VCI Entertainment has released a 4K restoration of Angel on My Shoulder in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. This is significant as the 1946 classic has long been confined to public domain hell giving the impression that this was a shoddily made B-film, not the major production it was. The restoration brings it back to its original pristine look, especially in the dark scenes where the main characters walk through the flames of Hell.

There are no angels in Angel on My Shoulder. The story and screenplay by Harry Segall, the Here Comes Mr. Jordan playwright, was originally titled Me and Satan, but the that was changed because the producers felt a film about the devil wouldn’t sell, whereas one about angels would.

Paul Muni, whose career skyrocketed with Howard Hawks’ 1932 gangster classic Scarface, had since refused to make another gangster film. With his Oscar for The Story of Louis Pasteur and another nomination for The Life of Emile Zola, he could have his pick of properties. For years, he would be first-billed in films whose titles like Juarez were named for his character even though his wasn’t the main one. After years of fading popularity, however, he decided it was time to play another gangster.

In Angel on My Shoulder, Muni plays a gang leader just released from prison who is murdered by his second in command who wanted to make his temporary job permanent. He goes to Hell where the Devil immediately recognizes him as the exact double of a prominent judge and arranges to have him replace the judge who is running for his state’s governorship.

The Devil is played by Claude Rains, who five years earlier had played the heavenly messenger in Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Here, he plays the same role for the other side in the same year he would receive his fourth and final Oscar nomination for Notorious. The role of the judge’s secretary and fiancé is played by Anne Baxter in the same year that she would win an Oscar for The Razor’s Edge. In addition to being highly reminiscent of Here Comes Mr. Jordan, the film is also reminiscent of the year’s more famous fantasy film It’s a Wonderful Life with good triumphing over evil in the end.

This was the last film directed by Archie Mayo, who had previously directed Muni in 1937’s Black Fury. His other films included Doorway to Hell, The Petrified Forest, and A Night in Casablanca.

Uku Grosbard’s 1978 film Straight Time, upgraded to Blu-ray by Warner Archive, is based on a novel by ex-con Edward (Eddie) Bunker.

Entranced by the novel, Grosbard gave a copy of the book to his friend Dustin Hoffman. Hoffman was immediately taken with the novel and decided that he would both star in and direct a film version under his First Artists collaboration with Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Barbra Streisand, Steve McQueen, and others. The company had a release guarantee with Warner Bros. if their film came in under two hours with a G or GP rating. Other films produced under this banner included Newman’s The Life and Time of Judge Roy Bean (the company’s first), Poitier’s A Warm December, Streisand’s A Star Is Born, and McQueen’s Tom Horn (its last).

Finding it difficult to both direct and act at the same time, Hoffman hired Grosbard (The Subject Was Roses, True Confessions) to direct. He also hired author Bunker as a consultant on the film.

Hoffman gives one of his best performances as the ex-con determined to turn his life around after he has served his time, but finds it difficult to do so, eventually returning to a life of crime. The supporting cast, handpicked by Hoffman, is uniformly superb. It includes Theresa Russell (Black Widow), Harry Dean Stanton Paris, Texas), M. Emmet Walsh (Blood Simple), Gary Busey (The Buddy Holly Story), future Oscar winner Kathy Bates in only her second film, and Jake Busey, Gary’s six-year-old son, as his and Bates’ son.

Extras include a feature length commentary by Hoffman and Grosbard speaking separately. It was taken from a recording made for the film’s laser disc release in the late 1990s.

Ron Howard’s first theatrical film as a director, 1982’s Night Shift has also been upgraded to Blu-ray by Warner Archive.

The film was a starring vehicle for Howard’s Happy Days co-star Henry Winkler as a nerdish morgue attendant, but was stolen by Michael Keaton in a star-making turn as Winkler’s fast-talking apprentice. Shelley Long as Winkler’s next-door neighbor, a working prostitute, co-starred the same year as her long-running TV series Cheers made its debut.

The film doesn’t really hold up but was a huge hit in its day. It features a plot that revolves around Keaton’s suggestion that the morgue be used as a rendezvous spot for hookers. Jaid Barrymore, Drew’s mother, made her film debut as one of the hookers. Kevin Costner made his as well as one of the frat boys attending a party in the morgue.

The Burt Bacharach-Carole Bayer Sager song “That’s What Friends Are For,” sung by Rod Stewart, is the film’s theme song.

Warner Bros. has released Blu-ray and DVD editions of the 2021 Emmy-winning miniseries Mare of Easttown.

The brilliantly executed contemporary murder mystery set in a suburb of Philadelphia, was nominated for 16 Emmys, and won 4 for production design and actors Kate Winslet, Evan Peters, and Julianne Nicholson. Jean Smart, who was also nominated, won instead for the comedy series Hacks.

This was Winslet’s second win for a miniseries. Her first was for 2011’s Mildred Pierce. She had also been nominated as one of the show’s producers.

Acorn has released Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries Series 2 on Blu-ray and DVD. The sequel to the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries of the last decade, this Australian series set in the 1960s stars Geraldine Hakewill as the niece of Essie Davis’ character in the original set in the 1920s. Joel Jackson co-stars as the detective she is romantically, as well as professionally, involved with.

Hakewill’s character is dressed and coifed like the legendary Audrey Hepburn of the early to mid -1960s while featured player Louisa Mignone resembles the same era’s Sophia Loren. The stories are mostly light and funny and well played by the main cast and guest stars. There are 8 episodes in the second series.

This week’s new Blu-ray releases include High Sierra and a dual disc of Bedlam/The Ghost Ship.