IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

Kino Lorber Studio Classics has recently begun collecting lesser-known movies from popular Hollywood stars in 3-disc Blu-ray box sets.  Presumably, these more obscure catalog titles are being packaged together to make them more attractive to casual collectors that might not purchase them individually.  Personally, I’m all for anything that helps additional classic titles make the leap to high definition.

This week, Kino Lorber Studio Classics announced 3-disc Blu-ray Collections for Carole Lombard, Tony Curtis, and Audie Murphy, which are scheduled to be released on August 4th. Previously, Kino released the Barbara Stanwyck Collection, and next month a similar Deanna Durbin Collection is scheduled.

Here are the details on the three sets due in August from the Kino Lorber Studio Classics Facebook page:

Coming August 4th!

Carole Lombard Collection I

FAST AND LOOSE (1930)

• B&W, 70 Minutes, 1.20:1, Not Rated
• Trailers
• Optional English Subtitles

You can buy anything you want… except love! Carole Lombard (Nothing Sacred), Miriam Hopkins (Becky Sharp) and Frank Morgan (The Good Fairy) star in Fast and Loose, a raucous and romantic pre-Code comedy. Marion (Hopkins) and Bertie (Henry Wadsworth, Applause) are the irreverent children of Bronson Lenox (Morgan), one of the wealthiest men on Long Island. When Marion abandons her family’s aristocratic lifestyle for humble car mechanic Henry Morgan (Charles Starrett, Our Betters) and Bertie begins to keep company with chorus girl Alice O’Neil (Lombard), Bronson will do anything to shoot down Cupid’s arrows. Wonderfully directed by Fred C. Newmeyer (Queen High) and co-starring Winifred Harris (Night Must Fall) as the matriarch of the Lenox family.

MAN OF THE WORLD (1931)

• B&W, 74 Minutes, 1.20:1, Not Rated
• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Samm Deighan
• Trailers
• Optional English Subtitles

Screen legends and real-life husband and wife William Powell (The Thin Man) and Carole Lombard (My Man Godfrey) light up the screen in the unforgettable pre-Code romance Man of the World. Michael Trevor (Powell) and his partner Irene (Wynne Gibson, City Streets) run a tabloid in Paris and make their living blackmailing rich Americans. When Michael falls for Mary Kendall (Lombard), the niece of one of his targets, he vows to leave behind his selfish ways to be with her. The jealous Irene, however, will stop at nothing to sabotage their plans for a new life together. The on-screen chemistry between Powell and Lombard was real—the couple fell in love and married shortly after the filming of the movie. Man of the World was marvelously directed by Richard Wallace (The Young in Heart) and written by legendary screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (Citizen Kane).

NO MAN OF HER OWN (1932)

• B&W, 85 Minutes, 1.37:1, Not Rated
• Audio Commentary by Film Critic Nick Pinkerton
• Trailers
• Optional English Subtitles

Legendary Hollywood couple Clark Gable (Run Silent, Run Deep) and Carole Lombard (Made for Each Other) illuminate the screen in the romantic pre-Code drama No Man of Her Own, their only film together. When New York con man Babe Stewart (Gable) decides to lie low in a small town, he falls for a librarian (Lombard) seeking adventure and a way out of her predictable existence. Gambling on marriage, they head back to the city, where Stewart tries to hide his former life from his new bride. Featuring the scandalous “Lombard on a ladder” scene, which prompted the founding of Hollywood’s League of Decency, No Man of Her Own captures two of the silver screen’s most popular stars at their best. Splendidly directed by Wesley Ruggles (Cimarron) and co-starring Dorothy Mackaill (Kept Husbands).

