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RCA Press Release for February 25, 1982

RCA will add eight new albums to its growing video disc catalog in March, featuring such Hollywood greats as Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Hal Holbrook and John Travolta.

The eight new albums are: "Diamonds Are Forever," "The Big Sleep," "Blow Out," "The Fog," "The Amityville Horror," "Big Bad Mama," "Big Blue Marble" and "Watership Down."

"The new additions are in keeping with RCA's promise to expand its video disc catalog with a diverse offering of programs that will entertain, inform and educate," according to Seth M. Willenson, Division Vice President, Programs and Business Affairs, RCA "SelectaVision" VideoDiscs.

Mr. Willenson said the James Bond epics have proved as popular on video discs as they have in books, films and television. This third Bond disc, "Diamonds Are Forever," starring Sean Connery as Agent 007 and Jill St. John as Tiffany Case, should be a collector's item. This was Connery's last film as Bond, and some say, his best. It marked a departure for the James Bond series, taking a more light-hearted approach to the spy business and highlighted by spectacular stuntwork and special effects.

March is also a bonanza month for Humphrey Bogart fans, who already have him on video discs of "Casablanca" and "The African Queen." "The Big Sleep" was only the second film he made with Lauren Bacall, his wife. In this mystery, Bogart is the screen's definitive private eye, Philip Marlowe, and Miss Bacall is the ultimate femme fatale. Although made in the 1940's, "The Big Sleep" is surprisingly fresh and contemporary in the 1980's. It's a must for all Bogart fans.

John Travolta becomes a four-time winner on the video disc. "Blow Out" joins three other Travolta hits on discs -"Saturday Night Fever," "Grease" and "Urban Cowboy." Co-starring Sally Bedina, "Blow Out" sees a different Travolta in a gripping tale of political intrigue, conspiracy and murder. Written and directed by Brian DePalma, the film is a tribute to the rich tradition established by Alfred Hitchcock.

"Big Bad Mama," starring Angie Dickinson and William Shatner, is the story of a sexy, high-spirited Depression-era widow with two shapely daughters, who are looking for escape from the poverty of the Dust Bowl. Miss Dickinson plays Mama, a gal who runs bootleg hootch, masterminds heists, knocks over banks, and keeps two steps ahead of the law.

"Watership Down" is a beautifully animated version of Richard Adams' best-selling novel. Though its characters are animals, the film tells a tale as old as the human race itself; a band of refugees forced to leave the society they have built and search for a new home when "progress" threatens to destroy them. An allegory in the tradition of George Orwell's Animal Farm, "Watership Down" is a drama of how they meet that challenge, of individual courage, self-belief and the struggle to remain true to one's ideals.

March also brings to the video disc two of the scariest movies ever made.

"The Fog," starring Adrienne Barbeau, Hal Holbrook, Janet Leigh, Jamie Lee Curtis and John Houseman, is a chilling ghost story that takes place in a California coastal town celebrating its centennial. A fog surrounds the town and emerging from the horrifying mist are the specters of a ship's crew back to seek revenge for the gruesome crime that claimed their lives 100 years ago.

"The Amityville Horror," starring James Brolin, Margot Kidder and Rod Steiger, is a shocking and compelling tale of the supernatural, based on Jay Anson's best seller chronicling the true-life experiences of a Long Island family whose dream house became a house of terror. This ranks with the best haunted-house films.

The final new title for March is a children's disc that should prove equally popular with adults.

"Big Blue Marble," one of the outstanding children's television series of all time, is both entertaining and educational, and recipient of many awards. The first "Big Blue Marble" video disc from RCA contains two segments: "My Seventeenth Summer" on Side 1, and "Flying For Fun" on Side 2. "My Seventeenth Summer" is an adventure story that crackles with intrigue and suspense while imparting a lesson in understanding people of different origins. It has an ending worthy of "The Perils of Pauline." "Flying For Fun" takes the viewer from the excitement and skill of a frisbee championship match to the graceful flight of a sailplane, and many other fascinating aspects of flying.