Kino Lorber‘s April Blu-ray lineup is out and it’s another good one. A lot of variety here across a multitude of genres and years. What’s exciting about these releases is that there is some newer stuff. Typically Kino Lorber releases older stuff but in April they’ll be giving us stuff like Tristan & Isolde and The Daughter in addition to the older stuff, which is a nice change of pace.
The two big ones for me this month are The Crucible, which is a pleasant surprise to the Blu-ray world, and Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies, a very fun and over-the-top comedy with a wonderful cast.
Full lineup below!
Don’t Give Up the Ship
Dir. Norman Tauroq
Release Date: 4/11/2017Synopsis:
In this comedy, John Paul Steckler is a destroyer escort commander at the close of WWII. His wedding night is interrupted when he is summoned by the Defense Department. The navy has no record of his boat ever being returned, and he must either produce the boat or pay for it.The Crucible
Dir. Nicholas Hytner
Release Date: 4/11/2017Synopsis:
The setting is 17th century Salem, Massachusetts. A group of teenage girls meets in the woods at midnight for a secret love-conjuring ceremony. But instead of love, Abigail Williams wishes for the death of her former lover’s wife. When the ceremony is witnessed by the town minister, the girls are accused of witchcraft. Soon the entire village is consumed by hysteria, and innocent victims are put on trial, leading to a devastating climax!Tristan & Isolde
Dir. Kevin Reynolds
Release Date: 4/11/2017Synopsis:
From executive producer Ridley Scott comes a sweeping, action-packed saga of epic battles, political intrigue and forbidden passion, set in a time when the lines between heroism and savagery were etched in fire and carved out with broadswords. After the fall of Rome, visionary warlord Marke (Rufus Sewell) seeks to unite the squabbling English tribes to form one strong nation and defeat the brutal Irish king Donnchadh. But when Lord Marke’s greatest and most loyal knight, Tristan (James Franco), falls in love with Isolde (Sophia Myles), a beautiful Irish woman, it threatens to destroy the fragile truce and ignite a war.Sunset in the West
Dir. William Witney
Release Date: 4/18/2017Synopsis:
For some time a gang of crooks has been running guns and ammunition out to foreign revolutionaries. Gordon MacKnight masters the scheme hijacking freight trains and killing the crews. Discouraged, Sheriff Tad Osborn is unable to catch the killers. His niece Dixie urges him to quit for his own protection. Roy and his Purple Sage assistants arrive in Bordertown in time to persuade the sheriff to stay in office and to help him capture the killers. MacKnight tries to escape in an engine but Roy and Trigger ride him down.The Scar
Dir. Steve Sekely
Release Date: 4/18/2017Synopsis:
After a botched hit on a casino, John Muller hides out in an office job, where he is mistaken for the psychiatrist Dr. Bartok. The doctor is a dead ringer for Muller, except for a hideous facial scar, which Muller inflicts on his own cheek. But a mistake compromises Muller’s masquerade, and he makes one last attempt at escape before fate closes in …Star Slammer: The Escape
Dir. Fred Olen Ray
Release Date: 4/18/2017Synopsis:
Two women who have been unjustly confined to a prison planet plot their escape, all the while having to put up with lesbian guards, crazed wardens and mutant rodents.Broken Arrow
Dir. Delmer Daves
Release Date: 4/18/2017Synopsis:
By 1870, there has been 10 years of cruel war between settlers and Cochise’s Apaches. Ex-soldier Tom Jeffords saves the life of an Apache boy and starts to wonder if Indians are human, after all; soon, he determines to use this chance to make himself an ambassador. Against all odds, his solitary mission into Cochise’s stronghold opens a dialogue. Opportunely, the president sends General Howard with orders to conclude peace. But even with Jeffords’ luck, the deep grievance and hatred on both sides make tragic failure all too likely…A Farewell to Arms
Dir. Charles Vidor & John Huston
Release Date: 4/18/2017Synopsis:
Hollywood legends Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones heat up the screen in a towering adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s novel, the famous tale of doomed love amidst the howl and fury of the most perilous theatre of World War I – the snowy Alpine peaks and muddy plains of northern Italy. Majestically filmed in the actual Hemingway locales (the Alps, Milan, Switzerland and Rome), A Farewell to Arms tells of the love affair of Lt. Henry (Hudson), an American ambulance driver injured on the battlefront, and Catherine (Jones), the English nurse who shares his pain – and his hospital bed. When Henry is forced to desert, the devoted (and now pregnant) Catherine joins him in his flight to neutral Switzerland…where very different, even greater danger awaits. Best Supporting Actor Oscar® nominee Vittorio De Sica co-stars in this epic motion picture worthy of Hemingway’s American classic.The Mephisto Waltz
Dir. Paul Wendkos
Release Date: 4/18/2017Synopsis:
