Cause for Celebration? July 21, 2006
Posted by John Hodson in : DVD News & Info, British Film , 3 commentsFurther to my entreaty, in a recent post, for more British films on DVD, by some happy coincidence this week, that’s exactly what we’ve got. Well, to a point.
Network, thanks to their licensing agreement with Granada Ventures, are in the next few weeks releasing a postive glut of goodies. August will see the release of Alan Clarke’s Billy The Kid and Green Baize Vampire, September sees The Uncanny, Countess Dracula SE, The Medusa Touch SE and William Campbell Menzies Things to Come SE. And on September 25, we’ll have Leslie Woodhead’s 1969 documentary The Stones in The Park. Those ‘Special Editions’ are encouraging, but without detail, I’m doing no cartwheels - I’ll be just glad if, for instance, Things to Come shines like the jewel it should. My suspicion is that it’s been restored by TLE Films, of Germany, the outfit reponsible for some fine work - not least on Eureka’s M, and Paramount Germany’s A Fistful of Dollars and A Few Dollars More. But it’s only a hunch based on the fact that they were touting it on their website until a few months ago - who knows?
Meanwhile from Optimum, if that was a glut, this a veritable vomit of British classics. For August release: The Blue Lamp, for September release: Billy Liar, The Doctor Who Boxset, The Graham Greene Boxset (The Fallen Idol, The Third Man, Brighton Rock), Peter Sellers Collection (Heavens Above, I’m Alright Jack, Two Way Stretch, The Very Best of Peter Sellers - a TV compilation), Tony Hancock Double Bill (no detail but it’s obvious is it not), The Wicker Man SE, The Ealing Ultimate Box Set (again no detail but the retail price indicates all the previous Warners / Studio Canal Ealings, plus Optimums)
For October release there’s The Green Man, Hammer Ultimate Boxset (at £150 retail it should contain every one of those previous Warners / Studio Canal titles and then some). For November release: The War Box Set (Cross of Iron, The Wooden Horse, They Who Dare), The War Box Set (The Colditz Story, The Cruel Sea, The Dam Busters), The War Box Set (I Was Monty’s Double, The Colditz Story, Went The Day Well)
Alas, I don’t hold out too much hope for better than previous releases from Optimum, either in the way of transfers (and one or two were, frankly, pretty ropey first time round), or extras. And slapping Peckinpah’s Cross of Iron in the same box as The Wooden Horse and They Who Dare is, to say the least, eccentric. Dammit, I want a 2-disc Special Editon (with knobs on).
My guess - and I hope I’m wrong - is the same old, same old in new shiny boxes. At least Network’s reissues (though it must be admitted several are new to DVD in R2) have the saving grace of ‘added value’ extras. Whether they are of any interest, though, remains to be seen.