High Noon, One Love, Madame Web & more in Ultra HD, plus Coppola’s Conversation restored in 4K, remembering Carl Weathers & more

Wednesday, 14 February 2024 19:20

High Noon, One Love, Madame Web & more in Ultra HD, plus Coppola’s Conversation restored in 4K, remembering Carl Weathers & more

by Bill Hunt

We’ve got four more new disc reviews for you today, including...

Stuart’s take on Douglas Sirk’s Has Anybody Seen My Gal (1952) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Dennis’ look at Harry Beaumont’s Faithless (1932) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, as well as Giuseppe Fiorello’s Fireworks (2023) on DVD from Cinephobia Releasing.

And Stephen’s review of Ishirō Honda’s Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) in 4K Ultra HD from Toho Studios in Japan (note that this release has no English subtitles).

Also this afternoon, we’ve asked our supporters on The Bits’ new Patreon page to share their Ten Favorite TV Series, and we’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits with new titles as well.

In announcement news today, Kino Lorber Studio Classics has just officially set Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon (1942) for release on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD on 4/16. The film will include a collection of legacy special features (from previous Blu-ray and DVD releases) along with a pair of new audio commentary track by film historians, one by Alan K. Rode and another by Julie Kirgo. You can see the cover artwork above left and also below. Look for Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K disc. [Read on here...]

KLSC has also set Lou Breslow’s You Never Can Tell (1951) and Abner Biberman’s The Looters (1955) for Blu-ray release on 4/9.

Amazon is now taking pre-orders on the Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD, and 4K Steelbook release of Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Bob Marley: One Love (2024) from Paramount. The film is now in theaters and the physical street date is TBA. You’ll find the cover art below.

Also now available for pre-order on Amazon on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD is S.J. Clarkson’s Madame Web (2024) from Sony Pictures and Marvel. Again, the street date is TBA. You can see that art below as well.

Speaking of Sony, the company has set Will Gluck’s romantic comedy Anyone But You (2023) for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 3/12.

And Severin Films has set a pair of Michele Soavi horror titles for release on 4K Ultra HD on 4/30, including The Church (1989) and The Sect (1991).

Here’s something cool: Our friend James Mockoski, who just so happens to be the archivist and restoration supervisor for American Zoetrope, has just revealed on Twitter that he’s currently working on a new 4K restoration of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974) in honor of the film’s 50th anniversary this year. Industry sources tell us that the film will likely first appear on physical 4K UHD and Blu-ray from StudioCanal sometime in the first half of the year (street date TBA).

In other industry news today, Paramount Global (parent company of CBS, Paramount Pictures, Showtime, Comedy Central, BET, Nickelodeon, MTV, and Pluto TV) has laid off (or is in the process of laying off) approximately 800 employees (roughly 3% of its total workforce) in an effort to trim costs and make up for continued losses suffered by Paramount+. The company will report their Q4 and full year 2023 financial results to investors on 2/28. You can read more here at Variety and here at Deadline.

Finally today, we definitely need to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of actor and director Carl Weathers, who sadly died a couple of weeks ago at the age of 76 after a long battle with heart disease. (We shared this on our social media at the time, but we wanted to mention it here as well.) Weathers was of course best known as the boxer Apollo Creed in the Rocky series, but also appeared in such films as Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Predator (1987), Action Jackson (1988), and the Toy Story franchise (where he voiced the character Combat Carl). More recently, he’d enjoyed a career resurgence playing Greef Karga in the Star Wars series The Mandalorian on Disney+ (for which he also directed two episodes). Longtime friend Sylvester Stallone paid tribute to Weathers here on Instagram, and it’s worth your time. You can read more here on Deadline.

Carl Weathers (1948-2024)