Alan Alda plays a classical piano player on the rise who befriends a famous player himself who’s at death’s door. Unknown to Alda, the guy is a satanist, who arranges to have their souls switch places at his death, so that he can be young again and continue to play piano (thus needing a skilled piano player like Alda to switch bodies with)…Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies
Dir. Ken Annakin & Sam Itzkovitch
Release Date: 4/25/2017Synopsis:
An international car rally across Europe is complicated by smuggling, cheating, love at first sight, etc. etc.Anatahan
Dir. Josef von Sternberg
Release Date: 4/25/2017Synopsis:
12 Japanese seaman who, in June 1944, are stranded on an abandoned island called An-ta-han for 7 years. The island’s only inhabitants are the overseer of the abandoned plantation and an attractive young Japanese woman. Soon, discipline and rationality are replaced by a struggle for power and the woman. Power is represented by a pair of pistols found in the wreckage of an American airplane, so important that five men pay for their lives in a bid for supremacy.Daredevils of the Red Circle
Dir. John English & William Witney
Release Date: 4/25/2017Synopsis:
Using a diabolical disguise, Harry Crowel embarks on a vengeful career of destruction…opposed by three heroic daredevils.The Daughter
Dir. Simon Stone
Release Date: 4/25/2017Synopsis:
In the last days of a dying logging town Christian (Paul Schneider) returns to his family home for his father Henry’s (Geoffrey Rush) wedding to the much younger Anna (Anna Torv). While home, Christian reconnects with his childhood friend Oliver (Ewen Leslie), who has stayed in town working at Henry’s timber mill and is now out of a job. As Christian gets to know Oliver’s wife Charlotte (Miranda Otto), daughter Hedvig (Odessa Young) and father Walter (Sam Neill), he discovers a secret that could tear Oliver’s family apart. As he tries to right the wrongs of the past, his actions threaten to shatter the lives of those he left behind years before.Microcosmos
Dir. Claude Nuridsany & Marie Pérennou
Release Date: 4/25/2017Synopsis:
A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.Papa’s Delicate Condition
Dir. George Marshall
Release Date: 4/25/2017Synopsis:
Comedy legend Jackie Gleason (TV’s The Honeymooners) stars in this warm-hearted look back at one family’s larger-than-life father. Set at the start of the 20th century, Gleason plays Jack Griffith, a gregarious railroad man whose love for his family is rivaled only by his love for the bottle. Griffith’s penchant for outrageous behavior, followed up by more outrageous gifts to atone for it, has begun to alienate his wife and oldest daughter, although his youngest still adores her father. Gleason portrays Griffith with a mixture of humor and humanity, and the end result is a moving portrait of a family’s ups and downs. Gleason’s performance of the Oscar winning song (Call Me Irresponsible) by Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) is not to be missed. Hollywood veteran George Marshall (Destry Rides Again) directed this heartwarming comedy that features a wonderful cast that includes Glynis Johns (Mary Poppins), Charles Ruggles (Bringing Up Baby), Ned Glass (West Side Story), Murray Hamilton (Jaws) and Elisha Cook, Jr. (The Maltese Falcon).The Pied Piper
Dir. Jacques Demy
Release Date: 4/25/2017Synopsis:
The great Jacques Demy (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) directed this masterful retelling of the classic children’s tale. Set in the Middle Ages, the divided town of Hamelin tries in vain to rid itself of the Black Plague. Music legend Donovan plays a mysterious musician who arrives in town promising to rid the town of their rat infestation by playing his magical flute, but the townspeople cannot put aside their personal agendas and ask the piper to help them with other deeds, as the town’s petty and greedy leader, the sublimely creepy Donald Pleasence (Halloween) attempts to take advantage of their new savior. With great music and spectacular costumes and sets, The Pied Piper is a fascinating take on a familiar legend. Wonderfully shot by Peter Suschitzky (The Empire Strikes Back) and featuring a splendid cast that includes John Hurt (Alien), Jack Wild (Oliver!), Peter Vaughan (Straw Dogs), Roy Kinnear (How I Won the War), Michael Hordern (The Bed Sitting Room), Cathryn Harrison (Black Moon) and Diana Dors (A Kid for Two Farthings).The Optimists
Dir. Anthony Simmons
Release Date: 4/25/2017Synopsis:
The Optimists tells the story of a street performer named Sam, who with a unique outlook on life befriends two children and teaches them to look at life from a new perspective. The novelty of having a song and dance man as a friend soon turns into something much deeper, as Sam realizes that the children have just as much to teach him about life as he does them. Set amongst a wonderful London backdrop, comedy legend Peter Sellers (The Party, After the Fox) stars in one of his most charming, tender and rare dramatic roles. Based on a novel by Anthony Simmons (Little Sweetheart) who also directed this heart-warming classic with a screenplay by Tudor Gates (Barbarella, Danger: Diabolik) and music by legendary Beatles producer George Martin.
