NOW ON BLU-RAY™!

KISMET (1955) on Blu-ray! Maestro Minnelli offers up the fourth film version of the Edward Knoblock’s play Kismet: An Arabian Night in Three Acts (by way of the smash Broadway musical version) and concocts a frothy fantasia of widescreen wonder and magical music. As the original play’s title slyly hints, all the action in Kismet occurs within the confines of a single day, but what a day! Howard Keel stars as a street poet targeted by kismet to journey from back alleys stalls to the court of the Caliphate thanks to strange circumstance and keen wit. Along the way his daughter (Ann Blyth) captures the eye of the Caliph (Vic Damone) while the poetry earns the enmity of Wazir (Sebastian Cabot) and the regards of the Wazir’s favorite wife (Dolores Gray). This breathtaking Blu-ray Disc presentation is the pitch-perfect opportunity to discover Kismet’s delights for the first time or the fortieth. Songs include "Not Since Nineveh", "Baubles, Bangles and Beads", and "Stranger in Paradise". Kismet is presented in2.55:1 1080p with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround. Special features include The Battle of Gettysburg short subject, the classic cartoon The First Bad Man, two excerpts from The MGM Parade TV Series, the outtake song sequence "Rahadlakum", an audio-only bonus outtake song "Rhymes Have I", and the theatrical trailers for both the 1944 and 1955 versions.

John Garfield DVD Debuts

BLACKWELL’S ISLAND (1939) Topliner tough guy Stanley Fields may have been the original anti-hero focus of this ripped from the headlines crime picture, but John Garfield’s red-hot rising star power bumped his reformist reporter character from the backbench to the marquee. Inspired by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia’s famous raid on Blackwell’s Island penitentiary that exposed endemic corruption and inhuman conditions, this film pits mob boss Bull Bransom (Fields) against street savvy reporter Tim Haydon (Garfield). Bull runs his rackets from within the walls of Blackwell Island penitentiary but after Bull takes an off-the books furlough to bump off some of Tim’s cop cronies, Tim gets himself sent up the river to get the down-low on the low-down rat. Four Daughters’ Rosemary Lane co-stars. William C. McGann directs, with the great Michael Curtiz called in to give rising star Garfield’s scenes the gleam.

DUST BE MY DESTINY (1939) John Garfield pairs up with Rosemary Lane’s sister, Four Daughters’ Priscilla Lane, in this arresting and seminal proto-noir crime romance. Garfield plays a good guy with one great chip on his shoulder thanks to a run in the stir for something he didn’t do. On the amble with a couple of Dead-Enders (Garfield¹s They Made Me a Criminal co-stars Billy Halop and Bobby Jordan), Joe gets in a scrape that gets him sent up again. While providing prison labor on a farm, Joe falls for the farmer’s step-daughter (Lane) and fate puts the pair on the run while a murder charge hangs over Joe’s head. But fate has some curveballs still to toss at Joe... Alan Hale co-stars. Lewis Seiler directs.

FLOWING GOLD (1940) A thespian triple threat toplines this brawny romantic drama about the wild world of wildcat oilmen. John Garfield plays fugitive roughneck Johnny Blake, Pat O’Brien plays stalwart oil foreman Hap O’Connor, and Frances Farmer plays the petrol pusher between them. Linda Chalmers (Farmer) and her dad "Wildcat" (Raymond Walburn) have staked everything on one last oil lease. But that lease comes with a ticking deadline and so their foreman, Hap, stakes his life savings into the job while persuading pal Johnny to switch sides and join in on Chalmers’ operation. Johnny has a secret that only Hap knows, and the law comes calling just when they need his help the most. Alfred E. Green directs.

EAST OF THE RIVER (1940) Tenement tale set amongst the blocks John Garfield grew up on, Manhattan¹s notorious Lower East Side. Garfield pairs up with William Lundigan playing a pair of grown delinquents, one angel, one devil, sharing the same yen for the same hen (Brenda Marshall). They also share the love of Mama Lorenzo (Marjorie Rambeau), proprietress of the best pasta shop in Little Italy. Mama’s natural born son Joe has grown into a no-goodnik while adopted son Nick is straight and sure. Joe returns home after a secret stir in the pen, dragging long suffering gal pal Laurie. As she tries to find her way in a city of strangers, Joe’s zest for vendetta leaves Laurie stranded in the Big Apple, alone but for the tender care of Mama and the even more tender attentions of Nick. When Joe gets wind of Nick’s making time with "his girl" he heads back to the city to claim his prize and a fateful reception awaits. Alfred E. Green directs.

