe of female warriors, a love-starved gorilla, headhunters, and lots of laughs. Frankie Howerd, Sidney James, Kenneth Connor, and Joan Sims star. Then, “Carry On Loving” serves up wild comedy as Sidney and Sophie Bliss run the Wedded Bliss computer-dating agency, where the owners bicker and the wacky customers don’t stop seeking spouses. James, Hattie Jacques, and Kenneth Williams star.
Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Eighth Season
All 10 episodes from season eight–including “The Divorce,” “The Smiley Face,” “The Hero,” “Car Periscope,” and “Larry vs. Michael J. Fox”–are collected in a two-disc set.
Falling Skies: The Complete First Season
All 10 episodes of the first season–including “Live And Learn,” “Prisoner Of War,” “Silent Kill,” “What Hides Beneath,” and “Eight Hours”–are presented in a three-disc set.
All 13 episodes of the fourth season–including “The Art Of The Steal,” “The Rolling Stones,” “Girls, Interrupted,” “A Womb With A View,” and “Something Borrowed, Something Blew Up”–are featured in a three-disc set.
Inch High, Private Eye: The Complete Series
He might have stood just a couple of centimeters tall, but no case was too big for diminutive detective Inch High, who always managed to topple the bad guys with a hand up from his cute niece Lori, her muscle-headed guy pal Gator, and loyal St. Bernard Braveheart, in this fondly remembered 1973-1974 Hanna-Barbera offering.
After drug-dealing biker Sam Childers (Gerard Butler) experiences a come-to-Jesus moment, he turns his life around by traveling to Africa and crusading on behalf of children targeted by violent militias in the Sudan. Based on an incredible true story, this moving and exciting drama follows Childers’ conversion from thug to hero as he places his own life in jeopardy to face down demons from without…and from within. Michelle Monaghan, Michael Shannon co-star; directed by Marc Forster.
Necessary Roughness: Season One
All 12 episodes from the debut season–including the “Pilot,” “Poker Face,” “Losing Your Swing,” “A Wing And A Player,” and “Goal Line”–are featured in a three-disc set.
Pretty Little Liars: The Complete Second Season
All 25 episodes from season two–including “It’s Alive,” “Blind Dates,” “I Must Confess,” “Breaking The Code,” and “unmAsked”–are featured in a six-disc set.
Powerful contemporary western drama stars Charlton Heston as a rugged rancher who has had a difficult relationship with son Peter Strauss. When Heston becomes ill, the two struggle to put their antagonistic past behind them and settle their differences. With Nan Martin, Belinda Balaski.
Rags to Riches: The Complete Series
Millionaire businessman Nick Foley (Joseph Bologna) is determined to close his company’s big merger deal–so much so that he decides to adopt five orphan girls in order to squelch the negative impressions his bachelor lifestyle creates. The new family’s trials and tribulations make up the stories in this 1987-88 series that blends comedy, drama, and musical numbers–with the cast performing pop songs from the era that advance the plot. Tisha Campbell, Blanca De Garr co-star.
Prototypical terror-on-a-train suspenser from Britain follows a French inspector (Frank Vosper) who must find those responsible for an on-board murder and an art theft before the locomotive pulls into Rome. First feature from Gaumont boasts an exceptional ensemble cast including Conrad Veidt, Cedric Hardwicke, Hugh Williams, Finlay Currie, Joan Barry, Donald Calthrop.
In this nerve-jangling thriller, inexperienced C.I.A. agent Ryan Reynolds is put in charge of monitoring captured rogue operative Denzel Washington who’s sequestered in an undisclosed location. When this “safe house” proves to be anything but, and hired assassins make an attempt on the prisoner’s life, rookie Reynolds must take Washington on the run–with danger lurking around every corner. With Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, and Sam Shepard.
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
Both a sequel to 2008′s “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and a loose adaptation of Jules Verne’s “The Mysterious Island,” this exciting tale finds young Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) and his stepfather Hank (Dwayne Johnson) embarking on a perilous trek to track down Sean’s missing grandfather (Michael Caine). Their quest takes them to a wondrous island that inspired such writers as Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jonathan Swift. Vanessa Hudgens, Luis Guzman, Kristin Davis also star.
