Kino Lorber Studio Classics has unveiled the details of their June 2022 4K UHD and Blu-Ray releases including works from such icons as John Wayne, William Holden, Tom Berenger, James Earl Jones, George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Stanley Kubrick and more. Get all the details on this incredibly packed lineup below:
FILM NOIR: THE DARK SIDE OF CINEMA VII
THE BOSS/CHICAGO CONFIDENTIAL/THE FEARMAKERS
Street Date: 6/7/22
This collection features three film Noir classics.
THE BOSS (1956) – Noir and sci-fi specialist Byron Haskin (I Walk Alone, The War of the Worlds) takes on The Boss in this gritty crime classic. Following World War I, ruthless veteran Matt Brady (John Payne, 99 River Street) inherits the clout of his political kingpin brother and climbs the ladder of corruption all the way to the top of the state. His amoral practices and sheer arrogance lead to broken friendships (William Bishop, The Redhead from Wyoming) and romances (model-turned-actress Doe Avedon and Gloria McGehee, A Child Is Waiting) along the way. Based on the real-life scandal of Kansas City politico Tom Pendergast, The Boss is celluloid dynamite from the pen of Dalton Trumbo (Spartacus, Lonely Are the Brave), originally uncredited due to Hollywood’s blacklisting.
CHICAGO CONFIDENTIAL (1957) – In the fast-paced, suspense-drenched Chicago Confidential, Brian Keith (The Rare Breed) battles corruption as hard-nosed State’s Attorney Jim Fremont. When union crooks in collaboration with a gambling syndicate try to pin a murder rap on uncooperative union leader Blane (Dick Foran, The Fearmakers), Fremont smells a set-up. Together with his co-worker fiancée Laura (Beverly Garland, D.O.A.), he launches an investigation to prove Blane’s innocence and to punish the true villains. Noir favorite Elisha Cook Jr. (The Killing) co-stars in this Windy City noir directed by Sidney Salkow (The Last Man on Earth) from the bestselling pulp novel by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer (New York Confidential).
THE FEARMAKERS (1958) – Directed by master of noir Jacques Tourneur (Cat People, Out of the Past), The Fearmakers is a potent parable about the power of people who control our ideas. Dana Andrews (The Ox-Bow Incident, Boomerang) stars as Alan Eaton, a Korean War veteran who returns home after being tortured and brainwashed as a P.O.W. and resumes work at a public relations firm in Washington, D.C. He finds that things aren’t quite as he left them, as he uncovers a hotbed of political manipulation that ensnares him in a web of suspicion. Communism and corruption run rampant in this riveting Cold War thriller co-starring Dick Foran (Chicago Confidential), Marilee Earle (Terror in a Texas Town) and Mel Tormé (The Big Operator).
Bonus Features: Brand New 2K Masters | NEW Audio Commentary for THE BOSS by Author/Film Historian Alan K. Rode | NEW Audio Commentary for THE FEARMAKERS by Professor and Film Scholar Jason A. Ney | Theatrical Trailers | Optional English Subtitles
Street Date: 6/7/22
Synopsis: Meet the Savage Sisters—three of the world’s deadliest women. Gloria Hendry (Black Belt Jones) is the Colonel, lean, mean and foxy, with plenty of ammunition stacked in just the right places. Cheri Caffaro (Too Hot to Handle) is the Field Marshall, who took command of the Liberation Army to save her men. Rosanna Ortiz (Savage!) is the Brigadier General, top mama of a female commando unit. They’re trouble multiplied by three—and they’ve got plans for a spectacular jailbreak, a million-dollar robbery and an island revolution. This rip-roaring, action-packed adventure from Filipino filmmaking legend Eddie Romero (Black Mama White Mama) co-stars John Ashley (Hell on Wheels), Vic Díaz (Hustler Squad) and the great Sid Haig (Busting).
