Warner Archive Collection New Releases: Hitchcock and Shocks
I CONFESS (1953) on Blu-ray Shot on location in Quebec, this most Catholic of Hithcockian suspense thrillers reveals layers and dimensions of character and circumstance heretofore overlooked in this crystal clear 1080p presentation. Montgomery Clift plays a priest trapped by his own faith as the inviolate nature of the confessional place him squarely in the frame for violating Exodus 20:13. Karl Malden plays the intrepid inspector out to pierce the mystery, while Anne Baxter is the heart of the matter. Special Features: Hitchcock’s Confession: A Look at I Confess; Premiere Newsreel; Theatrical Trailer (HD). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Action! ACTION!! A*C*T*I*O*N!!!
THE WHIP HAND (1951) Renowned production designer William Cameron Menzies doubles up his duties and directs this lean, mean Cold War thriller. Magazine writer Matt Corbin (Elliott Reid) travels to the remote Minnesota hamlet for some trout fishing and discovers a dead lake and a citizenry full of secrets. Unfortunately for Corbin, the town and the dangers it harbors don’t take kindly to the curious or the cameras. Also starring Carla Balenda and Raymond Burr.
TAKE THE HIGH GROUND (1953) Richard Widmark and Karl Malden star in this creased and ironed “basic training picture” to deliver a tightly crafted, stirring tribute to our armed forces. After seeing some action in the early days of the Korean War, Sgts Ryan and Holt (Widmark and Malden) are stationed stateside at Ft. Bliss, churning out squads of combat-ready soldiers every sixteen weeks. As Ryan struggles to whip a particularly motley crew (including Russ Tamblyn, Carleton Carpenter, Steve Forrest and Maurice Jara) into shape, a shapely complication (Elaine Stewart) comes between the two D.I.s. Directed by Richard Brooks. 16×9 Widescreen
WATUSI (1959) George Montgomery and Taina Elg star in the sequel/remake (a requel?) to King Solomon’s Mines, as adapted by future scribe superstar James Clavell. Harry Quartermain (SIC for the H. Rider Haggard loyalists out there) heads to his father’s African stomping ground to claim the legendary treasure his father found decades before. But the jungle holds more than adventure for the embittered World War One veteran – it may just conceal understanding. Directed by Kurt Neumann. 16×9 Widescreen
THE ANGRY HILLS (1959) Leon Uris’ bestseller about Greece under fascist domination comes to the big screen courtesy of director Robert Aldrich. Robert Mitchum stars as an American war correspondent that stops off in Athens on the cusp of the German Occupation. Unwillingly entrusted with a list Allied double agents, he must make his way to out and to British intelligence while a relentless Gestapo chief (Stanley Baker) seals the nation shut around him. Also starring Elisabeth Mueller and Gia Scala. 16×9 Widescreen
THE ANGEL WORE RED (1960) This romantic thriller set during the turbulence of the Spanish Civil War portrays a union of the temporal (Ava Gardner, as a cabaret courtesan) and the spiritual (Dirk Bogarde, as a renegade priest fighting for the poor) while the machineries of conflicting power grind all to dust between them. Also starring Joseph Cotten and Vittorio De Sica. Written and directed by famed screen scribe Nunnally Johnson (The Dirty Dozen, The Grapes of Wrath). 16×9 Widescreen
GO NAKED INTO THE WORLD (1961) Gina Lollobrigida stars as Julie, the kind of girl who does – and gets well paid for it. Anthony Franciosa plays Nick, the young heir to a business empire who thinks he knows the ways of the world, but whose heart is purer than he realizes. Ernest Borgnine destroys the scenery as a crass, controlling business emperor intent on keeping his son away from the goods he’s already sampled. A code-confronting picture, Go Naked Into The World helped thrust cinema fully into the Sixties. Written and directed by Ranald MacDougall. 16×9 Widescreen
RHINO! (1964) Ivan Tors directs this enlightened African adventure, cut from much of the very same cloth as his later hit series, Daktari. Centered around the new and astounding technology of tranquilizer guns (THEY HUNT WITH GUNS THAT CANNOT KILL!), Robert Culp stars as the new school, no-kill zoologist Jim Hanlon, teamed up with old-school poacher Alec Burnett (Harry Guardino) on the hunt for the rare White Rhino. Shot on location, Rhino! abounds in scenic vistas and astounding animal action as only Ivan Tors could deliver. Also starring the equally scenic Shirley Eaton. Score by Lalo Schifrin. 16×9 Widescreen
NOTE: These DVDs are Manufactured on Demand (MOD); to order, fans must visit The Warner Archive Collection, WB Shop.com, Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
