New Releases
New film titles do not fall into the public domain each year, but vintage ones are constantly being re-discovered and restored. Here are a few that are incredibly rare, newly available from Festival or vastly improved in quality. All films are available on DVD-R and MPEG2 formats.
Angel in a Taxi (1958, Italy) 87m. English dubbed version. Delightful Italian comedy about a six-year-old orphan boy who runs away to find his mother, who he believes is a ballerina star whose picture he saw in a newspaper. The great director Vittorio DeSica plays 3 roles (as God) who tries to bring the lost souls together.
Love and Larceny (1959, Italy) 92m. English dubbed. Vittorio Gassman has never been more carefree and devious as a creative swindler who works all the rackets and invents new one. You won't believe how he stages a fake wedding to bilk a jeweler or impersonates an army general right on the base to get a banker's down payment on a big but fake contract. Directed by Dino Risi who re-teamed with Gassman on "Scent of a Woman" in 1974.
Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964, Italy) 130 min. Available either subtitled or dubbed. Director Pier Paolo Pasolini's celebrated story about the life of Christ stars Enrique Irazoqui as Jesus. Filmed in the actual locations.
Lure of the Islands (1942) 61m. Jungle/war/comedy adventure about Tana (Margie Hart), a voluptuous half-caste girl of the South Seas,
who falls in love with FBI agent Wally (Robert Lowery) and wishes to marry him after they defeat the Nazis and Japs.
With Gale Storm as a native sweetie romanced by Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams.
Comes with second feature:
Duke of the Navy (1942) 63m. Two sailors go on shore leave, get mixed up with gangsters and buried
treasure in a jungle setting.
Stars Ralph Byrd and Veda Ann Borg.
Behave Yourself (1951) 81m. Improved quality of madcap comedy starring Farley Granger, Shelley Winters, William Demarest and character actors galore. Married couple adopt cute dog linked to gangsters. With TV Pilot Munro about lovable mutt in the army K9 Corps.
Sweetheart of the Navy (1937) 61m. A young beautiful nightclub owner (Cecelia Parker of the Andy Hardy series)
stages a prize fight to pay off her debts while falling in love with a handsome sailor, Eric Linden.
With second rare comedy:
Danger! Women at Work! (1944) 61m. Patsy Kelly, Mary Brian and Isabel Jewel inherit a 10-ton truck and decide to go into business.
Little Tough Guy (1938) 86m. Continuation of the Dead End Kids series features Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell and Bernard Punsley in first of a short series the gang made before becoming the East Side Kids and later the Bowery Boys. Not a comedy, but a serious drama about boys in trouble.
The Heart Punch (1932) 65m. Lloyd Hughes and Marion Shilling in drama of a boxer who accidentally kills a good friend in the ring, then finds himself
falling in love with the sister. With George J. Lewis and Mae Busch. With second feature:
Woman Unafraid (1934) 56m. Lucile Gleason plays matronly police woman who
struggles to protect girls with shady pasts from gangsters and returning to their sordid lives outside her safe house.
Killer Dill (1947) 71m. Crime Comedy. Stu Erwin is door-to-door salesman Johnny Dill, the exact double of a notorious gangster, who finds himself struck between the forces of good and evil. Bonus TV episode of: Trouble with Father (1952) starring Stu Erwin.
Forced Landing (1941) 66m. Richard Arlen, Eva Gabor (first film), J. Carroll Naish, Nils Asther. A Pacific Islands dictator competes with a military pilot for a woman's affection, and dispatches him on a suicide mission.
Power Dive (1941) 69m. Low budget thriller about a new secret aircraft made out of plastic. Richard Arlen plays the test pilot whose job it will be to fly the aircraft on it's first flight. He feuds with his brother over Helen Mack.
Public Opinion (1935) 66m. A scientist's obsessive jealousy about his wife, a professional opera singer, endangers their marriage. With Lois Wilson, Crane Wilbur.
My Dog Shep (1946) 69m. An orphan boy on his way to live with his uncle picks up a stray police dog, and the two become fast friends. However, the uncle doesn't want the dog so they run away and meet up with an elderly man and a kidnapping. Excellent family film with Tom Neal, William Farnum and Flame the dog.
