Warner Archive Collection New Releases Feb. 25: Show Boat, Cagney & The FBI

 

warner-archives-02-25-2014

WARNER ARCHIVE KEEPS ROLLIN’ ALONG!

SHOW BOAT (1936) James Whale’s extremely faithful adaptation of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein musical sensation makes its DVD debut at last! Based on a Edna Ferber novel, Show Boat denotes the romantic misadventures of a central star-crossed pair of river boat performers (Irene Dunne and Allan Jones) and the lives of the river show boat folk on both sides of the racial divide. With Hammerstein enlisted as scripter as well as the stage show’s orchestrator and conductor (Robert Russell Bennett and Victor Baravalle), not to mention a star-studded cast of vets of various stage incarnations (Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan, Charles Winninger, Sammy White, Francis X. Mahoney, Irene Dunne, Allan Jones), Show Boat is as close as you can come to a 1932 ticket to the Great White Way. Out of home video circulation for years, this boat comes to port at last in a sparkling new edition. Newly Remastered Shop Exclusive! Initial quantities of this release will be traditionally replicated (pressed) in anticipation of high consumer demand.

CAGNEY COMBO with a Side of Bogey

WINNER TAKE ALL (1932) Cagney delivers up a double-fisted performance in this pugilistic drama about a palooka that falls hard for the wrong kinda society dame. Roy Del Ruth directs Cagney as “Knockout” Jimmy Kane, a boxer with a killer fist but a physique in need of fixing. Thanks to the generosity of NYC fight fans, Jimmy gets an extended stay at a New Mexican sanitarium where he woos good girl widowed mom Peggy (Marian Nixon). Jimmy’s laudable love life goes south as soon as he heads back north back and into the arms of Joan (Virginia Bruce), a society debutante bad apple. The idiosyncratic Jimmy Kane allows Cagney to dive deep into his character actor skill set, making for a truly street savvy mix of high drama and lowbrow laughs. Also stars Guy Kibbee and Clarence Muse. Newly Remastered

HERE COMES THE NAVY (1934) Cagney stars as a pugnacious civilian riveter that enlists in the Navy to get back at the seaman who stole his girl (Pat O’Brien). But the hard-headed working man has a lot to learn about what it means to be a serviceman, and even more to learn about the sister (Gloria Stuart) of his nemesis and commanding officer. By the time the cadet’s head starts getting straight, he’s already gained a rep for not ebbing jake with his fellow swabbies, except for his pal Droopy (Frank McHugh). This patriotic peacetime picture knows when to cleave to comedy, veer into action and steer into heart-on-the-sleeve sincerity. Of poignant interest are the films two vehicular stars – the dirigible Macon and the battleship Arizona, both tragically lost (the Arizona horrifically at Pearl Harbor) after the film’s release. Lloyd Bacon directs. Newly Remastered

THE OKLAHOMA KID (1939) Jimmy Cagney goes west, Warner Bros. style in this one-of-a-kind oater that pits Cagney’s Kid against Bogey’s Whip for the soul of the newly minted city of Tulsa, OK. The Kid is no six-gun saint – when we first encounter him he’s robbing robbers (led by Bogart’s Whip McCord) and giving to himself. But when Whip McCord pulls a “sooner” con on the newly arrived settlers and embeds himself as Tulsa’s saint of sin, the righteous John Kincaid stand up to him. It’s a stand that has the power to pull the free-wheeling, fast drawing Kid back to town. Every inch a proper oater, this Western romp has a sly bit a Warner Bros. social justice streaked into the doings, with three political philosophies driving the action. Not to mention a Bogart on-the-cusp of superstardom relishing the chance to play as sneering a villain as ever trod the west. Directed by Lloyd Bacon. Newly Remastered

THE MAN ON TV

THE FBI: THE COMPLETE SEVENTH SEASON (1971-72) As the 70s came into its own, the intrepid agents of the FBI saw the Cold War and the Culture War cool down, but the domestic war on crime start to come to a boil. Whether its suburban salesmen roiling with self-loathing who plan the perfect crime (Bradford Dillman) and don¹t care who they cross in the process (an ice-cold Clu Gulager), crushed lumber merchants with a fail-proof kidnap cache (John Colicos), or syndicate-raised hit-men with the heart of an angel (Martin Sheen, redeemed by Meg Foster), the intrepid professionals of the bureau, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.), Special Agent Colby (William Reynolds) and Assistant Director Ward (Philip Abbott) have the savvy and the science to bring them all to heel. Among the dupes and deceivers found in this 6-Disc, 26-Episode collection are the famed and the-soon-to-be including Lindsay Wagner, Mark Hamill, Dabney Coleman, Stefanie Powers and Vic Tayback. Initial quantities of this release will be traditionally replicated (pressed) in anticipation of high consumer demand.

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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