Fox Cinema Archives Releases

Fox Cinema Archives continues to release interesting titles at a steady pace.

I've now seen two films in the series, THE MAN I MARRIED (1940) and SECRET AGENT OF JAPAN (1942), and was pleased with the print quality of both titles.  I found THE MAN I MARRIED, starring Joan Bennett, to be something of a lost treasure.

I want to highlight several titles which have been previously reviewed here and are now available from the Archives. My reviews are linked at each title, and a link to the Cinema Archives DVD-R can be found at the end of each review.

SUNDAY DINNER FOR A SOLDIER (1944), reviewed back in 2009, is an excellent WWII "homefront" drama starring Anne Baxter and John Hodiak, who married two years later.

THREE BLIND MICE (1938) has an attractive cast in a story used by Fox many times, about a trio of girls looking for rich husbands. It stars Loretta Young, Joel McCrea, and David Niven.

ELOPEMENT (1951) is a fun Fox romantic comedy with Anne Francis, William Lundigan, Clifton Webb, and a nice supporting cast.

YOU WERE MEANT FOR ME (1948) is a partial remake of Fox's ORCHESTRA WIVES (1942), with Dan Dailey and Jeanne Crain, supported by Oscar Levant and Barbara Lawrence. I'm a big Crain fan so it's no surprise that I really liked this one. Hopefully we'll be seeing releases of other Crain films in the near future, as several of her most significant titles have long been unavailable.

IN THE MEANTIME, DARLING (1944) has one of Jeanne Crain's earliest performances in an entertaining WWII homefront "B" film.

MOTHER DIDN'T TELL ME (1951) is an interesting but simultaneously rather annoying film starring Dorothy McGuire and William Lundigan. Moira has more on this one at The Skeins. It's worth seeing the movie just to fully appreciate her review, but it's probably more of a rental than a buy.

DESTINATION GOBI (1953) stars Richard Widmark as the leader of a group of Navy weathermen stationed in the Gobi Desert during WWII. Don Taylor and Martin Milner are in the supporting cast of this interesting film, said to be based on a true story.

COME TO THE STABLE (1949) is a delightful film about two nuns trying to build a hospital. This movie, which stars Loretta Young and Celeste Holm, received multiple Oscar nominations. It has a wonderful cast and a memorable Oscar-nominated song, "Through a Long and Sleepless Night." Although not a Christmas film, this film has the same positive vibe as the best Christmas movies and would be an excellent choice to watch this upcoming holiday season.

There are a number of other interesting titles which have been released. One of those on my wish list is DEEP WATERS (1951), a Dana Andrews film I've never seen which costars Jean Peters, Cesar Romero, and Dean Stockwell, directed by the underrated Henry King.

This is a DVD-R line which is very much worth supporting in order to encourage the continuance of such a robust release schedule. Hopefully we'll also see more sales of these films, such as the one Amazon had last summer.

Previously: Fox Cinema Archives (May 2012).