Koch Media’s Latest Batch of Spaghetti Western DVDs July 15, 2008
Posted by Ian W in : Spaghetti Western News , trackbackIf you’re a Spaghetti fan and you only buy UK Region 2 DVDs then you’re missing out. There have been a lot of hard to find films released on DVD in Japan not to mention Region 1 releases from Blue Underground and even major studios like MGM, who recently released the Sergio Corbucci/Burt Reynolds movie Navajo Joe. But the company that’s probably done more than any other to bring rare Italian Westerns to DVD is Germany’s Koch Media.
Koch Media have been releasing Spaghettis for several years now, most of which have either featured English audio or English subtitles. Towards the end of last year they began releasing the “Koch Media Western Collection” which, at least to date, has consisted entirely of Italian films. Some have been re-releases while others are making their first appearance on DVD.
The collection currently consists of:
1) El Chuncho, quien sabe? aka A Bullet for the General (1966) Directed by Damiano Damiani
2) Yankee (1966) Directed by Tinto Brass
3) Arizona si scatenò… e li fece fuori tutti aka Arizona Colt Returns (1970) Directed by Sergio Martino
4) La Resa dei conti aka The Big Gundown (1966) Directed by Sergio Sollima
5) Killer Kid (1967) Directed by Leopoldo Savona
6) Sette dollari sul rosso aka Seven Dollars on the Red (1966)
Which brings us to this month’s DVDs which were released on Friday 11 July:
7) Per una bara piena di dollari aka Barrel Full of Dollars (1971)
Directed by Demofilo Fidani this stars Klaus Kinski and Jack Betts. Koch Media’s website lists this as 1.33:1 (hopefully open matte) with Dolby Digital 2.0 German and Italian sound and German subtitles. It’s expected (although I can’t confirm it at the moment) that this will also contain English subtitles as Koch Media have included them on the other DVDs in the series without advertising the fact. Extra features include an interview with Fidani’s daughter, the original trailer and a gallery of promotional material.
8) La Strada per Fort Alamo aka The Road to Fort Alamo (1964)
This early Spaghetti (it was released shortly after A Fistful of Dollars) is most notable for the fact it’s one of only three westerns made by horror maestro, Mario Bava. The film is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and again features German and Italian audio and German subs. As with Barrel Full of Dollars, English subs may be there but can’t be confirmed at the moment. Extra features comprise an interview with Bava’s son, Lamberto and film historian Antonio Tentori, the theatrical trailer and a poster gallery.
9) Un Treno per Durango aka Train for Durango (1968)
Mario (Vampire in Venice) Caiano directs Spaghetti regulars Anthony Steffen and Mark Damon. The film gets an anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer and German and Italian audio tracks. Subs are again listed as German only but English will probably be included. A making of featurette, interview with star Mark Damon, trailer and poster gallery are the supplementary material, along with a four page booklet that will, almost certainly, be exclusively in German.
When I can confirm the presence (or absence) of English subs on these new releases I’ll post it on the site.
One of the nice things about Koch Media’s discs is that they are not ridiculously overpriced, Amazon.de list them at just under 10 Euros which is a steal given the high prices films with much weaker transfers go for in the US and Japan. The next set of releases should include Navajo Joe and it will be interesting to see how the Koch disc compares with the bare bones MGM Region 1 release.
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Some Italian westerns coming to the UK in September, courtesy of Optimum: another DVD of Sergio Corbucci’s Navajo Joe with Burt Reynolds, Enzo Barboni’s Man of the East (E poi lo chiamarono il magnifico) with Terence Hill, Carlo Lizzani’s The Hills Run Red (aka Un Fiume di dollari.
Good stuff Ian.
Thanks for the info John. It’s interesting that those are the same three films that Koch Media has as their next batch of releases. It would be nice if Optimum had done a deal with Koch to release some of their catalogue in the UK, although I think it’s more likely that both companies have done a distribution deal with MGM, as Navajo Joe and The Hills Run Red are both released by MGM on Region 1 DVD and all three film were originally distributed by United Artists.
A quick note on the upcoming Optimum ‘Navajo Joe’; it’s been cut by the BBFC (6 seconds), ‘the Distributor was required to remove two scenes of animal cruelty (cruel tripping of horses and cockfighting) in accordance with BBFC policy and Guidelines.’