Announcing the Universal Vault Series, Part 1: Schrader, Huston, Leisen, Schumacher

After releasing Mitchell Leisen's Remember the Night and a couple of B horror flicks through the Turner Classic Movie Vault, Universal has taken a cue from Warner and their Archive Collection by partnering with Amazon.com to release DVD-R's of catalogue titles. The Universal Vault Series unveiled the first 25 titles, all available for $19.95, which include Paul Schrader's directorial debut Blue Collar, John Huston's star-studded mystery The List of Adrian Messenger, Bruce Beresford's A Good Man in Africa and Mitchell Leisen's Death Takes a Holiday, which was made available previously on Universal's "Ultimate Edition" of the epic bore Meet Joe Black. I've highlighted the titles making their Region 1 debut in bold. I'll try to keep you updated on the newly available Vault titles as I hear of them.

- 40 Pounds of Trouble, 1962, d. Norman Jewison, w. Tony Curtis
- The Black Shield of Falworth, 1954, d. Rudolph Maté, w. Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh
- Blue Collar, 1978, d. Paul Schrader, w. Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Kotto, Ed Begley Jr.
- The Brass Bottle, 1964, d. Harry Keller, w. Tony Randall, Burl Ives, Barbara Eden
- A Bronx Tale, 1993, d. Robert De Niro, w. De Niro, Chazz Palminteri
- The Chalk Garden, 1964, d. Ronald Neame, w. Deborah Kerr, John Mills, Hayley Mills
- Death Takes a Holiday, 1934, d. Mitchell Leisen
- Dragnet, 1954, d. Jack Webb
- Gambit, 1966, d. Ronald Neame, w. Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine, Herbert Lom
- Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain, 1995, d. Kevin James Dobson, w. Anna Chlumsky, Christina Ricci, Diana Scarwid, David Keith
- A Good Man in Africa, 1994, d. Bruce Beresford, w. Sean Connery, John Lithgow, Diana Rigg, Louis Gossett Jr., Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
- The House of the Seven Gables, 1940, d. Joe May, w. Vincent Price
- The Incredible Shrinking Woman, 1981, d. Joel Schumacher, w. Lily Tomlin, Charles Grodin, Ned Beatty
- Kitten with a Whip, 1964, d. Douglas Heyes, w. Ann-Margret
- The Last Remake of Beau Geste, 1977, d. Marty Feldman, w. Ann-Margret, Michael York, Peter Ustinov, James Earl Jones, Trevor Howard
- The List of Adrian Messenger, 1963, d. John Huston, w. Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, George C. Scott
- The Perfect Furlough, 1958, d. Blake Edwards, w. Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh
- Pure Luck, 1991, d. Nadia Tess, w. Danny Glover, Martin Short
- Resurrection, 1980, d. Daniel Petrie, w. Ellen Burstyn, Sam Shepard, Richard Farnsworth
- Ruggles of Red Gap, 1935, d. Leo McCarey, w. Charles Laughton, Mary Boland
- Shoot Out, 1971, d. Henry Hathaway, w. Gregory Peck, Susan Tyrrell
- Shout, 1991, d. Jeffrey Hornaday, w. John Travolta, Heather Graham, Linda Fiorentino, Gwyneth Paltrow
- Spawn of the North, 1938, d. Henry Hathaway, w. Henry Fonda, Dorothy Lamour, John Barrymore
- Stick, 1985, d. Burt Reynolds, w. Reynolds, Candice Bergen, George Segal
- Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here, 1969, d. Abraham Polonsky, w. Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Robert Blake

Lots of new IFC titles on DVD for 2010, DVD Update 27 October

Though MPI, IFC Films has announced several more DVD releases for the first part of 2010, most notably Philippe Garrel's Frontier of the Dawn [La frontière de l'aube] for 26 January. The only worthwhile Blu-ray I saw announced was a 20th anniversary edition of Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas from Warner, slated for 16 February. Lionsgate also announced a Joel Schumacher film that I (predictably) haven't heard of, changing the title (predictably) to sound more horrific, from Town Creek to Blood Creek. The film (predictably) stars a trio of British heartthrobs: Dominic Purcell, Henry Cavill and Michael Fassbender. The DVDs below are listed in descending order of release.

- 9, 2009, d. Shane Acker, Focus Features, also on Blu-ray, 29 December
- A Perfect Getaway, 2009, d. David Twohy, Rogue/Universal, also on Blu-ray, 29 December
- Fifty Dead Men Walking, 2008, d. Kari Skogland, Phase 4 Films, also on Blu-ray, 5 January
- Ballad in Blue, 1964, d. Paul Henreid, Lionsgate, 12 January
- Blood Creek [aka Town Creek], 2009, d. Joel Schmacher, Lionsgate, 19 January, w. Dominic Purcell, Henry Cavill, Michael Fassbender
- The Escapist, 2008, d. Rupert Wyatt, IFC, 26 January
- Frontier of the Dawn [La frontière de l'aube], 2008, d. Philippe Garrel, IFC, 26 January
- Heaven's Heart [Himlens hjärta], 2008, d. Simon Staho, IFC, 26 January, w. Lena Endre
- In a Day, 2006, d. Evan Richards, IFC, 26 January
- Mermaid, 2007, d. Anna Melikyan, IFC, 26 January
- Pontypool, 2008, d. Bruce McDonald, IFC, 26 January
- Quiet Chaos [Caos calmo], 2008, d. Antonio Luigi Grimaldi, IFC, 26 January, w. Nanni Moretti, Valeria Golino, Alessandro Gassman
- Warszawa, 2003, d. Dariusz Gajeweski, IFC, 26 January
- Worlds Apart [To verdener], 2008, d. Niels Arden Oplev, IFC, 26 January
- Triangle, 2009, d. Christopher Smith, First Look, also on Blu-ray, 2 February, w. Melissa George
- Flame & Citron [Flammen & Citronen], 2008, d. Ole Christian Madsen, IFC, 9 February
- The Pleasure of Being Robbed, 2008, d. Joshua Safdie, IFC, 9 February
- The Trial Begins [L'ora di punta], 2007, d. Vincenzo Marra, IFC, 9 February
- 20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope, 2009, d. Tukihiko Tsutsumi, Viz Media, 16 February
- Women in Trouble, 2009, d. Sebastian Gutierrez, Screen Media, also on Blu-ray, 16 February, w. Carla Gugino, Marley Shelton, Elizabeth Berkley, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Simon Baker, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Josh Brolin
- Bliss [Mutluluk], 2007, d. Abdullah Oguz, First Run Features, 23 February