Showing Soon; Picnic At Hanging Rock, The Bill Douglas Trilogy, and Bond is Back… April 17, 2008
Posted by John Hodson in : Film General, DVD News & Info, Showing Soon , 5 commentsMore news of upcoming home entertainment classics in the U.K….
Are Second Sight going to give us the definitive DVD version of Peter Weir’s ethereal Picnic at Hanging Rock? It certainly looks so…
On Saturday 14th February 1900 a party of schoolgirls from Appleyard College took a trip to Hanging Rock near Mt. Macedon in the state of Victoria. During the idyllic sun-drenched afternoon some of the party left the rest of the group and having climbed higher stopped to rest and fell asleep. They awoke as though still in a dream and silently ventured further through 
a passage in the imposing rock face. Some of the girls were never seen again.
The film that established Peter Weir as a major filmmaker is a critically acclaimed classic of Australian cinema. With BAFTA-winning photography and a memorably haunting score Picnic at Hanging Rock remains one of the most chillingly atmospheric and beautifully enigmatic films ever made.
Thrillingly, this Deluxe 3 disc edition, coming June 30, features both cuts of the 1975 film:
The Director’s Cut and the much in demand longer Original Version (currently unavailable in any territory)
‘A Dream Within A Dream’ (120 min documentary)
‘A Recollection - Hanging Rock 1900′ (a 1975 on-set documentary)
Joan Lindsay interview (from 1974)
Hanging Rock and Martindale Hall - Then and Now (a tour of the locations)
The Day of St Valentine (1st screen adaptation of Joan’s novel made in 1969 by a 13-years-old schoolboy, Tony Ingram)
Audio Interviews
Stills and Poster Gallery
The Director’s Cut deleted scenes
Director’s Cut 5.1 audio.
This set does appear to trump Umbrella’s R4 two-discer, boasting most of that 2-disc edition’s extras, plus the seven minutes of scenes Weir took out of the original theatrical version to achieve his director’s cut as deleted scenes, plus those scenes integrated into the theatrical version.
Yes, yes, but will we - at last - get two (greedy, I know) bloody gorgeous anamorphic OAR transfers? Exciting isn’t it? And when will the Criterion R1 remaster, as mooted by Peter Weir himself some while back, see the light of day? The same day as Picnic at Hanging Rock hits the shops, Second Sight will release Weir’s The Cars That Ate Paris, but no details of any extras, if any, on that one.
The BFI is releasing The Bill Douglas Trilogy - My Childhood (1972), My Ain Folk (1973) and My Way Home (1978) on two discs (the total running time is only about three hours) - in June:
Bill Douglas’ magnificent award-winning Trilogy is the product of an assured, formidable artistic vision. These are some of the most compelling films about childhood ever made.The films narrative is largely autobiographical, following Jamie - eight years old when we first meet him - as he grows up in a poverty-stricken mining village in post-war Scotland. These are brutal surroundings, and Jamie is subject to hardship and rejection, at the mercy of the relatives and neighbours responsible for his welfare. Through these films we see Jamie grow from child to adolescent; angry, bewildered, and violent, yet playful, affectionate, and full of imagination.
The BFI releases Jayne Parker in their British Artists Films strand, again for June:
Jayne Parker discovered film as a medium when she was a sculpture student at Canterbury College of Art (1977-80). Objects, performance and gesture were combined by the camera to explore space, duration and the physical body. Soon the films became independent works. Free Show (1979) is ‘a film in three acts’ in which domestic events have overtones of threat as well as the circus (cutting liver, ironing a fly, plucking eyebrows). In RX Recipe (1980), a large eel in a bath is stuffed with vegetables and bandaged by a woman who then similarly binds her own leg, to whispered instructions on the soundtrack. I Cat (1980) was the first of a series of roughcast but sharply drawn animations featuring a woman, a cat and a fish.
DVD extras include theFrame: Jayne Parker, a 25 minutes illustrated interview with Jayne Parker produced by Illuminations, plus an iIllustrated 20-page booklet containing full annotated filmography.
More from the BFI in June; Man With a Movie Camera, Dziga Vertov’s 1929 silent film described as ‘One of the most extraordinary films in the history of cinema and as important and watchable now as when it was made. It’s an exhilarating and often hilarious montage showing Moscow people at work and play and the machines that keep the city moving. Vertov pioneers the use of all available cinematic techniques - dissolves, split screen, slow motion and freeze frames and anticipates political cinema from Godard to Patrick Keiller.’
Also coming from the BFI, The Terence Davies Trilogy; Children, which he directed after he left the Coventry School of Drama with backing from the BFI Production Board. Madonna and Child completed as his National Film School graduation film in 1980. and Death and Transfiguration (1983) made with funding from the Greater London Arts Association and the BFI, though no date has been set for the trilogy’s release it should be ’soon’. Antonioni’s Red Desert, is also on the cards from the BFI, with a commentary from David Forgacs, as is Charles Bennett’s Killer of Sheep and there’s a whisper that the BFI will also tuck into the work of director Frank Bozage at some stage, though no word of which. This is some schedule the BFI is setting itself isn’t it? Very pleasing indeed.
