New to View: April 19

Jayne Mansfield takes center stage, Spidey deals with the multiverse and a trio of W.C. Fields films are among the new releases to check out.

The following titles are being released on Tuesday, April 19, unless otherwise noted:
The Girl Can’t Help It (Blu-ray)
Details: 1956, The Criterion Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This comedy is noted for two things — Jayne Mansfield in her first major movie role and the abundance of rock ‘n’ roll music.
The movie, directed by Frank Tashlin, who also wrote the screenplay, stars Mansfield as Jerri Jordan, the girlfriend of slot machine mobster Marty “Fats” Murdock (Oscar-winner Edmond O’Brien), who hires alcoholic press agent Tom Miller (Tom Ewell) to promote Jordan as a singing star, despite her seemingly lack of talent.
The film also features cameos by Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, Fats Domino, Julie London, the Platters, Gene Vincent and Ray Anthony.
Despite underperforming at the box office, the movie did help popularize rock ‘n’ roll.
It was one of the best movies in Mansfield’s short movie career.
The film earned a 77 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English LPCM monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus options include a commentary track, video essay, an interview with filmmaker John Waters, a discussion about the music in the movie, an interview with Eve Golden, author of “Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn’t Help It,” on-set footage, a 1957 interview with Mansfield and a 1984 interview with Little Richard, a podcast about Mansfield and an essay about Tashlin.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Release date: April 12
Details: 2021, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, action violence, language, suggestive comments
The lowdown: “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is every Spidey fan’s favorite fantasy come true.
In a nutshell, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is the best movie about the web-slinger in decades.
The movie picks up where “Spider-Man: Far From Home” ended — with the dying Mysterioso revealing to the world that Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker, a teenager, a high-school student.
The revelation upends not only the world of Peter, but of girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), his best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon) and Peter’s beloved Aunt May (Marisa Tomei).
The one aspect that has always held true throughout the Spider-Man movies, no matter who played the wall crawler, was that Peter consistently was more concerned with his family and friends than with being a superhero; his conflict rests between him wanting to live a normal life and knowing that his superpowers obligate him to act.
As a last resort, Peter visits Dr. Strange, begging him to cast a spell that would make the world forget that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are one in the same.
But Peter’s constant interruptions — he is, after all, a teenager — screws up Strange’s spell, creating a rift in the multiverse that allows other villains who know Peter’s secret identity to enter his universe and unleash chaos.
The movie is like an anti-Avengers feature. A bevy of villains start popping up — all seeking Peter Parker. And all are very confused when they find and unmask this universe’s Spider-Man and discover he is not their nemesis.
The movie, at just under 150 minutes, zips by as quickly as Spider-Man can shoot one of his webs.
“No Way Home” not only moves the Spidey franchise forward, but it opens up new doors and windows for future Marvel Cinematic Universe features.
A vast array of movie critics agreed, awarding the film a 93 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English, French, Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital and English and French 5.1 audio description track; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.39:1 anamorphic widescreen picture; English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English and French 5.1 audio description track; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include alternate reality Easter eggs, seven behind-the-scene featurettes, bloopers, a gag reel, a villains panel and heroes panel, a trio of stories from “The Daily Bugle” and a pair of stunt scene previsualizations.

The King’s Daughter (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2022, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, violence, thematic elements, suggestive material
The lowdown: This movie is a mess, trying to meld two stories that fail to mesh.
The first centers on King Louis XIV (Pierce Brosnan) of France, known as The Sun King. Louis is obsessed with his own mortality and the future of France.
He seeks guidance from his spiritual advisor, Père La Chaise (the late William Hurt) and his royal physician to help him find the key to immortality.
They believe that a mermaid (Fan Bingbing) holds the answer; that she contains a force that grants everlasting life.
Louis commissions a young sea captain to capture the mythical creature.
Further complications arise for the king when his orphaned daughter, Marie-Josèphe (Kaya Scodelario), returns to court. She is elegant, but also has a streak of defiance that annoys her father.
With the approach of a rare solar eclipse, Louis will discover where his daughter’s true loyalties lie as he races to get the mermaid’s life-giving force.
The movie had been held back from release for a few years and most critics agreed it should have been withheld longer, as it garnered a disappointing 18 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include cast interviews about the movie and a deleted scene.

