Humphrey Bogart Signature Collection Vol.2 in October - Artwork added

Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of Humphrey Bogart: The Signature Collection Volume 2 for 3rd October 2006. Highlighting this collection which honours one of the most popular movie actors of all time is a deluxe new 3-Disc Special Edition of The Maltese Falcon, featuring a newly-remastered edition of the 1941 John Huston masterpiece starring Bogart as Dashiell Hammett’s definitive Sam Spade. This new deluxe set is loaded with hours of bonuses including the 1931 version of The Maltese Falcon and the 1936 film, Satan Met a Lady, commentary by Bogart biographer Eric Lax, a recently recovered additional scene as well as vintage Warner “Night at the Movies” features.

Also contained in the collection are four more Bogart classics making their DVD debuts -- Across the Pacific, Action in the North Atlantic, All Through the Night and Passage to Marseille. Each film has been restored from the original camera negatives and has been digitally remastered, with each title enhanced with entertaining features. The new five film, seven-disc gift set will sell for $59.92 SRP; all titles are exclusive to the collection, except The Maltese Falcon 3-Disc Special Edition, which will also sell separately for $29.92 SRP.

The Maltese Falcon Three-Disc Special Edition (1941)
This nominee for three Academy Awards – Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Greenstreet) and Screenplay (Huston) – solidified Bogart’s stardom and launched John Huston’s illustrious directorial career. An all-star cast (including Sydney Greenstreet, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre and Elisha Cook Jr.) joins Bogart in this classic film noir story about hard-boiled detective Sam Spade (Bogart) and the gallery of lowlifes he’s after to find his partner’s killer as well as the jewel-encrusted life size statue of a falcon. Filled with twists and turns, the crackling mystery masterwork was based on Dashiell Hammett’s novel. The Maltese Falcon was added to the National Film Registry in 1989 and is #23 on the American Film Institute’s (AFI) List of 100 Greatest Movies.

This all-new 3-Disc Special Edition is full of extras, including two features which preceded Bogie’s landmark Falcon -- the 1931 pre-code version of The Maltese Falcon and the 1936 film, Satan Met a Lady, starring Bette Davis.

Disc One Special Features:

• New digital transfer of 1941 movie from restored elements
• Commentary by Bogart biographer Eric Lax
• Warner Night at the Movies 1941 short subjects gallery:
  • Vintage Newsreel, Oscar®-Nominated Technicolor musical short The Gay Parisian
  • Classic Cartoon: Oscar® nominee Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt
  • Trailers of The Maltese Falcon and 1941’s Sergeant York
• Languages: English & French (1941 movie only)
• Subtitles: English, French & Spanish (1941 movie only)

Disc Two Special Features:

• 2 Previous movie versions of the classic Hammett caper:
  • The Maltese Falcon (1931) with Bebe Daniels and Ricardo Cortez
  • Satan Met a Lady (1936) with Bette Davis and Warren William
• Theatrical trailers

Disc Three Special Features:

• New Documentary The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Bird
• Robert Osborne Hosts Becoming Attractions: The Trailers of Humphrey Bogart
• Breakdowns of 1941: Studio Blooper Reel
• Audio-only bonus: 3 radio show adaptations featuring the movie’s original stars including a version starring Edward G. Robinson

Across the Pacific (1942)
The winning team from The Maltese Falcon is reunited for Across the Pacific. This crisply written wartime thriller reunites three Falcon leads -- Bogart, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet. The Maltese Falcon’s John Huston directs this reunion, and once again, the combination of stars and director comes up a winner. Here Bogart plays counterspy Rick Leland who trades romantic barbs with Alberta (Mary Astor), matches wits with sly Lorenz (Sydney Greenstreet) and swaps bullets with saboteurs of the Panama Canal.

DVD Special Features:

• Warner Night at the Movies 1942 Short Subjects Gallery:
  • Vintage newsreel
  • Patriotic Technicolor short Men of the Sky
  • Classic cartoon The Draft Horse
  • Trailers of Across the Pacific and 1942’s Captains of the Clouds
• New featurette Hollywood Helps the Cause
• Breakdowns of 1942: Studio Blooper Reel
• Subtitles: English, French & Spanish (feature film only)

Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
This World War II salute to the Merchant Marines is an action-filled voyage of a besieged freighter and shows how the role of these men supplying the war effort was the lifeblood of democracy’s arsenal. Humphrey Bogart, a World War I seaman and an avid recreational sailor, stars as First Officer Joe Rossi who, along with his captain (Raymond Massey), matches tactics with U-boats and the Luftwaffe. The tactics were so on target that this became a Merchant Marine training film.

DVD Special Features:

• Warner Night at the Movies 1943 short subjects gallery:
  • Vintage newsreel
  • Musical short Cavalcade of Dance
  • Classic cartoon Greetings Bait
  • Trailers of Action in the North Atlantic and 1943’s Northern Pursuit
• New featurette Credit Where Credit Is Due
• Audio-only bonus: radio show with George Raft and Raymond Massey
• Subtitles: English, French & Spanish (feature film only)

All Through the Night (1942)
In this comedy thriller, Bogart had fun in the change-of-pace role of Gloves Donahue, a NY gambler and petty crook. Gloves is definitely more interested in his racing sheet and favourite cheesecake than he is in current events, until the baker gets bumped off, and that changes everything. The fun is winningly contagious in a spoof that pits him against Nazi spies. The wonderful supporting cast of shady, but good guys includes William Demarest, Jackie Gleason and Phil Silvers, all of whom seem to have stepped from Damon Runyon’s Guys and Dolls world.

DVD Special Features:

• Commentary by director Vincent Sherman and Bogart biographer Eric Lax
• Warner Night at the Movies 1942 short subjects gallery:
  • Vintage newsreel
  • Joe Doakes comedy short So You Want to Give Up Smoking
  • Classic cartoon Lights Fantastic
  • Trailers of All Through the Night and 1942’s Gentleman Jim
• New featurette Call the Usual Suspects: The Craft of the Character Actor
• Subtitles: English, French & Spanish (feature film only)

Passage to Marseille (1944)
Humphrey Bogart reunites with director Michael Curtiz and other key Casablanca personnel (including co-stars Claude Rains, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet). Bogart plays Jean Matrac, a World War II French patriot who escapes Devil’s Island, survives a dangerous freighter voyage and becomes a gunner in the Free French Air Corps.

The film sailed into theaters on stormy seas. Controversy surrounded the scene in which Matrac machine-guns the helpless survivors of a downed plane that attacked the freighter. That a soldier of freedom would act ignobly brought protests from religious and censorship groups.

DVD Special Features:

• Warner Night at the Movies 1944 short subjects gallery:
  • Vintage newsreel
  • Oscar®-winning patriotic short I Won’t Play and Oscar® nominee Jammin’ the Blues
  • Classic cartoon The Weakly Reporter
  • Trailers of Passage to Marseille and 1944’s Uncertain Glory
• New featurette The Free French: Forgotten Unsung Victors
• Breakdowns of 1944: Studio Blooper Reel
• Subtitles: English, French & Spanish (feature film only)