Bonus Features: Brand New 2K Master | NEW Audio Commentary by Horror-Flix.com’s James G. Chandler and Ash Hamilton | Theatrical Trailer (Newly Mastered in 2K) | Optional English Subtitles
Synopsis: Take the thrill of insane stunts and the excitement of rock ’n’ roll, fuse them together and you get Stunt Rock! The madness starts when real-life Australian stuntman Grant Page (Mad Max) goes to L.A. and meets up with a theatrical rock band called Sorcery, and Page impresses the rockers so much with his daredevil antics that they hire him for their act. While his first stunt lands him in the hospital, the reckless Page defies his doctors’ orders, escaping out of the ward’s fifth-story window to get back to the band. Page soon finds himself the focus of the ladies, attracting both a newspaper reporter (Margaret Gerard, The Siege of Firebase Gloria) and a television star (Monique van de Ven, Turkish Delight), much to the annoyance of her manager (Richard Blackburn, Eating Raoul). Featuring non-stop action, a killer soundtrack and pedal-to-the-metal direction by Ozploitation king Brian Trenchard-Smith (The Man from Hong Kong, The Quest), Stunt Rock is an adrenaline-fueled cult classic that’s a death wish at 120 decibels!
Bonus Features: Brand New 4K Restoration | Audio Commentary by Director Brian Trenchard-Smith with Actors Grant Page and Margaret Trenchard-Smith | NOTQUIETHOLLYWOOD Interview with Brian Trenchard-Smith | NOTQUIETHOLLYWOOD Interview with Lead Actor/Stuntman Grant Page | The Ultimate Rush: Conversation with Brian and Margaret Trenchard-Smith | 2009 Interview with Brian Trenchard-Smith, Sorcery Lead Guitarist Smokey Huff and Producer Marty Fink | Theatrical Trailer | Select Songs From the Soundtrack (First Time in Stereo) | Region A/B/C | Optional English Subtitles
THE MYSTERIOUS DR. FU MANCHU/THE RETURN OF DR. FU MANCHU
Street Date: 6/14/22
Synopsis: This special edition includes two pre-code classics.
THE MYSTERIOUS DR. FU MANCHU (1929) – The diabolical doctor makes his talkie film debut in The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, based on the first book in Sax Rohmer’s classic series. During the Boxer Rebellion, Dr. Fu Manchu, deviously played by Warner Oland (Charlie Chan in Paris), saves the life of little Lia Eltham; but soon after, his own wife and child are killed by the allied troops. He takes revenge by hypnotizing the now grown Lia, played by screen great Jean Arthur (A Foreign Affair), to do his evil bidding. The world’s most notorious supervillain is born in this Pre-Code chiller from director Rowland V. Lee (Tower of London). Co-starring Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon of TV’s Batman) as Dr. Jack Petrie and O.P. Heggie (The Bride of Frankenstein) as Inspector Nayland Smith.
THE RETURN OF DR. FU MANCHU (1930) – The fiendish Dr. Fu is back with a vengeance in The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu, as the evil criminal genius continues his campaign of cruelty on the foggy moors of the English estate where Lia Eltham and Dr. Jack Petrie are set to marry. Director Rowland V. Lee (Son of Frankenstein) returns along with Warner Oland (Charlie Chan’s Secret), Jean Arthur (Easy Living), O.P. Heggie (The Count of Monte Cristo) and Neil Hamilton (Tarzan the Ape Man) for this sequel that’s more menacing, more exciting and more bloodcurdling than the first.
Bonus Features: Brand New 2K Master | NEW Audio Commentaries by Tim Lucas | Trailers | Optional English Subtitles
Synopsis: From Curt Siodmak, the sensational mind behind The Wolf Man, The Ape, The Magnetic Monster, I Walk with a Zombie and Donovan’s Brain, comes the thrilling Love Slaves of the Amazons. An American archaeologist (Don Taylor, The Naked City) and his partner (Eduardo Ciannelli, Mysterious Doctor Satan) are captured by a lost tribe of women warriors intent on turning the men into their “love slaves.” Together with another captive, Gina, they must escape from the lustful clutches of the Amazons if they hope to return to civilization. Beautifully filmed on location in Brazil, this eye-popping, action-packed adventure features river pirates, alligators, snakes, exotic dance numbers and green-skinned beauties of the jungle!
Bonus Features: Brand New 2K Master | NEW Audio Commentary by Entertainment Journalists/Authors Bryan Reesman and Max Evry | Trailers | Optional English Subtitles
Synopsis: Screen legends John Wayne (Rio Bravo) and William Holden (The Wild Bunch) team up with eminent western director John Ford (The Searchers) for this Civil War adventure packed with laughter, romance and thrills. A faithful representation of one of the most daring cavalry exploits in history, The Horse Soldiers tells the rousing tale of a troop of Union soldiers who force their way deep into Southern territory to destroy a rebel stronghold at Newton Station. In command is hardbitten Colonel Marlowe (Wayne), a man who is strikingly contrasted by the company’s gentle surgeon (Holden) and the beautiful but crafty Southern belle (Constance Towers, The Naked Kiss) who’s forced to accompany the Union raiders on perhaps the most harrowing mission in the war. The stellar supporting cast includes sports pioneer Althea Gibson and many frontier favorites like Judson Pratt, Ken Curtis, Willis Bouchey, Bing Russell, O.Z. Whitehead, Hank Worden, Denver Pyle, Strother Martin and Hoot Gibson.
