Garv’s Pick of the Week: The Buster Keaton Collection: Volume 1 (Cohen Film Collection)
For the release week of May 14th:
Garv’s Pick of the Week: The Buster Keaton Collection: Volume 1 (The General / Steamboat Bill, Jr.) [Blu-ray / Cohen Film Collection]: Two masterpieces of silent comedy get a 4K restoration and a new release. The prior releases of these films looked excellent for their age, so I don’t know how much improved the new restorations will look. However, if you don’t already own these films (or if you’ve never seen them), I highly recommend that you add this disc to your collection. You won’t be disappointed. Keaton is a wonder to behold, and the Carl Davis scores support the films tremendously.
Additional Titles of Interest —
The Big Clock [Blu-ray / Arrow Academy]: Charles Laughton and Ray Milland star in this classic film noir, that surprisingly has a touch of screwball comedy.
This Gun For Hire [Blu-ray / Shout Select]: The Blu-ray release of this first pairing of Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd has been delayed a couple of times. However, it is finally coming out this week (fingers crossed).
The Landlord [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: Before Hal Ashby became one of the leading directorial voices of the 1970s with films like Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, and Shampoo, he released this “slice of life” comedy about race relations. It displays all of the promise of what was to come from the auteur. Here is my full review.
The Prisoner of Second Avenue [Blu-ray / Warner Archive]: This adaptation of Neil Simon’s darkly comedic play is awfully noisy.
House of Games [Blu-ray / Criterion]: Mamet writes. Mamet directs. Criterion releases.
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