Kino-Lorber Insider Announcement Thread (Read Guidelines Post #3) (6 Viewers)

[battlebeast]

I wonder if WAKE ISLAND is on the horizon?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Saturday's Facebook Announcement:

Coming in July!

Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941) Starring W.C. Fields, Gloria Jean, Leon Errol & Margaret Dumont - Shot by Charles Van Enger (Night Monster) - Music by Frank Skinner (Harvey) - Screenplay by John T. Neville (The Devil Bat) and Prescott Chaplin (Flame of Barbary Coast) - Original Story by W.C. Fields - Directed by Edward F. Cline (The Bank Dick).

Yes yes yes! Not only a Fields film, but a major one at that. Sold!

 

[John Morgan]

I think Butch and Buddy made it to blu ray in the Abbott and Costello set. (IN THE NAVY)

Great seeing the Fields films coming out. I kinda wish they would have done sets...maybe the Paramount era and one for the Universal era. It will be expensive to buy them as singles and most of them are between 60-75 minutes.
For me, the four Universals are essential:
Of the Paramount era, the essentials (for me) are:
IT'S A GIFT
THE MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE
YOU'RE TELLING ME!
THE OLD FASHIONED WAY
POPPY
MISSISSIPPI
Of course, I'd take all his films if available.

 

[Astairefan]

I think Butch and Buddy made it to blu ray in the Abbott and Costello set. (IN THE NAVY)

Great seeing the Fields films coming out. I kinda wish they would have done sets...maybe the Paramount era and one for the Universal era. It will be expensive to buy them as singles and most of them are between 60-75 minutes.
For me, the four Universals are essential:
Of the Paramount era, the essentials (for me) are:
IT'S A GIFT
THE MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE
YOU'RE TELLING ME!
THE OLD FASHIONED WAY
POPPY
MISSISSIPPI
Of course, I'd take all his films if available.

And what makes you so sure that there isn't a set coming? I know the Insider has said that Never Give A Sucker An Even Break and Alice In Wonderland are the only two W.C. Fields movies they were able to license from Universal, and another label (since confirmed to be Criterion by whoever is running Kino's FB page) got most of the rest (so I would expect there to be a decent chance we get a big set, although I would be surprised if it is this year, given that their New Year's drawing hinted at four other box sets). Certainly all releases I look forward to!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Sunday's Facebook Announcement:

Coming in July!

The River (1984) Starring Mel Gibson, Sissy Spacek, Scott Glenn, Billy Green Bush & James Tolkan - Shot by Vilmos Zsigmond (Close Encounters of the Third Kind) - Music by John Williams (Jaws) - Screenplay by Robert Dillon (Prime Cut) and Julian Barry (Lenny) - Directed by Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond).

 

[Gary OS]

I think Butch and Buddy made it to blu ray in the Abbott and Costello set. (IN THE NAVY)

Yep. And thoroughly enjoyed them (and the film).

Gary "can't wait for more great 30's, 40's and early 50's announcements from Kino" O.

 

[timk1041]

Gloria Jean?! This is the HD debut of Butch and Buddy!

I like Butch & Buddy too, but Gloria Jean is given second billing to W.C. This is one of her earlier films and a very memorable one.

 

[Bert Greene]

I very much liked Gloria Jean in her first vehicle, "The Under-Pup" (1939). It's a very nicely photographed film (Hal Mohr, I believe), and would make a lovely Blu-ray, with its appealing visuals and 'summer camp' backdrop. Jean didn't quite have the innate, natural charm of Durbin, but she had a pleasantly reserved sincerity, which put her in good step. But, I suspect this film is another of those Universals that's on a rather distant back-burner, alongside the enjoyable Peggy Ryan / Donald O'Connor stuff.

But I'm glad we'll get "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break." Been a Fields fan for a long, long time.

 

[Kino Lorber Insider]

Coming to DVD and Blu-ray June 2nd from Kino Classics!

The Queen (1968)
Directed by Frank Simon

"The mother of all drag documentaries." - The New York Times

More than 40 years before RuPaul's Drag Race, this ground-breaking documentary about the 1967 Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant introduced audiences to the world of competitive drag. The film takes us backstage to kiki with the contestants as they rehearse, throw shade, and transform into their drag personas for the big event. Organized by pioneering LGBTQ+ icon and activist Jack Doroshow (better known by his stage persona Flawless Sabrina), the competition boasted a star-studded panel of judges including Andy Warhol, Larry Rivers, and Terry Southern. But perhaps the most memorable moment occurs after the crowning ceremony: an epic diatribe by Crystal LaBeija, who would go on to form the influential House of LaBeija, prominently featured in Paris Is Burning (1990). A vibrant piece of queer history, The Queen can now be seen in full resplendence thanks to a new restoration from the original camera negatives.

Special features:
• Audio commentary by artist and producer Zackary Drucker and journalist and author Diana Tourjée
• Outtake footage
• Theatrical trailers (original and re-release)
• Interview with producer Si Litvinoff, by Shade Rupe
• The Queen: After Party Outtakes, with Jack Doroshow, by Joe E. Jeffreys
• Flawless Sabrina: Icon/Muse, a short documentary by Michelle Handelman
• Irma Vep: The Last Breath, a short film by Michelle Handelman, featuring Flawless Sabrina
• Queens at Heart, a 1967 short documentary on drag culture
• Post-screening Q&A footage with Flawless Sabrina and Zackary Drucker
• Booklet essay by Joe E. Jeffreys (Blu-ray only)

 

[lark144]

Coming to DVD and Blu-ray June 2nd from Kino Classics!

The Queen (1968)
Directed by Frank Simon

"The mother of all drag documentaries." - The New York Times

More than 40 years before RuPaul's Drag Race, this ground-breaking documentary about the 1967 Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant introduced audiences to the world of competitive drag. The film takes us backstage to kiki with the contestants as they rehearse, throw shade, and transform into their drag personas for the big event. Organized by pioneering LGBTQ+ icon and activist Jack Doroshow (better known by his stage persona Flawless Sabrina), the competition boasted a star-studded panel of judges including Andy Warhol, Larry Rivers, and Terry Southern. But perhaps the most memorable moment occurs after the crowning ceremony: an epic diatribe by Crystal LaBeija, who would go on to form the influential House of LaBeija, prominently featured in Paris Is Burning (1990). A vibrant piece of queer history, The Queen can now be seen in full resplendence thanks to a new restoration from the original camera negatives.

Special features:
• Audio commentary by artist and producer Zackary Drucker and journalist and author Diana Tourjée
• Outtake footage
• Theatrical trailers (original and re-release)
• Interview with producer Si Litvinoff, by Shade Rupe
• The Queen: After Party Outtakes, with Jack Doroshow, by Joe E. Jeffreys
• Flawless Sabrina: Icon/Muse, a short documentary by Michelle Handelman
• Irma Vep: The Last Breath, a short film by Michelle Handelman, featuring Flawless Sabrina
• Queens at Heart, a 1967 short documentary on drag culture
• Post-screening Q&A footage with Flawless Sabrina and Zackary Drucker
• Booklet essay by Joe E. Jeffreys (Blu-ray only)

View attachment 70732

Great film. I saw this when it came out in the late 60's. It was originally released by Grove Press. They distributed "I am Curious Yellow" which grossed 20 million & Barney Rosset bought the rights to a bunch of other controversial films and opened a theater on 11th Street & University Place, which is where I saw "The Queen".

 

[PODER]

Wow ... so excited about THE QUEEN! I can finally retire my old VHS copy. What a great surprise.

 

[CULTMAN1]

The DVD release is the Roadshow version with an overture, intermission and entr'acte. Hopefully, Kino Lorber will retain these for the blu ray version.

I really hope this the film roadshow version?

 

[timk1041]

I very much liked Gloria Jean in her first vehicle, "The Under-Pup" (1939). It's a very nicely photographed film (Hal Mohr, I believe), and would make a lovely Blu-ray, with its appealing visuals and 'summer camp' backdrop. Jean didn't quite have the innate, natural charm of Durbin, but she had a pleasantly reserved sincerity, which put her in good step. But, I suspect this film is another of those Universals that's on a rather distant back-burner, alongside the enjoyable Peggy Ryan / Donald O'Connor stuff.

But I'm glad we'll get "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break." Been a Fields fan for a long, long time.

Gloria Jean didn't quite get the type of films or roles that Durbin did, but was very good in the ones she did appear in and was very talented.

 

[Kino Lorber Insider]

Coming to DVD and Blu-ray in June from Kino Lorber and Menemsha Films!

Red Cow (2018)
Directed by Tsivia Barkai Yacov
From Israel
Release date: June 9th

Benny’s hair is as red as the fur of her devout father’s treasured calf – which he believes will bring salvation. But the 17-year-old feels as lonely and trapped as the calf in its enclosure. Benny’s mother died giving birth to her, and she grew up alone with her caring yet patriarchal father. He is a figure of authority and a mentor for many people in their Jerusalem religious community. Benny becomes increasingly critical of her father’s religious, utopian nationalism and then there’s Yael, the self-confident young woman who has set off a whirlwind of longing and emotions in her. Avigayil Koevary powerfully portrays the defiance and desire of a young woman in Tsivia Barkai Yacov’s debut feature film.

---

The Last Supper (2018)
Directed by Florian Frerichs
From Germany
Release date: June 23rd

On the day Adolf Hitler comes to power, the German-Jewish family Glickstein comes together for a family dinner. Most of them however (like so many other Germans at that time) don´t take the Nazis seriously. When young Leah reveals her plans to emigrate from Berlin to Palestine, her family starts disputing. Her father Aaron can´t see any reason to leave Germany, the country of their ancestors and the country he risked his life for during the first World War. But when Michael, Leah´s younger brother, indicates that he actually is an ardent admirer of the national socialist movement, the family is on the brink of being torn apart...

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Promise at Dawn (2019)
Directed by Eric Barbier
Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Pierre Niney
From France
Release date: June 30th

Based on the acclaimed autobiographical novel by Romain Gary

From his childhood in Poland to his adolescence in Nice to his years as a student in Paris and his tough training as a pilot during World War II, this epic drama tells the romantic story of Romain Gary, one of the most famous French novelists and sole writer to have won the Goncourt Prize for French literature two times.

 

[bujaki]

I remember the first version of Promise at Dawn (1970) starring Melina Mercouri, directed by husband, Jules Dassin. I didn't know there was a remake. Interesting...

 

[Kino Lorber Insider]

Coming to DVD and Blu-ray in June from Kino Classics and the F.W. Murnau Foundation!

Victor and Victoria (1933)
Directed by Reinhold Schünzel
Release date: June 9th

In this dazzling musical romance, a young woman (Renate Müller), unable to find work as a music hall singer, partners with a down-and-out thespian (Hermann Thimig) to revamp her act. Pretending to be a man performing in drag, Victoria becomes the toast of the international stage. But she soon finds that her playful bending of genders enmeshes her personal and professional life in a tangle of unexpected complications. Produced in the final days of the Weimar Republic, Victor and Victoria received limited exposure in the United States, and is today best known by Blake Edwards’s 1982 remake and the 1995 Broadway production. Viewers will be delighted to discover that the original is every bit as charming and outrageous, reminiscent of the sly sex comedies of Ernst Lubitsch and Billy Wilder.

Special feature:
Audio commentary by film historian Gaylyn Studlar

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Paracelsus (1943)
Directed by G.W. Pabst
Release date: June 30th

A physician, alchemist, and spiritual guru, Paracelsus (1493-1541) was one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of science. And, like its subject, this 1943 film is shrouded in mystery, even though it was directed by one of the supreme stylists of the German cinema: G.W. Pabst. Werner Krauss (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) stars as the Swiss-born scientist, who faces the seemingly impossible task of protecting the German people from a coming plague, and calming a rising tide of mass hysteria. Despite being called “a remarkably interesting film” by The New York Times’s Vincent Canby (when it received its belated U.S. premiere in 1974), Paracelsus continues to be overlooked, along with most all of the films made in Germany during World War II. With fresh eyes, however, we can see that Paracelsus is not a propaganda film, but the work of an oppressed artist attempting to convey a humanist, possibly subersive message under the gaze of Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels.

Special feature:
Audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan

 

[Chelsearicky]

Fantastic news! Quite possibly Vanessa Redgrave's greatest performance. But which version is Kino releasing? The original 177 minute Roadshow version? Karel Reisz's 153 minute director's cut? The 131 minute general release version? Hopefully, the first.

'Isadora' is up for preorder on Kino's website, and has a listed run time of 140 mins.

 

[Suzanne.S]

Very excited for the original Victor and Victoria! I've read about many of the German productions but they have been nearly impossible to see with English subtitles. Thanks, Kino!

 

[Kino Lorber Insider]

Coming to DVD and Blu-ray June 16th from Kino Lorber!

Young Ahmed (2019)
Directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

The Dardenne Brothers won the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival for this brave new work, another intimate portrayal of a protagonist in crisis. The filmmakers’ radical empathy alights on a Muslim teenager (extraordinary first-time actor Idir Ben Addi) in a small Belgian town who has been radicalized by his Imam despite the desperate protestations of his single mother (Claire Bodson), and who winds up hatching a murderous plot targeting his beloved teacher (Myriem Akheddiou). Taking a serious view of a difficult issue—the effect of fanaticism on the body and soul—the Dardennes here remind viewers why they continue to be at the center of 21st-century cinema. – New York Film Festival

Special features:
*New interview with filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
*Theatrical trailer

 

[Gary OS]

I very much liked Gloria Jean in her first vehicle, "The Under-Pup" (1939). It's a very nicely photographed film (Hal Mohr, I believe), and would make a lovely Blu-ray, with its appealing visuals and 'summer camp' backdrop. Jean didn't quite have the innate, natural charm of Durbin, but she had a pleasantly reserved sincerity, which put her in good step. But, I suspect this film is another of those Universals that's on a rather distant back-burner, alongside the enjoyable Peggy Ryan / Donald O'Connor stuff.

That last line has almost prophetically been foreshadowed with most every post & announcement after yours, @Bert Greene. LOL


Gary "still hoping for some releases in the vein you mentioned, buddy" O.