Showing Soon; All Change for Mills & Lockwood, Ken Russell at The Beeb, It’s Hammer Time… March 3, 2008
Posted by John Hodson in : DVD News & Info, Showing Soon , 5 commentsShowing Soon in the U.K.
More news of (mainly classic) film and TV releases on DVD in R2…
Odeon release Richard Murdoch and William Kendall in Charles Saunders cheap ’n cheerful 1959 comedy Strictly Confidential and Joseph Losey’s 1957 BAFTA nominated capital punishment drama Time Without Pity (already available in R1 from Home Vision), with Michael Redgrave and Leo McKern, next month (April); Losey fans might like to know that his 1975 melodrama The Romantic Englishwoman, with Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson, has just been released by Slamdunk Media.
At the end of March, Shameless unleash George Hilton in 1971’s Tonino Valerii’s giallo My Dear Killer (Mio caro assassino).
A few more details on the Mike Leigh Collection mentioned in the last Showing Soon, and coming April, from Spirit Entertainment:
Fans will be thrilled that Leigh’s award-winning classic Naked makes its first UK DVD appearance, as does his 1971 feature Bleak Moments. Also included is the recently unavailable Career Girls. The box set includes a 56-page companion booklet with a complete filmography, stills and quotes, plus a bonus DVD. This comprises specially commissioned footage of Mike Leigh in conversation with twelve of his actors, the 2002 broadcast South Bank Show on Leigh, and his controversial 1991 London Film Festival trailer.
It seems that Spirit Entertainment, by the way, are the outfit responsible for last year’s Ken Loach box sets.
What was I saying recently about Optimum and ITVDVD chopping and changing, not just release dates (Optimum’s proposed disc of Seven Days To Noon is a veritable movable feast…), but specs? According to several etailers, ITVDVD has reduced May’s John Mills Centenary Collection Volume 2 from nine discs to eight; out has gone This Happy Breed - which, to be honest, you should have in your collections by now - plus (for shame) Peter Penrose, and, astonishingly in view of the UK rights residing in Warner hands, in comes Ryan’s Daughter. Colour me puzzled…
Meanwhile, coming from Optimum in May (hopefully) more Ealing in the shape of Basil Dearden and Michael Relph’s 1953 boxing drama The Square Ring, with Jack Warner, Robert Beatty & Bill Owen.
I should say that the above mentioned chunnering about changing came about partly thanks to a tip from poster Gary Treharne who told me that ITVDVD’s Margaret Lockwood Collection has been reduced from an eight disc set to six since it was mentioned in Showing Soon recently. Both the Technicolor Jassy and Val Guest’s I’ll Be Your Sweetheart have unaccountably been given the boot, it seems.
May, and Tartan release the Paul Verhoeven Collection (5 Discs). The blurb:
Dutch director Paul Verhoeven is one of the most challenging, provocative, and controversial European filmmakers working in Hollywood today. Before a string of US box office hits that include Robocop, Total Recall and Basic Instinct, Verhoeven directed five of the most critically acclaimed and successful films in Dutch history. The five films included in this collection are all filled with the raw sexuality, incredible performances and unique visual style that make him one of the most fascinating filmmakers in cinema today.
Business is Business (1971): A bawdy but sympathetic look at the lives of two Amsterdam prostitutes, Business Is Business was Verhoeven’s film debut.
Turkish Delight(1973): Voted Best Dutch Film of the Century, Rutger Hauer stars as Erik Vonk, a free spirited sculptor who enters into a passionate affair with the beautiful Olga (Monique van de Ven).
Katie Tippel (1975): A young girl Katie moves to Amsterdam in 1881 with her impoverished family, and is led into prostitution in order to survive.
Soldier Of Orange (1977): A gripping World War II tale about the Nazi invasion of Holland and its effects upon six wealthy, boisterous college students.
The Fourth Man (1983): Christine is young, beautiful and rich. Her three husbands all died tragically and mysteriously. It’s time for Christine to find her fourth man…
If your tastes run to the, well, lets face it, the irredeemably seedy you’ll lap up Icon Entertainment’s The Adventures Of… Collection come June (I’m afraid I’m now unable to type anything without it seeming a deliberate double entendre…), thrust deep inside the box (sorry) you can grope around in schoolboy fashion for The Adventures Of A Plumber’s Mate, The Adventures Of A Taxi Driver and The Adventures Of A Private Eye.
