Coming in March: A Woman of Paris, Charlie Chaplin’s long-overlooked silent masterpiece; Godzilla vs. Biollante, a high point in the mythology of the King of the Monsters, directed by Kazuki Omori; Night Moves, Arthur Penn’s haunting 1970s neonoir; and Choose Me, a seductive neon dream about human desire, directed by Alan Rudolph. PLUS: Michael Mann’s Thief, the American auteur’s stylish debut, and Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Wages of Fear, one of the greatest thrillers ever made—now on 4K UHD.
The Wages of Fear (#35) out Mar 4
In a squalid South American oil town, four desperate men sign on for a suicide mission to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin over a treacherous mountain route. As they ferry their explosive cargo to a faraway oil fire, each bump and jolt tests their courage, their friendship, and their nerves. The result is one of the greatest thrillers ever committed to celluloid, a white-knuckle ride from France’s legendary master of suspense Henri-Georges Clouzot. Read Gordon S. Miller’s review of the Blu-ray. The Special Edition Features are:
Buy The Wages of Fear Blu-ray- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Interviews with assistant director Michel Romanoff and Marc Godin, biographer of director Henri-Georges Clouzot
- Interview with actor Yves Montand from 1988
- Henri-Georges Clouzot: The Enlightened Tyrant, a 2004 documentary on the director’s career
- Censored, an analysis of cuts made to the film for its 1955 U.S. release
- Program on the film’s 4K restoration
- Trailers
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by novelist Dennis Lehane and a compilation of interviews with the cast and crew of the film
Thief (#691) out Mar 11
The contemporary American auteur Michael Mann’s bold artistic sensibility was already fully formed when he burst out of the gate with Thief, his debut feature. James Caan stars, in one of his most riveting performances, as a no-nonsense ex-con professional thief planning to leave the criminal world behind after one last score—but he discovers that escape is not as simple as he’d hoped. Finding hypnotic beauty in neon and rain-slick streets, sparks and steel, Thief effortlessly established the moody stylishness, tactile approach, and drama that would also define such later iconic Mann films as Heat, The Insider, Ali, and The Last of the Mohicans. The Director-Approved Special Edition Features are:
Buy Thief Blu-ray- New 4K digital restoration of the director’s cut, supervised and approved by director Michael Mann, with 5.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Audio commentary featuring Mann and actor James Caan
- Interviews with Mann, Caan, and Johannes Schmoelling of the band Tangerine Dream, which contributed the film’s soundtrack
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Nick James
Godzilla vs. Biollante (#1254) out Mar 18
Diving into delirious realms of imagination, this second film of the Godzilla franchise’s 1980s resurgence showcased the towering beast for a new generation of fans. This time, Godzilla’s foe is one of the series’ most wondrously strange kaiju creations: Biollante—a mutant plant genetically engineered from the cells of a rose, a renegade scientist’s dead daughter, and Godzilla itself. With a wild plot encompassing spies, psychic children, and bonkers biotechnology—and some of the coolest special effects in the history of Japanese cinema—Godzilla vs. Biollante stands as a high point in the ever-evolving mythology of the King of the Monsters. The Special Edition Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration, with 5.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New audio commentary featuring film historian Samm Deighan, host of the podcast Eros + Massacre and coeditor of the book Revolution in 35mm
- Making-of program from 1993 featuring director Kazuki Omori and special-effects director Koichi Kawakita, among others
- Short documentary from 1993 about the Biollante and Super X2 vehicle concepts
- Deleted special effects
- TV spots and trailers
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by science-fiction and horror film expert Jim Cirronella
A Woman of Paris (#1253) out Mar 18
Remarkable for its psychological nuance and its boldly modern perspective on an independent woman’s search for fulfillment, Charlie Chaplin’s long-overlooked silent masterpiece A Woman of Paris is a revelation. Chaplin confounded 1923 audiences with this unexpected foray into serious drama, and by ceding the spotlight to his longtime screen partner Edna Purviance. She is captivating as the vivacious Marie St. Clair, a “woman of fate” who leaves behind her small-minded village for the glamour of Paris, where she finds herself at the center of a Jazz Age whirl of champagne soirees, luxurious pleasure-seeking, romance, and tragedy. Putting aside his Little Tramp persona, Chaplin’s second feature proved that, beyond being a comic genius, he was an artist of immense sensitivity and human understanding. The Special Edition Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration of the 1976 rerelease version, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack featuring a score composed by director Charlie Chaplin
- Alternate score from 2005 created by conductor Timothy Brock, based on music by Chaplin, presented in uncompressed stereo
- Introduction by Chaplin scholar David Robinson
- New video essay by Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance
- Chaplin Today: “A Woman of Paris,” featuring interviews with actor Liv Ullmann and filmmaker Michael Powell
- Archive Commentary: About “A Woman of Paris,” a documentary by Arnold Lozano, managing director of Roy Export S.A.S.
- Excerpts from an audio interview with Chaplin Studios cameraman Roland Totheroh
- Deleted shots from the original 1923 film
- Archival footage
- Trailers
- PLUS: An essay by critic Pamela Hutchinson and notes by Brock on the 2005 score
Night Moves (#843) out Mar 25
Arthur Penn’s haunting neonoir reimagines the hard-boiled detective film for the disillusioned, paranoid 1970s. In one of his greatest performances, Gene Hackman oozes world-weary cynicism as a private investigator whose search for an actress’s missing daughter (Melanie Griffith) leads him from the Hollywood Hills to the Florida Keys, where he is pulled into a sordid family drama and a sinister conspiracy he can hardly grasp. Bolstered by Alan Sharp’s genre-scrambling script and Dede Allen’s elliptical editing, the daringly labyrinthine Night Moves is a defining work of post-Watergate cinema—a silent scream of existential dread and moral decay whose legend has only grown with time. Read Luigi Bastardo’s review of the Warner Archive release. The Special Edition Features are:
Buy Night Moves (Warner Archive) Blu-ray- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New audio commentary by Matthew Asprey Gear, author of Moseby Confidential
- New audio interview with actor Jennifer Warren
- Interview with director Arthur Penn from a 1975 episode of Cinema Showcase
- Interview with Penn from the 1995 documentary Arthur Penn: A Love Affair with Film
- The Day of the Director, a behind-the-scenes featurette
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Mark Harris
Choose Me (#1256) out Mar 25
An achingly romantic neon dream, Alan Rudolph’s comic and cutting exploration of the mysteries of human desire established him as one of the most boldly idiosyncratic independent auteurs of the 1980s. At the smoky dive Eve’s Lounge, a collection of strangers—including an insecure radio sexpert (Geneviève Bujold), a commitment-phobic former sex worker (Lesley Ann Warren), and a globe-trotting mystery man (Keith Carradine)—become entangled in a web of passion, jealousy, and self-discovery. Grooving to the rhythms of Teddy Pendergrass’s sexy slow jams, Choose Me exists on its own offbeat wavelength—knotty, surprising, and deeply tender in its vision of lost souls wounded by love yet still reaching out for human connection. The Special Edition Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director Alan Rudolph and producer David Blocker, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New conversation between Rudolph and actor Keith Carradine
- New program featuring interviews with Rudolph, Blocker, production designer Steven Legler, and producer Carolyn Pfeiffer
- Excerpts from an interview with Rudolph at the Midnight Sun Film Festival
- Trailers
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Beatrice Loayza
