Burnt Offerings: MOD DVD
Tuesday, 10 June 2014 12:43

Burnt Offerings for June 10, 2014

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John Garfield gets the spotlight this week and another MGM musical spectacular from the 1950s makes its Blu-ray debut. Let’s take a gander at this week’s MOD deliveries, available with the click of a mouse via the banners yonder.

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NEW FROM THE WARNER ARCHIVE COLLECTION

Kismet (1955) – An Arabian night, Broadway-style! Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Dolores Gray and Vic Damone star for director Vincente Minnelli in this colorful, widescreen epic. The Blu-ray brings along the special features from the DVD release, including short subjects, cartoons, outtakes and more.

Dust Be My Destiny (1939) – A JET’s Most Wanted pick is captured at last! John Garfield stars as a hard-luck ex-con who falls in love Priscilla Lane, the daughter of the prison farm foreman. The foreman dies, forcing Garfield and Lane to go on the lam, running from a murder they didn’t commit.

Blackwell’s Island (1939) – Garfield’s on the right side of the law this time as a reporter working to take down gangster Stanley Fields. The twist is that Fields operates from within the title prison, so Garfield has to go behind bars to bring him down.

East Of The River (1940) – Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Garfield and William Lundigan star as childhood pals who take different paths, Lundigan taking the straight and narrow and Garfield becoming a thug, but they’re both in love with Brenda Marshall. A familiar story enlivened by Garfield’s presence.

Flowing Gold (1940) – Garfield, once again falsely accused of murder, takes a job on the oil fields working for Pat O’Brien. Frances Farmer plays the third point of this love triangle.

Saturday’s Children (1940) – Garfield gets an atypical role as an inventor with big dreams but little success who marries co-worker Anne Shirley. The indispensable Claude Rains costars as Shirley’s father.

Dangerously They Live (1941) – Garfield plays an American doctor who comes to the aid of Allied spy Nancy Coleman when they’re captured by Nazis led by Raymond Massey.

The FBI: The Complete Eighth Season (1972-73) – The penultimate season of Efrem Zimbalist Jr.’s long-running crime series. Keep your eyes peeled for such 70s-era guest stars as David Soul, Robert Urich, Sondra Locke, Mariette Hartley and more.

First Cousin Once Removed (2012) – HBO Documentary Films presents Alan Berliner’s portrait of brilliant poet and professor (and, as the title suggests, relative) Edwin Honig’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Six By Sondheim (2013) – A terrific documentary look at the creative process of Stephen Sondheim, America’s greatest musical theatre composer (this is not up for debate), through interviews, archival performances and newly-produced numbers.

 

NEW FROM 20TH CENTURY FOX CINEMA ARCHIVES

Here Comes Trouble (1936) – Paul Kelly, Arline Judge and Mona Barrie star in this early comedy caper.

I Was An Adventuress (1940) – Vera Zorina (a ballet dancer who was apparently such a star that she was credited simply as “Zorina” in this picture) stars as a con artist who falls in love with her mark but can’t get rid of her partners-in-crime, Erich von Stroheim and Peter Lorre (!!). I’d be surprised if this was all that great but the lure of seeing von Stroheim and Lorre together is tantalizing.

The Cowboy And The Blonde (1941) – That’d be George Montgomery and Mary Beth Hughes in this comedy-western B-movie.

- Adam Jahnke

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