Comments»

1. Mike Sutton - July 17, 2006

Do I take it that you’ve just got round to watching that British War Film Collection boxset from a couple of years ago

2. John - July 17, 2006

Yes! I actually had to blow the bloody dust off it (though I did watch ‘The Cruel Sea’ right away, and will again soon). I am now convinced that I’ll expire before I make it through my unwatched pile.

3. clydefro - January 22, 2007

I find it amazing that the Mitchum Signature set gets delivered so much earlier in the UK than in R1-land. Early reviews have been nearly non-existent. I’m curious as to your take on what you’ve seen thus far. Any ideas or thoughts as to why Warner Bros. didn’t include The Lusty Men in the set?

4. JohnH - January 22, 2007

Everything so far has been pretty much spot-on transfer wise; I’m still blown away by The Yakuza which I saw for the first time in OAR, and it needs that width particularly for the explosive and wonderfully choreographed denouement.

In fact everything has been better than I recalled; The Good Guys & The Bad Guys is one of the few comedy westerns I really enjoy, Brad Dexter is surprisingly good in Macao and Mitchum’s Aussie accent is pretty decent in The Sundowers. I’m a little busy right now, so it will probably get a few days before I get chance to complete the set, but I’ve had a brief run through and I don’t think anyone will have any complaints.

I’ve no idea why The Lusty Men isn’t here, but I do suspect that Warners are being a little more cunning when it comes to boxes, choosing titles to maximise profits rather than stuff each one with ‘crown jewels’.

Thanks for posting.

5. Steve Easton - May 17, 2007

Do you have any information on the Ghost Story for Christmas DVDs? I have the Signalman, Whistle and A Warning. Are they ever going to release any more of these gems? I would love to see Lost Hearts again it has been many years. Unfortunately over here in America little of the old good British stuff hits the small screen. A real pity. I would give a mint to see The Borgias again, I loved it even though it has been well and truly slagged by those in ‘the know’.

6. John Hodson - May 17, 2007

As said in my review, ‘Whistle and I’ll Come To You’ was part of BBC’s ‘Omnibus’ strand and not one of the ‘Ghost Stories for Christmas’ (they were, from 1971 - ‘78, ‘The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral’, ‘A Warning to the Curious’, ‘Lost Hearts’, ‘The Treasure of Abbot Thomas’, ‘The Ash Tree’, ‘The Signalman’, ‘Stigma’, ‘The Ice House’)

December 2005 saw a revival on BBC4 with ‘A View From The Hill’ and last Christmas ‘Number 13′, so there’s a possibility, I suppose, that there will be more on DVD, if not from the BFI, but from the Beeb itself. Fingers crossed, but there has been no news, not even a rumour.

Thanks for posting.

7. Mike Sutton - February 17, 2008

Is “Hellfighters” the John Wayne film? I got the R2 of this from a charity shop for £1 and was pleased to discover that, contrary to the sleeve, it was not panned and scanned but in 2.35:1. Non-anamorphic but still an improvement on what I had expected.

8. John Hodson - February 17, 2008

Indeed it is (the film where Duke got so close to the flames ‘you could smell his toupee smouldering’…nice), and the R1, part of the ‘John Wayne; Screen Legend’ set, is another very nice anamorphic OAR transfer from Universal.