Joan Crawford -- Volume 2 Coming Feb. 12 From Warners (1 Viewer)

DVD Times reports the next group of Joan Crawford releases for release on February 12. Titles include the following ---

Sadie McKee
Strange Cargo
A Woman's Face
Flamingo Road
Torch Song

Good news in the fact that "Strange Cargo" will be released at 1.77 widescreen ratio.

http://greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.com/

Some good classic news at last. And DVD Times has already posted the full details.

I'm hoping you mean TORCH SONG will be released in 16x9 1.77 AR, reflecting the theatrical OAR of 1.75. If it's STRANGE CARGO mentioned, that's gotta be a typo!

Yes, it's Torch Song in the widescreen aspect ratio.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=66138

I just found this posted on a blog...It's spectacular news!



Ultimate Film Star Returns with DVD Debut of
Five Classics Spanning Three Decades

JOAN CRAWFORD COLLECTION VOLUME 2
February 12 from Warner Home Video

A Woman’s Face ~ Flamingo Road ~
Sadie McKee ~ Strange Cargo ~ Torch Song



Burbank, Calif. October 15, 2007 – Following the success of its best-selling Joan Crawford Collection in 2005, Warner Home Video is proud to honor the ever-popular screen legend with the debut of the Joan Crawford Collection Vol. 2 February 12.


This tantalizing new set of Crawford classics features some of the Oscar®-winning actress’ finest films – A Woman’s Face, Flamingo Road, Sadie McKee, Strange Cargo and Torch Song. Drawn from her years at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Bros., each film has been restored and remastered for its DVD debut, with bonus material including new featurettes, radio shows, vintage short subjects, trailers, and much more.

Packaged as a collectible gift set, the five-disc Joan Crawford Collection Vol. 2 will sell for $49.92 SRP. Order due date is January 8.

About the Star
Ms.Crawford was born Lucille Fay LeSueur on March 23, 1908 in San Antonio, Texas. Lucille’s parents, divorced before she was born, were extremely poor; and Lucille subsequently was able to use her talent to escape a life of poverty by dancing in contests and entertaining in nightclubs.

Shortly after moving to Hollywood in 1925, she landed her first film part, in Pretty Ladies but it was her role in Our Dancing Daughters in 1928 that made her a star. She became Joan Crawford after a fan magazine ran a contest to name her. By the 1930's, Ms. Crawford became one of the biggest stars at
M-G-M, starring in such films as The Women and Grand Hotel. But it wasn’t until she signed with Warner Bros. in the 1940’s that she earned her one and only Oscar for her starring role in Mildred Pierce. Following her win, Crawford starred in the critically lauded Humoresque and Possessed, the latter of which earned her a second Oscar nomination. She worked steadily throughout the ‘50s, receiving a third nomination for her role in Sudden Fear. In the early ‘60s, she made a career comeback in her last great role in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? which co-starred her longtime arch-rival, Bette Davis.

“We’re fortunate to have most of Joan Crawford’s films within the enormous Warner Bros. Entertainment library. The films in this new collection represent some of her most requested appearances, and we’re happy to be offering them, with beautifully new masters, to her ever-loyal fans,” said Warner Home Video’s George Feltenstein, Senior Vice President, Theatrical Catalog Marketing.


About the Films

Sadie McKee (1934)
Sadie McKee was made during the period when Crawford was queen of the box-office, and every film she made was sure to be a hit. Many of them followed a similar formula, where Crawford rises from poverty to wealth, with conflict between two suitors vying for her affections. What sets this film apart from most of her other work of the era, is the direction of the legendary Clarence Brown, whose fine talents brought out the best in Metro’s stars, most notably Garbo and Crawford. Co-starring with Franchot Tone (whom she would marry the following year), Gene Raymond, and Edward Arnold, the film is also well-known for being the Crawford film her Blanche Hudson character watches on television years later in the unforgettable What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962). In addition, Sadie McKee is famous for introducing the classic Arthur Freed/Nacio Herb Brown song “All I Do is Dream of You.”

DVD Special Features:
•Vintage comedy short Goofy Movies #4
•Classic cartoon Toyland Broadcast
•Theatrical trailer

Strange Cargo (1940)
Joan Crawford first shared the screen in 1931 with an up-and-coming young actor whose charm and machismo would soon make him a superstar. The film was called Laughing Sinners and the leading man was none other than Clark Gable. Their on-screen chemistry was undeniable, and Metro ended up teaming them in a total of eight films over the next 9 years (including Dancing Lady, also available on DVD from WHV). Strange Cargo was their 8th and final collaboration, a rugged adventure story that eschewed the usual M-G-M elegance that had been present in so many of their other films together. Under the superb direction of Frank Borzage (Seventh Heaven, The Mortal Storm), this film is the rare action-packed adventure that carries an underlying spiritual theme which further enhances the Crawford/Gable chemistry. The film co-stars a bevy of famous Hollywood character actors, including Paul Lukas and the legendary Peter Lorre.