In the Heat of the Night (4K UHD + Blu-ray)
Details: 1967, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This crime thriller was the recipient of five Academy Awards, including best picture and best actor for Rod Steiger.
The movie’s recognition at the Oscars, in which two of the other movies up for the award were the groundbreaking “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Graduate,” showed that Hollywood was still looking back instead of ahead.
Not that “In the Heat of the Night” is a bad movie. It is an excellent feature with strong performances by Steiger and Sidney Poitier as the Philadelphia police detective who becomes embroiled in a murder investigation in Sparta, Mississippi.
The movie centers more on the relationship between two strong-willed men — Steiger’s Sheriff Bill Gillespie and Poitier’s Tibbs — rather than the murder investigation.
The score by Quincy Jones helps set the tone of the film, which received a 95 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 2160p 4K ultra high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: The bonus offerings are on the Blu-ray disc and they include the two sequels starring Poitier, “They Call Me Mr. Tibbs!” (1970) and “The Organization” (1971); two commentary tracks, one with director Norman Jewison, Steiger, costar Lee Grant and cinematographer Haskell Wexler, and the other with film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson as well as Robert Mirsch; featurettes on making movies in the 1960s, Jones’s music and the famous “slap” sequence.

You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man (Blu-ray)
Details: 1939, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: W.C. Fields stars as Larson E. Whipsnade in this hilarious comedy about the owner of the debt-ridden Circus Giganticus who continually stays one step ahead of his creditors and the law.
The movie capitalizes on the radio “feud” between Fields and co-star ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (father of Candice) and his wooden pals, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd.
The cast also features Constance Moore (Wilma Deering in the serial “Buck Rogers”) as Whipsnade’s daughter, Vicky, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Grady Sutton and Thurston Hall.
The film’s plot is minimal, merely a group of sketches to display Fields’ persona. Fields, using the name Charles Bogle, wrote the story.
The title comes from a line Fields’ Whipsnade says in the movie: “You can’t cheat an honest man; never give a sucker an even break, or smarten up a chump.”
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: The major extra is a commentary track by filmmaker-historian Michael Schlesinger.

Heavy Metal: Limited Edition 2-Movie Collection (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 1981, 2000, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: R, violence, language
The lowdown: “Heavy Metal” is an animated feature based on the fantasy illustrated magazine.
The movie, produced by Ivan Reitman, is a tale about a glowing green orb from outer space that spreads destruction throughout the galaxy.
The orb can only be stopped when it encounters its true enemy, to whom it is — against all reason — drawn.
The movie is a series of vignettes detailing the orb’s destructive power.
The voice talent includes John Candy and Harold Ramis and a first-rate soundtrack with music by Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Devo, Cheap Trick, Sammy Hagar, Journey and Stevie Nicks, among others.
The 4K UHD restoration with Dolby vision and Dolby Atmos audio enhances the movie experience.
The film earned a 61 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
The Blu-ray disc offers the sequel, “Heavy Metal 2000,” which was not as good nor as successful as the original.
Technical aspects: 2160p 4K Ultra high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos (Dolby 7.1 TrueHD compatible), English, French and Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English and Spanish (stereo) 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental materials include a retrospective featurette about the movie and its influence, an original feature-length rough-cut of the movie with a commentary track, a deleted scene, an “Imagining ‘Heavy Meta’ ” documentary and an alternate framing story with commentary. Extras on “Heavy Metal 2000” include a look at the voice talent, a profile of actor Julie Strain, animation tests and animatic comparisons.

Man on the Flying Trapeze (Blu-ray)
Details: 1935, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: W.C. Fields spent most of the 1930s making comedies for Paramount Pictures, many of which, such as this feature, he wrote himself — usually under one of his pen names. In this case it was as Charles Bogle.
Comedy veteran Clyde Bruckman, who worked with Buster Keaton on many of his 1920s’ classics, was behind the camera for this story about hard-working, henpecked Ambrose Wolfinger, who wants the afternoon off — his first in 25 years — to attend a wrestling match.
Wolfinger lies to his boss, saying he must attend his mother-in-law’s funeral.
The poor man’s afternoon does not go as planned. He tries to please a police officer, assist a chauffeur, chase a tire and finally is hit by the body of a wrestler thrown from the ring.
The movie, which runs a tight 66 minutes, is very funny, with a supporting cast that includes Mary Brian as Wolfinger’s loving daughter, Kathleen Howard as his shrewish wife, as well as Grady Sutton and Walter Brennan.
Fields reportedly took over direction of the movie when Bruckman, an alcoholic, had to quit early in the shooting schedule because of his drinking.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: The main extra is the documentary, “Wayne and Shuster Take an Affectionate Look at W.C. Fields.”

You’re Telling Me! (Blu-ray)
Details: 1934, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: W.C. Fields plays — again — a henpecked husband and a crackpot inventor whose ideas usually are duds.
The movie has a bit of poignancy as Fields’ Sam Bisbee contemplates suicide after failing to sell one of his ideas.
He is saved by a young woman who is a princess traveling incognito.
Another plot arc centers on Bisbee’s daughter, Pauline (Joan Marsh) whose in love with Bob Murchison (Larry “Buster” Crabbe of “Flash Gordon” fame), the son of the town’s biggest snob.
Everything, of course, works out for Bisbee.
One of the film’s highlights is Fields’ recreation of his famous golfing sketch, which had been performing since the Ziegfeld Follies of 1918.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: The documentary, “Wayne and Shuster Take an Affectionate look at W.C. Fields” is the main extra.

