New on Disc: 'So This Is New York' and more …
14 Jul, 2014 By: Mike ClarkSo This Is New York
Olive, Comedy, $24.95 DVD, $29.95 Blu-ray, NR.
Stars Henry Morgan, Rudy Vallee, Virginia Grey, Dona Drake.
1948. So This Is New York has one of the two big-screen roles that radio humorist Henry Morgan ever had. Co-adapted by future High Noon scripter Carl Foreman from Michigan-born Ring Lardner’s The Big Town, it reflects an inveterate Midwesterner’s gander at a bulging metropolis, as reflected by Morgan’s weariness over a New York trip spearheaded by his wife and sister-in-law, who’ve both just inherited money that makes them targets for big-city sharpies. The movie is minor frivolity, but it has a wacky tone and gets a no-frills but certainly decent transfer in this Olive Blu-ray edition.
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Woman’s World
Available via Fox Cinema Archive
Fox, Drama, $19.98 DVD, NR.
Stars Clifton Webb, June Allyson, Fred MacMurray, Lauren Bacall.
1954. One cannot be oblivious to the reality that Woman’s World portrays a universe that must seem alien to anyone born in the last 30 or 40 years, though within the confines of a glossy piece of entertainment, I strongly suspect that it was highly accurate for the times. Three regional star achievers employed by a major auto company are called to Manhattan to see which one will replace an executive who recently died. Every lead performance here seems on the money (it’s not unheard-of to see Lauren Bacall’s performance cited as her career best), and the production is so grade-‘A’ that the budget is said to have been the biggest up to that time for a Fox modern-day drama.
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