The Blu-Ray of The Abbott & Costello Show, Season 1 from the 3-D Film Archive and ClassicFlix knocked me out — seriously raising the bar of what old TV can look like on video. Each episode (from the camera negatives) in that set is absolutely stunning.
Well, tomorrow, Season 2 will be available. The same level of restoration, the same types of extras. I’ve always liked Season 2 better than Season 1, so as I see it, this thing’s a must.
The Abbott & Costello Show, Season 1 Blu-Ray set from The 3-D Film Archive and ClassicFlix blew everybody away. Season 2 is coming in January.
The restorations/transfers (from the camera negatives) and extras will be incredible, as we’ve come to expect from these folks. Highly, highly recommended. Essential even!
Filed under 1953, 1954, Abbott & Costello, ClassicFlix, DVD/Blu-ray News, Television, The 3-D Film Archive
Imprint’s done it again. With their Tales Of Adventure, Collection Two, you get three Republic jungle pictures, along with two major-studio things featuring the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh, Victor Mature and Dana Andrews.
Angel On The Amazon (1948, AKA Drums Along The Amazon)
Directed by John H. Auer
Starring George Brent, Vera Ralston, Brian Aherne, Constance Bennett
Herbert J. Yates, the boss at Republic, was Czech figure-skater girlfriend a movie star. (It didn’t really work.) Here, she’s a mysterious woman who rescues the survivors of a plane crash deep in the jungle.
Daughter Of The Jungle (1949)
Directed by George Blair
Starring Lois Hall, James Cardwell, William Wright, Sheldon Leonard
This time, a plane crashes in Africa, not the Amazon, and Lois Hall and her dad come to the rescue. The lovely Lois Hall is shamefully overlooked and under-represented on DVD and Blu-Ray. She was in some really cool stuff, ranging from Johnny Mack Brown Westerns at Monogram to Sam Katzman serials at Columbia to The Lone Ranger.
Fair Wind To Java (1953)
Directed by Joseph Kane
Starring Fred MacMurray, Vera Ralston, Victor McLaglen, Paul Fix
Herbert Yates paired Vera Ralston with all sorts of stars in his efforts to make her a star — this time it was Fred MacMurray’s turn. This was a pretty big protduction by Republic standards, and he Lydecker Brothers have a field day (in Trucolor!), with model pirate ships and a fake volcano (built at Mono Lake).
Elephant Walk (1954)
Directed by William Dieterle
Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Dana Andrews, Peter Finch, Abraham Sofaer
This story of stampeding elephants and a tea plantation was to have starred Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh. She had to pull out and Olivier went with her. They say you can see her in some long shots — and if this looks as good as Imprint’s stuff usually does, you’ll be able to see for yourself!
Safari (1956)
Directed by Terence Young
Starring Victor Mature, Janet Leigh, Roland Culver, John Justin, Earl Cameron
Here, a pre-Bond Terence Young takes Victor Mature and Janet Leigh (and a CinemaScope lens) to Kenya, where they take on everything from the Mau Mau to alligators.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, this set is gonna be terrific. The Lydeckers alone make it must! Stacked with extras and highly recommended.
Sam Katzman
(July 7, 1901 – August 4, 1973)
The great B-movie producer Sam Katzman was born 122 years ago today. This photo appeared in Life magazine in 1953. Sam is surrounded by Billy Curtis, Julie Newmar and Zan Murray — and Tamba, the chimp from the Jungle Jim movies. Not sure who’s in the gorilla suit.
Today’s also Fred F. Sears’ birthday. He was one of the directors in Katzman’s unit at Columbia.
Filed under 1953, Columbia, Fred F. Sears, Sam Katzman
Directed by George Marshall
Starring Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Marjie Millar, Pat Crowley, Richard Haydn, Robert Strauss, Gerald Mohr, Sheldon Leonard
Bob Furmanek from The 3-D Film Archive has announced that they’re working with Kino Lorber on a 3-D Blu-Ray release of Money From Home (1953).
This was set to be the Cadillac of 3-D movies, with a big budget and the goal to deliver a top-notch 3-D experience. But by the time it was ready for release, 3-D was on its way out and very few theaters booked stereoscopic prints.
In 2-D it’s still one of Martin & Lewis’s funnier movies, and the opportunity to see it in 3-D is too cool for school — especially since we know The 3-D Film Archive will put together a terrific package. The release date is TBD. Click on the half sheet above to get the full scoop from Bob Furmanek. This one’s gonna be awesome!
Filed under 1953, 3-D, Dean Martin, DVD/Blu-ray News, George Marshall, Jerry Lewis, Kino Lorber, Paramount, The 3-D Film Archive
Directed by Francis D. Lyon
Written & Produced by Hall Bartlett
Starring Elroy ‘Crazylegs’ Hirsch, Lloyd Nolan, Joan Vohs, James Millican, The Los Angeles Rams
Seems like everybody’s talking about football these days (sure hope Damar Hamlin’s OK). Well, here’s something for us old movie nuts to talk about — Kit Parker has brought Crazylegs (1953) to DVD. It’s the story of Elroy ‘Crazylegs’ Hirsch, a football star at the University Of Wisconsin and the University Of Michigan — and later with the LA Rams.
Hirsch plays himself and does a fine job. He’d go on to have a pretty solid, if short-lived, run in the movies. Hall Bartlett wrote and produced the picture, with Republic handling distribution.
Kit Parker has loaded the DVD with some nice old extras — and a new featurette on Bartlett from Ballyhoo. I’m a big fan of Ballyhoo’s work and got to work on the script for their piece here. It’s a cool little movie and a very nice presentation. Recommended.