My Afternoons with Margueritte (Blu-ray)
Details: 2010, Cohen Media Group-Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Gerard Depardieu and 96-year-old Giselle Casadesus star in this sweet comedy about Germain (Depardieu), a nearly illiterate man in his 50s, and Margueritte, a bright 95-year-old woman who enjoys nothing more than reading.
Both reside in a small French town where Germain is considered the village idiot.
One day, Germain takes a walk in the park and happens to sit beside Margueritte, who is reading excerpts from her novel aloud. Germain is taken by this articulate and intelligent woman’s passion for life and literature, from which he always has felt left out.
As they continue to meet, Margueritte broadens Germain’s mind by reading to him from her novel.
Germain slowly comes to realize that he is smarter than he — or anyone else — believed.
Their afternoons on the park bench — with Margueritte reading aloud — transforms both their lives. Later, as Margueritte’s eyesight begins to fail, Germain returns the favor of reading to his new friend.
The movie earned an 85 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; French 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.

The Abominable Dr. Phibes / Dr. Phibes Rises Again! Double Feature (Blu-ray)
Release date: April 12
Details: 1971, 1972, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: PG-13 (“Abominable Dr. Phibes”), PG (“Dr. Phibes Rises Again!”)
The lowdown: Horror legend Vincent Price stars in these two features as Dr. Phibes who, in the first movie, seeks Old Testament vengeance — the 10 plagues unleashed on Egypt from locusts to rats — on a team of surgeons who botched his wife’s operation, killing her.
The film costars Joseph Cotten, Terry-Thomas, Hugh Griffith and Virginia North.
In the sequel, Price’s Phibes awakens after a decade of suspended animation and travels to Egypt with his wife’s corpse, which he intends to resurrect through ritualistic killings to invoke an ancient incantation.
The cast includes Robert Quarry, Terry-Thomas, Hugh Griffith and Peter Cushing.
The pleasure of the movies, both directed by Robert Fuest, is Price’s performances.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural (“The Abominable Dr. Phibes”) and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio (“Dr. Phibes Rises Again!”); English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus options include four commentary tracks, two for each movie.

Jigsaw (Blu-ray)
Release date: April 5
Details: 1962, Cohen Film Collection-Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This British murder mystery, directed by Val Guest, was inspired by the Brighton Trunk Murders of the 1930s.
The body of a woman is discovered in a lonely beach house. Two Brighton detectives, portrayed by Jack Warner and Ronald Lewis, methodically assemble a jigsaw puzzle of clues to find her killer.
Among the clues to hunt the killer is a burglary at a realtor’s office in which only leasing documents had been stolen.
The film is a very British procedural with the detectives going step-by-step to unravel the mystery, discover clues and apprehend the killer.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.

Girl on a Chain Gang: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1966, The Film Detective-Something Weird
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This exploitation drive-in fare feature focuses on three young people framed, arrested and jailed by corrupt Southern police.
The movie was produced and directed by schlock filmmaker Jerry Gross and was inspired by the filmmaker’s social conscience about racist Southern cops — the movie was made a year after three Civil Rights workers were killed in Mississippi.
Because of its low budget, the feature, supposedly set in the deep South, was filmed on Long Island.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English closed-captioned.
Don’t miss: Supplemental options include a commentary track, an essay about the movie and a profile of Gross.

Rogue Cops and Racketeers: Two Crime Thrillers by Enzo G. Castellari: Limited Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1976-77, Arrow Video
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Enzo G. Castellari specialized in the police-related dramas that proliferated in Italian cinema in the 1970s.
The featured films are “The Big Racket” (1976) and “The Heroin Busters” (1977). Both star Fabio Testi.
In “The Big Racket,” he portrays inspector Nico Palmieri who is hunting a gang of ruthless, youthful extortionists. The movie’s violence is rather disturbing.
In “The Heroin Busters,” Testi plays Fabio, an unorthodox cop who works undercover to bring a drug cartel to justice. The movie, like “The Big Racket,” is intense.
Among the supporting cast are David Hemmings in “Heroin Busters” and Vincent Gardenia in “Big Racket.”
Fans of Italian crime movies will enjoy these two features.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; Italian and English (dubbed) DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus options on both films include interviews with Castellari, Testi, costar Massimo Vanni, editor Gianfranco Amicucci, commentary tracks, featurettes on the music composers for both movies and, on “Heroin Busters,” an interview with an Italian criminologist.

