Garv’s Pick of the Week: Giants and Toys (Arrow Video)
For the release week of May 11th:
Garv’s Pick of the Week: Giants and Toys [Blu-ray / Arrow Video]: This 1958 candy-colored Japanese satire of advertising is a lot of fun. It is sort of like the Japanese equivalent of Frank Tashlin’s Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Being that the disc is coming from Arrow Video, the “Criterion of Cult,” it should be the definitive release of the film for the foreseeable future.
Additional Titles of Interest —
Merrily We Go to Hell [Blu-ray / Criterion]: This alcohol-soaked Pre-Code drama is worth the purchase for the title alone. It stars Fredric March, Sylvia Sidney, and a pre-stardom Cary Grant.
Horizons West [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: Robert Ryan and Rock Hudson star in this Budd Boetticher-directed Western. I haven’t seen it, but it’s a Western directed by Budd Boetticher, so I’m in.
Quantez [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: Fred MacMurray and Dorothy Malone co-star in this 1957 Western, which also looks fun.
They Won’t Believe Me [Blu-ray / Warner Archive]: This noir melodrama was often shown in a trimmed, 80-minute re-release version. This Blu-ray is a 4K restoration of the original 95-minute version. Robert Young, Susan Hayward, and Jane Greer star.
Bachelor in Paradise [Blu-ray / Warner Archive]: Bob Hope and Lana Turner are paired for this 1961 romantic comedy. This is one of the best of Hope’s 1960s output, which isn’t saying much.
King Kong [Blu-ray / Scream Factory]: This is the 1976 version with Jessica Lange, Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, and Rick Baker in the gorilla suit.
Smokey and the Bandit 3-Movie Collection [Blu-ray / Universal]: All three of the Smokey and the Bandit movies are released together in this set. The first one is good. The others, not so much. Still, if you’re a Jackie Gleason completist, this is cheaper than buying the discs individually.
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