Tony Curtis Collection

THE PERFECT FURLOUGH (1958)

• Color, 93 Minute, 2.35:1, Not Rated
• Audio Commentary by Film Historian David Del Valle and Author/Screenwriter C. Courtney Joyner
• Theatrical Trailer
• Optional English Subtitles

From Blake Edwards, the acclaimed director of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, The Great Race, The Party and Victor Victoria, comes this romantic comedy starring screen legends Tony Curtis (The Great Impostor) and Janet Leigh (The Vikings). In The Perfect Furlough, the fun begins when the Army’s top brass meet to discuss the morale problems occurring at an outpost in the remote Arctic. It seems that the 104 bachelors stationed there for the past seven months are going utterly stir crazy. Military psychologist Lieutenant Vicki Loren (Leigh) proposes a solution: one lucky guy will receive a perfect furlough, complete with exotic destinations and a beautiful movie star. Much to the psychologist’s chagrin, a scheming corporal (Curtis) with a personnel file that reads like a stag movie rigs the raffle and wins the trip. So, it’s off to Paris for three weeks of fun and romance—and constant supervision by Lieutenant Loren and a pack of Hollywood press agents who are fighting to keep both the Army’s and the movie star’s reputations intact. But things get really complicated when the lieutenant finds herself falling for the hot-blooded corporal. Sharply written by Stanley Shapiro (Pillow Talk) and co-starring Keenan Wynn (Dr. Strangelove), Linda Cristal (Mr. Majestyk) and Elaine Stritch (Monster-in-Law).

THE GREAT IMPOSTOR (1960)

• B&W, 113 Minutes, 2.00:1, Not Rated
• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Kat Ellinger
• Theatrical Trailer
• Optional English Subtitles

From Robert Mulligan, the outstanding director of To Kill a Mockingbird, Love with the Proper Stranger, Baby the Rain Must Fall, Summer of ’42 and The Nickel Ride, comes this wild account of the world’s greatest big-time masquerader, Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr. (Tony Curtis, The Perfect Furlough). The incredible but true story tells of how the untrained, uneducated yet brilliant young man assumes the identity of a college professor, Trappist monk, prison warden and surgeon in the Canadian Navy. Always one step ahead of exposure, Demara attempts to outwit and outrun the FBI, the police, a priest and several girlfriends. Mixing suspense with humor, The Great Impostor was beautifully shot by Robert Burks (To Catch a Thief), features a wonderful score by the great Henry Mancini (Charade) and co-stars Karl Malden (Billion Dollar Brain), Edmond O’Brien (The Hitch-Hiker), Arthur O’Connell (Man of the West), Gary Merrill (Witness to Murder), Joan Blackman (Visit to a Small Planet), Raymond Massey (Reap the Wild Wind) and Jeanette Nolan (Macbeth).

40 POUNDS OF TROUBLE (1962)

• Color, 106 Minutes, 2.35:1, Not Rated
• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Kat Ellinger
• Theatrical Trailer
• Optional English Subtitles

From Norman Jewison, the legendary director of The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!, In the Heat of the Night, The Thomas Crown Affair, Fiddler on the Roof, A Soldier’s Story and Moonstruck, comes this classic comedy starring Tony Curtis (The Great Impostor). After escaping from his greedy ex-wife in California, savvy Lake Tahoe hotel/casino manager Steve McCluskey (Curtis) has had enough of women. His sabbatical is sabotaged, however, when hotel owner Bernie Friedman (Phil Silvers, Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell) orders him to chaperone the venue’s new headliner, Friedman’s beautiful niece Chris (Suzanne Pleshette, Support Your Local Gunfighter). As if that’s not enough, McCluskey inherits a pint-sized problem in young Penny (Claire Wilcox, Wives and Lovers), a five-year-old recently abandoned by her debt-ridden father. Soon charmed by his two charges, he risks crossing the Nevada border to take them to Disneyland. It’s not long before the incognito trio is discovered by his ex’s detectives and a wild chase through the park’s attractions begins. Written by Marion Hargrove (The Music Man) based on the story “Little Miss Marker” and featuring a hilarious cast that includes Larry Storch (TV’s F Troop), Howard Morris (High Anxiety), Stubby Kaye (Guys and Dolls), Mary Murphy (A Man Alone), Edward Andrews (Send Me No Flowers), Karen Steele (Ride Lonesome), Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) and Warren Stevens (Madame X). 40 Pounds of Trouble, the first feature film ever to be shot in (and above) Disneyland, is an irresistible romantic comedy and a treat for the whole family.