Filed under 1953, DVD/Blu-ray News, Kit Parker, Republic Pictures
My copy of the eagerly-awaited Critics’ Choice Collection four-feature, two-DVD William Castle Adventures Collection arrived yesterday. Will have a proper, more in-depth review of one of the titles soon, but thought I’d go ahead and share some thoughts on the collection as a whole.
The four films here are Serpent Of The Nile (1953), The Iron Glove (1954), Charge Of The Lancers (1954) and The Saracen Blade (1954). They were all shot in Technicolor in that crazy transitional period when Hollywood went through all sorts of technical turmoil — Scope, 3D, Eastmancolor, stereophonic sound and a number of spherical aspect ratios. From all that comes the trouble with this set.
The color’s quite nice from one picture to the next. Putting two features on a single DVD may affect the overall picture quality a bit, but I don’t have any complaints there.
Then we get to the aspect ratios, and things get pretty whacked out. Charge Of The Lancers was released in 1.66, and that’s the way it’s presented here. A nice anamorphic transfer — the jewel of this package.
The Iron Glove and The Saracen Blade were both 1.85. That’s how they’re framed here (once you get past the Columbia logo), but they’re not anamorphic. So, as you’re probably aware, that means they appear as a rectangle centered in the middle of our 16×9 TVs. Not ideal, but certainly watchable. (If your TV has a zoom feature, that’ll help.)
The real trouble comes with Serpent Of The Nile. Released in 1953, it was shot full-frame (1.37). Here, it’s cropped for 1.85 (after the titles) and non-anamorphic. There are plenty of heads and titles cut off throughout. It’s a real mess, even though the color is excellent. (There’s currently a decent, properly-framed version on YouTube.)
These goofy little movies from Sam Katzman and William Castle, two my favorite filmmakers, are junk, perhaps, but they’re wonderful junk. Critics’ Choice (and Mill Creek) license these films from Columbia and work with the material the studio provides. Usually, stuff from Columbia is beautiful. In this case, what Critics’ Choice was sent for three of the four films should’ve been sent back. Happy to have this set, but have to admit I’m disappointed.
We can all use some good news these days, and this is good news indeed. Critics Choice has announced a DVD set featuring four adventure pictures from William Castle and Sam Katzman — The William Castle Adventures Collection — coming in September.
All four films were shot in Technicolor (none were in 3-D). The transfers should be terrific. The 1954 films should be widescreen, either 1.66 or 1.85.
Sam Katzman, Rhonda Fleming & William Castle. Fleming holds the Serpent Of The Nile.
Serpent Of The Nile (1953)
Starring Rhonda Fleming, William Lundigan, Raymond Burr, Michael Ansara, Julie Newmar
Castle’s first film for Katzman (he’d been at Columbia in the 40s), it’s an epic done on the cheap (as you might expect). Rhonda Fleming is Cleopatra, wandering around on sets left over from Columbia’s much bigger (but not nearly as much fun) Salome (1953). Another director from Katzman’s unit, Fred F. Sears, serves as narrator.
The Iron Glove (1954)
Starring Robert Stack, Ursula Thiess, Richard Stapley, Alan Hale Jr.
In this two-week swashbuckler, the Columbia backlot doubles as Scotland. Robert Stack would soon do The High And The Mighty (1954), which would give his career a boost. Katzman wanted Cornel Wilde in the lead, and at one point the title was to have been The Kiss And The Sword.
Charge Of The Lancers (1954)
Starring Paulette Goddard, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Karin Booth
Castle and Katzman raid the costume department again, this time going for the Crimean War of the 1850s (don’t expect any actual historic accuracy). One of Paulette Goddard’s last films.
The Saracen Blade (1954)
Starring Ricardo Montalbán, Betta St. John, Rick Jason, Carolyn Jones
This was the last of Katzman and Castle’s pictures like this, and this one takes on the Crusades. There was talk of filming this in Italy, but it was probably just that, talk. In his wonderful book Step Right Up! I’m Gonna Scare The Pants Off America, Castle wrote that for “three years I had been up to my ass in queens, kings and jokers.” He’d also been making plenty of Westerns for Katzman, and in 1958, he’d go independent and make his own series of gimmicky horror pictures, most of which Columbia would release.
These cheap and tacky little movies are a lot of fun. I cannot recommend this set highly enough. Can’t wait to get my hands on it!
Thanks to John Hall for the tip!
Paramount is bringing George Pal’s masterpieces When Worlds Collide (1951) and War Of The Worlds (1953) to 4K as a double bill — which is how I saw these back in 1977. They were re-released, with the poster above, when everybody went sci-fi nuts over Star Wars (1977). Those of us who were lucky, got to see original IB Tech prints. They were glorious!
These pictures have already made it to Blu-Ray and they both look great. This 4K bump sounds exciting.
Filed under 1951, 1953, DVD/Blu-ray News, Gene Barry, George Pal, Paramount, Paul Frees
Directed by Harry Essex
Starring Biff Elliot, Preston Foster, Peggie Castle, Margaret Sheridan, Alan Reed, John Qualen, Joe Besser, Elisha Cook, Jr.
Peggie Castle appears in the first film based on one of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer novels — and it’s in 3-D shot by the great John Alton. And to top it all off, the folks at The 3-D Film Archive are getting I, The Jury (1953) ready for Blu-Ray for ClassicFlix.
Will come through with more info as it comes available. Man, I can’t wait!
Filed under 1953, 3-D, ClassicFlix, DVD/Blu-ray News, Elisha Cook, Jr., John Alton, Peggie Castle, United Artists
The Hannibal 8 