August 06, 2005
Saturday, August 6, 2005

Savant's new reviews today are

Starstruck  Blue Underground
Top Hat  Warner and
Gate of Flesh  Criterion

Hello once again ... it's a hot Saturday in Los Angeles after a long week's work. I've been sent this informative report on Warners' upcoming King Kong special edition, which makes no mention of a rediscovered spider pit sequence:

"If you've seen today's Variety (August 5), you've probably seen the article about the Kong DVD. I liked the passage that proclaimed "The restored movie features long-missing frames from when Fay Wray falls from the Empire State Building." When FAY WRAY falls? Gee, I guess they found some alternate, depressing ending in which Ann Darrow becomes sidewalk art.

If you haven't seen the article, it mentions that the 2-disc set will include a 7-part docu, a one-hour docu on Cooper, commentary with archival recordings of cast and crew, and extras devoted to Creation. The announcement also confirms the release of Son of Kong and Mighty Joe Young. The latter will have a couple of featurettes on Harryhausen, plus a commentary by RH, Ken Ralston and Terry Moore.

Finally, WB will also release The Last Days of Pompeii (or The Last of Pompeii, as Variety calls it.) I was hoping that Warners might release The Giant Behemoth in this promotion and maybe even When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, but no such luck."

In other news, Amazon has pushed back the release of Major Dundee once again, to September 20. I've seen a check disc of the release, but eight weeks seems far too early to write a review ...

Thanks, Glenn Erickson

Posted by DVD Savant at August 06, 2005 02:04 PM