Batman: The Brave and the Bold isn’t my favourite Batman series by a long shot but it is super fun to watch. I’m really happy to see Warner taking a chance with this one by making it available through their manufacturing-on-demand Archive program. I hope this is a sign that we’ll eventually see the Batman and Superman Animated Series‘ as well as the final two seasons of Justice League on Blu in the near future. Fingers crossed.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Complete First Season is available for pre-order from WB now for a November 5 release.

SHOUT AT THE DEVIL
(1976, Blu-ray released October 8, 2013 – MSRP $19.97)

THE FILM:

“Peter Hunt (DEATH HUNT) directed this fast-paced action film, based on the best-selling novel by Wilbur Smith. Lee Marvin (THE DIRTY DOZEN) stars as a gruff, opportunist Colonel Flynn O Flynn who enlists the help of an upper-class Englishman Sebastian Oldsmith (Roger Moore) to carry out his ivory smuggling operations in East Africa during World War I. When Sebastian falls in love with O Flynn s beautiful young daughter (Barbara Parkins) the unlikely duo come to blows in the jungle but put their differences aside when forced to get their fortune past German occupying forces readying a battleship for war. Also starring Ian Holm (ALIEN) “

3 FILMS BY ROBERTO ROSSELLINI STARRING INGRID BERGMAN
(1950-1954, Blu-ray released September 24, 2013 – MSRP $99.95)

THE FILM:

“In the late 1940s, the incandescent Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca) found herself so moved by the revolutionary neorealist films of Roberto Rossellini (Rome Open City) that she sent the director a letter, introducing herself and offering her talents. The resulting collaboration produced a series of films that are works of both sociopolitical concern and metaphysical melodrama, each starring Bergman as a woman experiencing physical dislocation and psychic torment in postwar Italy. It also famously led to a scandalous affair and eventual marriage between filmmaker and star, and the focus on their personal lives in the press unfortunately overshadowed the extraordinary films they made together. Stromboli, Europe ’51, and Journey to Italy are intensely personal portraits that reveal the director at his most emotional and the glamorous actor at her most anguished, and that capture them and the world around them in transition.

STROMBOLI

The first collaboration between Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman is a devastating portrait of a woman’s existential crisis, set against the beautiful and forbidding backdrop of a volcanic island. After World War II, a Lithuanian refugee (Bergman) marries a simple Italian fisherman (Mario Vitale) she meets in a prisoner of war camp and accompanies him back to his isolated village on an island off the coast of Sicily. Cut off from the world, she finds herself crumbling emotionally, but she is destined for a dramatic epiphany. Balancing the director’s trademark neorealism (exemplified here in a remarkable depiction of the fishermen’s lives and work) with deeply felt melodrama, Stromboli is a revelation.

EUROPE ’51

Ingrid Bergman plays a wealthy, self-absorbed socialite in Rome racked by guilt over the shocking death of her young son. As a way of dealing with her grief and finding meaning in her life, she decides to devote her time and money to the city’s poor and sick. Her newfound, single-minded activism leads to conflicts with her husband and questions about her sanity. The intense, often unfairly overlooked Europe ’51 was, according to Rossellini, a retelling of his own The Flowers of St. Francis from a female perspective. This unabashedly political but sensitively conducted investigation of modern sainthood was the director’s favorite of his films.

JOURNEY TO ITALY

Among the most influential dramatic works of the postwar era, Roberto Rossellini’s Journey to Italy charts the declining marriage of a couple (Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders) from England while on a trip in the countryside near Naples. More than just an anatomy of a relationship, Rossellini’s masterpiece is a heartrending work of emotion and spirituality. Considered a predecessor to the existentialist films of Michelangelo Antonioni; hailed as a groundbreaking modernist work by the legendary film journal Cahiers du cinéma; and named by director Martin Scorsese as one of his favorite films, Journey to Italy is a breathtaking cinematic benchmark.”

THE LITTLE MERMAID: DIAMOND EDITION
(1989, Blu-ray released October 1, 2013 – MSRP $44.99)

THE FILM:

“With unforgettable characters, thrilling adventures, soaring Academy Award-winning music (1989: Best Music, Original Score, and Best Music, Original Song, Under The Sea.), The Little Mermaid is one of the most celebrated animated films of all time. Now spectacularly transformed for the first time on Blu-ray with digitally restored picture and brilliant high-definition sound! Venture under the sea where Ariel, a free-spirited mermaid princess, longs to be part of the human world. After bravely striking a bargain with Ursula, a sneaky sea witch, Ariel embarks on the adventure of a lifetime. With Flounder and Sebastian at her side, Ariel will need all of her courage and determination to make things right in both her worlds.“

All hail Masters of Cinema! I’ve been waiting a long time for this and I’m thrilled to see that one of the best boutique home video labels in the world is taking on F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, one of the best ever adaptations of Stoker’s Dracula. MoC have yet to announce their full slate of special features for the disc but I love what I see so far – 2 commentary tracks, a feature-length doc and an interview. Great start! I can’t wait to get my filthy mitts on this bad boy. It hits UK shops on November 18.