LATEST NEWS

February 2009 Updates

Just a reminder:

As noted in the June '08 update below, Joan Crawford: The Enduring Star, by Peter Cowie, will be released February 10. The 240-page coffee-table book has over 200 photos of Joan.

Read the official press release from Rizzoli books. (Thanks to Tooraj from Rizzoli!)

Order from Amazon for $37.80 (list price is $60).

On April 7, 2009, TCM Spotlight will release its "Doris Day Collection." Included in the 5-film set is It's a Great Feeling (1949), in which Joan makes a brief comic cameo.

Order the set from ClassicFlix.com for $37.99. (Unfortunately, the films aren't for sale separately at this point.) DVD description from ClassicFlix:

It's a Great Feeling (1949)
No director? No leading lady? No problem! If no one will work with actor Jack Carson (who plays himself), he’ll just pull his own movie together. Good buddy Dennis Morgan can be hoodwinked into co-starring. And there’s a talented kid in the studio commissary (Day) eager for her big break.

In her third film (and third with Carson), Doris Day plays that up-and-comer in a bright filmmaking spoof featuring melodic toe-tappers, real Hollywood and Warner Bros. back lot locales, star cameos (Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Edward G. Robinson, among others) and a surprise comedy finale.

NO BONUS FEATURES

August 2008 Updates

The Tonner Doll Company will release its Joan Crawford Collection, consisting of the 6 dolls seen below, later this year. You can call to pre-order directly from the company at 845-339-2960. (Be sure and mention that you read about the dolls here!) See also the Tonner site's Joan doll page (for even bigger photos). As well as a list of stores where you can buy their dolls directly.

June 2008 Updates

Joan Crawford: The Enduring Star by Peter Cowie will be released February 10, 2009, by Rizzoli Books. It's 240 pages (and over 200 photos), with a foreword by Mick LaSalle and an afterword by George Cukor. Amazon pre-ordering.

February 2008 Updates

Reviews and excerpts from the new Charlotte Chandler Joan bio (released February 5):

Vanity Fair excerpt by author Chandler (March '08).

New York Observer review (2/7/08).  

Liz Smith review in the Baltimore Sun (2/6/08).

Remember to order your Joan Crawford Collection, Volume 2! Released February 12, it includes A Woman's Face, Flamingo Road, Sadie McKee, Strange Cargo, and Torch Song. It's available from Amazon for only $37.49.

December 2007 Updates

DVD NEWS:  

The release date for the Fox Daisy Kenyon DVD will be March 11, 2008. Above is the cover art.

Amazon pre-ordering.

BOOK NEWS:

Below is the cover of the new Charlotte Chandler biography of Joan--Not the Girl Next Door: Joan Crawford, a Personal Biography--that will be released February 5, 2008.

Amazon pre-ordering.    Vanity Fair excerpt by author Chandler (March '08).

New York Observer review (2/7/08).  Liz Smith review in the Baltimore Sun (2/6/08).

October 2007 Updates

The Joan Crawford Collection Volume 2 will be released on February 12, 2008. Included on the 5-disc set from Warners are: A Woman's Face, Flamingo Road, Sadie McKee, Strange Cargo, and Torch Song.

See the DVD Times page for more complete details, including info on the extras. Thanks to David Foster for posting the below cover art on the DVD Times site.

September 2007 Updates

BOOK NEWS:

A new biography of Joan will be released February 5, 2008! It's called Not the Girl Next Door: Joan Crawford, a Personal Biography. By Charlotte Chandler, Simon & Schuster.  (Chandler has also written bios on Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, and Hitchcock.) Thanks, Mike, for the info!

Amazon pre-ordering.

DVD NEWS:

(1) Thanks to Corey for sending along the following info on a possible DVD release for Harriet Craig: "Sony is currently considering putting out Harriet Craig (1950) on a double feature with the earlier version of the story, Craig's Wife (1936), so you'll be able to compare whether Crawford or Rosalind Russell rendered the more contemptible character." (Click here for more info from the DVD site.)