Audie Murphy Collection

THE DUEL AT SILVER CREEK (1952)

• Color, 77 Minutes, 1.37:1, Not Rated
• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Toby Roan
• Theatrical Trailer
• Optional English Subtitles

From Don Siegel, the legendary director of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Lineup, Two Mules for Sister Sara, Dirty Harry, Charley Varrick and The Shootist, comes this two-fisted, action-packed western, starring celebrated war hero turned movie star Audie Murphy (Night Passage). Stephen McNally (Woman in Hiding) is Lightning Tyrone, the quick-drawing marshal of Silver City who’s intent on capturing a ruthless gang of claim jumpers that have been terrorizing and murdering local miners—including his best friend. After losing the use of his famed trigger finger in a shootout, Lightning deputizes the sharp-shooting Silver Kid (Murphy), whose own father was killed by the gang, to help bring the outlaws to justice. But their plans are complicated when Lightning falls for the beautiful new lady in town (Faith Domergue, This Island Earth), whose interest in the marshal is a thin disguise for her own dangerous agenda. This unforgettable adventure, brimming with pulse-pounding thrills, danger-tinged romance and gun-blazing glory, co-stars Susan Cabot (Son of Ali Baba) and screen great Lee Marvin (Prime Cut) in one of his first screen appearances.

RIDE A CROOKED TRAIL (1958)

• Color, 88 Minutes, 2.35:1, Not Rated
• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Toby Roan
• Theatrical Trailer
• Optional English Subtitles

In a refreshing change-of-pace role, Audie Murphy (No Name on the Bullet) plays Joe Maybe, an outlaw who assumes a U.S. Marshal’s identity and is appointed sheriff of Webb City, a rough river town, after local lawmaker Judge Kyle (Walter Matthau, Charley Varrick) takes a shine to him. The only reason Maybe goes along with the ruse is to gain easy access to the town bank and plan a robbery. This scheme goes dangerously awry when Tessa (Gia Scala, The Price of Fear), a former flame from New Orleans, shows up in town and is persuaded to pose as his wife. The couple’s masquerade is further complicated by the arrival of Sam Teeler (Henry Silva, Code of Silence), Maybe’s rival in crime, who plans to rob the bank with his own gang of outlaws. A fast-paced action-adventure full of unexpected plot twists, Ride a Crooked Trail also displays a surprisingly light comic flair which is capped by Walter Matthau’s delightful, rambunctious performance as the wily Judge Kyle. Directed by Jesse Hibbs (To Hell and Back) and written by the great Borden Chase (Red River, Winchester ’73, Backlash).

NO NAME ON THE BULLET (1959)

• Color, 77 Minutes, 2.35:1, Not Rated
• Audio Commentary by Film Historians/Filmmakers Steve Mitchell and Gary Gerani
• Theatrical Trailer
• Optional English Subtitles

From Jack Arnold, the acclaimed director of It Came from Outer Space, The Glass Web, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Incredible Shrinking Man and Man in the Shadow, comes this thrilling and suspenseful western starring World War II hero turned movie star Audie Murphy (The Duel at Silver Creek) as a “good” bad guy in a tense tale of retribution. When hired killer John Gant (Murphy) rides into town, no one is sure whose name is on his bullet. Several townsfolk, knowing they have enemies, each believe that the professional assassin is there to kill them. While they wait for him to make his move, paranoia starts taking over in this exciting story of payback on the wide-open plains. Beautifully shot in CinemaScope by Harold Lipstein (Ride a Crooked Trail, Pillars of the Sky) and featuring a stellar cast that includes Charles Drake (The Price of Fear), Joan Evans (A Strange Adventure), Virginia Grey (Strangers in the Night), Warren Stevens (40 Pounds of Trouble), R.G. Armstrong (White Lightning), Willis Bouchey (Panic in Year Zero), Whit Bissell (Not as a Stranger), Edgar Stehli (4D Man) and Jerry Paris (Marty).