Watch the (slightly curdled) cream of British comedy lower themselves deeper than a turd in a Paris sewer; if I tell you that, for the latter title, the cast includes Christopher Neil (as our hero ‘Bob West’), Suzy Kendall, Harry H. Corbett, Diana Dors (’Mrs. Horne’; geddit?), Fred Emney, Liz Fraser, Ian Lavender, Jon Pertwee, Adrienne Posta (sigh…), Willie Rushton, and Irene Handl as ‘Miss Friggin’ (I’m not making this up), you’ll get some idea of what’s in store. And one of the gags involves sexual penetration by snake. Oo-er missussssssss.
Ealing they are not; by comparison the ‘Carry On’ films appear as if penned by Michael Frayn, the ‘Confessions’ films far more modest and demure. To attempt to stand in their corner for a second, they are I suppose fascinating sociological time capsules of Britain as it stood, proud and erect (or flaccid and limp, depending on your viewpoint, and which scene of the film you’re watching) some three decades ago. However, this may not be the way you want to remember it…
A little more on that Otto Preminger double header coming from the BFI at the end of March:
Two films by Otto Preminger, Margin for Error (1943) and A Royal Scandal (1945) will be released together on a double-disc DVD by the BFI in association with Twentieth Century Fox and Hollywood Classics on 31 March.
A fiercely independent producer-director, Otto Preminger as much as any other filmmaker changed the face of Hollywood forever. The two early films in this set offer great insight into the working methods of the Austrian director who went on to create classic masterpieces such as Laura (1944) and Anatomy of a Murder (1959).
In Margin for Error, wisecrackin’ Jewish cop Moe Finkelstein (Milton Berle) has just been put in charge of guarding the proto-Nazi German embassy in New York. He encounters the egoistical, villainous consul (a scene-stealing performance by Otto Preminger himself), his American wife Sophie (Joan Bennett) who is desperate for a divorce, and the Consul’s secretary, the sheltered Baron Von Alvenstor whose blind allegiance to his motherland is being severely tested by both his boss’s increasingly maddening power-hungry pursuits and his own growing affection for Sophie.
A Royal Scandal is a risqué comedy set at the height of the Russian dynasty that features a rare appearance from Tallulah Bankhead in one of her finest roles as Empress Catherine the Great. There is also a hilarious cameo from Vincent Price, a sparkling script and the stunning black and white cinematography that has come to mark Otto Preminger’s work.
The DVDs are accompanied by a fully illustrated 14-page booklet with film essays by Philip Kemp, a director biography and cast and credit details.
The BBFC has passed three David Niven vehicles for Optimum; Happy Go Lovely, Happy Ever After & Bonnie Prince Charlie. Odeon have had Wolf Rilla’s The Scamp certificated; the 1957 drama stars Richard Attenborough, Terence Morgan and Dorothy Alison.
2|entertain continue with their ‘Doctor Who’ archive releases May, cashing in, presumably on the return of an old foe in the next series of ‘new Who’. The Doctor Who - Bred For War Box Set is a Sontaran-themed collection, containing the stories The Time Warrior, The Sontaran Experiment, The Invasion Of Time and The Two Doctors. This ambles along at the same time as the Tom Baker story The Invasion of Time is also released separately.
Other TV series releases upcoming include Lorna Doone from Acorn in May, The Two Ronnies - Series 4, Terry And June - Series 8 and Stig Of The Dump (May), In Sickness And In Health - Series 1 (June) both from 2|entertain, plus Murder Most English (Acorn) also June. You may (or may not) like to note that also coming May are The Complete Adventures Of Rin Tin Tin (12 Discs) from Revelation; 65 episodes ‘remastered in brilliant colour with all new music and effects!’ Woof! What a (crayoned in and generally messed around with) dog…
Courtesy of the Criterion Forum, regarding what’s upcoming on Eureka’s frabjous Masters of Cinema label in R2 (but you won’t thank me for it). If I said the following clues were cryptic, it would be akin to equating Carol Vorderman with an Enigma codebreaker:
“Later in 2008, in addition to releasing previously announced titles (including our SILENT LUBITSCH box set, PHANTOM, VAMPYR, and MAD DETECTIVE), we shall also be releasing previously unannounced MoC titles made in the years:
“1924, 1931, 1932, 1963, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1997, 1998, 2004.
“by directors whose surnames begin with:
“A, D, F, G, J, L, M, M, P, R, T, V (only two of which have films in the MoC Series already).