June and Tartan with the Fukasaku Trilogy (3 Discs): The breakout success of the fantastic Battle Royale resulted in long-overdue global recognition of the films of Kinji Fukasaku. This prolific Japanese filmmaker, who died in 2003, had already made himself a name in his home country as an auteur who favoured outrageous style and biting social commentary. This collection brings together three exciting and colourful early films from Japanese cinema’s most exhilarating director. Titles Comprise:
Blackmail Is My Life: Tautly paced and fueled by a trendy soundtrack synthesis of whistled themes and electric rock, Blackmail Is My Life centres on a quartet of young daredevil hipsters who discover blackmail as a means to enjoy the booming economy from which they’ve been excluded. These rebellious youths tread a deadly line by blackmailing both sides of society- namely the Yakuza kingpins and top government officials. Blackmail Is My Life is a bloody wake-up call to Japanese culture and budding criminals and a perfect example of the director working in his prime.
Black Rose Mansion: A feverishly perverse 1969 film noir oddity starring female impersonator Akihiro Maruyama. When wealthy Kyohei hires singer “Black Rose” to perform in his exclusive men’s club, he gets more than he bargains for when she attracts scores of homicidal past lovers. The film takes a bizarre twist when Kyohei’s son falls victim to the femme fatale’s unique charm.
If You Were Young: If You Were Young highlights the other side of post-war Japanese prosperity, focusing on the throngs of young people who missed out on the boom. We follow a group of young men that can’t seem to get ahead, despite their willingness to try. Then one hits upon a plan - to work together to save for a dump truck and thus become independent contractors and be their own bosses at last. Ultimately life presents obstacles: jail for one, violence at the hands of the police for another and a girlfriend and subsequent children for the third. An early Kinji Fukasaku gem that imports the freewheeling style of the French New Wave and the hip detachment of American noir.
Nucleus release two hours of Grindhouse Trailer Classics Vol. 2 in June, which includes a featurette with Emily Booth and a Poster Gallery. Released at the end of April is the Wojcieck Has directed The Saragossa Manuscript (1965) from Mr Bongo Films, said to be:
…the full-length masterpiece of this incredible [Polish] film.
Martin Scorses, Francis Ford Coppola, Luis Bunuel and Jerry Garcai have at various times described The Saragossa Manuscript as their favorite film.
Based on the book by the highly-esteemed Count Jan Potocki, the film version is reputedly a respectful, mostly faithful adaptation of this literary cat’s cradle set in the weird fantasy landscapes of arid 17th-century Spain. The films creates a magical, sometimes disturbing, world of the supernatural so it’s no surprise that this was a counterculture classic and Jerry Garcia’s favourite. He, along with Martin Scorsese, put up part of the money to have it restored to its full length. Besides the convoluted structure, characters pop in and out of each other’s stories with the random logic of a trip. The characters includes sexy ghost princesses, demon-possessions and many a corpse. The intriguing stylistic flourishes sit against the wonderful soundtrack, which was composed by Krzyszt Penderecki, famous for the scores of The Shining and Wild At Heart.
The Mr Bongo label, relatively new on the scene, also has two Antonioni films prepped for June; L’Avventura and Identification Of A Woman (Identificazione di una donna); other titles on the go (with no specific release date) include Glauber Rocha’s Black God, White Devil (Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol), John Huston’s Under The Volcano, and Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s 1968 Cuban film Memories of Underdevelopment (Memorias del subdesarrollo).
July and Artificial Eye release The Satyajit Ray Collection (Volume 2) to follow up the first Volume which goes on sale in May; no details save the titles - Kapurush / Mahapurush / Joi Baba Felunath.
These are more of those ‘caveat emptor’ releases; Pegasus have never been renowned for the quality of their discs, but, if the pass at the BBFC is to be believed, they are at least giving an outing to Jack Starrett’s (he of Race With The Devil) poor 1970 western Cry Blood, Apache, which is notable only inasmuch as it stars Jody McCrae (who produced) and his father Joel, in his next to last film role; not a way to end a career. The transfer will be full-frame. Similarly, the BBFC has passed Robert Gordon’s 1972 western, The Gatling Gun, for Pegasus, with Dean Stockwell and Robert Fuller, and Earl Bellamy’s Against a Crooked Sky (1976), with Richard Boone, both also in full frame.
The BBFC seems to confirm those Gerard Depardieu and Brigette Bardot box sets from Optimum Showing Soon mentioned a while back, with passes for several titles that will most likely be included. It’s not definitive, but it is a positive sign.
Not really Showing Soon’s era, but definitely Showing Soon’s kind of film; Lionsgate has had a 15 minute extra for the 2006 ‘what if’ Orson Welles murder thriller (just opened in the UK) Fade to Black (with John’s son Danny Huston as Welles) passed; looks interesting.
