Kino Lorber has released three films on Blu-ray originally released theatrically between 1947 and 1974 that seemingly have nothing in common other than that they all deal with death.

Raoul Walsh’s 1947 film, Pursued was the first noir western. Based on a novel by Niven Busch (Duel in the Sun, The Furies), the film is a psychological mystery about a man who is haunted by the massacre of his entire family as a young boy. Brought up by a neighboring family, he falls in love with his adoptive sister, but his nasty adoptive brother and mysterious uncle want him dead. We don’t know why until the film’s concluding moments.

Walsh (High Sierra, White Heat) directs with his usual intensity a cast led by Robert Mitchum in one of two 1947 films, the other being Out of the Past, that established him as a major star, which he remained until his death fifty years later.

Mitchum is given equal billing with Teresa Wright whose name appears first over the title at the height of her career following Mrs. Miniver and The Best Years of Our Lives. The part of the rough and tumble heroine was written for her by Busch who she was married to from 1942-1952 to broaden her image from the wholesome city girl she was identified with. Warner Bros. wanted John Garfield for the male lead, but Wright wanted Mitchum and she got him.

Rounding out the principal cast are Judith Anderson as Wright’s sympathetic mother, John Rodney as her nasty brother, and Dean Jagger as Mitchum’s mysterious uncle.

The film’s greatest asset is James Wong Howe’s stunning black-and-white cinematography, which sadly did not earn him one of his ten Oscar nominations. The nominees for black-and-white cinematography that year were The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Green Dolphin Street, and Great Expectations, which won.

Excellent audio commentary is provided by film historian Imogen Sara Smith.

Charles Vidor’s Thunder in the East was filmed in 1949 but not released until 1952 because Paramount chose to slow-release Alan Ladd’s last three studio films. His biggest hit, George Stevens’ Shane, which Paramount released the following year, was not part of that package.

Set in a province in North India after the breakup of British control in 1947, Thunder in the East stars Ladd as an American gunrunner who is set to fly the plane carrying the last European passengers out of the affected remote area. He shares equal billing with Deborah Kerr as a blind Englishwoman, Charles Boyer as a peace-minded Indian government official, and Corinne Calvet who has one scene in the film as a femme fatale. More important to the central plot are Cecil Kellaway as Kerr’s minister grandfather, John Williams as a sympathetic doctor, and Marc Cavell as a young Indian boy who helps Ladd.

The film, which ends in uncertainty as Ladd and Boyer fight off the rebels, has a fine score by Hugo Friedhofer, excellent cinematography by Lee Garmes, and tasteful costume design by Edith Head. It was directed by Charles Vidor (Hans Christian Andersen, Love Me or Leave Me)

Excellent audio commentary is provided by film historians Lee Gambin and Elissa Rose.

Peter Bogdanovich’s 1974 film, Daisy Miller was his fourth film and first flop following The Last Picture Show, What’s Up, Doc? , and Paper Moon.

Based on a novel by Henry James (The Turn of the Screw), our sympathies are supposed to be with Cybill Shepherd and Cloris Leachman as American tourists in Europe who run up against the snobbery of the long settled ex-patriots played by Mildred Natwick and Eileen Brennan with Barry Brown, as Natwick’s nephew, caught in the middle. The problem with the film is that Shepherd and Leachman’s delivery is annoying, so much so that you feel more sympathy toward Natwick and Brennan, whose sublime performances are much more relatable.

Brown, who would sadly commit suicide four years later at the age of 27 is also quite good in a rare starring role, especially in the film’s sorrowful ending. So is James McMurtry (the son of Larry McMurtry, writer of The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment, and Brokeback Mountain) who plays Shepherd’s younger brother.

Extras include two audio commentaries, one by Bogdanovich, the other by critic and historian Peter Tonguette, an introduction by Bogdanovich and a new on-screen interview with Shepherd.

Also newly released on Blu-ray is My Favorite Things – The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert filmed live at London’s Albert Hall last December and recently televised on PBS’ Great Performances.

All Rodgers & Hammerstein’s shows are paid tribute with emphasis on the big five – Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music). Allegro, Me and Juliet, Pipe Dream, and Flower Drum Song are represented with one song each, as is State Fair which is the only show they wrote directly for the screen.

The cast of performers includes six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, Patrick Wilson, Aaron Tveit, Joanna Ampil, Michael Ball, Maria Friedman, Daniel Dae Kim, Lucy St. Louis, Marsha Wallace, and Julian Ovenden with appearances by EGOT winners Rita Moreno and Andrew Lloyd Webber in honor of Rodgers who was the first EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner.

Surprisingly, the most emotional performance is provided by Ovenden who is probably best known as the aviator son of the title character played by Michael Kitchen in the British mystery series, Foyle’s War which ran from 2002-2015.

Ovenden, who played Captain Von Trapp in the 2015 British TV version of The Sound of Music, is the son of Queen Elizabeth II’s one-time personal chaplain. He recalled his grandmother singing “Edelweiss” from the show to him as a boy and led the company in the singing of the song to close out the program.

Happy viewing.