Showing Soon; An Offer You Can’t Refuse..? February 11, 2008
Posted by John Hodson in : DVD News & Info, Showing Soon , trackbackShowing Soon in R2
Since the last Showing Soon, I’ve been drumming my fingers patiently waiting for something really, really big to be announced for fans of classic film in R2. All I can say is that it’s a darned good job I didn’t hold my breath…
As revealed last time, Network is set to release a very tasty looking box set later this month, Hitchcock; The British Years, and the titles are as I guessed - Jamaica Inn (1939), The Lady Vanishes (1938), Young and Innocent (1937), Sabotage (1936), Secret Agent (1936), The 39 Steps (1935), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), Downhill (1927), The Lodger (1927), and the abridged (and rather scruffy looking) Rohauer Collection version of The Pleasure Garden (1925).
The good news is that it has some very decent extras:
Digitally restored versions of The Lodger, Sabotage, Young and Innocent and Jamaica Inn
Cinema: Alfred Hitchcock – unseen for forty years, Mike Scott interviews Hitchcock about his life and career
Aquarius - Alfred Hitchcock – taken from the 1972 Arts programme, this show includes candid photography of Hitchcock filming Frenzy in London
Charles Barr on… a series of featurettes in which film historian Charles Barr introduces and analyses each of the ten films within the set
On location reports for Sabotage and The Thirty-Nine Steps introduced by actor Robert Powell
Original theatrical trailer for The Lady Vanishes
Script PDFs for The Thirty-Nine Steps, The Lady Vanishes and Jamaica Inn
Commemorative booklet written by Charles Barr
Image Galleries
8 page booklet by film historian and writer of “English Hitchcock”, Charles Barr, presenting an overview of Hitchcock’s career
Cinema; now that brings back some memories - be good to see Mike Scott in the chair again. Full details are over at the Network site.
Metrodome are releasing Stuart Cooper’s powerful Overlord in March. The blurb:
Winner of the Berlin Film Festival’s Silver Bear for Direction in 1975, Overlord is a spectacularly shot meditation on the sacrifice and expandability of soldiers during the biggest military operation of all times. Cooper shot the movie with Stanley Kubrick’s acclaimed cinematographer John Alcott (Clockwork Orange, The Shining), and they achieve a unique and terrifying vision of war by intercutting new narrative footage of a shy young soldier joining the army and truly incredible stock footage from the Imperial War Museum’s archives. It’s all shot in meticulously re-created black and white style, meaning that the narrative is mixed in indistinguishably with the real footage to great effect.
Critically acclaimed upon it’s original release in the UK in 1975, the Sunday Telegraph declared “It should not be missed.. We are in Stuart Cooper’s debt”, while the Daily Mail agreed by saying “I can’t recommend it too highly”. While a recent US re-release in 2005 saw contemporary critics agree. “Overlord combines its newsreel and fictional footage so effectively that it has a greater impact than all fiction, or all documentary, could have achieved” was Roger Ebert’s opinion, while Time Out NY simply called it “an impressionistic wonder”.
Overlord was a labour of love for Cooper and the Imperial War Museum (who co-produced the movie), and together they spent three years pouring through the footage to find the shots used in the movie - which is at times truly incredible. All profits from the original release of the movie were pledged to the Imperial War Museum and related charities.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Commentary by director Stuart Cooper
Interview with Roger Smither, Keeper Of The Archive at the Imperial War Museum
Interview with co-star Nicholas Ball
A tribute to John Alcott by cinematographer and friend Doug O’Neons
A tour of the Imperial War Museum Archives with Roger Smither
Theatrical trailer
Booklet with essays from Stuart Cooper and others…
Swings and roundabouts, it seems, with the excellent Criterion edition, but the R2 appears to be missing Germany Calling, one of my favourite pieces of wartime propaganda and, oh so very English.
Metrodome are also releasing John Huston’s fun The List of Adrian Messenger the same month, the first official DVD release of the film anywhere, though sadly no extras to be seen. Relatively new outfit Demand DVD is to release two interesting archive TV productions; Frank Finlay takes the eponymous role in The Death of Adolf Hitler in March, and Charles Sturridge’s superb A Foreign Field with a stellar cast - Jeanne Moreau, Lauren Bacall, Edward Hermann, Leo McKern, John Randolph, and Alec Guinness. Also March, they release Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph Of The Will.
April and Showbox Media release the first two comedies made by Group 3 Productions, Kenneth More in Brandy for The Parson, and Charles Hawtry in You’re Only Young Twice. We already know that the Dirty Harry franchise is getting a do-over in R1; not only was it announced nearly 18 months ago now that it was coming (in conjunction with a subsequently postponed computer game), but Warner have recently announced some of their U.S. slate for ‘08 and it was right up there among the ‘Things You Must Buy’. A couple of U.K. etailers have the first two films as coming June over here, a Dirty Harry: Special Edition and a Magnum Force: Directors Edition. One etailer also has a new box set listed, but with no date set for release - unlike the U.S., the U.K. titles have never gone into moratorium. At the end of March, the BFI stump up an Otto Preminger double-header; Margin for Error & A Royal Scandal. No news of extras yet, if any.
It’s looking like a long haul; SimplyHE seem to be making a meal out of dragging the old DD Home Entertainment catalogue back into being. Their new website is, frankly, a bit of mess, and scuttlebutt has it that ordering is not the quick and painless process it ought to be. However their latest catalogue reveals that they are back in DVD production, with plenty of new titles, mostly in the military / vehicles / documentary line, but a couple caught my eye. SimplyHE has released the George Formby vehicle Off The Dole (which was to be part of the - now aborted - second Formby box from Optimum), and intriguingly they star Cottage To Let as a ‘new’ title. Now this British spy picture was released last year by Network and would only be a ‘new’ release if (a) Simply have screwed up (possible), or (b) that their deal with Granada International is back in place allowing them to ‘double up’ on titles Granada license elsewhere (also possible). No news sadly of the deal with Sony / Columbia.
Other titles to look out for; the 1964 Devil Doll from Cinema Club, just released, Metrodome’s Howard The Duck, to be released next week, and also next week The John Mills Centenary Icon Collection, which ITVDVD, just can’t make their minds up on; first it was a nine disc set devoted to the Great Man, then it dropped to six, now it’s back to nine - In Which We Serve, We Dive At Dawn, Waterloo Road, Great Expectations, The October Man, The History Of Mr. Polly, Morning Departure, Flame In The Streets, and the documentary Sir John Mills’s Moving Memories. Fremantle HE are to release a number of older titles in March: I’ll Be Seeing You (1944), The Indiscretion Of An American Wife (1954), Krakatoa - East Of Java (1968), Mastermind (1976), Ruby Gentry (1952), Since You Went Away (1944), Target - Harry (1979). Eureka have lined up Antonioni’s La Notte for a March release in their increasingly impressive Masters of Cinema range. Sony are to release a trio of monster flicks in a low-cost (£10.99 for instance at HMV) Ray Harryhausen Collection boxset early March; 20 Million Miles to Earth, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, It Came From Beneath the Sea - all feature the ‘colorized’ versions (you’ll go blind, I’m warning you…), but there is some question as to whether the box is a six or three DVD set, as various etailers claim.
Nearly forgot. I mentioned the possibility of a Helen Mirren collection a while back, and later this month 2 | Entertain obliges with the Helen Mirren At The BBC box set. The press release says:
Helen Mirren is one of the most respected actresses of British stage, screen, and television. With classical training, celebrated work across TV, film and the London stage, the award winning actress has proven herself an as a women of immense talent, versatility, and unforgettable presence.
Helen made her first theatrical debut in 1965 at the Old Vic theatre where she received rave reviews and by 1971 her film and TV career was blossoming. In 2007 she was the deserving recipient of the Academy Award™ for Best Actress for her portrayal of the current monarch in The Queen.
This elegantly packaged 6 disc box set, available from 18th February, celebrates her work with the BBC and contains 11 adaptations and films dating back to 1974:
• The Changling (1974)
• George Bernard Shaw’s political satire The Apple Cart (1975)
• Caesar and Claretta (1975)
• The Philanthropist (1975)
• JM Barrie’s The Little Minister (1975)
• William Wycherley’s comedy The Country Wife (1977)
• Dennis Potter’s BAFTA- winning drama Blue Remembered Hills (1979)
• Mrs Reinhardt (1981)
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1981)
• Cymbeline (1983)
• The Hawk (1995)Extras include: An exclusively shot interview with Helen talking about the films in this fabulous collection and a clip of her appearance on TV talk show Parkinson from 1975.
Recent passes at the BBFC include The Pirate for Warner (complete with the extras from the US R1), extras for a The Adventures of Baron Munchausen SE for Sony, Rashomon for Optimum, Joseph Losey’s The Criminal (already available in quite a decent edition from Anchor Bay in R1 and a very good Stanley Baker vehicle) has also been passed for Optimum, as has Charles Frend’s Ealing wartime drama San Demetrio, London, plus Robert Hamer’s Pink String and Sealing Wax - my Spidey sense tells me that another Ealing set may be coming from Optimum (and that their current ‘Definitive’ box set is, as if we didn’t know it, simply not so…)
No such (non)sense needed to tell me that Paramount is about to re-release The Godfather films, not only has it been rumoured for some while, but the pass for the first film in the trilogy at the BBFC indicates that this is the ‘2007 restored version’. Undoubtedly all three films are to get a wash and brush up; will Paramount again be making you an offer you can’t refuse?
