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…
Showing Soon; Colossus, High Noon Again & Bette Davis On Tour… March 19, 2008
Posted by John Hodson in : DVD News & Info, Showing Soon , 12 commentsShowing Soon in R2
More of what’s upcoming for U.K. home entertainment fans in the world of (mostly) classic film and television…
Not the most reliable of sources I know, however, for what it’s worth, a poster on IMDB claims that the 1970 sci-fi classic Colossus; The Forbin Project - released by Universal to howls of derision as a cheapo pan and scan transfer in the U.S. - is coming to the U.K. as an OAR anamorphic ‘Special Edition’ complete with an audo commentary from director Joseph Sargent and star Eric Breaden. Now, it would be easy to dismiss that, but several etailers have a U.K. release listed as coming from Fabulous Films on May 19. I’d rest easier if/when it appears on the Fabulous Films website, but, there’s a glimmer is there not?
Early May brings John Cleese and Connie Booth’s Romance With A Double Bass: “…a truly delightful film and an important piece of film history. Based on a short story by Anton Chekhov this project was one of John Cleese’s first post-Python projects. Romance With A Double Bass was the second writing collaboration for Cleese and Connie Booth, and their first on screen appearance together, before they created the classic, Fawlty Towers.”
The film also starts a host of British talent including June Whitfield, Graham Crowden, Freddie Jones, Jonathan Lynn and Andrew Sachs.
Also May, Universal release a whole host of titles some re-releases, some that have previously been trapped in various box sets, among them Billy Wilder’s A Foreign Affair (1948) with Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich & John Lund, Leo McCarey’s 1934 Mae West vehicle Belle Of The Nineties, Preston Sturges 1940 comedy Christmas in July, two Dietrich films, Frank Borzage’s Desire (1936) and Von Sternberg’s Dishonored (1931), plus two from Douglas Sirk; All That Heaven Allows (1955) with Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson & Agnes Moorehead and Has Anybody Seen My Gal? with Hudson and Piper Laurie. More Sirk, Lubitsch et al; other titles on the same slate include Dracula’s Daughter, The Flame Of New Orleans, Angel, The Tarnished Angels, Follow The Boys, Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man, Golden Earrings, House Of Dracula, Magnificent Obsession, Mary Of Scotland, Morocco, My Little Chickadee, Never Give A Sucker An Even Break, Pittsburgh, Send Me No Flowers, and Shanghai Express - Universal also re-releases Dracula (1931) at the same time; hopefully the latest restoration which made it to the ‘75th Anniversary Edition’ in R1.
A cash-in release in May - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the 1982 TV version of the Broadway hit with Angela Lansbury, George Hearn & Cris Groenendaal. Extras for the upcoming (May) Warners SE of O Lucky Man! have been passed at the BBFC; the U.K. edition seems to replicate the U.S. set, including the documentary ‘O Lucky Malcolm’ (and is also included on the new SE of A Clockwork Orange both sides of the Pond).
I mentioned a 4 DVD SE release for Shallow Grave in June a while back; I should add that a Blu-ray disc is being released the same month. Some etailers are also showing June Blu-ray releases for The Boys From Brazil and Black Narcissus from ITVDVD; if the latter follows the same pattern as their recent Capricorn One Blu-ray release, it should come without any of the Network SD release’s extras, which will be a shame, but my God, the prospects of that gorgeous restoration in High Definition..! It’s almost (almost) enough to tip me into the HD camp.
Optimum continues its relentless (and movable) schedule. first up, they appear to have bumped that Assault On Precinct 13: Special Edition to September. In June, alongside the release of Angels One Five (we hope…), they are also putting the same film in a DVD ