Second Chorus & The Fabulous Dorseys come to Special Edition Blu-ray from Film Masters!

Second Chorus (1940) &

The Fabulous Dorseys (1947)

Dance, Romance, and Jazz: Fred Astaire Hits High Note in Newly Restored Second Chorus!

Experience the magic of the Big Band era in this definitive two-disc special edition from Film Masters, loaded with exclusive collector's bonus features.

Film Masters, whose mission is to celebrate the preservation of classic film by releasing high quality restorations, announces a Special Edition blu-ray release featuring two musical classics that celebrate the era of Big Band Cinema. Coming November 10, 2026 is Second Chorus (1940), the lively Fred Astaire romantic comedy featuring the big band act of Artie Shaw, paired with The Fabulous Dorseys (1947), a loose biopic on the brothers who became legendary bandleaders.

In what is sure to be the best looking restoration to date, Second Chorus sees Fred Astaire practically leap off screen with a new 2K scan from original 35mm archival elements. Astaire’s banter with Burgess Meredith and chemistry with Paulette Goddard makes this film a pleasure to watch again and again. A rousing commentary by film historian and fan favorite Karie Bible, dance historian/tap dance preservationist Rusty E. Frank, and musician/music historian Nick Rossi sees this as one of Film Masters’ most authoritative commentaries to date

The Fabulous Dorseys, scanned in 4K from original 35mm archival elements, also gets the red carpet treatment for this new Special Edition release. Film historian and author Jennifer Churchill joins Film Masters for a full length commentary and a look at the real life Dorsey brothers. Churchill provides insights on the true story of the Dorsey Brothers compared against the film’s dramatization. The print is crisp and shows off the film in stunning detail.

Says Film Master’s President, Phil Hopkins, “For decades, Second Chorus has suffered a sad existence, buried in muddy, low-quality prints that failed to do justice to its pedigree. This new 2K restoration from a 35mm archive print is a vital rescue mission for Hollywood history. Film Masters is proud to help rescue this compromised classic from obscurity and restore its rightful prestige. Paired with definitive, expert commentary from Karie Bible, Rusty Frank, and Nick Rossi, this release ensures a vital piece of musical film history is properly preserved.”

Special Features: 

- Full length commentary for Second Chorus by Karie Bible, Rusty E. Frank, and Nick Rossi.

- Full length commentary for The Fabulous Dorseys by Jennifer Churchill.

- Expanded documentary, The Fabulous Forties: Big Bands on Screen.

- 24 page full color booklet with new essays by Rusty E. Frank, Nick Rossi, and Karen Burroughs Hannsberry.

Films are presented in their original aspect ratios. Blu-ray discs are region free and include English SDH. Audio is DTS-HD/Dolby AC3s.

Film Masters is a consortium of historians and enthusiasts who seek to celebrate the preservation and restoration of films. We are archivists, committed to storing film elements for future generations and reviving films that have been sitting dormant for decades. By scanning in 2K and 4K, we give these lesser-known films the red-carpet treatment they deserve. Leveraging modern means of distribution to release forgotten films back into the world, we also produce original bonus materials, including feature-length documentaries, which aid audiences in contextualizing and celebrating these works of art as they were meant to be.  Visit us online at: www.FilmMasters.com 

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HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS (2022) Cartuna Blu-ray Review + Screenshots

HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS (2022) 

Label: Cartuna 

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 108 Minutes 23 Seconds 

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 

Director: Mike Cheslik

Cast: Olivia Grave, Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, Wes Tank, Doug Mancheski, Luis Rico, Ryland Tews

Hundreds of Beavers (2022, directed by Mike Cheslik, 

is a slapstick microbudget comedy set In the 19th century frontier, where applejack salesman Jean Kayak (Ryland Tews, Lake Michigan Monster) loses his when livelihood when a colony of beavers destroys his orchard and applejack distiller, leaving homeless, helpless, and comically ill-prepared to survive soon his own in the wilderness. The film follows his adventures as he must learn to survive after initially failing to do so, learning to fish, and eventually becoming a masterful woodman and fur trapper, but only after being mentored by the rugged mountain man Master Fur Trapper (Wes Tank), who teaches him the ways of proper fur trapping and living off the land. It;s at the local trading post, run by The Merchant (Doug Mancheski), that jean encounters the merchant’s beautiful daughter, The Furrier (Olivia Graves, Hunt Her, Kill Her) and becomes enamored with her, setting out to win her hand in marriage, which the Merchant indicates will cost him hundreds of beaver belts. 

Despite his mountainous mentor being slain by vicious wolves, Jean, now a seasoned trapper with sharp woodsman skills, sets about collecting beaver and rabbit pelts at an accelerated rate, but the beavers realizing that their colony's numbers have been declining, send a pair cleaver beavers sleuths, who are modeled after Inspector Sherlock Holmes and Watson, to investigate and thwart Jean. The beavers end up stealing his massive cache of beaver pelts and hiding them inside a huge dam complex, with Jean having to fallback on his cunning skills to infiltrate the damn and recover the pelts, with the help of The Indian Fur Trapper (Luis Rico). 

The execution of this indie slapstick comedy is delightfully demented, a black and white film utilizing green screen, animated backgrounds and digital effects to pull it off, the animals or anthropomorphized creations of performers in furry mascot suits portraying the titular beavers as well as rabbits and skunks, who walk on two legs and are human sized. The slapstick comedy is cartoonish to the nth degree, with a vibe best described as live action Looney Tunes by way of Buster Keaton, with a tinge of Guy Madden's early silent-cinema aesthetic. It's quite a wonderfully executed slice of absurdity with a style that looks to capture the flickering silent era black and white, while also having a video game aesthetic that is best captured when Jean infiltrates the labyrinthine beaver dam complex, which is strangely quite technologically advanced, the beavers even put together a sort of Voltron-esque giant beaver-bot at one point. On paper this low-budget movie should not work, it's an utterly ridiculous idea, but Cheslik not only makes it work, it's freakin' awesome. The blend of cartoonish, silent-era comedy, visual gags, and inventive practical effects really won me over, this is the sort of weird I want to watch, and it really feels like they caught demented lightning in a bottle with this one.  

Audio/Video: Hundreds of Beavers (2022) is presented in 1080p HD framed in 1.78:1 widescreen. It was shot digitally and then purposefully filtered to look like a silent era black and whit film with added grain and occasional blemishes, it's quite convincing and looks terrific with deep blacks and crisp whites throughout, with solid looking texture and detail. The live action is largely shot on green screen with digital and animated backgrounds and effects. I thought it looked terrific, I was really quite enamored with the whole thing and it looks wonderful in HD. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround with optional English or Czeck subtitles. The tracks are clean and well-balanced, the "silent" film lacks dialogue but is chock full of foley and sound effects, plus we have songs with lyrics, and the sound field is quite fun with active surrounds that immerse you in the live-action cartoon rather wonderfully. 

Onto the extras, we get the option to watch the film via VFX Breakdown, which offers the option to view the whole film broken down into four simultaneous split screens showing the finished film, the storyboards, the live-action green screen footage the and VFX stuff, which i initially through on just to sample and i ended up watching the whole shebang, it's a cool way to watch it. We also get 3 Audio Commentaries, all featuring Director Mike Cheslik, co-writer/star Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, and performers Jay Brown, Erick West, and Daniel Long, all recorded one after the other while the group starts drinking alcohol. The first is a Sober Commentary which is the most informative and cohesive, very upbeat and interesting, while the second, a Drunk Commentary, and the third, the Trashed Commentary, which is moderated by Performer Mike Wesolowski, true to it's name getting progressively drunker and more wasted, becoming less and less cohesive. The chapter selection option on disc one is also interesting, on the menu it's listed as Trapline Chapter Menu, offering a customizable viewing experience. 

Other extras include 3-min of Deleted Scenes, 3-min Jean Kayak & His Acme Applejack — Lyric Video, 5-min Bobb Barito Sound Design Breakdowns, 10-min One Hundred Photos for One Hundreds of Beavers, and the 17-min 'Blink' — High School Short Film by Mike Cheslik. Also included are a selection of podcast and radio interviews, starting off with the 68-min Movies that Made Me w/ Joe Dante & Josh Olson: Interview w/ Mike & Ryland (May 7, 2024),  38-min SC 90.3 Montclair State University Radio: Interview w/ Ryland Tews (June 1, 2024) and the 51-min Movie Mindset: Interview w/ Mike Cheslik (May 27, 2024). The last of the disc extras are the 8-min Great Lakes Road Show Recap which is a montage of the roadshow theatrical tour through the Midwest, which looks like it was a blast, 6-min of Commercials & Promos and the 2-min Trailer. 

The 2-disc Blu-ray set arrives in a clear keepcase with a two-sided non-reversible wrap, on the reverse side is the image of the trapline map as seen in the film. Tucked away onside is a 28-Page Illustrated Booklet which contains a listing and description of the extras, credits, but most of the pages are filled with over 50 Hundreds of Beavers spoof movie posters lampooning films like The Godfather, Lolita, Ghostbusters, Die Hard, No Country For Old men, Fargo and so many more, complete with brief beaver themes plot synopsis! I also found a postcard advertising the new Video Visions, which is Cartuna founder James Belfer's newly launched  new home video label  

Special Features: 

- HD Blu-ray 1080p Widescreen (1.78:1) Feature Presentation

- Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0

Subtitles: English SDH, Czech

- Play Movie with VFX Breakdown

- Trapline Chapter Menu

- 3 Audio Commentaries: Sober Commentary, Drunk Commentary, Trashed Commentary (Moderated)

- Deleted Scenes (2:48) 

- Jean Kayak & His Acme Applejack — Lyric Video (2:41) 

- Bobb Barito Sound Design Breakdowns (5:09)

- One Hundred Photos for One Hundreds of Beavers (10:3 

- 'Blink' — High School Short Film by Mike Cheslik (16:54) 

- Movies that Made Me w/ Joe Dante & Josh Olson: Interview w/ Mike & Ryland (May 7, 2024, 1:08:02)

- WMSC 90.3 Montclair State University Radio: Interview w/ Ryland Tews (June 1, 2024, 37:33)

