New on Blu-ray: HOWARD HUGHES IN HOLLYWOOD VOLUME ONE - Two Arabian Knights and The Racket

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Product Description: Flicker Alley and the University of Nevada Las Vegas proudly announce Howard Hughes in Hollywood, the first volume of a planned two-volume series that spotlights, for the first time ever, two early works by the mogul turned Hollywood hitmaker. This set includes Two Arabian Knights (1927) and The Racket (1928), both debuting with new restorations and newly produced bonus features.

Just 20 years old when he arrived in Los Angeles, Hughes left a mark on the filmmaking industry through sheer determination. Although his two earliest forays into producing remain lost, his first two hits, Two Arabian Knights and The Racket survive, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Hart Wegner, founding faculty of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Film Studies program, who was instrumental in acquiring the extensive Howard Hughes motion picture papers and film materials for UNLV. Featuring new restoration work from materials conserved at the Academy Film Archive, from the elements provided by the UNLV College of Fine Arts’ Department of Film, both films are now available in a new, dual Blu-ray Disc edition from Flicker Alley. Additional materials have been made available by Special Collections and Archives at the UNLV University Libraries. Generous underwriting has been provided by a grant from the Sunrise Foundation for Education & the Arts, with the Villa Aurora / Thomas Mann House, Inc. serving as an administrative partner.

Based on a then-recent pulpy adventure serial, Two Arabian Knights was reimagined as a comedy of male bonding. With director Lewis Milestone at the helm and William Boyd and Louis Wolheim headlining as the title pair, the story follows two American soldiers, captured by German forces and sent to a prison camp, escaping to Arabia where they meet and compete for the affections of the lovely Mirza (Mary Astor), who has her own reasons for wanting to go on the run. Two Arabian Knights, which went on to win “Best Comedy Direction" for Milestone at the first Academy Awards, features an orchestral score performed by the Robert Israel Orchestra.

Hughes followed that hit with The Racket, a ripped-from-the-headlines proto-noir showcasing a new type of cinema gangster, Italian Americans, and the big city political corruption that empowered them. Thomas Meighan stars as James McQuigg, an honest cop trapped in a barrel of bad apples. He’s pitted against Louis Wolheim as Nick Scasi, modeled on famed Chicago gangster Al Capone. Lewis Milestone once again helms the directing, with veteran cinematographer Tony Guido photographing the action. With a nomination for “Best Picture” at the very first Academy Awards ceremony, and largely unseen for nearly a century, The Racket is available with a choice of two brilliant orchestral scores, one by Neil Brand and one by Robert Israel.

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New on Blu-ray: THE NORTH STAR / ARMORED ATTACK! (1943) Starring Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews

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Product Description: The North Star (1943) - June, 1941. When the school year ends, five friends from a small Ukrainian village decide to travel to Kiev. Their trip is cut short when German aircraft attack and their town falls under occupation. While many escape to the hills to form an anti-Nazi resistance group, a German military doctor, Otto von Harden (Erich von Stroheim, Five Graves to Cairo), begins to use the children for medical experiments and as sources of blood transfusions for wounded German soldiers. Directed by Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front), this story of valiant resistance stars Anne Baxter (Yellow Sky), Dana Andrews (Canyon Passage), Walter Brennan (Rio Bravo), Farley Granger (Rope), Dean Jagger (Pursued) and Walter Huston (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) as the Russian doctor who discovers the nefarious German plot.

Armored Attack! (1957) - The North Star was re-edited and re-released in the midst of the Cold War as Armored Attack!, excising references to the allied Russian military and adding an overtly anti-Communist narration track.

This Blu-ray includes both Armored Attack! as well as the newly remastered and complete original theatrical cut of The North Star, which runs 30 minutes longer and preserves Milestone’s initial vision of the film before politically motivated changes were made. This acclaimed original cut was nominated for 6 Academy Awards for the year 1943, including Best Cinematography (James Wong Howe), Music (Aaron Copland) and Original Screenplay (Lillian Hellman).

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DVD & Blu-ray: RAIN (1932) Starring Joan Crawford and Walter Huston - 90th Anniversary

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Product Description: VCI is pleased to present RAIN, celebrating it's 90 Anniversary in a stunning new 4K restoration, produced from the original, uncut 94-minute version. It is a most important film in the history of the cinema, and one of the greatest films the 'Thirties' produced. The consummate dramatic and artistic achievement of both Miss Crawford and Walter Huston will give the picture life for many decades to come. W. Somerset Maugham's powerful story of Sadie Thompson has perhaps the most celebrated version, vividly capturing the lives of several very different human beings, thrown together on Pago Pago during a fierce monsoon. Brilliant performances are given by Crawford, as the cynical prostitute, and Huston, as the minister who tries to reform her. A 'tour de force' of camera work, style and direction of a film that caused controversy when first released, 'Rain' is one of the true classic dramas of film history.