Bonus Features: Brand New 4K Master | NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Joseph McBride, the Author of Searching for John Ford | Theatrical Trailer | Optional English Subtitles
LAST OF THE DOGMEN (SPECIAL EDITION)
Street Date: 6/14/22
Synopsis: Tom Berenger (Shoot to Kill, Shattered) is Lewis Gates, a bounty hunter haunted by the past, hired to track down three escaped convicts in the Oxbow region of the Rockies. Their trail leads him to a secluded spot and signs of a struggle, but no bodies—only a strange arrow shaft remains. Gates takes the arrow to an expert in Native American culture, Lillian Sloan (Barbara Hershey, Hoosiers, The Public Eye), and together they set off in search of an impossible mystery—a tribe they believe cannot exist, massacred over 100 years ago. What they discover deep in the Oxbow may prove an answer to both Lillian’s dreams and Lewis’s nightmares. But for now, it’s a desperate race against time if they are to save the last of the Dogmen from the destructive forces of the modern world. Tab Murphy (Gorillas in the Mist, Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tarzan) wrote and made his directorial debut with this beautifully photographed modern-day western filled with romance, adventure and Native American folklore. Co-starring Kurtwood Smith (RoboCop) and Steve Reevis (Dances with Wolves).
Bonus Features: Newly Restored from a 4K Scan of the Original Camera Negative – Color Graded and Approved by Director Tab Murphy and Cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub | NEW Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Tab Murphy, Producer Joel B. Michaels, Moderated by Filmmaker Douglas Hosdale | Booklet Essay by Film Historian Julie Kirgo | Newly Commissioned Art by Vince Evans | Includes Audio with Narration by Wilfred Brimley and the Director Preferred Version Without Narration | Theatrical Trailer | Optional English Subtitles
Synopsis: James Earl Jones (The Great White Hope) and Estelle Parsons (Don’t Drink the Water) star as Barney and Betty Hill, husband-and-wife survivors of an alien abduction, in this engrossing look at one of the most controversial and carefully documented cases of an extraterrestrial encounter in U.S. history. The Hills claim that, on the 19th of September, 1961, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, they were taken aboard a saucer-like spacecraft and examined medically by mysterious humanoid beings with grayish skin. The UFO Incident describes with fascinating detail the couple’s crippling anxiety and nightmarish visions following the experience, during which they both suffered from amnesia. Directed by Richard A. Colla (Fuzz, TV’s Battlestar Galactica), this strange-but-true story is based on The Interrupted Journey, John G. Fuller’s bestselling account of the actual testimony made by the Hills while under hypnosis.
Bonus Features: Brand New 2K Master | NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian/Screenwriter Gary Gerani | ROMANTIC MYSTICISM: THE MUSIC OF BILLY GOLDENBERG – Feature-Length Documentary by Gary Gerani | Trailers | Optional English Subtitles
OUT OF SIGHT (4K UHD & BLU-RAY)
Synopsis: George Clooney (Ocean’s Eleven) and Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers) ignite the screen in this criminally cool crime caper from director Steven Soderbergh (The Limey). Meet Jack Foley, the most successful bank robber in the country. On the day he busts out of jail, he finds himself stealing something far more precious than money… Karen Sisco’s heart. She’s smart. She’s sexy. And unfortunately for Jack, she’s a Federal Marshal. Now, they’re willing to risk it all to find out if there’s more between them than just the law. Screenwriter Scott Frank (Get Shorty) earned an Oscar nomination for his slick, snappy script based on the novel by Elmore Leonard (Jackie Brown). The stacked cast includes Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction), Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda), Dennis Farina (Manhunter), Albert Brooks (Lost in America), Nancy Allen (Blow Out), Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich), Isaiah Washington (True Crime), Steve Zahn (Rescue Dawn), Paul Calderon (King of New York), Luis Guzmán (Boogie Nights), Viola Davis (Fences), Wendell B. Harris Jr. (Road Trip) and uncredited cameos by Michael Keaton (Batman) and Samuel L. Jackson (The Hateful Eight).