(2) It was reported months ago here that the upcoming 2nd Joan boxed set would include Strange Cargo, A Woman's Face, Flamingo Road, Torch Song, and Sadie McKee. However, the latest word is that Sadie might not appear on the set after all, with a possible replacement being Forsaking All Others.

(3) A second Gary Cooper boxed set is scheduled for release in Spring 2008. It'll include the 1933 Joan/Cooper film Today We Live.

(4) Below is the cover for the upcoming Daisy Kenyon DVD. (Thanks, Corey and Mike!)

Earlier DVD and Book News

Reunion in France.  May 22, 2007.

Reunion in France was released May 22, 2007, as part of a 6-disc "John Wayne Film Collection" set in honor of John Wayne's 100th birthday this week. Other movies on the set: "Allegheny Uprising," "Tycoon,"  "Without Reservations," "Trouble Along the Way," and "Big Jim McLain." Retail on the Collection is $49.92 SRP, and $12.97 SRP for the individual releases.

From dvdtimes.uk.com (click on this link to read descriptions of the entire set and other Wayne releases on this date): John Wayne is in straight-up heroic mode as a fugitive RAF pilot on the run from the Gestapo, and Joan Crawford (in haute couture despite the war) is Michele, the spoiled, high-society Parisian who discovers her own patriotism as she helps the airman escape his Nazi pursuers. This glossy, briskly paced thriller also stars Philip Dorn as Michele’s fiancé, an industrialist she suspects of collaborating with the Germans.

Special Features:

• We Do It Because [1942 MGM short]
• War Dogs [1943 MGM cartoon]
• Theatrical Trailer

Trog.  June 26, 2007.

Trog was released June 26 as part of Warner Bros.' "Cult Camp Classics 2: Women In Peril." (It can also be ordered individually.) The other two movies on this set: Lana Turner's "The Big Cube" (1968) and the women-in-prison classic "Caged" (1950).

From dvdtimes.uk.com (click on this link to read descriptions of the entire set and other sets in the series):  People call him Trog, short for a prehistoric cave dweller called a troglodyte. To an anthropologist (Joan Crawford in her final film), he’s the scientific discovery of the age – a wild half man/half ape. To others, he’s walking death. A grocer is impaled on a meat hook, a car is tossed aside like a twig, a child is kidnapped – all after local resident Sam Murdock (Michael Gough) prods the brute into a blind rampage. In true horror tradition, Murdock’s behavior leaves no doubt who the real savages are.

Special Features:

• Theatrical trailer
• Subtitles: English & Français (feature film only)

A new book, Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr, by David Bret,
was released in the UK on April 27, 2006.
Click here to order from amazon.co.uk. Published by Robson Books, 304 pages.

(Note re pictures above: The photo on the left was the original cover;
the style was later revised, though, and the photo on the right is the actual release-cover of the book.)

2-Disc Baby Jane Re-Release May 30, 2006

Click on the photo to order for $18.99 from Amazon.

A special 2-disc "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" was released May 30, 2006, as part of the Bette Davis Collection, Vol. 2, and for sale separately. The "Baby Jane" discs include:

- New 16x9 digital transfer from the original camera negative and restored audio elements (Enhanced for widescreen televisions)
- Commentary by author and film historian , Charles Busch and film historian John Epperson (a/k/a "Lypsinka")
- 3 fabulous documentary profiles of the movie and its 2 immortal stars:
- Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition (A new making-of documentary)
- All About Bette, Biographical profile, hosted by Jodie Foster
- Film Profile: Joan Crawford
- Vintage featurette "Behind the Scenes with Baby Jane"
- The Andy Williams Show
- Theatrical Trailer
- Languages: English & Francais
- Subtitles: English, Francais & Español (feature film only)

