In DVD release news, Kino International is proud to announce the impending summer release of AFT: The Complete Mega Set, which will present the entire American Film Theatre collection in one 15-disc, thin-case box set. Originally released as three separate DVD sets in 2003, this exclusive collection of 14 films can now be purchased for $199.95 on July 1, 2008.

The finest collection of plays brought to the big screen in the history of American cinema, the American Film Theatre series was the vision of producer Ely Landau, who challenged film audiences to set their sights on high-quality drama and comedies enacted by top industry talents. Throughout its three years of existence in the mid-1970s, this groundbreaking series of magnificently crafted films was made available in selected theaters, only for members who purchased a special annual subscription.

Kino’s set includes John Frankenheimer’s The Iceman Cometh, starring Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Frederick March and Jeff Bridges; Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance, directed by Tony Richardson and starring Katherine Hepburn and Paul Scofield; Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters, starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright; and productions of Robert Shaw’s The Man in the Glass Booth and Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo, among others. Exclusive extras include interviews with Landau, theatrical trailers, photo
galleries with the films’ original posters and original filmed interviews
with the likes of Albee, Alan Bates and Tom O’Horgan (Rhinoceros). For more information, click here.