My Two Cents
Monday, 12 May 2025 16:34

Warner Archive’s Splendor in the Grass BD, Death Wish 3 & Silent Scream, Imprint sets Malcolm X & Midnight Cowboy for 4K, Kevin Smith talks Dogma & more!

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We’re starting the week here at The Bits, as we so often do, with a trio of new Blu-ray reviews, including...

Dennis’ look at Herbert Ross and Woody Allen’s Play It Again Sam (1972) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films.

And Stuart’s thoughts on Edward Kull and Wilbur F. McGaugh’s 1935 The New Adventures of Tarzan serial on Blu-ray from Film Masters, as well as Clarence Brown’s Sadie McKee (1935) on Blu-ray from our friends at the Warner Archive Collection.

Also, Stephen and I have just contributed a pair of new subscriber-exclusive blog posts on The Digital BitsPatreon page (here and here). We’re up to 377 subscribers over there, and we’d really love to reach 400, so if you appreciate what we do here at The Bits in support of physical media, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. We have options for doing so that are as low as $6 a month (with discounts for a year-long subscription) and we definitely try to post exclusive content there that will make it worth your while, including regular video updates. Thanks in advance for your consideration! [Read on here...]

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In announcement news today, Paramount has set a 4K Ultra HD Steelbook edition of Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief (1955) for release on 7/29.

Kino Lorber Studio Classics has just revealed that Michael Winner’s Death Wish 3 (1985) is coming soon to 4K Ultra HD. The company has also announced the 4K Ultra HD co-release (with Dark Force Entertainment) of Denny Harris’ Silent Scream (1979) on 7/9.

Meanwhile, Imprint Films has just revealed their latest batch of 4K Ultra HD titles due in July, including Spike Lee’s Malcolm X (1992), Norman Jewison’s In the Heat of the Night (1967), and John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy (1969). All three are limited to just 1500 units, and will feature Dolby Vision HDR. The street date is 7/30. You can pre-order them here or by clicking on the image below.

Imprint Films' July 2025 4K Ultra HD slate

The Warner Archive Collection has unveiled their June slate of Blu-ray titles, which will include a Clark Gable Collection (of Mutiny on the Bounty, San Francisco, Idiot’s Delight, and Wife Versus Secretary) and a Gary Cooper Collection (of Sergeant York, Friendly Persuasion, Love in the Afternoon, and The Hanging Tree) on 6/17, as well as King Vidor’s The Citadel (1938), Richard Thorpe’s A Date with Judy (1948), John Cromwell’s The Enchanted Cottage (1945), Robert Wise’s Executive Suite (1954), John Farrow and Richard Fleischer’s His Kind of Woman (1951), and Elia Kazan’s Splendor in the Grass (1961) all on 6/24. You can read our dear friend George Feltenstein talking about many of them today on Tim Millard’s excellent The Extras TV podcast here.

Arrow Video has just released a new “4K coming attractions” tease video on their social media, revealing that they’re working on new Ultra HD releases of Michael Mann’s Thief (1981), Michael Gornick’s Creepshow 2 (1987), Clive Barker’s Nightbreed (1990), William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), George Pavlou’s Rawhead Rex (1986), Neil Jordan’s Mona Lisa (1986), Billy Wilder’s The Apartment (1960), and Giulio Paradisi’s The Visitor (1979). You can see that here.

Also today, director Kevin Smith appeared on The Mike Calta Show podcast over the weekend and revealed the story of how the rights to Dogma (1999) were finally wrested back from the clutches of Harvey Weinstein. And it turns out that it wasn’t Smith who purchase the rights from Weinstein, but an industry professional and Dogma super-fan named Alessandra Williams, which led directly to Smith’s new Dogma: The Resurrection Tour screening series! I talked in detail about this on Patreon this morning (you’ll find that here for subscribers), and you can view the relevant portion of the podcast here:

By the way, Dogma is actually returning to screen at the 2025 Festival de Cannes in May. And now we know that the film has received a new full-aperture 16-bit 4K scan of the original 1999 35mm interpositive, and a full digital restoration and remastering supervised by cinematographer Robert Yeoman, with audio remastering in 5.1 surround from the best existing elements! It does not appear that a new home video distributor has been selected yet, but we’ll be sure to post and update here as soon as we learn more.

And finally, just a heads up: Criterion is holding their annual Spring Sale featuring 30% off all Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K UHD titles on their website (click here). The sale runs until 5/26.

That’s all for now! Stay tuned...

- Bill Hunt

(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)

 

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