- Movie Mindset: Interview w/ Mike Cheslik (May 27, 2024, 51:12)

- Great Lakes Road Show Recap (8:00)

- Commercials & Promos (6:20) 

- Trailer (1:49) 

Screenshots from the Cartuna Blu-ray: 

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SISTERS OF DEATH (1976) Leomark Studios BD-R Review + Screenshots

SISTERS OF DEATH (1976) 

Label: Leomark Studios

Region Code: Region-Free 

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 86 Minutes 52 Seconds 

Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 (No Subtitles) 

Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.33:1) 

Director: Joe Mazzuca

Cast: Arthur Franz, Claudia Jennings, Cheri Howell

Sisters of Death (1976) is a slasher-adjacent sorority prank gone wrong entry, opening with a sorority initiation prank involving a game of Russian Roulette that tragically ends with one of the pledges, Liz (Elizabeth Bergen), getting her brains blown out when a real bullet somehow ends up in a gun. Seven years later five of the pledges present at the tragic initiation ceremony are summonsed to a house for a reunion of sorts, they're picked-up by two hired drivers, Mark (Paul Cart, Brute Corps.) and Joe (Joe E. Tata, Beverley Hills, 90210), who transport the women to their final rendezvous, a dilapidated old estate out n the middle of nowhere surrounded by electrified fence. 

The reunited sorority sister include Judy (Claudia Jennings, Truck Stop Women), Sylvia (Cheri Howell, Soylent Green), Diane (Sherry Boucher, White Lightning) as Diane, Francie (Sherry Alberoni, Terror Circus), and Penny (Roxanne Albee), a spiritual hippy-dippy blonde. Upon arrival the girls initially are excited by the prospect of boozing it up for the weekend, but soon become wary of who has summoned them, initially having thought that one organized the reunion. Soon enough it is reveled that Edmond Clybourn (Arthur Franz, Flight to Mars), the father of the victim from the opening is behind it, he's convinced that his daughter was murdered, and he has brought them there to get to the truth of the matter, giving them until the next morning for the guilty party to come forward, It's an interesting enough set-up, but the execution is a pretty creaky. 

The two guys are turned on and pretty horny, so they gatecrash the reunion, not realizing that they're walking into a trap and becoming part of the madman's revenge plot. Throughout the evening and into the night the girls and the two guys find themselves in precarious, oftentimes deadly scenarios, attacked by hairy tarantulas and nearly snake-bit, one is found dead with a pair of scissors through the back, a vicious dog attack sends one careening into the electrified fence, and another is strangled to death. All in all it;'s pretty tame stuff I thought the set-up was fairly interesting but the execution is rather bland. I did enjoy seeing some familiar b-movie drive-in familiars show-up though, the '70s fashions are a fun peek back in time at least, and the women are quite attractive, and the acting is alright, but there's zero nudity, the suspense is lacking. The kills just are not creative or interesting in any way whatsoever either, it's sadly quite a snooze-fest, but not without some dated early '70s charms, but I could see how this Ten Little Indians revenge/proto-slasher riff could have been, but as is, I thought it was pretty  weak sauce. I will give it that the opening sorority pledge prank scenario is pretty well done with moody lighting and the pledges wearing veiled gowns that was an effective opener, and any finale that includes a hand-cranked gatling gets a couple of extra points, but the overall, pretty shoddy. 

I'm not too familiar with the production of the film, as I was watching this full frame version I was curious if the theatrical version was more violent and if maybe this was a cut TV version, but it looks like it was PG when it screened, too. It appears the film was actually shot several years before it screened at the drive-ins in '76, so it was shelved for a few years before finally getting released, which might partially explain how tame it is, but also just seeing how shabby a looking production it is, well, a shitty film is sometimes just a shitty film because it was poorly made, without need for troubled production or studio interference. 

Audio/Video: The film is presented on a BD-R in 1080p framed in 1.37:1, though this apparently screen in 1.85:1 widescreen at the cinema initially. The source looks like an SD master, perhaps a TV master of some sort, whatever it is the quality is rather poor, looking like a crappy VHS, the images soft with faded colors throughout, blow-out whites, and milky blacks, it's quite murky with no texture or detail to it. The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio is not much better, a shrill, thin and hollow sounding affair with light noise, pops and hiss throughout. It's never hard to discern, but it's not pleasant either. Out of curiosity I compared this to a couple of other sources online, and this is about the same as what you can find on YouTube and Tubi for free, and at least streaming yoo get subtitle options, which this does not.  

There are zero extras, as has been the case with all the Leomark Blu-rays I've ever watched. There's not even a menu, you just pop it in the player and it plays, when it ends it just just plays again. The BD-R arrives in a non-logo  keepcase a single-sided sleeve of artwork that features a poor photoshopped excuse of a wrap that does good work advertising how shoddy the quality of the transfer is at least. 

I'd be hard-pressed to recommend this unless you absolutely desperate to own a physical copy of Sisters of Death (1976) in your collection on BD-R that looks like a VHS tape. 

Special Features: 

- None 

Screenshots from the Leomark Studios Blu-ray: 

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