The BBFC has also - confirming its cut status - passed a 60m 29s version of The Pleasure Garden for Network. Public domain outfit Pegasus has Richard Greene in Captain Scarlett. Odeon have a number of titles on the go including George King’s The Shop at Sly Corner, Tread Softly Stranger (with Diana Dors and George Baker), Tomorrow We Live, Keep It Clean, Double X: Name Of The Game, Cone Of Silence, The Case Of The Frightened Lady, Park Plaza 605 and Ladies Who Do all for February / March release. I’m not a big fan of Odeon - their releases are mostly merely ‘okay’ at best. Showbox Media (who made something of a mess of Brides of Dracula and The Evil of Frankenstein last year) have had a couple of rare Peter Sellers films passed; the dark and interesting ensemble piece The Blockhouse (previously released by - ugh - Orbit in R2) and Where Does it Hurt.
Before I fall out of R2 mode, a quick mention of some interesting French releases. Carlotta has just released a four film Monte Hellman box, featuring The Shooting, Cockfighter, Ride The Whirlwind and Two-Lane Blacktop. The latter is also released as a two-disc SE. In March Elaine May’s Mikey and Nicky with John Cassavetes and Peter Falk gets a release as does a Kenji Mizoguchi, two disc set featuring Orizuru Osen (1934), Gubijinsô (1935), and Maria no Oyuki (1935). Universal France is releasing more Hitchcock two film sets in March; The Ring and Champagne, The Farmer’s Wife and The Manxman, Blackmail / The Skin Game, Rich and Strange / Number 17, plus releases for Murder and Foreign Correspondent.
Out of Print…
I notice that the DVD Talk forum’s list of R1 titles that have fallen out of print include a number of those ‘crayoned in’ titles, the Sherlock Holmes title Prelude to Murder (aka Dressed to Kill) and My Man Godfrey. Good riddance; better efforts are out there. They also list the Ford at Fox box set, underlining the rumour that Fox only produced one run of this gargantuan effort and when it’s gone, it will be well and truly gone. I mention the box with trepidation; my promise to review the contents is, er, taking rather longer than I had hoped. Deadlines rule my life; it gives me a certain joy that by not delivering on this occasion, it doesn’t really matter. I’ll get there.
The DVD Talk list also includes the superb Harry and Tonto; if you haven’t already got a copy of this fabulous Paul Mazursky film, then I urge you to do so right away before existing stocks dwindle away. Paramount appear to be the OOP specialists right now - a large number of the classic back catalogue films have been excised including the VistaVision western The Lonely Man and The Carpetbaggers, while, true to their word, Warner has slapped a moratorium on Gone With The Wind, North by Northwest, The Wizard of Oz, the first three Batman films and L.A. Confidential. Unlike the others mentioned here, the good news is that Warner say all will return apparently when they’ve finalised super-duper new Blu-Ray editions.
Sitting on the HD fence, as Midge Ure once said, it means nothing to me. Or was it Rigsby..?
Comments»
Thanks for all these tidbits; very interesting.
The edition of My Man Godfrey that is going OOP (I believe the Key version) does feature a colorized version but it also has a rather nice B/W transfer — even the Beaver rates it highly and may be worthwhile for those, such as myself, that didn’t want to buy the Criterion when a similar transfer is available for quite a bit cheaper.
I understand the economics, I just despise the practice. It’s a double-edged sword isn’t it? Part of me hopes sales were bad enough to dissuade any more of this crayoning in, but on the other hand they’d probably just blame it on that fact that it’s an ‘old film’, and the chances of more movies enjoying the benefits of the by-product of ‘colorization’ recedes. Tricky.
I wonder why, though, Fox felt the need to hide behind a pseudonym?
Thanks for the comment.
I noticed that about Harry and Tonto going out of print also. Unless it’s a mistake or an excuse for a repackaging, I don’t know what Fox is thinking. Forty Guns has been discontinued also.
Another thing they’ve done at Fox is to slyly raise the msrp by $5 on the repackaged Ford at Fox titles (Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, etc.) without changing the discs. It seems that the old model of putting out $15 catalog titles is being phased out (though the upcoming film noir releases still retain the lower price point), but I still don’t understand taking some key films out of print.
Might as well mention that ‘The Planet of The Apes; Ultimate DVD Collection’, ‘The Poseidon Adventure (1972) 2-disc SE’, ‘Sherlock Holmes and The Secret Weapon’, ‘Terror By Night’, ‘My Friend Flicka / Thunderhead Son Of Flicka’, ‘Reefer Madness’, ‘Silver Streak’ are just some of the other R1 Fox titles to have gone OOP recently.
Strange. BTW, nearly forgot to mention Helen Mirren, so that’s now been added to the main post. That’s how old I’m getting; I forgot Helen Mirren…