No full details as yet on Network’s Jason King: Complete Series Special Edition (7 discs) coming at the end of June, except to note that Peter Wyngarde does not feature in any of the extras, save in clips or referred to by others; he’s not donated a commentary or been involved in the documentary. Which is a shame.
Lawrence of Liverpool and Other Screenings…
There’s a special screening of Lawrence of Arabia as part of the ongoing David Lean Centenary celebrations at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall on Tuesday, 22 July, at 7.00pm. The blurb:
Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival and BAFTA celebrate the centenary of David Lean’s birth, one of the academy’s founding members, with a screening and discussion of his seminal award-winning film, Lawrence of Arabia, starring Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif. Egyptian actor Omar Sharif gained international stardom from the film, which he considers to be one of his greatest. The film will be accompanied by a Q & A discussion, guest speaker to be announced.
More details here.
Just a mention that a Alfred Hitchcock’s newly spruced up The 39 Steps is currently enjoying a limited theatrical run at ‘BFI Southbank, Filmhouse Edinburgh and key cities’, from July a restored print of Wilder’s The Apartment may also be coming to a cinema near you after opening at the Curzon Cinema, Mayfair, in ‘that London’, and from August 1, Leone’s The Good, The Bad & The Ugly gets a run out at the ‘BFI Southbank and key cities’; it’s also ‘restored’ but they don’t say if it is the controversial version put out by MGM on DVD, with previously deleted and revoiced scenes, plus gunshots retuned for the big screen that rather jarr on those familiar with the picture. And hurry if you want to catch Bond back in action on the big screen in the company of director Lewis Gilbert:
The Spy Who Loved Me – Restored and Back in Action
The James Bond classic, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) is to be presented, back on the big screen, in a glorious digital restoration at a special event in one of London’s biggest cinema venues.
The classic action thriller, directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Roger Moore as James Bond, is a firm favourite with fans everywhere. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, and features many iconic scenes, including Bond’s Lotus car turning into a submarine and his first encounter with Jaws (Richard Kiel).
The special screening will be held at the Empire Leicester Square, Screen 1, on Sunday 20 April at 1.30pm for 2pm. In attendance at the event will be several people involved in the making of the film, including director Lewis Gilbert and actor Caroline Munro.
Tickets for the screening are on sale now from Empire Cinemas, via www.empirecinemas.co.uk
Showing Soon; Coppola, Winner, a Bloodbath…& Visual Poetry from the BFI April 7, 2008
Posted by John Hodson in : DVD News & Info, Showing Soon , 12 commentsMore news of shiny digital discs on their way to fans of classic film and TV in the U.K….
Several etailers now have a list of the extras for the upcoming Godfather Trilogy Remastered. There appear to be some new extras, but be aware 
that a few may be renamed ‘carry overs’ from the old set’s bonus disc, and it is possible that all the extras from that disc will not be replicated. We’ll see; in the meantime we have ‘…Full film restoration with involvement from Francis Ford Coppola’ (actually the work of Robert Harris; the new set’s cover carries Coppola’s signature as a form of ‘rubber-stamp’), plus the following:
Special Features
5.1 audio tracks
The Godfather in Worldwide Popular Media
The Godfather and the Modern Gangster Film
Restoring a Classic Film
Take the Cannoli: Feature on the famous scene
The Godfather on the Red Carpet
Ten Things You Didn’t Know About The Godfather
Easter Egg – An Excerpt From The Family Guy
Behind the Scenes
Additional Scenes
Family Trees
Trailers
Academy Award speeches
Biographies
At the end of this month, Axiom release Gudie Lawaetz’s 1974 documentary Mai ‘68, ‘…which chronicles the Parisian uprisings of students, young people and disaffected intellectuals in May of 1968, an event that coincided with a nationwide trade-union strike’. That Colossus rumour, mentioned in a previous Showing Soon, has pretty much firmed up. The blurb:
Fremantle Home Entertainment and Mediumrare Entertainment have announced the UK Region 2 DVD release of Colossus: The Forbin Project on 26th May 2008 priced at £15.99. The ultimate super computer creates the ultimate terror in this sci-fi suspense thriller. When computer genius Charles Forbin creates a massive computer complex that is capable of independently regulating the national defence of the United States, it appears that no enemy will ever be able to penetrate its sovereign borders.
But such a promising thought turns into a stunning nightmare when it’s discovered the Russians have built an equally sophisticated computer and that these two “doomsday machines” have linked, sharing classified information and national secrets. Desperately Forbin and his Soviet counterparts try to stop the all-knowing “monster” computers from seizing command of the world’s nuclear missile stockpiles.
Colossus: The Forbin Project stars Eric Braeden, Susan Clark and Gordon Pinsent in the film based on the novel “Colossus” by DF Jones.
Extras include: Commentary Track from the film’s director: Joseph Sargent, Stills Gallery, Original Publicity Material.
