Showing Soon; Jarmusch, Ray & Niven Boxes, Godfather Restored… March 12, 2008
Posted by John Hodson in : DVD News & Info, Showing Soon , add a commentShowing Soon in R2
More DVD news of (mostly older) film and TV titles in the U.K.
Following the good (then the not so good) news of ITVDVD’s Margaret Lockwood Collection, in a previous Showing Soon, the BBFC has just passed a 20 minute extra for the box set: British Cinema - Margaret Lockwood. As per my previous post on the David Lean Centenary, ITVDVD is to release another Lean collection in August, this time with all nine titles from their 2006 set newly restored, plus a restored In Which We Serve.
The inestimable Roobarbs Forum tells me that Network will be busy in May and June, TV releases include (deep breath): Spitting Image - Series 2, Doctor at Sea - The Complete Series, Jason King - The Complete Series Special Edition, Pipkins - Series 3, Crown Court - Volume 4, Tommy Cooper - Just Like That, John Pilger - Vols 1-3, Peak Practice - Series 4, Only When I Laugh - Series 2, Robin’s Nest - Series 3, Return to Treasure Island - The Complete Series, The Best Of Friday Live, The Fenn Street Gang - Series 2, Agony - Series 2, Tales of the Unexpected - Series 7, The Bill - Series 4, Baywatch - Series 2, Armchair Thriller - Story 3, Armchair Thriller - Story 4, plus, a real treat, Seven Up - Volumes 1-7: Seven To Forty-Nine.
Other TV upcoming includes (apologies if I’ve mentioned them before) The Two Ronnies: Series 4 (2 Discs), The Complete Wombles, The Complete Paddington, Campion: The Complete Collection (4 Discs). And March 30, from 2|entertain, Ben Kingsley as Silas Marner, The Weaver Of Raveloe. April 14 and Artificial Eye continue with the great German saga; Heimat 3 - A Chronicle Of Endings And Beginnings.
2|entertain is to release the Peter Davison ‘Dr Who’ adventure Black Orchid in April. The excellent Zeta Minor reports that there will be a “commentary track recorded by Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and others as yet unconfirmed”. Extras cleared at the BBFC thus far:
00:09:01:10 NOW & THEN - THE LOCATIONS OF BLACK ORCHID
00:01:02:09 DOCTOR WHO - COMING SOON TO DVD… - THE INVASION OF TIME
00:04:38:14 BLACK ORCHID - PHOTO GALLERY
00:01:27:11 DELETED SCENE 1
00:04:04:22 DELETED SCENE 2
00:01:09:08 DELETED SCENE 3
00:00:20:15 DELETED SCENE 4
00:00:48:11 (EASTER EGG)
00:02:38:23 BLACK ORCHID - FILM RESTORATION
00:08:36:09 (BLUE PETER ITEM)
00:02:23:23 POINTS OF VIEW
00:16:05:15 STRIPPED FOR ACTION - THE STORY OF DOCTOR WHO COMICS - THE FIFTH DOCTOR
00:24:55:13 DOCTOR WHO - BLACK ORCHID - PART ONE (AUDIO COMMENTARY)
00:24:39:22 DOCTOR WHO - BLACK ORCHID - PART TWO (AUDIO COMMENTARY)
This almost sneaked by me; released March 10 The Lost World of Tibet - Director’s Cut. The blurb:
Following the popular and successful TV and DVD collaborations The Lost World of Mitchell & Kenyon and The Lost World of Friese-Greene, the BFI and BBC have co-produced a new programme The Lost World of Tibet, …broadcast on BBC Four on 3 March at 10.00pm. A 90-minute Director’s Cut version along with additional material (was) released on DVD by the BFI on 10 March.
Presented by Dan Cruickshank and featuring a treasure trove of amazing colour footage, preserved and restored by the BFI, The Lost World of Tibet reveals the story of the Dalai Lama and his secret Himalayan kingdom in a way never told before.
An exclusive interview with the Dalai Lama, focusing on his early life and childhood is intercut with rare colour archive film from the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s as well as revealing interviews with ordinary Tibetan people, who remember life as it was before China sent in troops.
This astonishing film allows us to glimpse into the rich culture of Tibet, showing us ancient ceremonies, Buddhist rituals and family life, from a time before the Tibetan people lost their country, nearly 50 years ago.
