The Cohen Media Group and Cohen Film Collection have announced their January 2022 Blu-ray Disc release slate.
The three releases are Only the Animals, Expresso Bongo and Dancing With Crime/The Green Cockatoo.
First up is 2019’s Only the Animals, arriving Jan. 4. The thriller, from director Dominik Moll (With A Friend Like Harry), tells the story of two depressed farmers, an unfaithful wife, a lovelorn waitress and an African con artist who are drawn together in a mystery surrounding the disappearance of Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s glamorous Evelyne Ducat. The action switches between international locations as the links between the characters are gradually revealed. The film is in French, with English subtitles. Cast members include Denis Menochet, Laure Calamy and Damien Bonnard.
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Expresso Bondo, coming to Blu-ray Disc on Jan. 18, is a 1959 British rock ‘n’ roll classic about an opportunistic Soho talent agent (Laurence Harvey) who always looks for the quick buck. When he picks up amateur singer and bongo player (Cliff Richard) in a Soho espresso bar, he uses a little bit of luck and tons of chutzpah to transform the kid into a highly-regarded international singing sensation. This 2K restoration from the original negative was done in collaboration with the British Film Institute and its Unlocking Film Heritage program. The Blu-ray Disc feature the original theatrical release, which includes a number of songs that were cut out of the later and more commonly available 1962 version that was released at the time to capitalize on the popularity of Cliff Richard.
The third release, due on Blu-ray Disc on Jan. 25, contains a double feature, Dancing With Crime and The Green Cockatoo, two early Brit Noirs from the Cohen Film Collection.
In 1947’s Dancing With Crime, Richard Attenborough and Sheila Sim, who at the time were married in real life, put themselves in harms way when they go undercover to investigate the murder of a friend with ties to black market racketeers.
William Cameron Menzies’ The Green Cockatoo was completed in 1937, but not released until 1940. It is often cited as one of the earliest of the British Noirs and helped set the stage for the classical period of Brit Noir which flourished in the years following World War II. The film is based on a Graham Greene story. After witnessing the murder of a racketeer, a young woman is pursued by both gangsters and the police. She is aided by a Soho entertainer, who is the brother of the victim.