The Latest DVD & Blu-ray Releases: Summer 2019
Looking to build a library of classic films with great fashion moments? Here’s a selection of DVDs and Blu-rays with Summer 2019 releases:
The Thin Man (1934)
Warner Archive Collection
on DVD and Blu-ray, released 7/30/19
Starring Myrna Loy and William Powell
Directed by W.S. Van Dyke
Costumes by Dolly Tree
List price: $13.99 and $21.99, available at
The first of the six Thin Man films that Loy and Powell made together, and one of the 14 films starring this iconic pair. Chances are The Thin Man is already included in your DVR library, but Warner Archive is touting this as a 4K-sourced restoration, and the overall look of the film unquestionably benefits. In addition to the clever wit and banter (especially by the two stars) exhibited throughout, Dolly Tree’s costumes for Loy and others are marvelous — look for Loy in a fab striped gown in a Christmas-party scene, as well as a terrific sleeveless white gown with an asymmetrical neckline (adorned with a jeweled clip by the legendary Hollywood jeweler Eugene Joseff), worn by character actress Minna Gombell in the climactic dinner party scene.
Mata Hari (1931)
Warner Archive Collection
on DVD, released 7/9/19
Starring Greta Garbo and Ramon Novarro
Directed by George Fitzmaurice
Costumes by Adrian
Many versions of Mata Hari’s story have been produced over the years, but no one comes close to the Greta Garbo version, which according to IMDb was also the third most-popular film in the U.S. in 1931. Between Garbo, the time period in which the film is set (1917, at the height of World War I), and the well-known biography of the famed dancer who becomes a spy for Germany, costume designer Adrian had an incredibly rich palette to work with, and it shows in the sumptuously beaded gowns and headpieces (as well as gorgeous jewels by Eugene Joseff). There’s a love story, a bit of scenery chewing from actors not named Garbo, and while the story is somewhat fictionalized, her character meets an end that lines up with history. And while Warner Archive isn’t touting a new 4K restoration with this release, and it also seems a bit bare in features, it’s still pure costume eye candy for fans of fashion in film.
Klute (1971)
The Criterion Collection
on DVD & Blu-ray, released 7/16/19
Starring Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland
Directed by Alan J. Pakula
Costumes by Ann Roth
List price: $29.95 and $39.95, available at
Jane Fonda picked up the first of her two Academy Awards — she’s been nominated seven times — for this film (her other win came in 1978 for Coming Home). Fonda plays prostitute Bree Daniels, who’s trying to make it as a model and actress in New York, also so she can break free of the profession she’s fallen into (her pimp is played by a pre-Jaws Roy Scheider). Fonda’s character is in peril as gets caught up in a missing-person case overseen by Sutherland’s Det. John Klute, but of course they end up falling in love — though contrary to typical Hollywood fare, the relationship is more complicated. That’s just one of the ways this film is very much of its time, both in the edge and tone that Pakula brings to the look of Klute, but also the great costumes Ann Roth designed for Fonda, an iconic example of early-‘70s style that is sometimes referenced by fashion designers to this day. Features include a new 4K digital transfer, supervised by Klute camera operator Michael Chapman, as well as a new interview with Fonda by Ileana Douglas, and for fashion fans, a special feature, “The Look of Klute,” with writer Amy Fine Collins.
Swing Time (1936)
The Criterion Collection
on DVD and Blu-ray, released 6/11/19
Starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Directed by George Stevens
Costumes by Bernard Newman
As the sixth of 10 partnerships between Astaire and Rogers, Swing Time arrived this summer on DVD and Blu Ray with a new 2K restoration, with special features including archival interviews with the legendary dance duo, as well as choreographer Hermes Pan. The story is just enough to get audiences to the fantastic dance sequences — Astaire plays Lucky, a not-so-lucky gambler who’s engaged and needs to raise funds for his wedding, and as these things develop in 1930s films, he partners up with Penny, the dance teacher played by Rogers, and soon enough their mutual attraction complicates matters. From Jerome Kern classics like “The Way You Look Tonight” and “Pick Yourself Up” to Bernard Newman’s gorgeous gowns for Rogers, Swing Time is a worthy inclusion in anyone’s fashion-in-film library.