The Lost World of Tibet is produced and directed by Emma Hindley.
Extras
• 60-minute Worldwide TV version
• Footage of contemporary life in McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala (23 mins)
• Colour archival footage of Tibetan flora and fauna (6 mins)
Optimum are releasing the Jim Jarmusch Box Set: Vol.1 in May. The contents:
Permanent Vacation (1980): In downtown Manhattan, Allie, a twenty-something guy (Chris Parker) whose Father is not around and whose Mother is institutionalized, is a big Charlie Parker fan. He almost subconsciously searches for more meaning in his life and meets a few strange and surreal characters along the way.
Stranger Than Paradise (1984): Winner of the Camera d’Or for Best First Feature at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, Stranger Than Paradise not only launched Jim Jarmusch’s career but also earned him recognition from critics as one of today’s more inventive and creative filmmakers. Lounge Lizard musician John Lurie stars as Willie, a disenchanted New Yorker, who along with his best friend Eddie (Richard Edson) and cousin Eva (Eszter Balint), decides it’s time to leave behind their boring lives in search of “paradise.” But as their unforgettable road trip to Florida unfolds, they find that amidst the sunshine, blue skies and palm trees, their pursuit of happiness is constantly road-blocked by the very thing they can’t run away from… themselves.
Down By Law (1986): In one of the hippest comedies ever made, three misfits find themselves thrown together in a New Orleans jail cell. There’s Zach the unemployed DJ, Jack the small-time pimp and Bob the crazy Italian tourist. Unavailable for many years, this cult hit stars Tom Waits, John Lurie and the Oscar-winning director and star of Life is Beautiful, Roberto Benigni. A film that firmly established Jim Jarmusch as the coolest director on the American independent scene.
Artificial Eye has scheduled The Satyajit Ray Collection: Vol.1 (3 Discs) for June. More blurb:
Satyajit Ray is internationally acknowledged as one of the great masters of world cinema. His films - many of them masterpieces - have won him legions of admirers, among them Akira Kurosawa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, V.S. Naipaul and Martin Scorsese. This box set features the following films:
Mahanagar (Aka: The Big City) (1963): Set in the mid ’50s, Ray’s often humorous story of
conflicting social values in India’s lower-middle class stars Madhabi Mukherjee as a housewife whose growing independence alarms her traditionalist India 1963 family.Charulata (Aka: The Lonely Wife) (1964): Neglected by her ambitious journalist husband, the
lonely Charulata (Madhabi Mukherjee) befriends his cousin (Soumitra Chatterjee), a sensitive aspiring
writer, and almost inevitably their feelings for each other begin to deepen. Adapted from a story by Rabindranath Tagore, Ray considered this sesnitively realised drama one of his finest achievements.Nayak (Aka: The Hero) (1966): This beautifully observed character study was one of Ray’s earliest original screenplays. En route to an award ceremony, a famous and egocentric Bengali movie star finds that he is compelled to re-evaluate his life after encountering a disapproving young journalist (Sharmila Tagore).
Lions Gate release Hamburger Hill: 20th Anniversary Edition June, Sony finally get round to an R2 release for Peckinpah’s Major Dundee (1965 - the extended version complete with new score) the same month. 4DVD are releasing Shallow Grave: Special Edition and Trainspotting: Special Edition at the end of June; not quite sure what makes these editions so special right now, but I hope 4DVD have raised their game transfer wise.
Remember those David Niven films - Happy Go Lovely, Happy Ever After & Bonnie Prince Charlie - passed for Optimum at the BBFC? Etailers are listing a five-disc David Niven; Screen Icons Collection for June, and Optimum say the other titles in the set are The Love Lottery, and Eternally Yours. And it is Optimum who will release that DVD of Peter Brooks’ Beggars Opera in April that I mentioned a while back. By the way, Optimum’s much postponed Angels One Five has now been scheduled for June, and it’s also on the cards in the U.S. soon from Lions Gate, alongside a handful of other Studio Canal owned titles - including King and Country, ditched from 2006’s R2 Dirk Bogarde box set - the fruits of last year’s licensing deal between the two.
Optimum has also added Charles Frend’s 1945 film Johnny Frenchman to the already announced Ealing films coming May: San Demetrio, London, The Square Ring and Pink String and Sealing Wax - another box is on the way, I’m sure of it.