Based on “A Princess of Mars,” the first book in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Barsoom” series of novels, this action-packed sci-fi tale follows former Confederate cavalry officer John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) as he’s mysteriously transported to the Red Planet. Lower gravity grants him super strength and the ability to jump great heights, thrusting Carter into the middle of the Martians’ own civil war. Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Samantha Morton, Thomas Haden Church, Mark Strong co-star.
Washington: Behind Closed Doors
This barely disguised critique of the Nixon administration (based on a book by Nixon staffer John Ehrlichman) stars Jason Robards as (fictitious) U.S. President Richard Monckton, a leader hoping to leave his mark on world history. Containing parallels to the Vietnam War, Nixon’s engagement with China, and Watergate, the six-part miniseries reveals how Monckton indeed carves out a unique legacy–just not the one he intended. All-star supporting cast includes Cliff Robertson, Stefanie Powers, Robert Vaughn, and John Houseman.
In probably his most heralded performance sans elaborate makeup, Lon Chaney portrays a grizzled Marine D.I. determined to either make or break indolent inductee William Haines. The cocky kid rises to the challenge, and the sergeant finds he now has a rival for the romantic interest of Navy nurse Eleanor Boardman. Popular battle tale co-stars Carmel Myers, Warner Oland.
In London’s seedy Limehouse district, a master criminal (Lon Chaney) uses his gift for contortion to maintain a cover identity as a kindly, crippled mission manager. When he falls into a rivalry with another crook (Owen Moore) for the attentions of an attractive music hall singer (Renee Adoree), he tries to eliminate the competition via a frame-up for a jewel robbery. Tod Browning directs.
Upon learning of his wife’s infidelity, stage magician Lon Chaney confronts her lover, ivory trader Lionel Barrymore, and the altercation leaves the illusionist confined to a wheelchair. After his spouse dies soon after childbirth, he arranges a sordid upbringing for the infant girl in a Zanzibar brothel. With the passage of 18 years, he’s prepared to present his rival with an unholy family reunion. Warner Baxter, Mary Nolan co-star under Tod Browning’s direction.
In his last collaboration with director Tod Browning, Lon Chaney portrays an animal trapper in Indochina whose young daughter (Lupe Velez) has fallen for an American circus heir (Lloyd Hughes). The initially skeptical hunter ultimately gives his blessing, but all bets are off when a seductive older woman (Estelle Taylor) tries to make his future son-in-law her prey.
Remember: “It’s all in the mind.” When the happiness-hating Blue Meanie and his monstrous allies overrun Pepperland, it’s The Beatles (actors supplied their voices) to the rescue in this psychedelic animated odyssey. Along with five new songs recorded for the film (including “Baby, You’re a Rich Man,” “Hey, Bulldog,” and “It’s All Too Much”), the Fab Four score includes “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” “When I’m 64,” and more; with a cameo live-action appearance by John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
The Three Stooges: The Ultimate Collection
Along with volumes 1-8 of “The Three Stooges Collection,” containing all 190 of the boys’ Columbia shorts, this 20-disc collector’s set also includes the feature films “Rockin’ In The Rockies” (1945), a song-filled frontier comedy where ranch foreman Moe coaxes drifters Larry and Curly into backing his prospecting scheme, and “Have Rocket–Will Travel” (1958), with rocket base janitors Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe accidentally getting launched to the planet Venus. Plus, there are 28 solo Columbia short subjects–including “The Glove Slingers” (1939), “Pick A Peck Of Plumbers” (1944), “Mr. Noisy” (1946), “Wedlock Deadlock” (1947), “Army Daze” (1956), and more–starring Shemp Howard, Joe Besser, and Joe DeRita; and a trio of vintage cartoons–”The Bon Bon Parade” (1935), “The Merry Mutineers” (1936), and “A Hollywood Detour” (1942)–with appearances by the team.
For details and availability of more of this week’s new releases, click here.
Here’s a look at last week’s DVD & Blu-ray releases.