DVD Special Features:
•New featurette: Gable & Crawford
•Vintage short More About Nostradamus
•Classic cartoon The Lonesome Stranger
•Theatrical Trailer

A Woman’s Face (1941)
It was director George Cukor who helped Crawford break free of her usual screen persona in 1939’s The Women, and in this dark thriller the masterful director brought out one of the leading lady’s best performances. Based on the play “Il Etat Une Fois” (It was one time”) by Francis de Croisset, A Woman’s Face casts Crawford as a horribly disfigured woman whose inner pain motivates her to live a life of evil. A kind doctor gives her a chance to remove her outer ugliness, and shows her a path to love and happiness, but can she adjust to this after years of such darkness? This conflict allowed Crawford to show her broad range as a talented actress, a task she felt essential at that point in her career. Despite excellent reviews for the film, and especially for Crawford, Cukor, and the leading man Melvyn Douglas, the film did not succeed initially at the box-office. It was only after re-release in later years that it finally earned its place as a true classic within the incomparable pantheon of M-G-M’s finest dramas.

DVD Special Features:
•Vintage Romance of Celluloid Short You Can’t Fool a Camera
•Classic cartoon Little Cesario
•Two audio-only radio adaptations with Bette Davis and Ida Lupino
•Theatrical trailer

Flamingo Road (1949)
Joan Crawford’s move from M-G-M to Warner Bros. in the mid-‘40s, revitalized her screen career under the direction of Michael Curtiz in the smash hit that earned her the Best Actress Oscar, Mildred Pierce (1945). Crawford’s Warner years continued to strengthen her stature as one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, and Flamingo Road provided a reunion between Crawford and Curtiz for the first time since Mildred Pierce. Crawford plays Lane Bellamy, a dancer touring with a low-rent carnival, who finds more than she bargained for when she ends up on Flamingo Road. The impressive list of supporting players includes Sydney Greenstreet, Zachary Scott and David Brian. The film was later the basis for a 1980s television series.

DVD Special Features:
•New featurette: Crawford at Warners
•Classic cartoon Curtain Razor
•Audio-only radio adaptation with the film’s stars
•Theatrical trailer

Torch Song (1953)
Joan Crawford made her highly-publicized return to M-G-M after a decade away to star in Torch Song, her first feature film entirely in Technicolor. This sudsy melodrama, directed by Charles Walters (High Society) has become a cult classic. Crawford portrays Broadway musical star Jenny Stewart, who seems to have everything in life - except someone to love. While most people ‘cow-tow’ to her diva-like behavior, only Ty Graham (played by Elizabeth Taylor’s then-husband Michael Wilding), a pianist blinded during WWII, will stand up to her. Graham’s secret passion for Jenny eventually awakens her vulnerability. But will they get together for a happy ending?

This is the film that inspired Carol Burnett’s famous parody Torchy Song, and an audience favorite that has been unavailable on home video for nearly 15 years. By popular demand, audiences can now watch Crawford’s famous dances, and her musical emoting (with vocals dubbed by singer India Adams). Actress Marjorie Rambeau gives a memorable star turn as Crawford’s beer-chugging Mom, a role that earned the venerable character actress an Oscar nomination.

DVD Special Features:
•New featurette: Tough Baby: Joan Crawford and Torch Song
•Audio bonus: Joan Crawford recording session
•Public service announcement trailer: At Home with Joan Crawford
•Vintage MGM cartoon: TV of Tomorrow
•Vintage MGM short
•Theatrical trailer

JOAN CRAWFORD COLLECTION VOLUME 2
Street Date: February 12, 2008
Order Due Date: January 8, 2008
Catalog #:1000015048
Collection: $49.92 SRP
All films B&W and Mono, in 1.37 aspect ratio, except TORCH SONG, which is Color and 1.77 aspect ratio as originally shown in theaters.
All Titles Not Rated

Other Joan Crawford titles available on DVD from Warner Home Video include: Joan Crawford Collection Vol. 1, The Damned Don’t Cry, Dancing Lady, Grand Hotel, Humoresque, Mildred Pierce, Possessed, Trog, The Women and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?.

With operations in 90 international territories, Warner Home Video, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment.

Note: All enhanced content listed above is subject to change.

Bravo Warners!

