criterionforum.org

Finch wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2026 12:44 am The Garden of Eden

Flicker Alley and the University of Las Vegas, Nevada proudly announce Howard Hughes in Hollywood, the first volume of a planned two-volume series that spotlights, for the first time ever, early works by the mogul turned Hollywood hitmaker. This set includes Two Arabian Knights (1927), restored by the Academy Film Archive, and The Racket (1928), newly restored by Flicker Alley. Both include new bonus features and are available for the first time on home video in any format.

Just 20 years old when he arrived in Los Angeles, Hughes left a mark on the filmmaking industry through sheer determination. Although his two earliest forays into producing remain lost, his first two hits, Two Arabian Knights and The Racket survive, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Hart Wegner, founding faculty of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Film Studies program, who was instrumental in acquiring the extensive Howard Hughes motion picture papers and film materials for UNLV.

Based on a then-recent pulpy adventure serial, Two Arabian Knights was reimagined as a comedy of male bonding. With director Lewis Milestone at the helm and William Boyd and Louis Wolheim headlining as the title pair, the story follows two American soldiers, captured by German forces and sent to a prison camp, escaping to Arabia where they meet and compete for the affections of the lovely Mirza (Mary Astor), who has her own reasons for wanting to go on the run. Two Arabian Knights, which went on to win Best Directing (Comedy Picture) for Milestone at the first Academy Awards®, is presented in a stunning restoration by the Academy Film Archive and features a triumphant orchestral score performed by the Robert Israel Orchestra.

Hughes followed that hit with The Racket, a ripped-from-the-headlines proto-noir showcasing a new type of cinema gangster, Italian Americans, and the big city political corruption that empowered them. Thomas Meighan stars as James McQuigg, an honest cop trapped in a barrel of bad apples. He’s pitted against Louis Wolheim as Nick Scasi, modeled on famed Chicago gangster Al Capone. Lewis Milestone once again helms the directing, with veteran cinematographer Tony Guido photographing the action. With a nomination for Outstanding Picture at the very first Academy Awards® ceremony, and largely unseen for nearly a century The Racket offers a choice of two brilliant orchestral scores, one by Neil Brand and one by Robert Israel.

Additional materials have been made available by the Howard Hughes Motion Picture Records at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Generous underwriting has been provided by a grant from the Sunrise Foundation for Education & the Arts, with the Villa Aurora / Thomas Mann House, Inc. serving as an administrative partner.



BONUS MATERIALS INCLUDE:

Audio Commentaries - Historian Harlow Robinson, author of Lewis Milestone: Life and Films, discusses Two Arabian Knights while film critics Farran Smith Nehme and Glenn Kenny together discuss The Racket

Rare Outtakes from The Racket - 44 minutes of on set footage and various takes, filmed for The Racket, but later reused for Hughes’ Scarface (1932)

Howard Hughes in Hollywood (2026) - A look at Hughes’ arrival in Hollywood and his earliest efforts in the industry, scripted by film historian David Pierce and narrated by Flicker Alley’s Jeffery Masino

Howard Hughes and the First Academy Awards (2026) - Film historian Randy Haberkamp explores the origins of the Academy Awards and Hughes’ early wins as a producer

Hart Wegner Remembrance - A look at the UNLV Film Department’s founding faculty member Hart Wegner, late professor emeritus of German, Comparative Literature, and Film Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, whose work was instrumental in preserving Hughes’ legacy

Image Gallery - Featuring production stills, promotional material, and rare documents from UNLV’s Howard Hughes archives

Souvenir Booklet - Featuring a new essay by film historian Imogen Sara Smith, vintage reviews, conservation notes, and introductions on each score

Reversible Cover Artwork

Blu-ray Authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity in Motion

All Region Encoding (ABC)

Release Date: July 14, 2026

domino harvey wrote: Mon Nov 23, 2015 11:21 pmTwo Arabian Knights (Lewis Milestone 1927) One of two films to win a Best Director Oscar without being nominated for Best Picture (though technically it was for "Best Comedy Direction"), this is a nicely paced buddy pic about two American GIs in WWI who make their way out of a German prison camp and into the arms of Arabs. This is a charming movie, with some nice chemistry between the two leads (their romantic rivalry seems like a placeholder for their own attraction, a la Wings) and a handful of decent laughs. Plus the recurring dick jokes in the film show the Academy wasn't always so highfalutin!

domino harvey wrote: Sun Jul 24, 2011 3:24 am the Racket Borderline-incoherent prohibition gangster pic that finds Milestone oddly adrift-- the talkies he made immediately following this are all more cinematic and fluent in film language and function better as silent art than this actual silent film does. Why is this here [in Best Picture at the Oscars], I ask for the nth time about the nth film.