Artwork at DVD Times here, shows the words ‘Widescreen Edition’, so we know that the rumour of anamorphic OAR is highly likely.
This is something of a surprise, also from the Fremantle subsidiary Mediumrare. More blurb:
Fremantle Home Entertainment and Mediumrare Entertainment have announced the UK Region 2 DVD release of The Sentinel on 19th May 2008 priced at £14.99. When a beautiful model, Alison Parker (Cristina Raines) rents a gloomy New York apartment little does she realise the unspeakable horrors that await her behind its mysterious doors.
Based on Jeffrey Konvitz’s best-selling novel, The Sentinel also stars Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum , Ava Gardner, Jose Ferrer, Burgess Meredith and Beverly D’Angelo.
Features include: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English DD2.0, Commentary Track from the film’s Director Michael Winner, Film Intro: Michael Winner, Photo Gallery, Original Theatrical Trailer, Biographies.
Nice artwork, and a commentary track from the famed insurance salesman; what more could you ask? I’m in. Details again at DVD Times, here.
This sumptuous looking set was mentioned briefly previously, but now Showing Soon has the full specs:
The BFI have announced a major documentary collection due for release on April 28th. Land of Promise: The British Documentary Movement 1930-1960 (BFIVD756). Featuring 40 films on 4 DVDs, this extensive collection is a major retrospective of the British documentary film movement during its period of greatest influence.
These films – many of which are made available 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, but they are also striking in their different approach to the form.
Using poetry, dramatic reconstruction, modernist techniques and explicit propaganda, these film-makers found fresh, new ways to get their message across.
The collection contains both classic documentaries and lesser-known films, including Paul Rotha’s Shipyard (1935), Arthur Elton’s Housing Problems (1935) and Humphrey Jennings’ 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 Donald Alexander (Five and Under, 1941). This box set also includes new interviews with some of the directors featured on the discs, a 15-minute film of John Grierson (the ‘father’ of documentary) addressing a packed audience at the National Film Theatre in 1959, and is completed by an extensive booklet containing introductory essays, biographies and notes on all of the films by leading researchers and scholars in the field of documentary film-making.
The entire programme has been programmed from within the BFI with extensive input from Patrick Russell, Senior Curator (Non Fiction). All titles have been remastered specially for this DVD set, from the best available materials preserved within the BFI National Archive. Many of these films have not been available since they were first released, and only a very small number have been published on DVD or VHS before. Comprehensive collection, large number of titles chronicling Britain through 20 years of huge change. The programme contains a good number of famous but hard-to-find ‘favourites’ (eg DIARY FOR TIMOTHY, LISTEN TO BRITAIN, THE UNDEFEATED) in addition to numerous rare gems and lesser known titles.
Full List of Films:
INDUSTRIAL BRITAIN (Robert Flaherty, 1931), WORKERS AND JOBS (Arthur Elton, 1935), HOUSING PROBLEMS(Arthur Elton, Edgar Anstey, 1935), SHIPYARD (Paul Rotha, 1935), PEOPLE OF BRITAIN (Paul Rotha, 1936), CHILDREN AT SCHOOL (Basil Wright, 1937), FAREWELL TOPSAILS (Humphrey Jennings, 1937), TODAY WE LIVE (Ruby Grierson, Ralph Bond, 1937), EASTERN VALLEY (Paul Rotha, Donald Alexander, 1937), IF WAR SHOULD COME (no director credited, 1939), BRITAIN AT BAY (Harry Watt, 1940), TOMORROW IS THEIRS (James Carr, 1940), THEY ALSO SERVE (Ruby Grierson, 1940), TRANSFER OF SKILL (Geoffrey Bell, 1940), FIVE AND UNDER (Donald Alexander,1941), ORDINARY PEOPLE (Jack Lee, J B Holmes 1941), WORDS FOR BATTLE (Humphrey Jennings, 1941), BUILDERS (Pat Jackson, 1942), LISTEN TO BRITAIN (Humphrey Jennings, Stewart McAllister, 1942), NIGHT SHIFT (J D Chambers, 1942), THE COUNTRYWOMEN (John Page, 1942), SUMMER ON THE FARM (Ralph Keene, 1943), WORDS AND ACTIONS (Max Anderson, 1943), FENLANDS (Ken Annakin, 1945), CHILDREN’S CHARTER (Gerard Bryant, 1945), A DIARY FOR TIMOTHY (Humphrey Jennings, 1946), BRITAIN CAN MAKE IT No 1 (Francis Gysin, 1946), LAND OF PROMISE(Paul Rotha, 1946), COTTON COME BACK (Donald Alexander, 1946), CHASING THE BLUES (J D Chambers, Jack Ellitt, 1947), THE BALANCE (Paul Rotha, 1947), FIVE TOWNS (Terry Bishop, 1947), A PLAN TO WORK ON (Kay Mander, 1948), THE DIM LITTLE ISLAND (Humphrey Jennings. 1948), WHAT A LIFE! (Michael Law, 1948), MINING REVIEW 2ND YEAR No 11 (Peter Pickering, 1949), FROM THE GROUND UP (no director credited, 1950), THE UNDEFEATED (Paul Dickson, 1950), TRANSPORT (Peter Bradford, 1950)On-disc extras:
CLOSE UP: RECOLLECTIONS OF BRITISH DOCUMENTARY(40 mins) - New interviews with some of the people who worked on these films, in which they discuss how they became involved in documentary film-making, recall their experiences working with John Grierson, Paul Rotha, Humphrey Jennings and Donald Alexander, and discuss working on individual films. Interviewees are: Pat Jackson (Dir. BUILDERS), Wolfgang Suschitzky (Cinematographer COTTON COME BACK and others), Peter Bradford (Dir. TRANSPORT), Peter Pickering (Dir. MINING REVIEW 2ND YEAR No 11), Paul Dickson (Dir. THE UNDEFEATED)JOHN GRIERSON AT THE NFT (1959) (13 mins) - A record of an address by John Grierson at the National Film Theatre in August 1959 to mark their “Thirty Years of British Documentary” season. Grierson discusses some of the difficulties which beset the founders of the British Documentary movement in the 1930s including the different agendas within the movement - political and aesthetic - which informed their work, some of the film-makers who inspired their work, international reaction to their films and his hopes for the future of the British documentary film.