The Round-Up & The Red and the White: Two Films by Miklós Jancsó (Blu-ray)
Release date: April 12
Details: 1966-67, Kino Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A two-disc set that features a pair of movies co-written and directed by Miklós Jancsó, one of the leading lights of the Hungarian filmmaking.
“The Round-Up” (1966) is a historical drama set in a prison camp in the aftermath of the 1848 Hungarian Revolution.
After the Hapsburg monarchy succeeds in putting down a nationalist uprising, the army begins arresting suspected guerrillas who, to force information from them, are tortured.
Jancsó’s camera is continually in motion as it focus on the resistance and perseverance of the Hungarian prisoners against brutal and repressive measures.
“The Red and the White” (1967) is a haunting and powerful message movie about the absurdity and futility of war.
It is set in Central Russia during the Civil War of 1918. It details the murderous conflicts between Russia’s Red and White soldiers in the hills along the Volga River.
The fighting moves from a deserted monastery to a riverbank hospital to it finally ends in a hillside massacre.
Jancsó uses long takes, amazing landscapes and brilliant black-and-white cinematography to provide a surreal nightmarish quality for the viewer.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; Hungarian DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include commentary tracks on both movies and seven short films by Jancsó.

From the Journals of Jean Seberg (DVD)
Details: 1995, Kino Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Mary Beth Hurt portrays actress Jean Seberg in this film essay by Mark Rappaport that blends documentary and fiction to create a portrait of the actress.
Seberg was discovered as a teenager by filmmaker Otto Preminger who cast her as the lead in his 1957 film, “Saint Joan.” The movie — and Seberg — were mercilessly panned.
Her career received a second life when she was cast in Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless,” one of the leading movies in the new French wave.
Rappaport’s movie covers her career, life and death in 1979. It’s a look at a part of film history and the place of women in it. The movie looks at Seberg’s activism, especially her involvement with the Black Panther movement, and also touches on the careers of other activist performers such as Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave and Clint Eastwood.
Technical aspects: 1.33;1 (16x9 enhanced) full-screen picture; English 2.0 Dolby digital; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: The DVD also includes short films by Rappaport about Anita Ekberg, Debra Paget and “Anna/Nana/Nana/Anna.”

The Indian Tomb (Blu-ray)
Release date: April 5
Details: 1921, Kino Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Fritz Lang and his wife, Thea von Harbou, collaborated on the screenplay for this silent German epic, based on a novel by von Harbou.
This four-hour epic, set in India, is actually two movies: “The Mission of the Yogi” and “The Tiger of Eschnapur.”
Joe May directs Conrad Veidt as the vengeance-seeking Maharajah of Bengal, who wants to build an imposing temple in which to entomb his faithless wife.
But his plans are thwarted by two adventurers — a British architect and his fiancée.
“Mission of the Yogi” features the maharajah sending his yogi to entice the architect to build the tomb.
“The Tiger of Eschnapur” centers on the now-mad maharajah continuing to manipulate his three English captives to punish his faithless wife.
Both movies failed at the box office in Germany and the United States.
In 1959, Lang remade both movies.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture; German intertitles with optional English subtitles.
Don’t miss: The main extra is a visual essay about the movies.

The Olive Trees of Justice (Blu-ray)
Details: 1962, Kino Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Documentary filmmaker James Blue shot this feature in Algeria. It is the only French film to have been shot during the Algerian War.
The movie, selected for the first Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962, showcases the Algerian struggle for independence.
It was filmed under the pretext of being a documentary about the wine industry.
The film centers on a young “pied-noir” (Frenchman of Algerian descent) who returns to Algiers to visit his dying father. His memories of boyhood are told in flashbacks.
Blue gave the movie a documentary style and used a largely non-professional cast.
The movie garnered a 100 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture; French DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A short film by Blue is the main extra.

Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
A Life Among Whales (DVD) (IndiePix Films)
Bleed with Me (DVD & digital) (RLJE Films)
See You Then (DVD & digital) (Breaking Glass Pictures)
Where Are You, Jay Bennett (Blu-ray) (MVD Visual Entertainment)

DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Blacklight (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)
Bloody Oranges (Dark Star Pictures)
Dog (Warner Home Entertainment)
The Girl from Plainville: Episode 6 (Hulu)
Vinyl Nation (1091 Pictures)
White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch (www.netflix.com/whitehot) (Netflix)

APRIL 20
Surviving Theater 9 (Ashley Park Productions)
APRIL 21
Brut Force (XYZ Films)
Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story (Hulu)
APRIL 22
Along for the Ride (www.netflix.com/AlongForTheRide) (Netflix)
Children of Sin (Amazon Prime)
The Long Game: Bigger Than Basketball (Apple TV+)
Selling Sunset: Season 5 (www.netflix.com/SellingSunset) (Netflix)
Sexual Drive (Film Movement)
They Call Me Magic (Apple TV+)
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (Utopia)

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.