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The Farmer’s Daughter has long been one of the most sought-after titles unavailable in the U.S. on Laserdisc, DVD, or Blu-ray, even though it has been widely circulated in other parts of the world.

Kino Lorber has come to its rescue with a stunning new Blu-ray and DVD release of the 1947 film from the Selznick library even though the film technically wasn’t a Selznick production. The famed producer had purchased the rights of the Swedish play on which the comedy is based for Ingrid Bergman but when she turned it down, he sold the rights to RKO. By 1954, when the film was re-released, rights to the film had reverted to Selznick. The rights, along with those for all other Selznick controlled films were later purchased by CBS which released the film on VHS in 1983, which is the last time it appeared on home video in any format in the U.S. Now, as with most other Selznick owned productions, such as Since You Went Away and Portrait of Jennie, Kino Lorber currently holds those rights.

Even though Loretta Young has the title role, she is largely missing from the second half of the film in which her character is discussed but doesn’t appear. Her role in the same year’s Best Picture Oscar nominee The Bishop’s Wife was larger, which is part of the reason her Oscar win for The Farmer’s Daughter was so surprising at the time. The other part was that Rosalind Russell, Young’s best friend, was considered the odds-on favorite for the emotionally draining Mourning Becomes Electra.

Young plays a farm girl who goes to the big city to become a nurse but gets waylaid into domestic service for a charming congressman (Joseph Cotten) and his mother (Ethel Barrymore) and with the help of the family’s major-domo (Charles Bickford) eventually runs for congress herself. All four stars are at the peak of their game with Bickford securing a nomination for Best Supporting Actor, losing to Edmund Gwenn for Miracle on 34th Street. Barrymore was nominated that year as well, but for her lesser performance in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Paradine Case. Legend has it that Academy members wanted to nominate her for The Farmer’s Daughter, but because she was billed over the title with Young and Cotten, rules in force at the time prevented her from being considered in support. Hence her nomination for a film she is hardly in instead.

The film’s long-lasting popularity led to a TV series that ran from 1963-1966 with Inger Stevens, William Windom, and Cathleen Nesbitt in the leads.

Audio commentary is provided by film historian Lee Gambin.

Kino Lorber has given us a Blu-ray upgrade of The Trip to Bountiful, which won the Best Actress Oscar for Geraldine Page thirty-eight years later. Written by Horton Foote, the Oscar-winning writer of To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies, The Trip to Bountiful first appeared as a TV play in 1953 starring Lillian Gish as the old lady who goes on a bus trip to visit her former home for the last time. Eva Marie Saint played her travel companion, John Beal her son, and Eileen Heckart her annoying daughter-in-law. The play was taken to Broadway later that year with Gish, Saint, Gene Lyons as the son, and Jo Van Fleet as the annoying daughter-in-law. It was revived on Broadway in 2013 with Cicely Tyson as the old lady, Condola Rashad as her travel companion, Cuba Gooding Jr. as her son, and Vanessa Williams as her annoying daughter-in-law.

For the 1985 film, Rebecca De Mornay played Page’s travel companion, John Heard her son, and Carlin Glynn her annoying daughter-in-law. Glynn’s husband, Peter Masterson, directed.

The Blu-ray imports a 2004 interview with Foote, Masterson, and surviving cast members. Page died in June 1987.

Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun took Broadway by storm in 1959 earning Tony nominations for Best Play, Actor (Sidney Poitier), Actress (Claudia McNeil), and Director (Lloyd Richards). Poitier lost to Melvyn Douglas for The Best Man, McNeil to Anne Bancroft, and Richards to Arthur Penn for The Miracle Worker, which also won Best Play.

Long available on DVD, Criterion’s 4K Blu-ray restoration gives the 1961 film version the sharpest look it’s had since its initial theatrical showings.

Poitier repeats his stage portrayal of the son whose dreams have dried up like a raisin in the sun as does McNeil as his strong-willed mother. Also repeating their Broadway roles are Ruby Dee as Poitier’s wife, Diana Sands as his sister, and Ivan Dixon and Louis Gossett Jr. as her two very different suitors.

Extras include both new and vintage documentaries on Hansberry, Poitier, and the work itself.

Criterion has also provided a brand new 2K Blu-ray transfer of Andrei Rublev, Andrei Tarkovsky’s groundbreaking film about the life of the renowned icon painter. Originally released in the U.S.S.R. in 1966, it won the FIPRESCI prize at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival. It had its first U.S. release in 1973, its reputation as one of the most beautifully made films of all time growing with each passing year.

Extras include both vintage and new documentaries.

One of the most derided films of all time, Irwin Allen’s 1978 extravaganza about killer bees invading Texas, The Swarm, has been given an eye-popping Blu-ray release by Warner Archive.

This film’s reputation is so bad that most of the actors connected with it fail to mention it in their biographies. Although I can’t say it’s so bad it’s good, I can say that it isn’t all bad, giving us a mostly fun opportunity to spot numerous stars who probably thought they were making something akin to Allen’s The Towering Inferno or The Poseidon Adventure. Among them are seven Oscar winners: Michael Caine, Olivia de Havilland, Patty Duke, Henry Fonda, Ben Johnson, José Ferrer, and Lee Grant. It also features one-time Oscar nominees Katharine Ross and Richard Widmark as well as legendary non-nominee Fred MacMurray in his last film. Richard Chamberlain, Bradford Dillman, and Cameron Mitchell also have prominent supporting roles.

This week’s new releases include Sicario: Day of the Soldado and Leave No Trace.

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