Hello!

First up today, we’re helping to spread the word about an interesting Abbott and Costello restoration being done by Bob Furmanek and the 3-D Film Archive. Their disc of Africa Screams is a beauty, and I personally am excited about their upcoming restoration of the A&C Jack and the Beanstalk because it was one of the first movies I remember seeing on TV as a kid. But this is something new: the 3-D Film Archive has just announced the restoration of the entire first season (26 episodes) of TV’s The Abbott and Costello Show from 1951. Most of us have just seen clips on YouTube of miserable quality. I would have thought the show was live, and that the only film copies were kinescopes. No, apparently the show was filmed on 35mm, just like Desilu’s I Love Lucy, and Furmanek & Co. are bringing them back in quality never before seen.

As with the other films, they chose yesterday to announce their Kickstarter Pitch, plus a pitch for pre-orders to lock in the disc release. The link takes you to a better explanation of what the show will entail, with some good images and a link to restoration samples — that look pretty amazing. And we see Hilary Brooke, too!

So — what’s coming for reviews at CineSavant?  Already written or at least in hand are
Arrow’s Giants and Toys by Yasuzo Masumura;
Kino’s To New Shores / Habanera by Douglas Sirk, A Lovely Way to Die (Kirk Douglas, Sylva Koscina) and Honky Tonk Freeway by John Schlesinger;
the Warner Archive’s Athena (Jane Powell & Debbie Reynolds), The Tender Trap (Frank Sinatra & Reynolds), Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House (Cary Grant, Myrna Loy) and The Yearling by Clarence Brown;
Artus Films’ Blood of the Vampire with Barbara Shelley;
Mill Creek’s The Hellfighters with John Wayne;
Powerhouse Indicator’s Hammer Volume Six Night Shadows featuring Nightmare, Captain Clegg, The Shadow of the Cat and Phantom of the Opera;
Viavision [Imprint]’s Scarface by Howard Hawks;
and Criterion’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High by Amy Heckerling.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson