4th December 2006

DVD NEWS

Warner Home Video will release a two-disc Special Edition of John Huston's directorial debut The Maltese Falcon on DVD on February the 5th.

The Oscar-nominated 1941 film has been digitally re-mastered from restored elements, and will be presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, with mono Dolby Digital 1.0 audio.

The film will be accompanied by a commentary track by Bogart biographer Eric Lax; a Warner Night At The Movies 1941 short subjects gallery; Vintage Newsreel; Oscar-nominated Technicolor musical short The Gay Parisian; an Oscar-nominated cartoon, Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt; and trailers for The Maltese Falcon and (1941's) Sergeant York. Disc two will feature a new documentary, The Maltese Falcon - One Magnificent Bird; trailers; and Breakdowns of 1941: Studio Blooper Reel. The RRP is £15.99.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release the Secret Service thriller The Sentinel on DVD on January the 29th.

The film, which stars Kiefer Sutherland, Michael Douglas, Kim Basinger and Eva Longoria, will be supplemented by a behind-the-scenes look at the Secret Service, The Secret Service - Building on a Tradition of Excellence;'a look at the life of an Agent, In The President's Shadow: Protecting The President; deleted scenes; and an audio commentary (by director Clark Johnson and screenwriter George Nolfi).

The film will be presented in anamorphic 2.4:1 ratio, with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and optional English SDH subtitles. The RRP is £17.99.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release a steel-cased edition of the Academy Award-winning blockbuster Tora! Tora! Tora! as part of their Cinema Reserve range on December the 18th.

The film will be presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 ratio with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio.  There are optional English HoH subtitles.

The two-disc set will feature a ninety-minute documentary, History Through a Lens: Tora! Tora! Tora! A Giant Awakes, and a twenty-minute featurette about the making of the film, Hollywood Back History, with behind-the-scenes footage and an interview with director Richard Fleischer. The set will also contain ten Movietone News segments; a production gallery (71 images); and a theatrical trailer. Worryingly, the press release makes no mention of the commentary track that appears on the US edition (as part of Fox's Cinema Classics Collection range). The RRP is £17.99.

Metrodome is releasing a collection of discs featuring the early-90s Emmy Award-winning series Shakespeare - The Animated Tales on January the 29th.

There are three discs:  Act 1 - The Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth, Act 2 -  Julius Caesar and Twelfth Night, and Act 3 - Hamlet and The Tempest. Each episode runs for approximately twenty-five minutes. Cast members include Brian Cox, Zoe Wanamaker, Clive Merrison, Joss Ackland, William Rushton, Hugh Grant, Tilda Swinton, Timothy West, Stephen Thorne and Alun Armstrong. The episodes were adapted by best-selling children's novelist Leon Garfield.

Each disc has an RRP of £5.99. Hopefully they'll eventually be re-released on one disc, to save some precious shelf space! Here's the sleeve art...

HAMMER NEWS

Volumes four and five of VCI's Hammer Film Noir series of DVDs have been delayed slightly - they will now be released on December the 26th.

TOM BAKER NEWS

BT has brought Tom Baker back as the voice of its text-to-landline serve, following a very successful stint earlier this year. Customers who send a text message to a fixed line or home phone will have it read out by Tom’s voice. BT will donate two pence to Shelter for every text message sent, from now until January the 8th, to support the charity in its 40th anniversary year.

As part of a charity campaign called Text Aid, and to mark Tom's return, BT is making a version of The Kinks' number one hit You Really Got Me using lyrics created using the digital Tom available as a download.

The Text Aid track can be pre-ordered now from 7Digital and will be officially on sale from December 18 from a range of online retailers including eMusic and iTunes.

Tom Baker said: “I'm delighted to have been asked back by BT as the voice of text-to-landline. It's rather like being Santa Claus, delivering all your festive greetings - I only wish I could hear what I’m saying! I find it fascinating all the things you can do with technology these days - I never would have imagined in my wildest dreams that I'd be a pop star, virtual or otherwise!”

Text Aid is aiming to raise at least £100,000 for the charity over the festive period, which would allow Shelter to "fund an awareness-raising campaign in primary and secondary schools during 2007 as well as supporting frontline services to help vulnerable children and young people cope with housing problems".