News From the Lake: Upcoming TCM News and a Few DVD Releases

A light news segment posted late on a Wednesday night.  In this review we’ll look at the last bit of TCM Classic Film Fest news since the fest has already started, as well as a slew of upcoming DVDs and Blu-Rays.

The TCM Classic Film Festival is in full swing starting tomorrow, so have fun all my fellow bloggers (if anyone wants to nab me an autograph of Bob Osborne or Ben Mankiewciz, I will not turn them down!).  A quick update on a few last-minute celebrity appearances to make those of us left behind even more jealous.  A Deliverance reunion is being planned with actors Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, and director John Boorman all scheduled to be in attendance; director Rob Marshall is set to appear at a screening of his Academy Award winning film, Chicago; past TCM Essentials host Rose McGowan will be presenting a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious; and Malcolm McDowell will be present at a screening of Yankee Doodle Dandy.  That’s on top of all the wonderful screenings and events I’ve been reporting on for the last month.  The TCM Classic Film Festival runs the 25th-28th.

Also at the TCM Classic Film Festival is Saturday Night Live star Bill Hader who will be returning to the channel this summer for another slate of The Essentials Jr., a slate of movies aimed to get children interested in classic film.  The series will run from June 2nd to August 25th and includes presentations of The Court Jester, The Magnificent Seven, and It Happened One Night.  Any chance to start kids early on classic cinema is great, and I adore Hader as a host of this series.  Each installment will air Sunday at 8pm, and you can get the full list at TCM.com.

Olive Films has announced a spate of DVD and Blu-Ray releases.  Charles Bronson and Robert Hutton Showdown at Boot Hill (1958), which will be getting a simultaneous DVD and Blu-Ray release; getting Blu-Ray releases are Barbary Coast (1946) and One Touch of Venus (1948).  Olive has been putting out an intriguing series and if you’re a fan of the actors, you’d do well to pick these up on June 18th.

Warner Archive has announced a new batch of film noirs for purchase.  A few big names are included here such as George Raft in A Dangerous Profession (1949), Elisha Cook Jr. in Fall Guy (1947), and Dorothy Malone in Loophole (1954).  Other upcoming releases include FBI Code 98 (1963) and Bomba the Jungle Boy, Volume 1.  All of these will be available on May 14th.

That’s all the news for today.  See you at the Lake next week!