Booklet:
This set will be accompanied by an extensive illustrated booklet – 96 pages - which will contain:
- An introduction to the DVD set by Patrick Russell, Senior Curator (Non Fiction) at the BFI National Archive
- A series of introductory essays on documentary film-making in the 1930s, wartime, and post-war periods
- Credits and film notes for each of the 40 films on the programme. These pieces have been commissioned from various researchers and scholars in the field including our own non fiction curatorial team.
- Biographies and analysis of the contribution of key figures in the documentary movement in this period
The set is very attractively pitched, as low as £25.99 at Play.com and apparently the booklet is bound properly, not merely stapled; box art at DVD Times, here. Writing of BFI pricing, their May DVD of John Huston’s A Walk With Love and Death is just £8.99 at Play.com - are we seeing a new price policy from the usually high-end BFI?
And still the BFI goodies come. The end of this month sees Volume 7 in the BTF The Age of The Train Series which will contain 17 titles:
Disc 1:
The North Eastern Goes Forward (1962)
Right Time Means Right Time aka The Pain Train (1969)
Motorsport Tries Motorail (1969)
Discovering Railways (1977)
Current Affairs on the Midland (1980)
Railways Conserve the Environment (1970)
Discover Britain by Train (1978)
Old Sam the Signalman (1982)Disc 2:
Journey Inter-City (1972)
Power to Stop (1979)
Inter-city 125 (1976)
New Age for Railways (1979)
The Stone Carriers (1982)
The Finishing Line (1976)
Robbie (1979)
Centenary Express (1980)
Sir Peter Parker Talks to Jimmy Saville (1982)
ITVDVD are releasing David Lean’s Great Expectations on Blu-ray in mid-June. As said in my piece of the Lean Centenary, this is one of 10 Lean films that have recently been given new restorations; if the date is correct it will be the first offered, newly washed and brushed up. How it looks on HD may determine just how many classic film fans switch to the greater resolution offered by the Blue side…
Showing Soon mentioned Second Sight’s April release of Ronald Neame’s Hopscotch recently. Here’s the blurb:
Screen greats Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson star in celebrated director Ronald Neame’s classic spy-caper Hopscotch.
Matthau was nominated for a Golden Globe for his starring role in this hilarious comedy, released for the first time on DVD on 21 April 2008, courtesy of Second Sight.
Miles Kendig (Mattheu) is a veteran CIA agent who finds himself reduced to a desk job after the arrival of new boss Myerson. Refusing to take it lying down he disappears, links up with former lover and ex-agent (Jackson) and begins to write a tell-all autobiography, threatening to lift the lid on the world’s top intelligence agencies. He soon has both the CIA and the KGB in hot pursuit but Kendig is a hard man to keep up with.
Originally written by Brian Garfield as a conventional espionage story he adapted it for the big screen along with Bryan Forbes as a cloak-and-dagger escapade that makes for hugely entertaining viewing.
Special Feature – Introduction by director Ronald Neame and writer Brian Garfield
The film is already available in R1 courtesy of Criterion; this release presumably replicates the introduction from that disc.
Still with Second Sight and their May release of Eyes Without A Face:
Visionary director Georges Franju’s masterpiece Eyes Without A Face (Les Yeux Sans Visage) is considered to be one of the greatest, most influential and disturbing horror films ever made.
Previously unavailable in the UK on DVD, this true horror classic makes its debut courtesy of Second Sight on 12 May 2008.
Starring respected French actor Pierre Brasseur alongside stunning Italian beauty Alida Valli and Edith Scob this is an extremely unsettling and sometimes poetic horror that caused huge controversy on its initial cinema release.
