New on Blu-ray: PORT OF FREEDOM aka GREAT FREEDOM NO. 7 (1944) Starring Hans Albers

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Product Description: Under the direction of Helmut Käutner (Black Gravel), German heartthrob Hans Albers stars as Hannes, a former sailor who now works as an entertainer, playing his accordion in the streets and cabarets of the garish red light district of Hamburg. When he meets a headstrong young farmgirl (Ilse Werner), Hannes’s passions are reawakened, and he is torn between his love for Gisa and the beckoning call of the sea. Produced in Germany in the final years of World War II, Port of Freedom (Grosse Freiheit Nr. 7) demonstrates how independent-minded artists were able to circumvent the demands of state-run film industry under the Third Reich. Rather than a propagandistic celebration of German might, it is a melancholy ode to lost love and happier times, lavishly photographed by Werner Krien in the rich warmth of Agfacolor.

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DVD & Blu-ray: THE MAN WHO WAS SHERLOCK HOLMES (1937)

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Product Description: In this fast-paced mystery-thriller, Hans Albers (mid-century Germany’s most popular leading man) stars as a pipe-smoking super-sleuth who may—or may not—be Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary detective. Traveling under the name Morris Flint with his Watson-like sidekick Macky (Heinz Rühmann), but possessing the unmistakable bearing of the renowned criminologist, he employs his charm, wit and powers of deduction to penetrate an elaborate criminal conspiracy. While it appears light-hearted on the surface, The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes (also released as Two Merry Adventurers) subtly reflects the troubled era in which it was made: 1937 Germany under the Third Reich. Its protagonist navigates a labyrinthine world in which everyone conceals secrets, truth is elusive, and heroes and charlatans are indistinguishable. Thanks to Albers’s roguish charisma and the sure-handed direction of Karl Hartl (Gold, F.P.1 Doesn’t Answer), the film hides its cynical undertones beneath a layer of effervescence, making The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes a playful yet dark mirror maze of romantic intrigue.

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DVD & Blu-ray: MUNCHHAUSEN (1943) Starring Hans Albers

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Product Description: In early 1943, just as Nazi Germany began its collapse with the surrender at Stalingrad, the Ufa Studios released an elaborate super-spectacle to celebrate the company’s 25th anniversary. Produced at the enormous cost of 6.5 million Reichsmarks, Münchhausen was the German response to such extravaganzas as Britain's The Thief of Bagdad and Hollywood’s The Wizard of Oz, both of which were jealously admired by Propaganda Minister Goebbels. Starring hypnotic, blond superstar Hans Albers, this lavish, impudent, adult fairy tale takes the viewer from 18th-century Braunschweig to St. Petersburg, Constantinople, Venice, and then to the moon using ingenious special effects, stunning location shooting, and a rich color palette.

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Find out more about this DVD/Blu-ray release after the jump.