– and there’s more to come…”
Blimey; that narrows it down then…
Showing Soon in the U.S.
As you are probably aware, I don’t report many upcoming R1 discs - R1 seems to be pretty well served in this respect elsewhere - but these recent snippets caught my eye. First, at the BBC America website, the DVDs In the Works section reports that a Ken Russell at the BBC Collection is in the pipeline:
Ken Russell at the BBC
When this visionary director burst upon the international scene in 1969 with his bold adaptation of Women in Love, American filmgoers might have imagined that his extraordinary style came out of nowhere. BBC audiences, on the other hand, were able to see his style develop over a number of years through his startling biographies of artistic figures. Russell’s approach was determined by a desire to knock the dust off the biofilm genre: “The whole idea had degenerated into a series of third-rate clichés. I wanted to dress people in old clothes and do it in a totally unreal way, and thus make it more real than ever, and in the process send up this new civil service/academic way of doing films.”
Our collection includes two early films starring Oliver Reed, The Debussy Film and Dante’s Inferno about Dante Gabriel Rossetti, as well as Always on Sunday about Henri Rousseau, Isadora: The Biggest Dancer in the World, A Song of Summer about Frederick Delius, and Dance of the Seven Veils about Richard Strauss.
The BFI’s R2 iterations of A Song of Summer and Elgar (odd that this is not included) appear to have fallen out of print, so this is particularly welcome. And, of course, the usual order of things BBC wise is that if it’s happening across The Pond, there’s usually a U.K. version in the offing…
Some compensation, then, for the fact that The Devils was spotted on 
Warner’s U.S. press and P.R. site recently and after the joyous news was reported - complete with lurid cover art - on several internet sites and fora, a Warners exec came out with a statement that it had been ‘a mistake’, it is not, after all, on the slate. The genie is out of the bottle however; if nothing else it proves that they have been working on the film, which, I suppose, is good enough in itself; quick, get Ken in front a camera for some sort of interview for the DVD, or a commentary - he’s not getting any younger you know…
Meanwhile, Hammer fans rejoice. DVD Drive-in reports:
Hammer Adventure Set Coming from Sony!
No exact street date has been confirmed, but this Summer, Sony will release a box set of Hammer Films’ costume adventures originally released theatrically by Columbia Pictures. The films in the set include Terence Fisher’s STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY, TERROR OF THE TONGS, PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER and DEVIL SHIP PIRATES. All films except for STRANGLERS star Christopher Lee. Extras will include three separate commentaries with legendary Hammer screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, as well as some to-be-announced short subjects. More details to follow in the coming months.
There are also rumblings about a second R1 set from Sony, largely featuring previously unreleased Columbia distributed Hammer titles starring Peter Cushing. We’ll see.
And Finally…
…for this edition of Showing Soon, Digital Spy is reporting some good news for two (at least) British classics…
Sky is paying for new high definition versions of Zulu and The Italian Job in a push to get British movies remastered in the format.
Sky Movies found many classic titles were not available in HD as it planned a season to mark Sir Michael Caine’s 75th birthday. It ordered the two films from Paramount Home Entertainment UK to air on Sky Movies HD1 later this month.
It could also kick-start a wide-ranging digital remastering process which improves the quality of films broadcast on TV even if they are not shown in HD.
Sky Movies will hold a premiere of The Italian Job HD in London and regional screenings around his birthday on March 14. It will also air several of his other films and new retrospective Michael Caine… From Alfie to Zulu.
Sir Michael said as an HD fan he was pleased with the plans: “I love HD, it’s so difficult to watch anything else once you’ve watched it in HD. Of course it’s very unforgiving, especially on young beautiful ladies, but thank god I’m old, I don’t care… I’ll be recording the whole season.”
Sky Movies director Ian Lewis said it was important the HD remastering process was continued: “Watching a classic title remastered in HD is like viewing a restored painting. The experience is deeper, more immersive and ultimately far more satisfying.
“Yet we found that many great classic films, particularly British titles, are still to be re-mastered. These films are a part of our cultural heritage and it’s vital that they are made available to be seen in the best possible format.
“Sky are now pro-actively looking at opportunities to re-master other classic titles, particularly British product, to ensure the British film archive doesn’t get left behind in a high definition world.”
Paramount’s latest U.K. remaster of Zulu in SD is bloody marvellous; I can only imagine what it will look like in HD - I feel myself being drawn irrevocably towards the Blu-side… happy birthday Sir Michael…