Jul 6, 2013

Shout! Factory Slates Roger Moore and Michael Caine Blu-ray Rarities

This October, Shout! Factory will release two 1970s titles sure to be of interest to American spy fans: Roger Moore in the WWI-era African adventure Shout at the Devil and Michael Caine in the WWII spy saga The Eagle Has Landed. At this point UK readers are no doubt groaning, "What's the big deal?" as those titles have been available there on DVD and even Blu-ray for years in various editions. But surprisingly, neither one has ever even been available on DVD before in Region 1! To make up for that, the Shout! Factory releases will be DVD/Blu-ray combo sets, so those who haven't yet upgraded to high-def will still be able to enjoy these titles at home for the first time. I believe both of these titles come from the ITV library (I know The Eagle Has Landed does), and I hope their release portends further titles from that library in the U.S. for the first time. Particularly, I hope Shout! has another Moore and another Caine up their sleeves. Both Escape to Athena and The Fourth Protocol are long overdue in this country! There's no word yet on special features on the October releases, but I certainly hope that some of the special features from the UK DVDs make an appearance—and that both films materialize in their extended versions. The Eagle Has Landed (co-starring Donald Sutherland) lands on October 15 with a retail price of $24.97, while Shout at the Devil (co-starring Lee Marvin) arrives a week earlier, October 8, with the lower price point of $19.97. Both are available to pre-order for cheaper, of course, on Amazon.

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