Showing Soon; British Classics ‘Exclusives’ & More From Sony… October 10, 2008
Posted by John Hodson in : DVD News & Info, Showing Soon , 5 commentsSony are unveiling a new line in the U.K. next month; their ‘Classic British’ films will be, for a time at least, MovieMail exclusives, and appear (more’s the pity) to be free of extras.
The films include:
Bunny Lake is Missing (Dir: Otto Preminger); Gripping thriller from Otto Preminger about the search for a missing child. Riddled with unpredictable twists and sinister characters, this is a creepy and unbearably suspenseful watch.
‘Bunny Lake’ has been available in the U.S. for a while, and, like a few others here, was one of the much anticipated slate of Columbia films DD Home Entertainment were to release last year in partnership with Sony before they fell into receivership. DDHE rose from the ashes as SimplyHE, but the deal was not resurrected and, happily, Sony said they would release the films themselves; let’s hope the others - including the Boetticher / Scott westerns and Hammer films since slated for R1 - make it to these shores.
Age of Consent (Dir: Michael Powell); A bitter sweet comedy starring James Mason and boasting one of Helen Mirren’s first nude scenes. Mason plays an artist who 
succeeds in persuading Mirren to pose as his life model. Coming, complete with a handful of extras (restored original soundtrack, interviews with Helen Mirren, Tony Buckley (editor), Peter Sculthorpe (composer), Ron and Valerie Taylor (underwater camera) and Kevin Powell) in a set with A Matter of Life and Death, in R1 in the near future (date still to be announced). This R2 disc is said to have no extra features.
Take a Girl Like You (Dir: Jonathan Miller); Based on the popular Kingsley Amis novel of the same title, Take a Girl Like You is a poignantly comic tale about a morally upright Northern lass who moves South to teach. She is pursued by a married schoolmaster who goes to immoral lengths to get her into bed.
Zee and Co (Dir: Brian G Hutton); Elizabeth Taylor plays the immaculate Zee, a spoilt and obnoxious rich girl who is desperately trying to hold onto her philandering husband, played by Michael Caine. On confronting her husband’s mistress she soon finds out a few home truths.
Footsteps in the Fog (Dir: Arthur Lubin); An atmospheric Edwardian thriller starring Stewart Granger and Jean Simmons. Simmons plays a ruthless housemaid who threatens to reveal Granger has murdered his wife if he does not meet her demands. Fantastic performances and suspenseful to the end.
As well as the Classic British titles, MovieMail also has exclusivity on the following Sony titles:
The Front (Dir: Martin Ritt); Set in ’50s Manhattan, Prince (Woody Allen) starts acting as a ‘front’ for blacklisted writers and as a result is hailed as something of a creative genius. Ms. Barrett soon falls for Prince and his supposed talent. An entertaining commentary on the McCarthy era with some great performances.
Godspell (Dir: David Greene); This US movie version of the upbeat Christian rock opera stays true to original. Various New York dwellers who long for liberation are enlightened through parables about humility, compassion, love, and forgiveness.
QB VII (Dir:Tom Gries); Thoughtful and provocative Emmy Award winning drama in which Anthony Hopkins plays a Polish doctor accused of performing operations in a Nazi camp years earlier by an American writer. Hopkins sues and the drama unfolds in QB VII, or courtroom Queen’s Bench Room 7, where the trial is held. Based on the novel by Leon Uris.
Full details from MovieMail here.
PS - Sony; can we please still have that promised Night of The Demon; Special Edition, complete with (already in the bag) extras?