Scorsese / Sony combine to bring 'Collectors Choice' to DVD...

[Livius]

The Savant's review of The Jack Lemmon Film Collection.

[John Hodson]

Oh I wonder what's in The William Castle Collection...

Movies Unlimited are listing it for release on October 20 for $68.84, to include:

Homicidal (1961)
Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
Zotz! (1962)
The Old Dark House (1963)
The Tingler (1959)
13 Ghosts (1960)
13 Frightened Girls! (1963)
Strait-Jacket (1964)

Specs from ClassicFlix:

The William Castle Film Collection

The master of ballyhoo who became a brand name in movie horror with his outrageous audience participation gimmicks is remembered in this, The William Castle Film Collection.

DISC 1:

13 Frightened Girls (1963, 89 min.)
Castle launched a worldwide hunt for the prettiest girls from different countries to cast in 13 Frightened Girls!. The stunt helped generate publicity for the film about the thirteen daughters of international diplomats in a Swiss boarding school, who stir up trouble when they mess in the diplomatic affairs of their parents and a Russian spy is discovered murdered.

13 Ghosts (1960, 85 min.)
Castle aggressively promoted the film with floats going up and down Hollywood Blvd. with “ghosts” riding along, holding signs, touting the movie. He named the gimmick created for 13 Ghosts “Illusion-O,” which was a special hand-held piece of cardboard with two transparent colored strips, one red and one blue. If you wanted to see the ghosts in the film, you looked through one, but if you were too frightened, you could look through the other and they weren’t visible. The film promised and delivered “13 Times the Thrills! 13 Times the Chills! 13 Times the Fun!” for the story of a family who inherits a haunted house, but discover a special pair of goggles that allows them to see their ghostly tormentors. The film starred Martin Milner (TV’s “Adam-12”) and Margaret Hamilton (The Wizard of Oz).

BONUS FEATURES:

* Featurette: “The Magic of Illusion-O”
* Original Theatrical Trailers
* Original “British” trailer introduction for 13 Frightened Girls
* Original “Candy Web” trailer for 13 Frightened Girls
* Original “Candy Web” theatrical opening message from William Castle for 13 Frightened Girls
* Original “Candy Web” theatrical closing message from William Castle for 13 Frightened Girls
* Alternate opening (British) for 13 Frightened Girls
* Alternate opening (Swedish) for 13 Frightened Girls
* Alternate opening (French) for 13 Frightened Girls
* Alternate opening (German) for 13 Frightened Girls

DISC 2:

Homicidal (1961, 87 min.)
In Homicidal, the brutal stabbing murder of a justice-of-the-peace sparks an investigation of the dark family secrets in a sleepy small town. Castle promoted the film with a “Fright Break,” a 45-second timer during the film’s climax as the heroine approached a house harboring the sadistic killer. The voiceover advised the audience of the time remaining in which they could leave the theatre and receive a full refund if they were too frightened to see the rest of the film. To ensure filmgoers did not opt for the refund, Castle instituted the “Coward’s Corner.” Patrons were expected to follow yellow footsteps up the theater aisle, bathed in a yellow light and sit in a yellow cardboard booth in the theater lobby. Castle included a nurse offering a blood-pressure test, a recording blaring “Watch the chicken! Watch him shiver in Coward’s Corner,” and required them to sign a yellow “Coward’s Certificate” card stating, “I am a bona fide coward.” Needless to say, very few filmgoers opted out of the screening.

Strait-Jacket (1964, 93 min.)
Advised by his financial backers to eliminate the gimmicks, Castle hired Hollywood’s legendary Joan Crawford (The Women, Our Dancing Daughters) to star as an ax-murderess in this story of a mother, who, after a 20 year stay in an insane asylum for a double murder, visits her estranged daughter and raises suspicions about her odd behavior. At the last minute, Castle had cardboard axes handed out to patrons and sent Crawford on a nation-wide promotional tour of theaters showing the film.

BONUS FEATURES:

* “Psychette: William Castle and Homicidal”
* “Homicidal Youngstown, Ohio Premiere”
* Featurette: “Battleaxe: The Making of Strait-Jacket”
* Vintage Featurette: “How to Plan a Movie Murder”
* Original Theatrical Trailers
* Joan Crawford Wardrobe Tests
* Joan Crawford Axe Test
* Strait-Jacket TV Spots

DISC 3:

Mr. Sardonicus (1961, 89 min.)
In this gothic tale set in 1880 London, a Baron’s face is frozen into a permanently grotesque hideous smile after digging up his father’s grave to retrieve a winning lottery ticket accidently left in his pocket. The gimmick allowed audiences to vote in a “Punishment Poll” during the climax of the film where Castle himself appears on screen to explain to the audience their options. Each member of the audience was given a card with a glow-in-the-dark thumb they could hold either up or down to decide if Mr. Sardonicus would be cured or die at the end of the film. Supposedly, no audience ever offered mercy and the villain was always punished.

The Old Dark House (1963, 86 min.)
Tom Posten (Zotz!) was again cast by Castle in this project about an American who sells cars in England who receives a mysterious invitation from an old, eccentric millionaire to visit his house in which he lives with his twin brother.

BONUS FEATURES:

* Featurette: “Taking the Punishment Poll"
* Featurette: “Ghost Story: Pilot (The New House)"
* Original Theatrical Trailer

DISC 4:

The Tingler (1959, 82 min.)
Legendary horror star Vincent Price (Edward Scissorhands) stars in The Tingler, the terrifying story of a docile creature that lives in the human spinal cord. They become activated by fright and can only be destroyed by screaming. In the film’s finale, one of the creatures kills a mute woman because she was unable to scream and the creature is let loose in a movie theatre. Castle promoted the film with the gimmick of “Percepto,” where audiences would actually feel the sensations of the actors on the screen. To achieve this, theaters wired select seats with tiny motors underneath that would vibrate during key scenes in the movie. The certain members of the audience would get a “tingling” sensation and were encouraged to “Scream - scream for your lives.”

