Warner Archive New Releases: Stuff Yourself with the Newest Discs

OPERATION CROSSBOW (1965) New 2019 1080p HD Master
This seamless blending of historical fact and action/adventure fiction from director Michael Anderson (The Dam Busters, Logan’s Run) was an instant war-time espionage classic when released. What begins as a war-time procedural as British Intelligence races to understand just what the Nazi’s are constructing turns into a desperate one-way spy mission as the V1 rockets starts raining drone of death terror on blitzkrieg battered Britain – and the far more deadly missile V2 is waiting in the wings. George Peppard stars as Lieutenant John Curtis, the Allied espionage agent who infiltrates the secret Nazi weapons facility, and Sophia Loren stars as the wife of the scientist whose identity Curtis has assumed, along with a huge cast (Trevor Howard, John Mills, Tom Courtenay, Paul Heinried, Lilli Palmer, Anthony Quayle among others)  that carefully presents this tale from both the Allied and the Axis perspective.  Operation Crossbow flies onto your widescreen high definition screen ready for this challenge thanks to this clearly explosive 1080p HD presentation. Special Features: Vintage Featurette “A Look Back at Crossbow”; Theatrical Trailer (HD). 16×9 Letterbox

THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952) New 2019 1080p HD Masters From 4K Scans of the Original Negative
An all-star assembly of talents, both in front of (Kirk Douglas, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame, Leo G. Carroll) and behind (John Houseman, Charles Schnee, Cedric Gibbons, Helen Rose, Robert Surtees) the camera for maestro Vincente Minnelli’s cynical and charming backstage look at business and shenanigans of commercial cinema. Deploying guile and glamor in equal measure, the tale of a true Hollywood hustler unspools with panache and pathos. Douglas stars as Jonathan Shields, a striving studio mogul, desperate for a hit, who arranges a meeting with a top star (Lana Turner), screenwriter (Dick Powell) and director (Barry Sullivan). But before he can give the greenlight, it’s time for all his sins to be revisited. This five-time Academy Award winner (Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Gloria Grahame, Best Writing, Screenplay – Charles Schnee, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black & White – Cedric Gibbons, Edward Carfagno, Edwin B. Willis, Keogh Gleason, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White – Robert Surtees, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White – Helen Rose) gets the A-list treatment it so richly deserves on this sumptuous new HD master created from scan of the original negatives and painstaking restored, all in glorious, silver screen sheen Black and White. Special Features: Feature Length Documentary “Lana Turner…A Daughter’s Memoir”; Scoring Session Music Cues; Theatrical Trailer (HD)

THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1959) New 2019 1080p HD Master
Nuclear doomsday has come. Ralph (Harry Belafonte) is sure he is the last person alive. Then a woman (Inger Stevens) appears and the two form a cautious friendship that¹s threatened when a third survivor (Mel Ferrer) arrives. There are no external monsters to battle in this urban apocalypse landscape. Instead, the monsters – fear, intolerance, jealousy – lurk within the human heart. Suspenseful and unsettling, The World, The Flesh and The Devil proved a seminal “last man” movie that is both prescient and powerful. Loaded with stunning vistas of an unpopulated New York City, its visual influence ripples on down though a diverse series of successors such as Omega Man and The Quiet Earth, while its forthright confrontation of racial and sexual politics is both surprising and inspiring. Screenwriter/Director Ranald MacDougall’s (Mildred Pierce, Dark of the Sun) Sci-Fi stunner is reborn, thanks to this crisp and crackling 1080p presentation in glorious Black and White. 16×9 Letterbox

GREAT DAY IN THE MORNING (1956) New 2019 1080p HD Masters From 4K Scans of the Original Negative
The young town of Denver, right before the outbreak of the Civil War, is the setting for this Western drama from acclaimed director Jacques Tourneur (Out of the Past, Stars in My Crown). Recently rescued from Indian ambush, laconic Southern loner Owen Pentecost (Robert Stack) rides into town and into the hearts of saloon girl Boston (Ruth Roman) and frontier entrepreneur Ann Merry (a pants-wearing and liberated Virginia Mayo). With Boston’s aid, Owen wins the deed of the local saloon in a card game against its menacing and card-cheat owner, the aptly named Jumbo Means (Raymond Burr). With secession causing tensions to rise between Denver’s Northern majority and its Southerner minority, Owen is pressured to support his Confederate brothers, but he remains firmly committed to his one true cause – gold! And there’s two million dollars of it that needs to be smuggled out before the start of the war! Jacques Tourneur’s filmography stands among the most accomplished in the annals of Tinseltown and straddles a wide swath of genres and styles. Often overlooked, and most certainly underrated, returning one of his works to the public’s perusal in a sweeping 1080p Blu-ray that does justice to its Super Scope Technicolor presentation is a particular pleasure. Special Features: Four Jacques Tourneur MGM shorts, The Ship That Died, Strange Glory, The Face Behind the Mask and The Magic Alphabet. 16×9 Letterbox

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

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