Guilt-ridden after recklessly crashing his car and leaving his daughter (Scob) severely disfigured, celebrated plastic surgeon Dr Gennesier (Brassuer) becomes obsessed with restoring her beauty by transplanting a new face onto her mutilated features. Aided by his devoted assistant Louisa (Valli), young women are lured back to his home to become unwitting ‘donors’ in his horrific procedures.
One of the most interesting personalities in French cinema, master filmmaker Franju creates a stunningly chilling atmosphere made all the more eerie by Oscar winning cinematographer Eugen Shufftan’s powerful imagery.
Special feature: Georges Franju: Visionary – a 10 minute feature on the director.
Again, from Criterion in R1, but the documentary on this disc appears to be new.
At least one etailer has Lutz Becker’s The Double-Headed Eagle (1973) coming from Odeon in June, plus A Candle For The Devil (with Judy Geeson), that’s alongside the previously released titles including The Flesh And Blood Show and The Man On The Eiffel Tower. The Voice Of Merrill, with Valerie Hobson, Edward Underdown and James Robertson Justice, is another release from Odeon - also scheduled for June. I should mention at this point that an Amazon reviewer has stated that Odeon’s recent release of Cone of Silence, with Peter Cushing, is a pan and scan transfer of a ’scope film - nasty (EDIT; Hmmm - it looks like IMDB is the source of this information, and the fact that, according to the Amazon customer, the opening credits are show quite wide, then the film reverts to what appear to me from the decent looking screen grabs I’ve seen, something like 1:66.1, which would be more like it for a British film of this vintage - I’d be grateful for any further positive information on this.)
Redemption, meanwhile, will release Alan Birkinshaw’s Lake District set slasher Killer’s Moon in July, and Nucleus Films are unleashing the Kenny Everitt 1984 bomb Bloodbath At The House Of Death on an unsuspecting world the previous month:
Nucleus Films are pleased to announce the worldwide DVD premiere of the long lost cult 1983 horror spoof Bloodbath at the House of Death. From a script by comic legend Barry Cryer, the film boasts a highly impressive cast with Kenny Everett (The Kenny Everett Television Show), Pamela Stephenson (Not the Nine O’Clock News), Gareth Hunt (The New Avengers), Don Warrington (Rising Damp), Cleo Rocos (Celebrity Big Brother) and the late great Vincent Price himself as The Sinister Man!
Unseen anywhere since the early 1980s, Nucleus Films have spent over a year painstakingly tracking down the rights owner, and can now confirm that we have recently signed a license agreement enabling the films’ release. Bloodbath at the House of Death will be transferred from the original negatives during the coming weeks and will be issued on DVD later this year in its original 1.85:1 cinema ratio and will be 16×9 enhanced for widescreen TVs.
Negotiations are said to be also in place for DVD extras and interviews. There’s a link to the UK trailer here.
TV releases, and the press release for G.F. Newman’s breath-taking and brilliant Law and Order released this month by 2|entertain:
Law and Order garnered immense critical acclaim when first broadcast on April 6th 1978, but also drew a series of damning complaints for the portrayal of the British judicial system. Each episode of this controversial four-part drama series concentrates on one aspect of the criminal justice system, presenting an investigation from the perspectives of the police force, the criminal, the solicitor and the prison system.
Unseen since its transmission 30 years ago, Law and Order will be available on DVD for the first time on 7th April 2008.
Law and Order features a talented cast, including Eastenders stalwarts Derek Martin (Charlie Slater) John Bardon (Jim Branning) and Peter Dean (Peter Beale) as well as Alan Ford (Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels).
Produced by Tony Garnett and written by BAFTA award winning writer GF Newman (Judge John Deed), Law and Order is a gripping tale of police and judicial corruption. Law and Order, cited as the original ‘Factional Drama’ tells the story of chancer Jack Lynn (Peter Dean) a career criminal, and bent copper DI Pyall (Derek Martin) who is determined to imprison Lynn, even if it means fitting him up with armed robbery. The programme follows the two characters from arrest right through to incarceration offering Newman’s often criticised view on the British police force and those who enforce the law.
Newman’s insights into the inner workings of British law and order, exposing the inadequacies of the judicial system, resulted in a large public outcry as well as shouts of condemnation and accusation from the House of Commons. Newman ‘s Law and Order conjures up the murky 1970s Metropolitan underworld populated with bent coppers on the make, “grasses”, conniving lawyers and career criminals.
With its searing look at widespread corruption and abuse in the police, Law and Order arguably still provides the most complete glimpse of police culture to date.
Special Features include Criminal Minds - a specially shot documentary about the making of Law and Order which contains interviews with the original cast and crew.
