News From the Lake: TCM, Kino, Olive, and Warner Archive News

More DVD news coming your way in this week’s Lake Update.  We’ll check out to add to your Amazon wishlist courtesy of TCM, Kino, Olive Films, Warner Archive, and Twentieth Century Fox.

TCM is set to release a box set devoted to Boris Karloff detailing his criminal roles.  Karloff: Criminal Kind will include three of the infamous actor’s films, pre-Frankenstein, as part of their Vault Collection.  The films included are The Criminal Code (1931), The Guilty Generation (1931), and Behind the Mask (1932).  The only bonus content is an introduction by TCM host Robert Osborne, publicity stills, lobby cards, and movie posters (all included on the disc).  It’ll be available exclusively from Shop TCM on May 20th.  I reviewed Warner Archives’ Karloff set for a separate site, and while the movies aren’t always good, Karloff is generally good in them.  The set might be worth purchasing if you’re a Karloff completist, although the three movies have intriguing plots.

Jumping into the world of Warner Archive, they have some interesting titles coming to DVD shelves.  They recently announced another installment in their popular Forbidden Hollywood series; I believe volume 6 came out a month or so ago.  Volume seven contains another four movies released during the saucy “pre-Code” era.  Big stars like Edward G. Robinson, Warren William, Loretta Young, and Bette Davis are all featured.  Remember, all Warner Archive movies are manufactured-on-demand so they’re pressed at the time of ordering, contain no bonus content, and work with the best prints available.  I continue to watch sporadic installments and hope to pick up volume seven when I can!  You can order Forbidden Hollywood: Volume 7 now.

Warner Archive also announced a spate of new releases that I’m yearning to get my hands on.  In the classic television category they’ve released Popeye: The 1960s Classics Volume 1 (1962) which includes 72-episodes of the Fleischer/Famous Studios shorts.  As for movies, you can now purchase Penrod and Sam (1931) and Duffy of San Quentin (1954).  Personally, I’m dying to get two movies starring Margaret O’Brien: Tenth Avenue Angel (1947) and The Secret Garden (1949). Again, all are manufactured-on-demand with the best possible master copies.  You can order all of these via The Warner Archive Collection.

Want something classy to add to your Blu-Ray collection?  Then the films from Kino Classics might be up your alley.  They’ve set a July 30th release date for the Erich Von Stroheim directed/starring epic Foolish Wives.  The story follows a woman who falls for a phony Russian diplomat and is told in classic Von Stroheim fashion.  The Blu-Ray will also include the 78 minute documentary, The Man You Loved to Hate, containing interviews, clips, and details about the temperamental director.  If you’re interested in ordering, do so through the Kino Classics site.

Moving on to what’s new from Olive Films; they’ll be releasing the prison noir, Crashout, starring William Bendix on DVD and Blu-Ray July 25th.  I will say I’ve never heard of this movie, but Olive has a fairly eclectic output of movies, making this something worth investing in.

Finally, only a few weeks remain till 20th Century Fox‘s 50th Anniversary Blu-Ray release of Cleopatra.  I’ve been covering this for a while, and Fox continues to hype this to the max.  It’s been announced that the film will return to 200 theaters for a special limited engagement starting May 22nd, after premiering at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival where actress Jessica Chastain and Kate Burton will be present (anyone want to take me to Cannes?).  On top of all that, jeweler Bulgari will be showing select pieces of Elizabeth Taylor‘s jewelery, and select costumes of Taylor’s from the film, during the Cannes stop.  I’m excited to see this coming to big screens – fingers crossed one of the 200 theaters is near me – because it is definitely epic.  You can pre-order your copy of Cleopatra on Blu-Ray now.  It hits shelves May 28th.

That’s all from the Lake for this week!  See you next Wednesday when we look at more movie stuff!