SATURDAY’S CHILDREN (1940) Maxwell Anderson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play comes to the big screen thanks to a talented team. Vincent Sherman directs from an effervescent adaptation by the great Julius J. and Philip G.

Epstein (Casablanca, Four Daughters) with a cast that includes the great John Garfield, the indispensable Claude Rains and stage siren Ann Shirley. Humble company clerk Henry Halevy (Rains) gets his career minded younger daughter Bobby (Shirley) a job at the mail order firm he works for, where she quickly catches the eye of amateur inventor Rims Rosson (Garfield). Luring Rim into marriage thanks to some sisterly sleight-of-hand, Bobby soon learns the cost of dreams deferred for matrimonial reality.

DANGEROUSLY THEY LIVE (1941) Crackerjack pre-World War II suspense thriller pits a young Dr. Kildare-like intern (John Garfield) up against a nest of Nazi spies to protect an amnesiac agent of the crown (Nancy Coleman). After a car wreck, a young woman is checked into the ER without any memory. Entrusted to the care of a young intern, her treatment gets a consult from the storied Dr. Ingersoll (Raymond Massey). Things take a twist when a man shows up at the hospital claiming to be the girl’s father and Dr. Ingersoll recommends home care. Accompanying his charge, the young doctor finds himself a prisoner in a manse controlled by Gestapo agents.

And the only hope for a doomed Allied convoy is if the doc can escape...

Robert Florey directs.

Remembering Agent Erskine

THE FBI: THE COMPLETE EIGHTH SEASON (1972-73) The FBI versus the mob, for the soul of a nation. With the book fully closed on the flower-power era, the Seventies’ unique blend of stylish cynicism began to get its grip on the nation as selfless ideals started to get traded in for selfish dreams. Thankfully the stalwart squad led by FBI Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.), Assistant Director Ward (Philip Abbott), and Special Agent Colby (William Reynolds) let none of that interfere with their mission to safeguard a sleeping nation against foes within and without. As the FBI entered its eighth year, a new generation of stars were coming to the fore, all cutting their teeth acting opposite Zimbalist & co: David Soul, Robert Urich, Mariette Hartley, Martin Sheen, Sondra Locke, Patrick Wayne, Lara Parker and Belinda Montgomery side by side with drama die-hards the likes of Dean Stockwell, Edward Mulhare, John Anderson, Ross Martin and William Windom. 6-Disc, 26-Episode Collection.

HBO TIMES TWO

FIRST COUSIN ONCE REMOVED (2012) A distinguished poet, translator, critic and teacher, Edwin Honig wrote dozens of books and poems that attracted critical praise around the world. His seminal translations awakened English-speaking readers to previously overlooked literary giants, resulting in honorary knighthoods from the king of Spain and the president of Portugal. In FIRST COUSIN ONCE REMOVED, acclaimed documentary filmmaker Alan Berliner¹s paints a deeply personal portrait of his ³good friend, cousin and mentor² as Honig journeys through the ravages of Alzheimer¹s disease and memory loss. Shot over the course of five years, FIRST COUSIN ONCE REMOVED documents Honig¹s condition with care and compassion, displaying the same raw honesty that resonates in his poetry, written during a life steeped in tragedy, love, loss, irony and literary daring.

SIX BY SONDHEIM (2013) Directed by Tony Award-winner and frequent Sondheim collaborator James Lapine, SIX BY SONDHEIM is a highly personal profile of a great American artist as revealed through the creation and performance of six of his iconic songs. Told primarily in Sondheim’s own words, this feature documentary weaves together dozens of interviews with the composer, rarely seen archival material spanning more than half a century (including newly discovered footage of Ethel Merman performing ‘Gypsy’) and re-stagings of three songs produced especially for the film. The re-stagings in SIX BY SONDHEIM showcase performances by Broadway and Hollywood stars such as Audra McDonald (“Porgy and Bess”), Darren Criss (“Glee”), Jeremy Jordan (“Newsies”) and America Ferrera (“Ugly Betty”), interspersed with archival performances of Sondheim standards by stars like Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Dean Jones, Yvonne de Carlo and Larry Kert. Blending theatrical and rare interview footage with Sondheim¹s candid anecdotes, the film features the songs “Something’s Coming,” “Opening Doors,” “Send in the Clowns,” “I’m Still Here,” “Being Alive” and “Sunday.”