Warner Archive New Releases: Love During Wartime

November 7, 2017November 29, 2017

WITH JENNIFER O’NEILL, JAMES WHITMORE, SHAWN WAYANS, MARLON WAYANS, GARRETT MORRIS, TAB HUNTER & TROY DONAHUE

SUMMER OF ’42 (1971) New to Blu-ray with a 2017 1080p HD Remaster

A true sleeper hit, Robert Mulligan’s tender coming-of-age during wartime classic took the studios by surprise while stealing the hearts of a Vietnam War weary nation. Set during a previous generation’s “good war,” Summer of ’42 recounts the season of wonders experienced by the “Terrible Trio” of Hermie, Oscy, and Benjie (Gary Grimes, Jerry Houser and Oliver Conant) stranded amidst the sun-and-salt-drenched wonders of Nantucket as their country gears up for war. Hermie in particular has his eyes on an older woman, the 22-year-old, married Dorothy (Jennifer O’Neill). Thanks to the war, this innocent obsession takes an unexpected turn. Setting the template for memoir movies to come, Summer of ’42 arrives in memory still green on this new 1080p presentation. 16×9 Widescreen

BATTLE CRY (1955) New to Blu-ray with a 2017 1080p HD Remaster

Master of the thick-as-a-brick paperback pot-boiler, Leon Uris always lathered on plenty of soap with his sweeping historical sagas, and this all-star and “up-and-comers” ensemble adaptation of his World War II epic hearts his mark. The even hand of master director Raoul Walsh matches all the swoons with stoic sacrifice which created a smash-hit war flick that broke hearts and busted box offices. The film follows the triumphs and tragedies endured by a group of Marines making their way to boot camp, through their grueling training and ultimate fateful, fatal mission in the Pacific. Thanks to the bevy of curvaceous complications, our boys have all kinds of encounters along the way. Starring Van Heflin, Aldo Ray, Nancy Olson, James Whitmore, Tab Hunter, Anne Francis, Dorothy Malone, L.Q. Jones, Raymond Massey, Mona Freeman and Fess Parker. Raoul Walsh’s scope and scale is brought to fine focus thanks to this Marine trim 1080p HD presentation. 16×9 Letterbox

THE WAYANS BROS.: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON (1996-97) New to DVD

Returning for its third season, The Wayans Bros. ‘ continues to deliver its unique blend of classic physical comedy and hip ’90s situation comedy with Shawn and Marlon Wayans playing brothers with little in common save an innate ability to disagree, disrupt and dis’. Shawn continues to run the newsstand next to Pops’ (John Witherspoon) diner, Marlon pursues an acting career while security gal Dee (Anna Maria Horsford) keeps the peace at the Niedermeyer Building. Pops is none too pleased when his mother-in-law Grandma Ellington (Ja’Net DuBois) sells her house, but Shawn and Marlon pay the price when she moves in with them and promptly starts running their lives. Things return to almost normal when Grandma moves in across the hall, letting the brothers get back to romantic rivalries, career conundrums, and flat-out foolishness. 3-Disc, 22-Episode Collection.

CLASSIC MOVIES AND MUSICALS BACK IN PRINT

BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953) Back on DVD

Ray Harryhausen’s monster-piece roars back to life on DVD. Near the Arctic Circle, an atomic bomb is detonated. This fearsome experiment disturbs the sleep of a giant rhedosaurus encased in ice for over 100 million years and sends it southward on a destructive, deadly rampage! The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms was the first screen adaptation of a work by fantasy-fiction titan Ray Bradbury. It also marked the first time Ray Harryhausen had total control over special effects. (Also available on Blu-ray!)

PARRISH (1961) Back on DVD

Troy Donahue, Claudette Colbert, and Karl Malden star in this melodrama about a young man who learns about life and love while living with his mother on a tobacco plantation and struggling for self-respect and independence. When Parrish’s mother, Ellen, marries one of two competing tobacco growers in the Connecticut River Valley, Parrish is alienated by his harsh new stepfather, Judd. And when Parrish falls for the daughter of Judd’s arch-rival, a chain of events leads to a showdown Claudette Colbert’s final screen appearance. Directed by Delmer Daves.

SUSAN SLADE (1961) Back on DVD

Delmer Daves directs this sweeping melodrama that tackles the post-Code taboo of teenage pregnancy. Innocent, virginal Susan Slade (Connie Stevens) is returning home after ten years abroad when she has an ill-fated shipboard romance with mountain-climber Conn White (Grant Williams). Left single and pregnant, Susan ends up trapped pretending her child is her sister.

ROME ADVENTURE (1962) Back on DVD

Suzanne Pleshette stars as a young American girl who goes to Italy to learn about love, finds a handsome Italian attracted to her, and realizes that she’s attracted to an architectural student who is having an affair with an heiress. Starring ’60s screen heartthrob Troy Donahue, Angie Dickinson and Chad Everett.

PALM SPRINGS WEEKEND (1963) Back on DVD

Troy Donahue toplines as Jim Munroe, captain of the West’s #1 college basketball team, on vacation with his buddies for a fast-break frolic of fun, sun and romance. Jim meets true love Bunny (Stefanie Powers) while Gail (Connie Stevens) falls for the wrong guy (Robert Conrad) but emerges with reputation unsullied thanks to Stretch (Ty Hardin) while team nerd Biff (Jerry Van Dyke) finds he doesn’t need the “romance machine” he’s invented when the real thing (Zeme North) comes along.

LADY BE GOOD (1941) Back on DVD

Eleanor Powell passes the baton to Ann Sothern in this tale of feuding spouse songwriters from the legendary Arthur Freed musical unit. Dixie Donegan (Sothern) and Eddie Crane (Robert Young) are once-married songwriting partners who, although now divorced, are still in love with each other. As they work together on a new collaboration, their friend tries to persuade them to remarry in this musical comedy.

NANCY GOES TO RIO (1950) Back on DVD

Pert and precocious Nancy Barklay (Jane Powell) is up for the leading role in a Broadway musical set in Brazil, but her seasoned stage-star mother, Frances (Ann Sothern), thinks she’s got the part! A sticky situation becomes impossibly complicated after Nancy follows her mother to Rio – where they both fall for the same man! Sourced from the same material as 1940’s It’s a Date. Carmen Miranda co-stars.

TWO WEEKS WITH LOVE (1950) Back on DVD

Kittenish teens Patti (Jane Powell) and Melba (Debbie Reynolds) make the most out of a turn-of-the-century family Catskills vacation. Patti is fluttery over a suave older man (Ricardo Montalban) and thinks romance will bloom if her disapproving parents let her wear…a corset! Meanwhile, Melba stalks a local boy (Carleton Carpenter) with lovestruck determination. In a sensational showstopper, Reynolds and Carpenter tear into a version of “Aba Daba Honeymoon,” so frisky and charming it became a smash-hit record. Busby Berkeley directs all the musical numbers.

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