DVD Release: Velvet: The Complete Series, Captain Marleau, Vol. 1 & 2, Miss Friman’s War

DVD Release Date: Available now!
Studio: MHz Networks

Spain’s sexy, blockbuster 2013 television series Velvet takes a trip to the golden age of haute couture – late 1950s Madrid – where silk, sensuality and seduction flourish in a clothing emporium where everyone would like to go shopping at least once.

From Spain, Miriam Giovanelli stars in Velvet.

Velvet Galleries is an Art Deco palace, a magical place of dazzling luxury and glamour. What shoppers don’t see, however, is the tender love story unfolding in the Galleries between humble dressmaker, Ana (Paula Echevarría), and Alberto (Miguel Ángel Silvestre), the owner’s son and heir apparent. Among elegant fabrics and haute-couture dresses, Ana and Alberto yield to their

love, knowing full well that Alberto’s family opposes his relationship with a poor young employee. While Alberto rebels against family expectations, Ana, who longs to become a designer, struggles to assert herself as a creative personality. As family conflicts simmer, the star-crossed lovers Alberto and Ana fight for their destiny and pursue their forbidden love.

Also starring Aitana Sánchez-Gijón and Miriam Giovanelli, the Spanish-language Velvet: The Complete Series Boxed Set features all four seasons of the show on 18 discs   carries a suggested list price of $129.95.

In the French TV series Captain Marleau, the titular law officer (Corinne Masiero) has a hunter’s instinct, disguised under a deliberately offbeat veneer. As she says herself, she doesn’t skim over cases, she plunges into them. Always on the prowl, she lies in wait for clues and her prey and takes them by surprise. In each episode, her hunt centers around a character played by a famous actor – men and women who are a match for the outstanding cop.

Corinne Masiero and Gerard Depardieu in Captain Marleau.

Captain Marleau is the brainchild of French writer Elsa Marpeau, who describes her as a cross between Frances McDormand’s Marge Gunderson (Fargo), Raymond Chandler’s literary creation, Philip Marlowe and Peter Falk’s TV cop, Columbo. The series is directed by another female French treasure, Josée Dayan (The Count of Monte Cristo, Rasputin).

Volume One of the 2015 series contains the first six episodes of the unrated series and features such talents as Gérard Depardieu, Sandrine Bonnaire and Bulle Ogier. Volume Two offer the next half-dozen installments and includes appearances by Jean-Hugues Anglade, David Suchet and Niels Arestrup. Each volume carries a list price of $39.95

In the Swedish TV drama Miss Friman’s War, it’s 1905 in Stockholm and Swedish lives are changing rapidly because of the introduction of new food safety technologies. Despite the advances, food poisoning epidemics are common among low income families and the line between different social groups remains clearly defined. The role of women also remains clearly defined, limited to hearth and home. That is the situation Miss Dagmar Friman finds herself in when she returns to Stockholm after several years living in London. She and her friends set out to open Swedish Homes, a grocery cooperative that sells unspoiled food at prices even workers can afford.  It’s a store for women, run by women and a revolutionary idea for its time. When the all-male board of the Stockholm Wholesale Association learn about the women’s business plan they start fighting back in any way they can…

All four seasons of the comedy-drama series are available as a four disc set for $39.95.