IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

For the release week of February 18th:

Garv’s Pick of the Week: The Douglas MacLean Collection [DVD / Undercrank Productions]: Two silent features, One a Minute (1921) and Bell Boy 13 (1923), from forgotten silent comedian Douglas MacLean get a video debut, thanks to Ben Model’s Undercrank Productions and the Library of Congress.  I was unfamiliar with MacLean prior to this release, but thanks to this DVD, I’m a fan!

Additional Titles of Interest —

Tex Avery’s Screwball Classics: Volume 1 [Blu-ray / Warner Archive]: Tex Avery directed the wildest cartoons of the Forties and Fifties, and his work at MGM was his very best.  If you love classic animated cartoons, this collection of 19 hilarious shorts belongs on your video shelves.  The subtitle “Volume 1” promises future volumes of Avery’s MGM cartoons (as long as this set sells well).

The Point [Blu-ray / MVD Rewind Collection]: This 1971 animated television movie features a story and a fantastic soundtrack by the great Harry Nilsson.  It would make a good double-feature with Yellow Submarine.

Münchhausen [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: Prior to Terry Gilliam and Karel Zeman’s Baron Munchausen films, there was this German version, made during the height of WW II.

The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: This 1937 German mystery-comedy is set on a train, which is enough for me.

The Ugly Duckling [Blu-ray / Sony]: Perhaps the most surprising Blu-ray of the month is this rare comedy from Britain’s Hammer Studios, which is the first of their three adaptations of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

X the Unknown [Blu-ray / Scream Factory]: This early Hammer gem is a sci-fi with scientists battling radioactive goo.

Rasputin: The Mad Monk [Blu-ray / Scream Factory]: This one is just middling Hammer, but it has Christopher Lee in the titular role.

Jojo Rabbit [4K UHD / 20th Century Fox]: I’ve liked every film written and directed by Taika Waititi, and this is no exception.  Scarlett Johansson has never been better.