One of Imprint’s major 4K restorations for 2026 is out this month: BATTLE OF BRITAIN (132 mins., 1969; Via Vision), the big-budget effort from James Bond producer Harry Saltzman, who recruited “Goldfinger” director Guy Hamilton – and a number of other 007 vets – to work on this great-looking, if not always dramatically captivating, WWII epic.

The movie brings together an embarrassing array of talents – all-time greats from Laurence Olivier to Ralph Richardson, Robert Shaw to Trevor Howard, Christopher Plummer to Kenneth More, plus young stars like Michael Caine and then-up and comers Ian McShane and James Fox – in a rousing display of old-fashioned WWII fimmaking, one that was falling out of step with the general public by the time the film was released (especially in the U.S., where the picture failed at the box-office). Hamilton stages the action set-pieces with appropriate flair and the widescreen cinematography by Freddie Young is spectacular – less involving is the story credited to James Kennaway and Wilfred Greatorex, which doesn’t develop enough of the assorted characters to a satisfying degree, the actors mostly playing second fiddle to the picture’s admittedly-impressive array of buzzing fighters tearing through the skies.

“Battle of Britain” marks Imprint’s 500^th release and it rightfully, immediately takes its place here as one of the label’s finest efforts to date. The 4K UHD sports an all-new, fresh 35mm scan of the OCN (2.35) and it looks brilliant in Dolby Vision HDR – details and colors seem like they’ve been unlocked here to a degree the old MGM/Fox Blu-Ray could only hint at. That release – the movie’s only prior Blu-Ray in fact – offered a mediocre MPEG-2 compressed 1080p image that was also minus most of its DVD special features, supplements that have been here preserved – and enriched by – brand-new extras Imprint has included in their limited-edition, deluxe hardbound release.

The 4K UHD looks great and offers two new commentaries – one from Steven Jay Rubin and Steve Mitchell, another with Dr. Victoria Taylor – to go along with a reprise of the old MGM DVD’s archival commentary with Guy Hamilton and assorted cast/crew members.

The disc also sports no less than three soundtrack options, which ties into the film’s troubled and rather unique soundtrack history.

Being able to watch a movie and choose, on the fly, between two different soundtracks is something that most soundtrack lovers can only dream about. While such opportunities are limited, Imprint again provides viewers with the rare chance to watch the movie with Ron Goodwin’s score or Sir William Walton’s original music, which was — with the exception of his climactic “Battle In the Air” cue — entirely discarded.

Much has been written about the two scores over the years, and although a myriad of CD releases have come and gone, little from a curiosity standpoint approaches the thrill of being able to actually watch “Battle of Britain” with Walton’s score having been properly mixed back into the film and compare it to the theatrical version. Decidedly more classical in approach, Walton’s music may be stiffer and less accessible than Goodwin’s comparatively upbeat, march-laden offering. While Walton’s music is arguably more introspective, it also turns out to be somehow less supportive overall, with Goodwin’s music providing the function of informing the viewer which side is which during the picture’s superb if sometimes disorienting aerial sequences.

The mere fact that you can choose between the two scores is an educational and altogether fascinating feature for film score scholars and aficionados, and Imprint’s release includes the Goodwin score in both mono and a really strong 5.1 DTS MA track. The Walton re-assembled score is also contained in a 5.1 DTS MA mix that suffers a bit with comparatively brittle dialogue, something that diminished some of MGM’s stereo remixes from the early DVD era.

In addition to a similarly remastered Blu-Ray, special features include the “Battle For The Battle of Britain” documentary plus three featurettes and an animated photo gallery. These extras are, like the commentary, derived from an MGM DVD Special Edition and never before made their way onto Blu-Ray.

Brand-new extras are included on a third Blu-Ray which houses Simon Lewis’ superb documentary “A Narrow Margin: Making ‘Battle of Britain,’” crew interviews, and a featurette with historian Sheldon Hall on the movie’s rocky production history, one which saw Saltzman switch from Paramount to UA for funding at the last minute. The 1943 WWII propaganda film “Why We Fight: The Battle of Britain” is included along with a hardbound book housing a reprint of Cinema Retro’s piece on the film, one which receives a sterling treatment in Imprint’s outstanding new package.

A film making a surprise appearance on 4K UHD, G.I. JANE (125 mins., 1997, R; Via Vision) marked director Ridley Scott’s best film at the time since “Thelma & Louise” and also sported, for my money, star Demi Moore’s best overall performance, period.

Outside its premise, “G.I. Jane” is a pumped-up – and surprisingly not very heavy-handed – entertainment, essentially a modern update of an old military boot-camp formula with Demi vying to become the first female Navy SEAL. In what’s also one of his best performances, Viggo Mortensen is tremendous as the predictably strict drill sergeant, while Anne Bancroft is likewise superb as a senator with ulterior motives and Jason Beghe is Demi’s understanding boyfriend.

Even though the movie does come off firmly anchored in the ‘90s in terms of its camera work and score (the pulsating Trevor Jones soundtrack adhering to a Zimmer-esque assortment of flourishes pretty much), “G.I. Jane” boasts plenty of action, superb performances and smart dialogue in its script, credited to Danielle Alexandra and David Twohy, who was writing (and rewriting) all kinds of good movies around this time.