Network release the Brian Blessed interpretation of Long John Silver - Return To Treasure Island: The Complete Series (3 Discs) - at the end of May. Come June, Universal releases Murder She Wrote - Seasons 1-8 Box Setwith a whopping £154.99 rrp. More ‘God’s waiting room TV’; July and Paramount have Diagnosis: Murder - Season 2 and MacGyver - Season 6, while Acorn plan a Murder Most English set, and Warner V - The Complete Series. Universal will also offer Allo Allo - Series 6 & 7, and Life Begins - Series 2 comes from ITVDVD. Looking waaay ahead to August (be aware - this far out, these could change) Rumpole Of The Bailey - Series 6 comes from Fremantle HE, The Streets Of San Francisco - Season 1, Part 1 and The Untouchables - Season 1, Part 1 both from Paramount and Sutherland’s Law - Series 1 from Acorn.
This is only a year old production, but I really enjoyed Daphne, which is coming from 2|entertain in June: ‘…Set during the years between the Rebecca plagiarism trial and the writing of Daphne Du Maurier’s short story The Birds, including her relationship with her husband Frederick ‘Boy’ Browning, and her largely unrequited infatuations with American publishing tycoon’s wife Ellen Doubleday and the actress Gertrude Lawrence.’
A fascinating and beautifully realised BBC drama.
Showing Soon; BFI Showcases Lubitsch, Huston, Petit, Asquith in May. April 1, 2008
Posted by John Hodson in : DVD News & Info, Showing Soon , 22 commentsMore upcoming classic film and TV titles set for release in the U.K.
Scratch another Ernst Lubitsch title; his final film, the 1946 romantic comedy Cluny Brown is added to the BFI’s slate in May:
“Combining elegance and wit, Lubitsch’s last film, set in 1938 London, is one of the most engaging romantic comedies. Jennifer Jones and Charles Boyer are well teamed as the plumber’s niece (later housemaid) and the intellectual Czech refugee, who throw English society into disarray with their disregard for conventions. This charming satire, aided by a wonderful script taking in snobbery upstairs, downstairs and in the middle classes, is given a jolly run around by a cast comprising most of Hollywood’s British stalwarts from Sir C Aubrey Smith and Peter Lawford to Sara Allgood and Una O’Connor.”
No details yet on extras, if any.
The BFI are on a roll; to add to their Asquith (the previously flagged A Cottage on Dartmoor) and Lubitsch titles in May comes John Huston’s A Walk With Love And Death: ‘From internationally-acclaimed director John Huston (The African Queen, The Misfits, The Night of the Iguana) this ‘lost’ cult classic stars the director’s daughter, Angelica Huston, as one half of the youthful couple who try against all odds to make their love and idealism endure against the backdrop of a brutal and bloody Medieval France.’
Extras include a ‘Behind the scenes look at film shoot on location’
And a fine May BFI quartet is made up with Chris Petit’s Radio On (1979): ‘Following a young London DJ (David Beames) on the road to Bristol to investigate the mysterious death of his brother, Radio On offers a unigue, compelling and even mythic vision of a late 1970s England, stalled between failed hopes of cultural and social change and the imminent upheavals of Thatcherism. Stunningly photographed by luminous monochrome, by Martin Schafer, and driven by a startling new wave soundtrack (Bowie, Kraftwerk, Lene Lovich, Ian Drury, Wreckless Eric) - and an early screen performance by Sting - Radio On is ripe for rediscovery.’
By the way, DVD Times excellent review (penned by FilmJournal’s Clydefro Jones) of that recent BFI Otto Preminger double - Margin for Error & A Royal Scandal - is here. DVD Times also has the full skinny on that new O Lucky Man! SE, noted in a previous Showing Soon.
Still in May and Yume release Nagisa Oshima’s The Sun’s Burial (1960):
“Set in the post-war slums of Osaka, The Sun’s Burial follows the lives and fates of the denizens of this hellish ghetto. Pimps, prostitutes, drug addicts, vagrants, hustlers and gangsters struggle to survive amidst the poverty and decay of 1950’s Japan.
“Unflinching in it’s portrayal of life in these slums, the film goes beyond a documentary-style realism to achieve a garish, lurid Cinemascope aesthetic that is at once repulsive and yet mesmerising. It’s a pitiless and dispassionate portrait of a living hell that lurks behind the facade of a prosperous new Japan, a place where everything - food, sex, even blood - is simply a commodity to be stolen and sold.”
Among the ‘two-fers’ on the cards in May (all previously released titles from Sony) is Easy Rider / Two Lane Blacktop. Those Indiana Jones SEs mentioned way back are scheduled for release in May; cheap enough, I’ve seen all three for pre-order at £6.99 each - DVD Times has the full details.
I should be ecstatic at the release of another Korda film in R2, however, Charles Laughton’s astonishing portrayal of Rembrandt comes courtesy of Orbit Media, whose capacity to disappoint in the transfer stakes is seemingly boundless. The cover art is typically nice…and bound to trap the unwary.