Zotz! (1962, 87 min.)
Tom Posten (TV’s “Newhart”) finds a Zotz coin and discovers its awesome powers. After attempting to share its secret with the US government (where he is brushed off as a lunatic), his discovery captures the interest of foreign agents, who attempt to steal it. To promote the film, Castle provided each filmgoer with a “magic” coin which, unfortunately, did absolutely nothing.

BONUS FEATURES:

* Featurette: “Scream For Your Lives: William Castle and The Tingler”
* Featurette: “Ghost Story: Graveyard Shift”
* Alternate Drive-In Sequence for The Tingler
* Original “Scream” Sequence for The Tingler
* Original Theatrical Trailers

DISC 5 (BONUS DISC):

* Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story

[John Hodson]

From DVD Times:

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment have announced the Region 1 DVD release of a Sam Fuller Collection (Collector’s Choice) on 27th October 2009 priced at $79.95 SRP. This 7-disc set includes the following films:

■It Happened in Hollywood
■Adventure in Sahara
■Power of the Press (1943)
■Shockproof
■Scandal Sheet (1952)
■The Crimson Kimono
■Underworld U.S.A.

Extras include:
■Martin Scorsese On Underworld U.S.A.
■Cutis Hanson: The Culture Of The Crimson Kimono
■Sam Fuller's Search For Truth With Tim Robbins
■Sam Fuller Storyteller

[John Hodson]

Oooohhhh, nice; Sony's new Columbia Classics website, click on In Production and:

Upcoming in the Collector's Choice series, in our Partnership with the Film Foundation, include: The Samuel Fuller Collection, featuring the two films he directed for Columbia (The Crimson Kimono, Underworld U.S.A) and the five feature films for which he contributed stories or scripts. Martin Scorsese, Curtis Hanson, Tim Robbins and Wim Wenders contributed excellent introductions to this set, which is the next in the series to be released. There will also be The Films of Rita Hayworth collection in early 2010 with three films never before released on DVD (Tonight and Every Night, Miss Sadie Thompson, Salome) along with two new restorations (Cover Girl, Gilda). More on these boxed sets as we get closer to the release dates.

More Noir! For a number of years, the UCLA Film and Television Archive has been gracious in programming a series of films under the moniker of Columbia Restorations. The series features newly-restored prints of films from the Columbia Pictures library that we have been working to preserve and restore. Last fall, the series focused on actresses from Columbia noir titles of the 1940's and 1950's. Gloria Grahame, Lizabeth Scott, Nina Foch, just to name a few. This series received an enthusiastic review from Ken Turan in the Los Angeles Times and led us to think, why not create a DVD release around this concept? The result, The Bad Girls of Noir boxed set, featuring six of the films (Over-Exposed, The Glass Wall, One Girl's Confession, Two of a Kind, Bad for Each Other, and The Killer that Stalked New York) will be released in early 2010. It is really the first release of its kind with this particular focus and we hope fans of the genre will enjoy it.

[Livius]

Some info on Sony's R1 plans, release dates etc. from Grover Crisp, as quoted at the HTF:

The date on the Hayworth set was moved back to give us more time on the added value materials. That is also one reason the second Noir set was moved back, too. But the end of the year releases were getting crowded, also, so we wanted to allow each release to have its own focus by spreading them out a bit. The titles for Hayworth have not changed, and all are restored and remastered. Miss Sadie Thompson is presented 1.85, not full frame 16x9 (though not in 3-D in this box set). As to whether there will be a second volume, that probably will depend on how well the first one does, so we hope people get the first one. Lady from Shanghai is not currently planned for re-release, but will be the subject of a new restoration in the next year, so maybe at some point it will come out again (especially if people request it). These kinds of questions come up all the time and we are working to create a mechanism on the new Columbia classics-dedicated website (a work-in-progress site) so that fans can easily ask questions and get timely responses. Look for that in the near future.

[John Hodson]

This is Sony isn't it? Sometimes I have to pinch myself...

[Livius]

The Beaver's review of the William Castle set.
I'd really like to get this but I have a number of the old individual releases and the asking price is bordering on ridiculous.

[duggie walker]

Anyone found a reasonable price on the Castle or Lemmon sets?

[desktidy]

DVDBeaver reviews The Samuel Fuller Collection.

[John Hodson]

Oh, yes; very nice!

[Livius]

The Beaver's review of Film Noir Classics 1.

[John Hodson]

Despite the minor quibbles, I will be having this (at some point).

[Livius]

Via the HTF, and now confirmed by Sony's Mike Schlesinger:

Videoeta has 2 listings (with UPC numbers and February 2 release date) for Bad Girls of Film Noir Volume 1 and Bad Girls of Film Noir Volume 2. Each set contains 2 discs and list price is 24.95. Actual titles are not listed although I suspect they decided to break a recently rumored set into 2 volumes. That set was going to include:
Over-Exposed (1956)
Glass Wall, The (1953)
One Girl's Confession (1953)
Two of a Kind (1951)
Bad for Each Other (1953)
Killer That Stalked New York, The (1950)

If the decide to follow Screwball Comedies formula, each set should contain 4 titles.

[John Hodson]

That's a fine decision; splitting them up means that I'll be in there sooner rather than later, justifying each purchase by telling myself they're way under the customs limit. Know thy customer Sony...

[John Hodson]

Clydefro's excellent review of the The Samuel Fuller Collection.