Looking forward to the Gable/Crawford and Crawford at Warners featurette. Looks to be a terrific job with the extras yet again.

Can't wait for this one

Well at long last the announcements stared again.

What a great set, I am especially interested in TORCH SONG, a film I have never seen. IMO, it also has the most fascinating extras (a Joan Crawford recording session, the short At Home With Joan Crawford.)

Why not a Crawford-Gable boxed set?

Really a big set. it is a must for me, but please, Warner, why don´t you add Spanish subtitles to your classic issues?. Thanks a lot

Although a Crawford/Gable set would be great to have, it might not be so commercial. There are a few turkeys in there that only die-hard Crawford fans (such as myself) would be interested in owning.

It's certainly something I could see Warner doing in the future. Perhaps it could become a reality if this new Joan Crawford collection sells well.

With DANCING LADY out and STRANGE CARGO coming, the remaining Crawford/Gable pictures...

LAUGHING SINNERS
DANCE FOOLS DANCE
POSSESSED (1931)
CHAINED
FORSAKING ALL OTHERS
LOVE ON THE RUN

.....could make for a nifty boxed set.

I can't think about that right now, as I'm too overjoyed with the news of THIS
upcoming Joan Crawford collection.

Yes, it would especially the last four titles listed above.






Crawdaddy

FINALLY YES YES YES YES YEEEEEHAAAA

Im most exited about "Sadie Mckee"

My only complain is that it took 3 years for a vol.2. I really don't want to wait to 2011 for vol.3

speaking of vol. 3

Letty Lynton(if they can release it, if not, "I Live My Life")
The Bride Wore Red
Susan & God
Chained
This Woman Is Dangerous

As for Crawford-Gable set it's to late
Dancing Lady & Strange Cargo and im very sure Forsaking All Others will be in Gable vol. 2

Not commercial?? LOL! Have you been on Joan's IMDB profile? Those Crawford hounds are fierce and will buy anything with her name on it!!!

This an absolute must set for me!!! I can't stress this enough. I've been waiting for this since 2006. Next up has to be Harlow and Davis.

Davis is more than likely next since 2008 is her centennial.

I have contacted Harlow's official Biographer, David Stenn, and he says he has heard zilch from Warner regarding a Harlow set, and they've yet to contact him for supplements, commentaries or anything else for that matter.

It's unlikely there'll be a Harlow set the first-half of 2008.

Reggie how will you feel if Lana Turner's set comes out before Harlow's?

And what exactly are you trying to imply here?

I stated that Davis is likely first because it's her centennial, and my source has indicated that a Harlow set doesn't appear to be on the immediate horizon. I simply responded to your statement, nothing more.

How I may/may not "feel" is immaterial here.

I had Torch Song on laser & it had an annoying, recurring blue streak down the picture. Hopefully they will be able to remove it.

Joan does a number in blackface!

I wasn't trying to imply anything actually. I was curious to know if you would be upset if Lana's set comes out before Harlow since Lana was Harlow's successor after she died.

No problem Corey

I'm a fan of ALL of these ladies, though obviously Harlow is my favorite. Also, I do not believe that Crawford, Garbo, Davis, Harlow, Monroe or any of the great stars we love around here had any real successors. They were all uniquely special and carved out important legacies in cinema that will never be duplicated. I think time has proven this. Harlow was a great comedienne on top of being a sex symbol, so I don't believe that she and Lana had much in common outside of their sex symbol status. Those who actually knew and worked with both said they were actually quite the opposite. Lana was narcisstic, self-absorbed, driven, ambitious and wanted (and eventually was) to be a great star. Harlow was her opposite in every way (Thalberg said she was very oblivious when it came to her looks and talent) and only became a star due to the manipulation of an obsessive stage mother who happened to be a failed actress. I think Lana had FAR more in common with Grace Kelly than she ever did Jean Harlow in terms of roles and presence. MGM knew they would never be able to replace Harlow (or for that matter, Garbo & Crawford after they left MGM) after her demise despite all of the hype from their PR department trumpeting Turner as Harlow the second coming. This hype quickly vanished as Turner carved out her own legacy in Hollywood. It should also be noted that Fox trumpted Norma Jean Baker as the new Harlow when she was a starlet, and Norma Jean did indeed idolize Harlow. Jean was the de facto Bombshell standard for the next few decades.

Both Monroe and Harlow are the only two BOMBSHELLS on that AFI 25 list, so yes, I assumed that Harlow would receive more priority than she's presently being accorded by WHV.

I've said from the beginning that I would've loved to have seen separate DVD sets for Crawford/Gable & Harlow/Gable, but WHV appears to have nixed this idea in favor of just placing the titles in the dedicated sets of each star.