A
Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Complete First Season 4K
(2026/Game Of
Thrones/HBO/Warner 4K
Ultra HD Blu-ray)/Letty
Lynton (1932*)/Possessed
(1931*)/Strange Cargo
(1940/*all MGM/Warner Archive Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: A- Picture: X/B/B/B Sound: A-/C+/C+/C+
Extras: B/B/C/C Main Programs: B/B-/C+/B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Letty
Lynton,
Possessed
and Strange
Cargo
Blu-rays are now only available from Warner Bros. through their
Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the links below.
Now
for power plays on a personal level, from a new cable spin-off to
three classics legendary actors whop could more than hold their own
then and now...
The
Game of Thrones franchise receives its second spin-off series
after the critically acclaimed House of the Dragon (reviewed
elsewhere on this site): A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The
Complete First Season 4K (2026). Based on George R. R. Martin's
Tales of Dunk and Egg, the series has a lighter tone than
previous installments in the franchise and follows an unlikely heroic
duo, Ser Duncan (Dunk) the Tall and his young squire, Egg, as they
face one trial after another across Westeros while the realm remains
under Targaryen rule. The series takes place roughly 80 years after
House of the Dragon and about 90 to 100 years before the events of
the original Game of Thrones.
Dunk
soon finds himself caught in the midst of a brutal trial of combat,
where he must prove both his honor and his worth while living up to
the mantle of the Hedge Knight who mentored him before passing away.
When he comes up against a determined Targaryen willing to do
whatever it takes to win, Dunk must assemble a group of seven knights
to stand beside him in a contest of life, death, and honor.
The
series stars Peter Claffey, Dexter Sol Ansell, Finn Bennett, Bertie
Carvel, and Tanzyn Crawford. Six episodes make up the first season
including The Hedge Knight, Hard Salt Beef, The Squire, Seven, In
The Name of the Mother, and The Morrow.
Special
Features:
Building
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Welcome
to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Extended)
A
Knight in the Making web documentary series (Episodes 1-6)
Ashford
Meadow Set Tour with Dexter Sol Ansell
Inside
the Episode" (Episodes 1-6)
Character
Spotlights:
Meet
Dunk
Meet
Egg
and
a Blooper Reel.
The
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a very different kind of Game
of Thrones spin-off, shifting the focus away from the family
conflicts and political intrigue of the realm and instead centering
on side characters who are affected by the larger events unfolding
around them. I found that to be a refreshing and entertaining
concept.
The
next three films all star Joan Crawford at her best, including the
first one that has gone unseen for decades, but is finally getting a
proper release!!!
Clarence
Brown's Letty
Lynton
(1932) was considered too much like Dishonored
Lady
and a series of legal actions is why the film was put back on the
shelf for 90 years! Yep, ten years short of a century, but that is
copyright law, yet it was a bit of a success, legendary and even from
the few available images looked very interesting. Now that we can
see the film, it is a gem.
As
the title character, Crawford is in a toxic, dysfunctional
relationship with overbearing Emile (Nils Asther in a sometimes
thankless performance) in South America, far away from her
overbearing mother (the legendary May Robson) but realizes it is over
between them despite some remarkable times. Her and her maid Miranda
(Marie Closser Hale) leave for New York City and home.
The
good news is she meets a great new guy (Robert Montgomery in fine
early form,) but Emile goes after her and hearing of her good
fortune, has new, ugly plans to use against her. What will Letty do?
Ripoff
or not, this is very well done, acted, shot, edited and there is all
kinds of palpable chemistry going on here. Everyone is in rare form,
MGM puts some money in this one and I like the look and feel of it.
Now that its available again, I hope it is a very belated hit because
it is that good and remarkable it holds up so well. Definitely
recommended!
