Around the Blogosphere This Week

Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the internet...

...Kino Lorber has more new sets on the way in early August: The Carole Lombard Collection I, the Tony Curtis Collection, and the Audie Murphy Collection. All will be out on August 4th. Details:

*The Lombard set has FAST AND LOOSE (1930), MAN OF THE WORLD (1931), and NO MAN OF HER OWN (1932), with commentary tracks on the latter two films by Samm Deighan and Nick Pinkerton, respectively. I'm not sure whether FAST AND LOOSE has ever been released on DVD.

*The Curtis set includes THE PERFECT FURLOUGH (1958), THE GREAT IMPOSTER (1960), and 40 POUNDS OF TROUBLE (1960). All of the films have commentaries, with David Del Valle and C. Courtney Joyner on THE PERFECT FURLOUGH, while Kat Ellinger covers the other two films.

*The Murphy set contains THE DUEL AT SILVER CREEK (1952), RIDE A CROOKED TRAIL (1958), and NO NAME ON THE BULLET (1959). Toby Roan provides the commentary track for the first two films listed, while Steve Mitchell and Gary Gerani team up for NO NAME ON THE BULLET. There's a little more on this set at Toby's site, 50 Westerns From the 50s.

...And coming from Kino Lorber in September: DEATH ON THE NILE (1978). Incidentally the new version of the story directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh is currently due in theaters on October 9th.

...A "Classics for Comfort" blogathon last week included great entries by Caftan Woman, who highlights STAGE TO CHINO (1940) and MARGIE (1946), and Ruth at Silver Screenings, whose list includes YOU WERE NEVER LOVELIER (1942).

...CineSavant Glenn Erickson recently posted reviews of Kino's POOL OF LONDON (1951), which sounds quite interesting, and the Warner Archive's BLOOD ON THE MOON (1948), which I reviewed here a few days ago.

...Coming in June from the Warner Archive: Doris Day starring in ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS (1948) on Blu-ray. The Archive's Facebook page indicates it's taken from a scan of a nitrate print.

...Also coming from the Warner Archive: Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland on Blu-ray in STRIKE UP THE BAND (1940).

...The HBO Max streaming service debuts next week. So far I haven't seen anything that causes me to want to subscribe. It sounds like anything of interest to me is already in my movie library.

...The Disney Insider interviews Leonard Maltin on his career as a Disney historian. He tells some fantastic stories, including a magical day on the Disney lot where he got to see the then-unavailable THE RELUCTANT DRAGON (1943). I especially love that anecdote as I was lucky to watch that film on the Disney lot myself in 2016.

...From KCET: Southern California drive-ins.

...The pre-Code THE SIN OF NORA MORAN (1933), which had its TCM premiere earlier this month, is coming to Blu-ray from the Film Detective in July.

...Welcome news: See's Candies has reopened their candy kitchens.

...The excellent Elvis Presley film KING CREOLE (1958) was just released on Blu-ray in the Paramount Presents line. Mike Clark has a review at Media Play News.

...Notable Passings: Ken Osmond, who played Eddie Haskell on TV's LEAVE IT TO BEAVER and served 18 years with the LAPD, has passed on at the age of 76...Former child actor Martin Spellman, who played Robert Preston as a child in BEAU GESTE (1939) and appeared as Skinny in BOYS TOWN (1938), has died at the age of 94...Jon Whiteley, who was awarded a special juvenile Oscar for THE KIDNAPPERS (1953), has died at 75...Charles Lippincott, the man behind the ad campaign for the original STAR WARS (1977), has died at 80.

...For additional recent links of interest to classic film fans, please check out my May 16th roundup.

Have a great week!