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New on Blu-ray: THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS (1946) Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin and Lizabeth Scott

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Product Description: Barbara Stanwyck, the legendary actress who defined the film noir femme fatale in 1944’s Double Indemnity, returns to the role of the deadly seductress in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. When streetwise gambler Sam Masterson (Van Heflin, Shane) returns to his hometown of Iverstown, childhood sweetheart Martha (Stanwyck) assumes he has come to blackmail her over the suspicious death of her aunt, which he witnessed years earlier. Thus begins a dangerous game of cat and mouse, in which the wealthy and powerful Martha, whose husband is the local district attorney (the film debut of Kirk Douglas, I Walk Alone), tries to threaten, connive and seduce the truth from Sam’s clenched lips. Lizabeth Scott (Pitfall) co-stars as a hard-boiled woman on probation whose attempts to go straight land her, ironically, in Iverstown’s vortex of circling sharks. Directed by Lewis Milestone (The General Died at Dawn), scripted by Robert Rossen (The Hustler) and scored by Miklós Rózsa (Spellbound), Martha Ivers is a razor-witted dance of death that represents Hollywood suspense at its most sublimely entertaining.

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DVD & Blu-ray: A WALK IN THE SUN (1945) - 4K Definitive Restoration

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Product Description: LEWIS MILESTONE, ACADEMY AWARD ® BEST DIRECTOR WINNER FOR ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930) DIRECTS THIS COMPELLING DRAMA OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN COMBAT DURING THE ALLIED INVASION OF ITALY IN SEPTEMBER 1943.

Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, John Ireland, Lloyd Bridges, and Norman Lloyd head a stellar ensemble cast comprising the lead platoon of Texas Division of the U.S. Fifth Army. This eclectic group of citizen-soldiers are thrust into a life-or-death mission to blow up an enemy bridge while attempting to capture a strategic farmhouse heavily garrisoned by German troops. The dilemma of the common soldier trudging to an unknown fate under a blazing Italian sun is captured by the different thoughts and personalities of a disparate group of men under arduous stress. Who will rise to the occasion or crumble under pressure? Robert Rossen's literate script dramatizes the narrative from the perspective of the infantryman whose mundane routine of service-related ennui is interspersed with heart-pulsing action amid the ever-present specter of sudden death. Once seen, it is never to be forgotten. The superb camera work by six-time Academy Award ® nominee Russell Harlan is supported by the titular ballad written by Millard Lampell and Earl Robinson and performed by renowned African-American operatic singer Kenneth Spencer. A Walk in the Sun was named as one of the year's top films by the National Board of Review, was nominated for Best Film by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and was added to the National Film Registry in 2016 for its cultural, historical and aesthetic significance. Once seen, it is never to be forgotten.

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New on Blu-ray: EDGE OF DARKNESS (1943) Starring Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan

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Product Description: In 1930, director Lewis Milestone won an Academy Award®* for his eloquent anti-war masterpiece, All Quiet on the Western Front. But with Edge of Darkness, made in 1943 during the dark days of the German blitzkrieg, Milestone displays no such pacifist sentiments. Indeed, this remarkable drama, set in a small Norwegian village, pays tribute to the heroic spirit of common people taking up arms against the Nazi invaders. Errol Flynn delivers a fine, understated performance as a common fisherman who leads the town's resistance efforts, while Ann Sheridan's strong character reflects the strength of all womankind. And featured in the superb ensemble cast are Walter Huston, Ruth Gordon and Judith Anderson.

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New on Blu-ray: THE GENERAL DIED AT DAWN (1936) Starring Gary Cooper and Madeleine Carroll

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Product Description: Brand New 4K Master! From Lewis Milestone, the celebrated director of All Quiet on the Western Front, The Front Page, A Walk in the Sun, Pork Chop Hill, Mutiny on the Bounty and Ocean’s 11, comes this classic tale of courage and heroism starring screen greats Gary Cooper (The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, Beau Geste) and Madeleine Carroll (The 39 Steps, My Favorite Blonde). O’Hara (Cooper) is a mysterious American soldier of fortune who tries to foil the ambitions of General Yang (Akim Tamiroff, Touch of Evil, After the Fox), a ruthless warlord who plans to take over the provinces of Northern China. On route to Shanghai with money to buy arms for the oppressed peasants, O’Hara is lured into Yang’s clutches by a beautiful American (Carroll). An intriguing game of double-cross ensues with O’Hara battling overwhelming odds in a deadly struggle against tyranny. Exotic settings and gorgeous cinematography (Victor Milner, Cleopatra) highlight this action-packed film noir co-starring Dudley Digges (The Invisible Man), Porter Hall (Miracle on 34th Street) and William Frawley (Fred Mertz of TV’s I Love Lucy). The General Died at Dawn was nominated for 3 Oscars: Actor in a Supporting Role (Tamiroff), Cinematography (Milner) and Score (Boris Morros, Werner Janssen).

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New on DVD & Blu-Ray : ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930) Collector's Series

Synopsis: In 1914, a group of German teenagers volunteer for action on the Western Front. Paul Baumer is a sensitive youth, but is persuaded to join up by a war-mongering professor advocating glory for the Fatherland. Paul and his friends are trained under Himmelstoss, a kindly postmaster turned brutal corporal, and then sent to the front lines to taste battle, blood and death. Includes: 40-Page Book with rare movie memorabilia reproductions, studio newsletters, posters, never before seen photos and much more! Relive the drama, conflict and power of one of the most influential anti-war films ever made, All Quiet on the Western Front, featuring a new restoration from the original film negatives to showcase stunning picture and sound in celebration of Universal's 100th Anniversary. The studio's first Best Picture Academy Award® winner.