Warner Archive Collection New Releases Feb. 18: Bats on Blu & Shemp Too

 
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BEWARE THE BATMAN: SHADOWS OF GOTHAM, SEASON ONE, PART ONE (2014) This startling Bourne-era take on the multi-faceted Man of Bats comes roaring onto lush High Definition Blu-ray Disc faster than you can say “Grant Morrison.” Mixing bold CG animation with sophisticated long-form serial storytelling, this is one “Batman Show” better suited for the darkness than for Saturday morning. As “Shadows of Gotham” begins, we are introduced to a young Dark Knight, grimly determined to go it alone against Gotham’s most macabre and malevolent denizens much to the consternation of ex-MI6 agent Alfred Pennyworth. Injured on the job, Alfred pairs Wayne up with sword mistress Katana, an ex-spy with secrets of her own. Under the direction of Sam Register (Young Justice), Glen Murakami (Batman Beyond) and Mitch Watson (Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated), “Shadows” dives deep into the Batman mythos to bring some of the more outré members of the world’s greatest rogues gallery including Professor Pyg, Lady Shiva, Humpty Dumpty, Anarky and Magpie. So get set and don’t beware this blu-ray disc edition of one of the coolest bat-takes ever – as it was meant to be seen!

WHAT PRICE, PALOOKA?

THE VITAPHONE COMEDY COLLECTION VOLUME TWO: SHEMP HOWARD (1933-1937) Once and future Stooge Samuel “Shemp Howard” Horwitz wrote his own rules for comedy from the very beginning. Heckling his way into brother Moe’s “rough house” act with Ted Healy, Shemp was an original Stooge. After Larry Fine filled out the team, fame beckoned but Shemp balked at playing second banana to Healy and lit out on his own as a Vitaphone player. Shemp quickly rose from bit parts in shorts like ³Gobs of Fun² to supporting player alongside Daphne Pollard and Harry Gribbon (and even pro baseball¹s famous Dean brothers) to stealing the show in the Joe Palooka series based on the hit comic strip. Shemp¹s character Knobby Walsh quickly became the comedic center of the series and Shemp emerged as a new king of comedy.
· Collection includes: Gobs of Fun (1933); Daredevil O’Dare, My Mummy’s Arms, Smoked Hams, So You Won’t T-T-T-Talk, A Peach of a Pair, His First Flame (1934), Dizzy and Daffy, Why Pay Rent?, Serves You Right, On the Wagon, The Officer’s Mess (1935) When the Cat’s Away, Absorbing Junior, Joe Palooka: For the Love of Pete, Joe Palooka: Here’s Howe, Joe Palooka: Punch and Beauty, Joe Palooka: The Choke’s on You, Joe Palooka: The Blonde Bomber (1936), Joe Palooka: Kick Me Again, Joe Palooka:Taking the Count (1937).

WHAT PRICE, HOLLYWOOD? (1932) This seldom seen George Cukor classic features Constance Bennett and Lowell Sherman in a tinseltown tear-jerker that peels back the glamour to show the sour side of stardom. Young wise gal waitress Mary Evans (Bennett) is just a wannabe starlet until dipsomaniac director Max Carey (Sherman) plucks her from obscurity and vaults her to the top of the Hollywood heap. But as Mary ascends ever higher into the firmament, Carey descends ever lower into the hell of alcoholism. Often mislabeled as the source for Cukor¹s later classic, A Star is Born, What Price, Hollywood? Is very much its own bittersweet brilliant bird anchored by two performances that demands rediscovery and reappraisal. NEWLY REMASTERED

HBO AFTER DOC (SAY IT OUT LOUD)

AMERICANS IN BED (2013) From the privacy of their own bedrooms, ten couples offer frank, funny and often surprising insights into love, sex and marriage in AMERICANS IN BED. Featuring a rich cross-section of ages, ethnicities, religions and sexual orientations, AMERICANS IN BED spotlights some of the many reasons people come together and grow apart. Director Philippa Robinson conducts wide-ranging interviews with subjects who are filmed in the comfort of their own beds, asking probing questions about what people look for in a partner and how they know when they have found it. From a couple that has been together for 71 years to a pair of fresh-faced newlyweds, she encourages her subjects to open their hearts and minds as they share candid and touching insights into their relationships, underscoring the fact that no union is as simple as it seems on the surface.

NOTE: These DVDs are Manufactured on Demand (MOD); to order, fans must visit The Warner Archive Collection or WB Shop.com

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