Blu-ray Release: A New Leaf

Blu-ray Release Date: Dec. 5, 2017
Price: Blu-ray $27.99
Studio: Olive

The 1971 comedy favorite A New Leaf marks the directorial debut of Elaine May (The Heartbreak Kid, Ishtar), who also penned the film’s screenplay.

Elaine May and Walter Matthau in A New Leaf

Henry Graham (Walter Matthau, Who’s Got the Action?) is a man with a problem: he has run through his entire inheritance and is completely unequipped to provide for himself. His childhood guardian, Uncle Harry (James Coco, The Cheap Detective), refuses to give him a dime, so Henry devises a plan with the help of his imaginative butler (George Rose, Hawaii) to make his money the old-fashioned way – he can marry it. But he cannot see himself as a happily married man, so he comes up with an even more devious solution… with a temporary loan from his uncle, Henry has six weeks to find a bride and repay the loan; otherwise he must forfeit all his property to his uncle. Henry finally meets his dearly beloved, a clumsy, painfully shy heiress Henrietta Lowell (Elaine May, Small Time Crooks). The answer to his prayers – if only he can overcome the obstacles placed in his path by his uncle and Henrietta’s Lawyer (Jack Weston, The Ritz).

Olive’s new Blu-ray re-issue of A New Leaf on its Olive Signature imprint includes the following features:

• New restoration from 4K scan of original camera negative
• Audio commentary by film scholar Maya Montanez Smukler
• “The Cutting Room Floor: Editing A New Leaf” – interview with A New Leaf assistant editor Angelo Corrao
• “Women in Hollywood: A Tragedy of Comic Proportions” – with director Amy Heckerling
• Essay by critic, editor & film programmer Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
• “The Green Heart” by Jack Ritchie, the source material for Elaine May’s script
• Trailer