Bonus Features: Brand New Dolby Vision HDR Master – From 4K Scan of the Original Camera Negative | Audio Commentary by Director Steven Soderbergh and Screenwriter Scott Frank | Inside OUT OF SIGHT: An Original Documentary on the Making of the Film – Featuring Behind-the-Scenes Footage and Interviews with Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Albert Brooks, Don Cheadle, Ving Rhames, Steve Zahn, Elmore Leonard and Scott Frank | Deleted Scenes | Two Theatrical Trailers (Newly Mastered in 2K) | 5.1 Surround & Lossless 2.0 | Triple-Layered UHD100 Disc | Optional English Subtitles
Synopsis: Like a one-man studio, the legendary Stanley Kubrick (The Killing, The Shining) co-wrote, co-produced, shot, edited and directed his second feature, the dazzling film noir Killer’s Kiss. Down-and-out New York City boxer Davey Gordon (Jamie Smith) strikes up a romance with nightclub dancer Gloria Price (Irene Kane). Their budding relationship is violently interrupted by Gloria’s boss, Vincent Rapallo (Frank Silvera), who has eyes for his employee. When Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows. Killer’s Kiss provides a fascinating look into the early work of a man who would soon become one of the world’s most important and influential filmmakers, and it’s a remarkable achievement in its own right: the boxing match may be the most vicious this side of Raging Bull, and the famed final battle remains an action tour-de-force.
Bonus Features: Brand New Dolby Vision HDR Master – From 4K Scan of the Original Camera Negative | NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Imogen Sara Smith | Theatrical Trailer | Optional English Subtitles
FILM NOIR: THE DARK SIDE OF CINEMA I
HE RAN ALL THE WAY/WITNESS TO MURDER/BIG HOUSE, U.S.A./A BULLET FOR JOEY/STORM FEAR
Street Date: 6/28/22
This collection features five film Noir classics.
BIG HOUSE, U.S.A. (1955) – Broderick Crawford, Ralph Meeker, Charles Bronson, Lon Chaney Jr. and William Talman star in this tough and realistic crime drama about a gang of ruthless convicts who execute a successful prison break to secure a $200,000 loot hidden in Colorado’s Royal Gorge National Park. Directed by Howard W. Koch (Shield for Murder).
A BULLET FOR JOEY (1955) –When a Canadian police inspector (Edward G. Robinson) investigates a murder, he is hurtled into an adventure involving foreign spies, American gangsters and an explosive high-tech secret that could change the world. Co-starring George Raft, Audrey Totter and Peter van Eyck with top-notch direction by Lewis Allen (So Evil My Love).
HE RAN ALL THE WAY (1951) – John Garfield plays a dim-witted thug who survives a shootout with the police after a payroll robbery. Seeking cover, he meets Peggy a lonely young girl (Shelley Winters) who takes him to her family’s apartment, while there the paranoid thief decides to takes the family hostage until he can escape. Directed by John Berry (Tension).
STORM FEAR (1955) – Cornel Wilde plays a wounded bank robber, on the run from the law, he and his gang decide hide out at his brother (Dan Duryea) and sister-in-law’s (Jean Wallace) farmhouse during a snowstorm. Co-starring Lee Grant, Dennis Weaver and Steven Hill, with stupendous direction by Cornel Wilde (Beach Red).
WITNESS TO MURDER (1954) – Screen legend Barbara Stanwyck, plays a woman whose sanity comes into question as she fights to convince the police that she witnessed a murder from her apartment window. Co-starring George Sanders, Gary Merrill and Jesse White, with wonderful direction by Roy Rowland (Rogue Cop).
Bonus Features: Theatrical Trailers
Synopsis: Dario Argento (Susperia) brings a different take to the classic tale of The Phantom of the Opera. Mysteriously, a series of terrifying accidents and brutal murders leave a bloody trail into the subterranean caverns of the opera house. Below the theater stalks a man (Julian Sands, Warlock) raised by creatures of the underworld. He tragically falls for the beautiful up-and-coming opera singer Christine (Asia Argento, The Stendhal Syndrome). He lures her into his underground lair. Will she be saved from his clutches before it’s too late?
Bonus Features: Audio Commentary by Film Historians Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson | Interview with Writer/Director Dario Argento | Interview with Set Designer Antonello Geleng | Interview with Producer Giuseppe Colombo
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.