That April Assault On Precinct 13: Special Edition, from Optimum, seems to more or less replicate the ‘03 released R1: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English Mono; Video Q&A with John Carpenter and star Austin Stoker at the American Cinematheque 2002 (23 mins); Director’s Commentary; Isolated Music Score; Production History (17 mins); 2 Radio Spots; Trailer.
Sony’s 2-disc The Adventures of Baron Munchausen R2 SE also next month, has the following features: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English, French, German, Hungarian and Spanish DD5.1 Surround; Subtitles in a variety of languges including English, English HOH, and (I love this) ‘French (Parisian)’; Commentary with Director Terry Gilliam & co-Writer/Actor Charles McKeown; The Madness and Misadventures of Munchausen - An all new 3 part documentary on the making of the film; Storyboard Sequences with all-new vocal performances by Terry Gilliam and Chris McKeown; Deleted Scenes (some reports say an hour plus of these!)
Metrodome release Robert Altman’s 1983 film Streamers in April; “…a stunningly gripping portrayal of the lives of four American paratroopers as they prepare to be shipped out to Vietnam. Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket) gives a stellar performance as one of the young recruits who along with his fellow soldiers are struggling to come to terms with their fears and the realities of going to war. As tension in the barracks escalates and hostility between the men grows increasingly extreme, an underlying aggression swells and the onslaught of violence, even before setting foot on enemy soil is never far away.”
Stephen King’s Needful Things, the 1993 film of the horror novel adapted by Fraser Clarke Heston, is also coming from Metrodome: “Welcome to Castle Rock, Maine, a lovely place to live… if you don’t mind selling your soul! Oscar nominees Ed Harris (A History of Violence) and Max Von Sydow (Minority Report) star in a dark and haunting tale based on the bestselling Stephen King novel. Sheriff Alan Pangborn (Harris) has a devil of a problem: Suddenly all the residents of his sleepy little town are inexplicably lashing out at one another in outbursts of cruelty. There certainly appears to be no relationship between these strange events and the opening of an unusual antiques shop down the street. However, business is booming and the shop’s mysterious owner (Von Sydow) seems to have something special for everyone… as long as they’re willing part with more than just their money.”
The BFI is releasing what looks like a mouth-watering set next month (April): Land Of Promise: The British Documentary Movement 1930 - 1950. The extensive collection of 40 films spread over four DVDs comprises:
“…a major retrospective of the British documentary film movement during its period of greatest influence. These films many of which are made available here for the first time since their original release - capture the spirit and strength, concerns and resolve of Britain and its people before, during and after the Second World War. These diverse and compelling films are fascinating historical documents, bearing witness to the social and industrial transformations of the rapidly changing world. Yet they are also striking in their different approach to the form. Using poetry, dramatic reconstruction, modernist techniques and explicit propaganda, the film-makers found fresh, new ways to get their message across.
“This set is accompanied by an extensive illustrated booklet - 96 pages with an introduction by Patrick Russell, Snr Curator (Non Fiction) at BFI National Archive.
“It contains a series of introductory essays on documentary film-making in the ’30s, wartime, post war periods, biographies and analysis of the key contributors in the documentary movement in this period.
“The collection contains both classic documentaries and lesser known films, including Paul Rotha’s SHIPYARD (1935), Arthur Elton’s HOUSING PROBLEMS (1935) and Humphrey Jenning’s sublime WORDS FOR BATTLE (1941), LISTEN TO BRITAIN (1942) and emotive A DIARY FOR TIMOTHY(1946). Also featured are films from directors such as Ruby Grierson (TODAY WE LIVE, 1937), Basil Wright (CHILDREN AT SCHOOL, 1937), Paul Dickson (THE UNDEFEATED, 1950) and Donal Alexander (FIVE AND UNDER, 1941).”