That Optimum ‘war’ set (Angels Five One, The Dam Busters and Aces High - due for release in June), I mentioned a while back has now been named. It’s the Heroes Of The Skies Collection (or Heroes of The Heights, depending where you look). Still with Optimum, the much shunted about release of Odette is now planned for June as is Wanted Dead Or Alive - Season 2, Volume 1. It should come as no surprise that the seven film Joseph Losey Collection, planned for April, now looks to be a September release alongside Carpenter’s Assault On Precinct 13 - Special Edition. I’m a little worried that those previously flagged Depardieu, Bardot and Attenborough ‘Icon’ sets haven’t appeared on the schedules of any etailer other than HMV. Hmmmm…
BTW a similar fate has befallen the 2|entertain release of Silas Marner, The Weaver Of Raveloe, which is now set for November.
Eureka’s Masters of Cinema range has two films from Kenji Mizoguchi coming at
the end of May in a double-header; Akasen Chitai and Yokihi, to follow up another Mizoguchi set in April featuring Ugetsu Monogatari and Oyu Sama.
Cheapo label (sorry, but you are…) Lace International Ltd are releasing more budget titles in May/June. Among them, 1980’s Fiend, apty enough a low-budget horror directed by Don Dohler, 1989’s Communion and the good old PD standby 1967’s Hells Angels on Wheels.
June and it looks like Universal is splitting their Laurel & Hardy titles into themed box sets: Laurel and Hardy: Armed Forces, Laurel and Hardy: Crime and Punishment, Laurel and Hardy: Family Life, Laurel and Hardy: Music. No details on the number of titles in each set, but they’ll be available from around £14.99 each. I mentioned ITVDVD Blu-ray releases of Black Narcissus and The Boys From Brazil for June recently; add the George Pan Cosmatos wartime romp Escape to Athena and Alan Parker’s Bugsy Malone to that HD slate.
That Network release of Jamaica Inn I mentioned a while back turns out to be 1985 TV series starring Jane Seymour and Patrick McGoohan (seems to have fooled some etailers too); released April. A couple of filmed stage shows from British comedy legends; SonyBMG releases Norman Wisdom - Trouble on Tour and The Thoughts of Chairman Alf - Live the same date:
“Kick back in your comfy armchair, knock off your slippers and get ready for a trip down memory lane as the legendary slapstick actors Sir Norman Wisdom and Warren Mitchell, better known as Alf Garnett bring you classic comedy in the first two releases on SonyBMG’s new Retro TV DVD label. Both titles have not been seen since 1994 when they were released on VHS in a series called “Comedy Box” now revived on DVD and digitally remastered, including surround sound mixes and special bonus features,
“Released in 1994, ‘Norman Wisdom’s Trouble on Tour’ features Norman on stage performing the gags, songs and stunts that have made him one of Britain’s most well loved and admired comics of his generation. Norman, who is now 92, was recently featured in a documentary called ‘The Secret Life of Norman Wisdom aged 92¾’ on BBC2.”
Warren Mitchell appears in The Thoughts of Chairman Alf, a 1994 recording of his famous stage show that later became a TV series: “Mitchell stars as Alf Garnett, the UK’s most reactionary, mean-spirited, selfish, bigoted, racist, misogynistic, and anti-Semitic man. Alf Garnett was a fictional character on the BBC television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, the ITV sitcom Till Death… and later In Sickness and in Health. First shown in the theatre in 1976, ‘The Thoughts of Chairman Alf’ won the Evening Standard award for best comedy in London’s West End and was snapped up by other theatres. Twenty-two years later, Warren Mitchell reprised the role in Australia in front of a live studio audience as a TV series.”
Spotted at the BBFC; a pass for a 1939 20 minute short Lincoln in The White House, which will be on The Old Maid, part of the upcoming ‘Bette Davis’ box from Warner. Passes too for some Dirty Harry extras which will be on the new set (due for release June, as a stand alone SE and in a new Dirty Harry box set); Clint Eastwood on Directing is only just over five minutes long, John Milius - Getting The .44 Magnum is a mere 3m 41s, Evan Kim - The Martial Artist weighs in at 2m 5s, and Patricia Clarkson On Female Attraction is even shorter - 2m 1s, the same length as Andy Robinson - Does A Flip. Dirty Harry: The Original - Interviews For Dvd - Arnold Schwarzenegger is 2m 47s, Hal Holbrook - Being Seen is a ’blink and you’ll miss it’ 40 seconds.
In the last Showing Soon I mentioned the possibility of the sci-fi classic Colossus; The Forbin Project coming to DVD in the UK, in widescreen, complete with extras. The BBFC has now certified the film (but not those extras), not for Fabulous Films as showing at various etailers, but for Medium Rare - a subsidiary of some sort? (EDIT - I’m now reliably informed that Medium Rare are indeed Fabulous Films Ltd.) The BBFC has also certified the 1965 Anthony Simmons films Four in The Morning (to be released June) for Odeon.
Batman - The Movie (1966) is coming again to R2 it seems, both with more extras and (probably) in HD; the BBFC has just passed a commentary by screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr., which should be in addition to the previous commentary track with West and Ward providing it is carried over from the last release.
That’s it for now; until the next Showing Soon, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel…