The MGM October Slate is coming! The MGM October Slate is coming! (1 Viewer)

[David Lambert]

From DVDFile this morning:

Just in from MGM is their October DVD catalog lineup, with another fine batch of classics, semi-classics and so-bad-their-good guilty pleasures. First up on 10/15 is a wave of well-priced favorites at $19.95 a pop, with the only extras being trailers. Presented in anamorphic widescreen are Paul Newman in Exodus, Best Picture nominee The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!, and classic Peter Sellars in The World of Henry Orient and The Big Levine; featuring non-anamorphic 1.66:1 widescreen transfers are How to Murder Your Wife and The Hoodlum Priest, and in their original 1.37:1 aspect ratios, The Big Knife and Barbary Coast. Extras are minimal with only trailers (Russians also includes a featurette) but retail is $19.95 a pop.
Up next on 10/8 are a bunch of $14.95 budget comedies, including Dana Carvey in Clean Slate, 8 Heads in a Duffle Bag, The Billion Dollar Hobo and Charles Bronson as The Mechanic. All feature new anamorphic widescreen and full screen transfers plus trailers. More cheapie releases include new single-disc double features with a flick on each side of the disc: Missing In Action II / Missing In Action III, American Ninja 2 / American Ninja 3, and The Longshot / They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way. Alas, all are presented in full frame only with trailers as extras.
Finally, on 10/15 comes the only Bond never-before-released on DVD, the spoof Casino Royale. Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with a new 5.1 Dolby Digital remix, extras include the original 1954 TV movie, a featurette, trailers and a collectible booklet. Retail is $19.95.

I've been waiting for Casino Royale and The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! since I got into DVD, so these are welcome releases! Some other good titles in there, too!
Those double-feature discs being fullframe only are a definate , though...I guess MGM joins the MAR bandwagon here! :frowning:

 

[george kaplan]

How to Murder Your Wife is a definite purchase for me.

 

[Julie K]

Well, it's not as good as some months for me (August being one of the best), but The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! is a must-buy. I never expected to see this on DVD so I'm quite happy.

 

[Craig S]

The Casino Royale release looks great - throwing the original TV movie on as an extra is a nice touch - thanks MGM!!
I'll also pick up The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! and Exodus.

 

[Will K]

Even though I'm not interested in the Chuck Norris or Ninja flicks, this MAR business is VERY disheartening. MGM, please don't give in to the darkside!

 

[Brian Kidd]

Sigh. Not that THEY WENT THATAWAY... is a cinematic classic, but heck, they're giving us an anamorphic BILLION DOLLAR HOBO! No offense to Tim Conway.

 

[Kurt N]

Casino Royale, Russians, and World of Henry Orient are necessities. Not too shabby, MGM...

Methinks the Big Levine is supposed to be the Angel Levine.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Exodus is the title I've been waiting for. This came from nowhere - I've heard no mention of this title being in preparation. It's a little "Hollywoodish" but still a great epic film. Newmann in the Haganah! Sal Mineo in the Irgun! John Derek as a liberal Palestinian!

I've emailed Peter that I think the date of 10/15 for the first block is a typo - probably should be 10/1, since the story continues to mention "next up on 10/8".

 

[Jay E]

There are quite a few good films here, especially How to Murder Your Wife, The World of Henry Orient and The Big Knife. I will be buying all 3 along with TRACTRAC, Exodus and Casino Royale.
And Kurt is correct, that is supposed to be The Angel Levine. I've never seen the film, but I've heard good things about it and since it stars Zero Mostel, I might pick it up sight unseen.

 

[Randy_M]

The World of Henry Orient is mine; vastly underrated Sellers flick

 

[SteveGon]

Well, I'll be picking up Casino Royale - that'll complete my James Bond DVD collection!

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Exodus, Casino Royale, Henry Orient, Russians are all on my Buy list. It's good but no August....but this August is completely fucking sick. I'm counting on getting lots of review discs because there's no way to afford all the great things coming out then---and most of them on the same day.

 

[Marty M]

Casino Royale has been maligned by the James Bond purist, but I really enjoyed this movie.

I will also be picking up The Russians.... I had quite a crush on the blond babysitter in this movie. I remember seeing her in a commerical about the time this movie was released.

 

[PatrickM]

I'm with David, I can't wait to get Casino Royale and The Russians...

The release of these old favourites will really fill out my collection.

Patrick

 

[Nick Graham]

I'm not gonna worry about the pan and scan only double features. I tend to think MGM figured they might as well release the titles, but didn't think they'd sell, and have reused old transfers to save costs. Thank heavens they knew Teen Wolf had enough of an audience to justify an anamorphic transfer. Until MGM starts making "family films" or movies that people actually care about (like A Midnight Clear) MAR only, I'll chalk this one up to them just being tightwads when it comes to movies they know nobody cares about.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Casino Royale has been maligned by the James Bond purist, but I really enjoyed this movie.

Yes, but isn't it an offical Bond film since it comes from an Ian Fleming novel? I thought I remembered reading that somewhere.

Jeff

 

[Christian Preischl]

Hi,
RE: Casino Royale
see, that's just the thing. Region 2 gets some things earlier than R1 (doesn't happen a lot, but it does happen, mostly with TV stuff), but when it happens, the Region 1 release is always better. Really makes you feel like Region 2 is just a test market. In the case of Casino Royale the R2 has been out for quite a while, but it's non-anamorphic and the only extra is a (get this!) anamorphic trailer!
Glad I didn't buy it.
Chris

 

[David Lambert]

Yes, but isn't it an offical Bond film since it comes from an Ian Fleming novel?

Yes, it was the first James Bond novel, which is why it was chosen to be the first 007 story to be acted on any screen, big or small, in the 1954 broadcast on the "Climax Mystery Theater" series. That version was played straight, as the novel was NOT a comedy!
The 1967 film of the same name was done as a parody, to capitolize on the success of the official line of movies with Sean Connery. It was produced by a different studio and set of producers, who had gotten the rights to that particular novel in a different manner, which I won't go into here.
A couple of years ago, MGM made a solid effort to "collect" all of the James Bond 007 stories back into their library, and using means both financial and legal they picked up Never Say Never Again from Sony, as well as both versions of Casino Royale.
Even though both versions of CR are being put onto this MGM disc, apparently it doesn't prevent other rightsholders from putting out the Climax! presentation as well. As was pointed out to me in the 007-in-October thread, a small outfit called Spy Guise is putting out the TV broadcast on their own DVD as well. But this one is a Collector's Edition of the broadcast, and - unlike MGM, whom at least one of the producers at Spy Guise used to work for - they have secured interviews/commentaries by Barry Nelson, who starred as 007 in that production! You'll find a link to that CE version of CR here, and here is the cover art:

As you can see on the cover, Peter Lorre was in that version, too.
In the meantime, to return to the subject at hand, the novel for CR was out of print, but is being returned to publication in September, along with a book-on-tape and a book-on-CD version of it. Here is an Amazon link to the novel pre-order in paperback. I doubt it is a coincidence!

 

[Brook K]

Nothing I'm interested in, though I used to watch The Mechanic a lot. It always seemed to come on TV when I was 10.

MGM are you ever going to release your Bergman films?

 

[george kaplan]

Which of Ingrid's films do they have?