Around the same time, Film First seems to be cashing in on the publicity surrounding the BFI release (and why not?), by re-releasing their excellent Humphrey Jennings Collection: “…three films from the man described by Lindsay Anderson as perhaps ‘the only true poet of the English cinema’: Listen to Britain, Diary for Timothy (both from the newly-made BFI 2004 prints) and I Was a Fireman (aka Fires Were Started). In Listen to Britain, Jennings collects and edits the sounds and sights of wartime Britain into an extraordinarily moving and effective collage. Diary for Timothy is a film that is relevant for every generation and bears repeated viewings. The feature-length I Was a Fireman, the story of 24 hours in the life of a fire crew during the Blitz, is an innovative work that should be as iconic to British cinema as Vigo’s L’Atalante is to French.”
The set includes the bonus film, Kevin MacDonald’s documentary Humphrey Jennings: The Man Who Listened to Britain (50 mins); I can’t recommend it enough. These astonishing films represent the true heart and soul of a nation at war, and even though there are duplicates, I’m sure to buy the BFI release at some point.
Some more films on the way, from various independent studios, via Odeon, first, a couple of double headers: in April, The Adventures of Jane (1949) / Murder at 3am (1953) and then May Blackout (1950) / Bond of Fear (1956). In June, comes possibly Odeon’s most interesting release for some months - Charles Laughton as Simenon’s ‘Maigret’ in Burgess Meredith’s The Man On The Eiffel Tower- the first of only two films directed by Meredith, who also features in the cast alongside Franchot Tone, a production partner with Irving Allen. According to IMDB: “Producer Irving Allen was the original director, but after only three days of shooting, Charles Laughton threatened to quit if Burgess Meredith did not take over. Laughton directed the scenes in which Meredith appeared.”
Sounds like fun, even if the film isn’t up to much! It was by the way, an Anscocolor production; previous iterations on home video have beem, shall we say, disappointing (washed out, faded prints); don’t expect too much. I’m not a huge fan of Odeon, their output varies from the not too hot to the really pretty decent, and buying their output can be a bit of a lottery. They obviously don’t have the funds available of some other distributors, but they have two things in their favour - they do try hard, and at least they are getting these films back in front of fans in as presentable condition as possible given budget constraints.
Not showing soon?
Bad news, possibly, on the stalled Columbia films deal with DD Home Entertainment. You may recall there was much excitement over Sony licensing out a whole slew of back catalogue films to DDHE last year - including several sought after Hammer titles, some Boetticher / Scott westerns, Ford’s Gideon’s Day among them - then DD promptly went bust. Within a few weeks, however, DD was taken over, became Simply Home Entertainment, and hopes were high that all would be well.
However, an insider tells me that: “Simply Media have handed back the rights to Sony so it is Sony who MAY be releasing these titles later this year.”
The saga continues; however, the question that’s bothering me right now is will Sony take on the extras DDHE prepped for their proposed two-disc Night of The Demon, or will Tony Earnshaw’s featurette and interviews simply be discarded, and the SE ditched?
Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in…
I’ve previously mentioned the new restorations of Coppola’s Godfather trilogy scheduled for release over here in June. I must quote a little from a post at the Home Theater Forum (HTF), by ‘Vincent P’:
…last night I was in an audience that also included Robert Harris, Allen Daviau, and Gordon Willis himself at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY, and the occasion was a surprise screening of a 35mm answer print of the newly-restored THE GODFATHER followed by a Q&A with the three gentlemen mentioned above, moderated by Janet Maslin…
As the screening was introduced, the audience was informed that we were about to see a very special print of a classic film that had undergone a full 4K digital restoration. The print in question was an answer print struck from the newly outputted restored negative, and some additional tweaks would still be done before arriving at the absolute final product. By this point I had no question what we were about to see, but the majority of the audience was still in the dark, as evidenced by the audible gasp and applause from the crowd as those familiar musical notes started playing over black.
So what did the restored print look like? Well, it looked like THE GODFATHER - that is, it looked as if back in 1972, the pristine and untouched original negative had been locked in a perfectly climate-controlled, hermetically sealed vault, and that vault was just opened and the still-pristine negative was used to strike a brand-spanking new print at the best film lab in the world. You’d never know there was ever anything wrong with the elements watching this print, but hearing of the condition of the negative during the Q&A all I can say is that the final result is a miracle. The texture and detail in the image is incredible - I literally felt like I was watching this great film for the first time ever…
You can read the rest of Vincent’s post here, safe to say the prospect of these films in HD is truly mouth-watering, and may make any upcoming Blu-ray player sales I see an offer I can’t refuse…must resist, must resist…