by Bryan Theiss

It’s new release day! This week we’re adding everything from acclaimed true-story dramas to a silent German classic to an aquatic monster movie. Things being what they are, we’ve decided to make them available through rental by mail. Here’s what we got in:

AN ACT OF DEFIANCE (2017)

This South African historical drama tells the story of Bram Fischer, a well-regarded Afrikaner lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela and his inner circle of activists from the death penalty for conspiracy while trying to hide that he was secretly affiliated with their movement. (DVD)

ACTION OF THE TIGER (1957)

Warner Archive brings us this adventure tale starring Van Johnson as an American smuggler helping with the rescue of a political prisoner from Albania. Also features Herbert Lom and a 27-year-old Sean Connery in one of his first movies. Director Terence Young would later reunite with Connery for Dr. No, From Russia with Love and Thunderball. (Blu-Ray)

BALTHAZAR: SERIES 1 (2018)

“Raphaël Balthazar, a forensic pathologist in Paris, works with no-nonsense chief inspector Hélène Bach to solve the city’s most disturbing crimes” in this hit French mystery series. (DVD)

CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER (1974)

Expert swordsman Captain Kronos and his hunchback sidekick Professor Hieronymus Grost investigate a series of murders in the English countryside that leave victims drained of their youth. We always wished this fun, flashy Hammer movie had become an ongoing series, but one will do. Scream Factory’s edition includes a new audio commentary with film historian Bruce G. Hellenbeck, an old one with writer/director Brian Clemens, star Caroline Munro and Hammer historian Jonathan Sothcott, plus the new featurette Anything Goes: Hammer Film in the ‘70s. (Blu-Ray)

CATTLE ANNIE & LITTLE BRITCHES (1981)

Amanda Plummer and Diane Lane star as two teenage girls in 19th century Oklahoma who become infatuated with the outlaws in the stories they read and run away from home to join them. Though disappointed with the washed up remnants of a gang (including Burt Lancaster, Scott Glenn and John Savage) that they find, they try to help them escape a mean marshal (Rod Steiger). The New York Times called it “…a funny, sweet mock-western that miraculously avoids most of the sentimental traps it sets for itself.” Kino Lorber presents this surprisingly true story in a new HD master along with a new interview with producer Rupert Hitzig. (DVD and Blu-Ray)

CHICHINETTE: THE ACCIDENTAL SPY (2019)

For nearly 60 years, Martha Cohn kept it a secret that she had been a spy for the French resistance during WWII. Now 98, she travels the world telling her extraordinary story. (DVD)

EAST LAKE MEADOWS: A PUBLIC HOUSING STORY (2020)

“The history of the East Lake Meadows public housing project in Atlanta and the people who lived there from 1970 to its demolition in 2000, with special emphasis on the activism of Eva Davis asserting the rights of the tenants.” Directed by Sarah Burns & David McMahon (The Central Park Five, Jackie Robinson). (DVD)

THE GOLEM (1920)

Kino Lorber’s new edition of the German silent horror classic includes a new 4K restoration of the German version, the U.S. version, a comparison of the two, various music options and an audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas. (DVD)

JUST MERCY (2019)

Michael B. Jordan plays a brilliant young Harvard Law graduate who, instead of getting a high paying job at some law firm, heads to rural Alabama to advocate for the wrongly convicted or improperly represented. Jamie Foxx was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance as an innocent man on death row. Brie Larson, Tim Blake Nelson, Rafe Spall and O’Shea Jackson, Jr. co-star. Director Destin Daniel Cretton is currently known for Short Term 12, but will soon become The Guy Who Directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. (DVD)

THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES: SEASON 1 (2019)

Danny McBride and John Goodman star in this story of a dysfunctional family of televangelists. Another HBO series from the distinct comic minds of McBride, Jody Hill and David Gordon Green, who brought us Eastbound and Down and Vice Principals. (DVD)

UNDERWATER (2020)

When a mysterious earthquake tears up the high tech facility deep in the Mariana Trench, the survivors fight desperately to get to safety. Kristen Stewart makes an excellent action hero in this surprisingly enjoyable underwater riff on Alien with great FX and cool monsters. (DVD)