The second of Scott’s two-picture deal with Largo Entertainment, “G.I. Jane” fared much better at the box-office than the previous year’s “White Squall” and, since so much of Hollywood Pictures’ foreign output is controlled by whatever distributor Largo had locally set up, has made its way to 4K UHD – albeit exclusively in Australia – from ViaVision’s Imprint label.

Now, fans need to know this Dolby Vision HDR (2.39) presentation is not mastered from the OCN but rather an inter-negative that represents the best available elements its licensee down under, Resurgence Films, had available to them. The net result is not a pristine visual presentation but there’s still enough detail in the image that enhances the 4K UHD and places it above the old Blu-Ray Disney released years back. Other debatable aspects of the transfer – slightly different framing and colors – can be attributed to the source element, which obviously doesn’t (and would not) yield as consistent a presentation as an OCN scan or an interpositive-derived transfer. Still, it’s acceptable enough and well encoded as well by Imprint.

The original 5.1 DTS MA soundtrack is included alongside a 2.0 PCM track and, for the first time since the Image laserdisc release, several pertinent extras. These include Ridley Scott’s commentary along with an alternate opening – elements which were left off Disney’s domestic DVD and Blu-Ray releases and are available here for the first time in nearly three decades.

Imprint also included a 1997 Making Of featurette and B-roll footage to go along with archival EPK interviews with all the pertinent players (Moore, Scott, Mortensen, Beghe) plus additional, vintage cast/crew conversations. For exclusive supplements, Imprint has produced several strong new interviews with Jason Beghe and two long-time Scott collaborators: production designer Arthur Max and editor Pietro Scalia. The set is housed in a hardbound case with a hardcover booklet reprinting the original U.S. press kit and a handful of glossy photos.

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Warner Archive New Releases

Jungle adventure from the ‘30s and ‘50s comes to Blu-Ray this month from Warner Archive in a pair of sumptuously restored new releases.

Johnny Weismuller’s adventures as Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan entertained audiences throughout the 1930s and 40s, and the best of them all was TARZAN AND HIS MATE (105 mins., 1934), the first sequel in the series and the last to be produced before the Hays Office implemented its production code, thereby taming Hollywood’s early penchant for producing sex and violence on-screen.

That said, the Hays Office was in command once the film was finished, ordering extensive cuts to everything including nudity to violence and even a naked swimming bit with Maureen O’Sullivan’s Jane now living with her Man of the Jungle. Luckily, various bits MGM had to trim were restored to numerous prints over the years, and this brand-new 1080p restoration (1.37 B&W, mono) features a uniformly superior presentation to its previous restoration on laserdisc and DVD, with the addition of the trailer and two classic MGM short subjects.

The movie itself is great fun – a rousing jungle adventure tightly directed by Cedric Gibbons with Weissmuler and O’Sullivan in peak form, the picture sporting a mix of action, humor, romance and even a hint of jungle “shenanigans” that you wouldn’t see again until Bo Derek showed up as Jane, nearly 50 years later in a remake of the original “Tarzan, The Ape Man.”

More jungle fun from the MGM vault is also newly available from Warner Archive this month. MGM’s “Red Dust” was a ‘30s hit so naturally a remake in Technicolor sounded like a good idea – hence MOGAMBO (116 mins., 1953), a reworking that brought back its predecessor’s original star, Clark Gable, albeit this time in a zesty outdoor adventure with Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly comprising the rest of the movie’s romantic triangle and director John Ford capturing a broader tone in this African-lensed MGM hit. Warner Archive’s 4K restoration (1.37, mono) on Blu-Ray is marvelous with clear mono sound and extras including an MGM toon, Fitzpatrick “Traveltalks” episode, and the trailer. Highly recommended!

Film noir fans will want to check out RKO’s groundbreaking STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR (64 mins., 1940), a landmark genre exercise starring John McGuire as a reporter whose testimony sends a man (Elisha Cook Jr.) to the electric chair. When McGuire is soon eyed as the prime suspect in another murder, he starts a frantic investigation to uncover the true culprit in Boris Ingster’s finely-performed and written thriller which co-stars Peter Lorre and soon instigated a whole genre of similarly-twisty B&W programmers. Warner Archive’s Blu-Ray (1.37 B&W, mono) sports yet another finely detailed transfer with extras including two classic cartoons and three radio episodes of “Mystery of the Air,” all featuring Lorre.

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS: 4-FILM COLLECTION Blu-Ray (Warner Archive): Another superb Warner Archive anthology collects four Warner/MGM productions based on Tennessee Williams’ plays or, in the case of Elia Kazan’s controversial “Baby Doll,” original material.

At the top of the list here are Kazan’s classic filming of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (125 mins., 1953) with Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando, plus director Richard Brooks’ sultry 1958 filming of Williams’ CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (108 mins.).

Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman light up the screen together in Brooks’ filming of the 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, scripted by Brooks and James Poe and vividly shot. Burl Ives, Jack Carson and Judith Anderson co-starred in a film that’s stagy in the best sense, with the MGM production earning Oscar nominations for both of its leads. Warner’s attractively detailed 1080p (1.85) Blu-Ray is a winner all the way, complimented by DTS MA mono audio, commentary by Williams biographer Donald Spoto, a featurette and the original trailer, while “Streetcar” reprises its earlier Blu-Ray with a solid 1080p (1.37) B&W transfer and extensive extras including a Kazan documentary.

Rounding out the package is Williams’ original screenplay BABY DOLL (114 mins., 1956, R), perhaps one of the only 1950s movies you’ll ever see granted an “R” by today’s MPAA due to its subject matter (Carroll Baker is a teen bride to Karl Malden in Elia Kazan’s controversial picture), plus SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH (120 mins., 1961), which blows up Williams’ Southern soap featuring Paul Newman and Geraldine Page for the colorful swath of Cinemascope quite effectively, this time under both the direction and screenplay of Richard Brooks.

Both discs carry over their respective, earlier transfers (1.85 B&W for “Baby Doll”/2.35 color for “Sweet Bird…”) and extras in an attractively-priced Warner Archive anthology, out March 17^th.

Two additional Warner Archive Collection anthologies are recently available from the label.

ROBERT TAYLOR COLLECTION (Warner Archive) sports the star in DEVIL’S DOORWAY (84 mins.) and WESTWARD THE WOMEN (116 mins., 1951), two MGM B&W affairs before he leapt into Technicolor splendor in the hit IVANHOE (106 mins., 1952) opposite Elizabeth Taylor. His later turn alongside Stewart Granger in the Richard Brooks-helmed Cinemascope western THE LAST HUNT (104 mins., 1956) caps the package.

SPENCER TRACY COLLECTION (Warner Archive) includes Warner Archive’s dazzling restoration of NORTHWEST PASSAGE (128 mins., 1940) along with Tracy in Fritz Lang’s FURY (92 mins., 1936), as an ensemble player in the 1936 comedy LIBELED LADY (98 mins.), and in one of his great, late-career performances in John Sturges’ BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (81 mins., 1955). Check the Aisle Seat Archives page for individual reviews of most of those titles.

Finally, more vintage goods from the Hanna-Barbera library have been remastered in 4K this month. LOOPY DE LOOP: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION (315 mins., 1959-65) features all 48 original theatrical shorts that featured Loopy, a French-Canadian lupine seeking to change the image of villainous wolves (and other fiends) across any number of well-known stories: Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Dr. Jekyll, Cinderella and Little Bo Peep all pop up here in gently amusing shorts that Hanna-Barbera animated and Columbia Pictures distributed at the time.

Warner Archive’s Blu-Ray sports gorgeous, 4K-remastered scans (1.37, mono) of these rarely-collected Loopy shorts, which should provide appealing fun for kids and nostalgic adults alike.

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Also New & Noteworthy

RICHARD PRYOR: HERE AND NOW 4K UHD (95 mins., 1983, R; Sony): Theatrically released Richard Pryor concert film, shot in the summer of 1983, finds the comedian opining about sex, drugs, politics, a screening of “Superman III” art the White House, and (supposedly) becoming sober. One of the best of Pryor’s concert films, “Here and Now” was apparently not shot on film but a tape-based source and converted to 35mm for Columbia’s autumn ‘83 theatrical release. As a result, this is not necessarily a candidate you’d tag for the 4K treatment, but Sony’s UHD with Dolby Vision HDR (1.85) does the best it can under the circumstances, delivering a clear picture where the seams begin to show if you hunt too much for its standard-def based origins. The DTS MA mono sound is fine and a Digital HD code is also included.

HAMNET 4K UHD/Blu-Ray (126 mins., 2025, PG-13; Universal): Opulently filmed if somewhat dramatically inert adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s book, based on true components revolving around playwright William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley), whose relationship is tested with the death of one of their children. With Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes on-hand as producers you know you’re in for a first-class film and Chloe Zhao’s picture, scripted with the author, results in uniformly strong performances and poignant scenes, but also a one-note type of emotional line that runs throughout the picture – and prevents it from providing something more to the viewer. Universal’s 4K UHD (1.78) includes Dolby Atmos sound, commentary with Zhao, featurettes, the Blu-Ray and Digital HD code.

FOR ALL MANKIND: Season 2 Blu-Ray (616 mins., 2021; Sony): Apple’s “what if?” series follows NASA astronauts and their families in a world where the space race actually began with Russia arriving on the Moon first. From there, Ronald D. Moore’s series offers up similarly provocative “what if” questions with real historical figures mixed with fictional ones and lots – lots – of present-day politics and social issues thrust into it. This is an increasing attribute in the series’ sophomore season, which is only now hitting Blu-Ray (2:1, 5.1 DTS MA) in a fine Sony release sporting all 10 episodes with a commentary on the finale by series creators.

NEXT TIME: Kino Lorber’s latest! Until then, don’t forget to drop in on the official Aisle Seat Message Boards and direct any emails to our email address. Cheers everyone!