For Immediate Release
KINO RELEASES THE TWO-DISC BOX SET THE FILMS OF MORRIS ENGEL WITH RUTH ORKIN ON DVD
Kino International is proud to release for the first time on DVD an exclusive two-DVD box set presenting three classic feature films from one of the most important early voices of American independent cinema: filmmaker Morris Engel and his wife – and sometimes collaborator – Ruth Orkin.
Kino’s THE FILMS OF MORRIS ENGEL WITH RUTH ORKIN collects for the first time in a single set the Silver Lion Winner (Venice Film Festival; 1953) and Academy Award Nominee feature film Little Fugitive (1953), now available in a pristine high definition transfer and packaged with previously unseen extras.
Also in the same set, Kino is offering a double-feature DVD of Lovers and Lollipops (1956) and Weddings and Babies (1958), two American neorealist classics which, like the Little Fugitive before them, are peans to the sights and sounds of New York City streets rendered in gorgeous black and white.
THE FILMS OF MORRIS ENGEL WITH RUTH ORKIN collection has a prebook date of April 9, 2008, and comes with a SRP of $39.95. Its street date is May 6.
Influenced by a shared background in photojournalism and passionately striving to capture a street-level side of their beloved New York City, Morris and Orkin revolutionized filmmaking by avoiding studio sets and shooting their films on location – among the landmarks of New York City.
As a consequence, neighborhoods like Coney Island and Brooklyn, and places like the Central Park Zoo, Macy’s Toy Department, the Statue of Liberty and Chinatown, were captured, maybe for the first time, with an eye for the beautifully mundane – and a focus on “reality” as opposed to glamour.
Inducted in 1997 to the NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY by the Library of Congress and the National Film Preservation Board, Little Fugitive remains one of the most influential American films ever made.
Its simple and charmingly unassuming narrative, focusing on a 7-year-old Brooklyn boy on the run after he mistakenly assumes to have killed his older brother, brought a then-unseen aesthetics to over 5,000 film screens in the United States.
More than commercially successful, Little Fugitive redefined the very relationship between production values and high-end filmmaking. Even though this classic film was universally hailed as beautiful and elegant, many were surprised that such deglamourized shots captured the imagination of so many spectators.
As a result, Little Fugitive ended up inspiring the likes of John Cassavettes (Shadows) and François Truffaut (400 Blows) to find their own ways of circumventing the big-studio system – and use filmmaking as a vehicle of personal expression.
With the benefit of the long view, one can see that Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin were true pioneers. Their passionate gamble in the 1950s on a completely different set of aesthetic choices paved the way to today’s American independent film movement – now seen as a canonical part of North American cinema.
Morris Engel’s All-American Classic
LITTLE FUGITIVE (1953)
“Our New Wave would never have come into being if it hadn’t been for the young Morris Engel ... with his fine LITTLE FUGITIVE.”
– François Truffaut
Widely regarded as one of the most influential and enjoyable films of the American independent cinema, Little Fugitive is an utterly charming fable that poetically captures the joys and wonders of childhood.
When a seven-year-old boy (Richie Andrusco) is tricked into believing he killed his older brother, he gathers his meager possessions and flees to New York’s nether wonderland: Coney Island. Upon and beneath the crowded boardwalk, Joey experiences a day and night filled with adventures and mysteries, resulting in a film that is refreshingly spontaneous and thoroughly delightful.
Hailed by critics as a groundbreaking cinematic feat, Little Fugitive won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, played in nearly 5,000 theatres in the U.S. and is now recognized as a classic of American independent film.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Feature-length Audio Commentary by Morris Engel
Two Documentary Films by Mary Engel:
Morris Engel: The Independent (2007, 28 min)
Ruth Orkin: Frames of Life (1995, 18 min.)
Theatrical Trailer
Image Gallery
Remastered from a New High-Definition Transfer
1953 US 80 min. B&W
Original Aspect Ratio (1.33:1)
LITTLE FUGITIVE
Starring RICHIE ANDRUSCO and RICKY BREWSTER
Music by EDDY MANSON
Photographed by MORRIS ENGEL
Produced by MORRIS ENGEL and RAY ASHLEY
Written and Directed by MORRIS ENGEL, RUTH ORKIN and RAY ASHLEY
LOVERS AND LOLLIPOPS and WEDDINGS AND BABIES
(DOUBLE FEATURE DVD)
LOVERS AND LOLLIPOPS (1955) A Film by Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin
“Endearing.”
– Philadelphia Inquirer
A follow-up to the hugely successful Little Fugitive, Lovers and Lollipops is the enchanting tale of a seven-year-old girl’s reaction to her mom’s new boyfriend.
When an attractive widow begins seeing an old friend, her daughter Peggy (Cathy Dunn) feels their relationship threatened. Though not always intentionally, Peggy responds by thwarting the romance that is blossoming between the two adults.
Shot on location among the landmarks of New York City — the Central Park Zoo, Macy’s Toy Department, the Statue of Liberty and Chinatown — Lovers and Lollipops is a lyrical ode to the resilience of love and the charms of youth.
1955 US B&W Letterboxed (1.85:1)
Enhanced for 16x9 TVs
Newly remastered for DVD
LOVERS AND LOLLIPOPS
Starring LORI MARCH, GERALD O’LOUGHLIN and CATHY DUNN
Music by EDDY MANSON
Photographed by MORRIS ENGEL
Written, Produced and Directed by MORRIS ENGEL and RUTH ORKIN
WEDDINGS AND BABIES (1958)
A Film by Morris Engel
“ONE OF THE YEAR’S TEN BEST! One of the most exciting feature films the U.S. has produced in a decade.”
– TIME MAGAZINE
“Morris Engel has conjured a classic.”
– New York Daily News
A work of artistic finesse and great emotional candor, Morris Engel’s Weddings and Babies is a bittersweet tale of love, hope and sacrifice, staged to perfection amid the sidewalks and storefront apartments of New York’s Little Italy.
Viveca Lindfors stars as Bea, a Swedish-born woman who yearns to begin a family with her photographer boyfriend Al. But the two things to which Al has devoted his career — weddings and babies — are the very things he cannot make room for in his life. The unexpected appearance of Al’s aging mother, evicted from a boarding house, only intensifies his familial confusion, and Bea must decide whether to wait for Al or seek happiness elsewhere.
With its verite visual style and naturalistic performances (owing to Engel’s background as a photojournalist in New York City), Weddings and Babies bore a profound influence on the independent cinema of the 1960’s.
1958 US 81 min. B&W Letterboxed (1.66:1)
Newly remastered for DVD
WEDDINGS AND BABIES
Starring VIVECA LINDFORS and JOHN MYHERS
Music by EDDY MANSON
Written, Produced, Photographed and Directed by MORRIS ENGEL
© 1958 The Wedding Company
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