Home Media Magazine - February 23-March 1, 2009 - (Page 22) PIPELINE Edited by Billy Gil www.homemediamagazine.com Universal Unveils ‘Pre-Code Hollywood’ Backlot Series Cleopatra By Thomas K. Arnold niversal Studios Home Entertainment is going back to its studio parent’s roots for a new DVD line. U The Universal Backlot Series will consist of historic films from the studio’s library. The first batch of films, coming April 7, includes a 75th anniversary edition of Cecil B. In the blood-soaked tradition of Braveheart and 300 “REMINISCENT OF LORD OF THE RINGS” –Sunday Herald “THE ACTION COMES FAST AND FURIOUS” –The Moscow Times A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR PRODUCTION! After the brutal massacre of Tsar Boris Godunov and his family, Russia is thrown into a chaotic power struggle. Moscow slips into lawlessness, and as Prince Pozharsky tries to regain order, the massive Polish and Swedish armies set their sights on conquering the great empire. OVER 40 MINUTES OF BONUS MATERIAL Making of Featurette • Photo Gallery DeMille’s Cleopatra and six saucy classics from Hollywood’s notorious pre-Production Code era. Cleopatra, nominated for five Academy Awards, ranks as one of DeMille’s most lavish historical epics. The 1934 production stars Claudette Colbert as the cunning queen of the Nile, Warren William as Julius Caesar and Henry Wilcoxon as Marc Antony. The six films in what Universal is billing as the “Pre-Code Hollywood Collection” are The Cheat, with Tallulah Bankhead as a woman willing to do anything to pay off her gambling debt; Merrily We Go to Hell, with Fredric March as an abusive alcoholic; Hot Saturday, with Cary Grant; Torch Singer, with Colbert; Murder at the Vanities, best remembered for the musical number “Sweet Marijuana”; and Search for Beauty, with Buster Crabbe and Ida Lupino. All six films were produced before the 1934 introduction of the restrictive “Production Code,” which for decades changed the way movies treated, or avoided, certain subject matter. These “pre-code” films satisfied public demand for graphic stories filled with scandal, adultery, prostitution, illegal drug use, murder and homosexuality — topics filmmakers conspicuously avoided for decades thereafter. BRIEFS I SONY PICTURES SLATES BOGDANOVICH SET Sony Pictures Home Entertainment April 21 (prebook March 19) will release two classics from Academy Award nominated director Peter Bogdanovich in a two-DVD set at $24.96 featuring The Last Picture Show and Nickelodeon. The set features the director’s cut of The Last Picture Show, for which Bogdanovich was nominated for two Oscars for best director and best adapted screenplay in 1972. Nickelodeon is presented in its original color version as well as the black-and-white director’s cut, for the first time on DVD. New special features include commentaries by Bogdanovich and a new interview with him about The Last Picture Show. The set also includes a Last Picture Show theatrical re-release featurette and – Billy Gil a documentary on the film. utes e: 135 min unning Tim n Year: 2007 $26.98 • R io : ct 4-8 • SRP x9 • Produ 4172-320 Sound • 16 • ISBN: 1Surround 2-66709-4 itles • 5.1 bt : 7-4195 English su 670 • UPC ussian with KOC-DV-6 nguage: R rama • La Genre: D MASSIVE MARKETING SUPPORT • National Radio and Publicity Campaign • Targeted Online Ads/Social Media with Google, YouTube, DVD Talk, Pop Matters • Outreach to the Russian-American community PRE-BOOK DATE: 3/10/09 • STREET DATE: 4/7/09 Watch 1612 clips at www.kochclips.com For more information visit www.kochb2b.com 22 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.kochclips.com http://www.kochb2b.com
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