Category: Home Viewing with Peter

New This Week Shazam! is a lighthearted action film about teenager Billy Batson who turns into an adult superhero when he utters the word SHAZAM – an acronym comprised of the names of the of the gods who grant him power – (Solomon – Wisdom. Hercules – Strength. Atlas – Stamina. Zeus – Power. Achilles…

New This Week Dead of Night has been released for the first time in the U.S. on Blu-ray and DVD by Kino Lorber. The granddaddy of the horror film anthology has been given a 4K restoration that does full justice to the 1945 British film that was released in the U.S. in 1946 with two…

New This Week The Aftermath is a British drama about the effects of the aftermath of World War II on the people of Hamburg, Germany and the soldiers who occupy their city. As one British officer puts it, the Russians got the wine, the Americans the views, and the Brits the ruins. Directed by James…

New This Week Dumbo is the latest live-action version of a Disney animated classic to reach home video. For eighteen years, 101 Dalmatians was the only animated Disney film to get a live-action remake from the studio. Then in quick succession we got Sleeping Beauty (as Maleficent), Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast,…

New This Week Hotel Mumbai marks the feature film debut of Australian director Anthony Maras who co-wrote the screenplay with veteran Scottish writer John Collee (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Happy Feet). This non-stop thriller is a highly suspenseful action-packed account of the 2008 attack on the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel…

New This Week RKO Classic Romances, the new Blu-ray collection from Kino Lorber, gives us five Pre-Code tearjerkers, all of them preserved by the Library of Congress and restored by Lobster Films. In chronological order, the films are Sin Takes a Holiday, released in November 1930; Millie, released in February 1931; Kept Husbands, also released…

New This Week The Man Who Laughs, the 1869 novel by Victor Hugo, has been adapted for the screen less frequently than the myriad versions of Hugo’s better-known works, 1831’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame and 1862’s Les Misérables. The most famous version was Paul Leni’s 1928 silent classic, given a 4K restoration for its…

New This Week They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter Jackson’s remarkable documentary made to commemorate the centennial of the end of World War I, was released in the U.K. last November, but its U.S. debut, aside from special screenings, did not take place until February of this year. Warner Archive has now made it available…

New This Week Never Look Away is Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s return to grace after the disaster that was his second film, the 2010 Hollywood flop The Tourist. The German director, who grew up in New York, the son of a Lufthansa executive, hit the big time with his direction of the 2006 Oscar winner…

New This Week This Gun for Hire, The Big Clock, The Landlord, The Bedroom Window, and The House of Games have all now been given Blu-ray upgrades. Alan Ladd had been in films since 1932, mostly in uncredited roles, when talent agent Sue Carol took charge of his career and the actor himself, marrying him…

New This Week The Heiress, given a new 4K restoration by the Criterion Collection, is a prime example of a film that improves upon both Henry James’1880 novel and the 1947 Broadway play on which it is based. William Wyler’s 1949 film was adapted by Ruth and Augustus Goetz from their 1947 play starring Wendy…

New This Week A Face in the Crowd may have been a flop on its initial release in 1957, but the film, given a new 4K restoration by the Criterion Collection, has long since been recognized as one of the great films of its era. Released the same year as The Bridge on the River…

New This Week The House of the Seven Gables, a 1940 Oscar nominee for Best Original Score, has been given a Blu-ray upgrade by Kino Lorber. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1851 gothic novel followed the author’s oft-filmed The Scarlet Letter by one year, but unlike that work, The House of the Seven Gables had been filmed only…

New This Week None Shall Escape, a 1944 Oscar nominee for Best Original Story, has been given a Blu-ray only release by Sony. Although not a huge hit in its original engagements, this film, directed by André De Toth (House of Wax) was not a “B” picture as is commonly believed, but a major release…

New This Week Welcome to Marwen and On the Basis of Sex pose the same conundrum. What should we watch first, these recent narrative films about the real-life people portrayed, or the more acclaimed documentaries about their lives? I would say that if you have limited knowledge of them, watch the narrative film first, you…