Extras
include the great featurette
Irving
Thalberg: Prince of Hollywood
(1:14:04) in low definition from a few decades ago, plus 5 radio
(audio only) drama/entertainment programs with Joan Crawford in all
of them, including MGM's Good
News of 1938
(52:27) and Good
News of 1939
(56:53,) Lux
Radio Theater
with ''A
Doll's House''
with Crawford and Basil Rathbone (59:33,) The
Silver Theatre
with ''Train
Ride''
(29:37) and Gulf
Screen Guild Theater
with ''None
Shall Part Us''
as Crawford is joined by Lew Ayres and Ronald Colman (31:25).
Clarence
Brown's Possessed
(1931) is the first of two hit Crawford films that happen to share
the same title, here teamed with Clark Gable (the third of eight they
made together) playing a factory worker who wants to be part of high
society and he is the politician who can deliver all this and more.
Of course, it will not be that simple and all does not go as planned
and he only wants her to legitimize his political standing, not to
marry.
Though
this can be less consistent than the other two Crawford films here,
it has some really interesting moments, Gable was not yet wearing his
signature mustache and I like how the script handles class division
and dreams people have. It also has healthy cynicism about politics,
but the chemistry of the leads and the solid supporting cast is a
plus. Besides some longtime character actors, several of whom are
uncredited, we get Wallace Ford, Frank Conroy, Marjorie White and
'Auntie Em' herself, Clara Blandick. For what does work, its worth a
good look.
Extras
include the MGM Dogville comedy short Love Tails of Morocco
and classic Warner Bros. cartoon Bosko The Doughboy.
Frank
Borzage's Strange Cargo (1940) is the last of the eight films
Gable and Crawford made together, a sometimes surprisingly strong one
where they are in such bitter, witty conflict with each other early
on, the dissing and shade their characters unleash on each other
would make Drake and Kendrick Lamar blush. She's a high society gal
on the Devil's Island penal colony, hit on by prisoner Gable making
plans to escape. Even talking to him can get her into big trouble,
which is eventually where they both land up.
It
is a prison movie, an escape movie, a stuck-in-a movie when one twist
kicks in and you know you are in for something different when the
film is not concerned about getting dirty and gritty early on. The
script, attitude, great acting and bold directing let loose from
there and that got cut down and even banned in some states!
The
result is a film that was a little ahead of its time and defies some
of the Hollywood code of the time. This also allows the cast to let
loose and that includes Peter Lorre, Paul Lukas, Albert Dekker, Ian
Hunter, John Arledge, Eduardo Ciannelli, Frederick Worlock and J.
Edward Bromberg. If anything, it is amazing it is not more popular
now than it is, but this great restored release can hopefully help
change that.
Extras
include an Original Theatrical Trailer, Gable and Crawford
featurette, Little Rascals/Our Gang short Goin'
Fishin' and MGM animated classic Technicolor cartoon short
Home On The Range; misspelled Home 'of' The
Range on the back of the case.
Now
for playback performance. A
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
is presented in 2160p
HEVC/H.265, on 4K disc with a 2.00 X 1 aspect ratio and Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image and
and lossless Dolby
Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems, both in
48kHz/24-bit)
in keeping with 4K releases of he previous series. The series looks
fantastic in 2160p with a polished widescreen image and incredible
production design and costuming that comes across better than the
original streaming broadcast with more detail. As with all HBO
releases on disc, the transfer is of a very high quality.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfers on all three Warner Archive Blu-rays can sometimes show the
age of the materials used, but they have been remarkably remastered
and are looking good. Especially considering their age, they hold
up0, but MGM had a great lab and that hard work and not cutting
corners still is paying off all these decades later. Some shots are
purposely shot soft, others for atmosphere and others for sharpness,
but they are all presented as vivid as they have been outside of
great photochemical film prints and you will not be disappointed when
you see them.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes on all three Warner
Archive Blu-rays show their age a little more, despite the kind of
effort and money MGM spent on their audio, as much as any studio at
the time, but age has caught up with the sonics on these films a
little more than I would have liked. However, they sound really good
considering and complement the great visuals well enough.
To
order
the Letty
Lynton,
Possessed
and/or Strange
Cargo
Warner Archive Blu-rays, go to this link for them and many more great
web-exclusive
releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo and James Lockhart (4K)
https://letterboxd.com/jhl5films/