Baby Jane DVD Review by Ed Grant 5/8/2006 (videobusiness.com)

The notion of two celebrated drag performers doing audio commentary for What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, the first "grand dame guignol" horror movie of the '60s, is oddly appropriate. It helps that playwright-actor Charles Busch (Psycho Beach Party) and John Epperson (aka "Lypsinka") are well acquainted with the careers of stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and have seemingly committed the film to memory. Though their knowledge of director Robert Aldrich's work is lacking—both attribute the film's impressive chiaroscuro lighting to the influence of Bergman and Truffaut, rather than Aldrich's own previous work in film noir—they more than compensate with keen observations about the first and only teaming of "the screen's greatest masochist" (Crawford) and "the screen's greatest sadist" (Davis). Busch sums up the film in handy terms by describing it as "Sunset Boulevard meets Psycho" and discusses the ways in which Crawford played Blanche in dead earnest, while Davis delivered a slyly campy yet tragic performance as Baby Jane. The two-disc set includes an original featurette offering comments on Bette and Joan from eight film historians as well as Busch, Epperson and actress Carol Kane. A vintage short on the film's production is present, as are documentaries on each woman. Davis' tribute is the expertly assembled TCM original All About Bette, hosted by Jodie Foster. The Crawford program is a very entertaining but far less revealing (as befits its subject) '60s BBC interview with the star, in which she is fawned over by host/fan Philip Jenkinson. As was the case in Baby Jane, Davis leaves the strongest impression on the DVD with a pricelessly tacky clip from The Andy Williams Show. To promote the film, she warbles a cheesy, "Twist"-ready rock 'n' roll tune (heard only as an instrumental in the film proper) called—what else?—"What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"

Mommie Dearest Re-Release June 6, 2006

Click on the photo to order for $11.19 from Amazon.

The "Hollywood Royalty" edition, from Paramount. Extras include:

Dancing Lady June 20, 2006

Click on the photo to order "Dancing Lady" for $14.99 from Amazon.

The Clark Gable Signature Collection by Warner Home Video was released on June 20, 2006, and included Dancing Lady, as well as Mogambo, Boomtown, China Seas, San Francisco, and Wife vs. Secretary. Also included in the collection: a Gable doc--"Clark Gable: Tall, Dark, and Handsome"--hosted by Liam Neeson, and vintage featurettes and musical shorts. Amazon price for set: $41.99 (though each film will also be sold separately).

Dancing Lady Extras (from the Home Theater Forum website review of the DVD):

• Plane Nuts. A vintage Musical short starring Ted Healy and the Three Stooges which is in pretty fair shape. Duration: 19:40 minutes
  
  
• Roast Beet & Movies. Vintage Musical short with Curly Howard. Duration: 16:15 minutes.
  
  
• The Theatrical Trailer has been included here and is in fair shape.. Duration: 1:53 minutes

Johnny Guitar   July 2006--- POSTPONED!

According to The Digital Bits website, Paramount's planned release of Johnny Guitar and 3 other Republic films in July has been indefinitely postponed.  Repeat: JG will NOT be released this July!   No word yet on a new release date. (Below is the initial announcement.)

From Barrie Maxwell's April 17 column at http://www.thedigitalbits.com :

In July (the exact release date has not been confirmed as yet), Paramount also mines more of its Republic holdings with releases of four topnotch films - A Double Life, Force of Evil, Johnny Guitar, and Pursued. All except Johnny Guitar were previously made available on DVD by Artisan with the fine western noir Pursued having been a particularly abysmal effort.

Above:   Get your JC Euro-Sticker right here!

Show your Joan-devotion with this original 4 x 6-inch sticker that's great for car bumpers, walls, or wherever else you want to plaster it!

For US fans, stickers are $3.25 each, which includes shipping.
Click below to buy with credit card or Paypal.

For fans outside the US, stickers are $4.25 each, which includes shipping.
Click below to buy with credit card or Paypal.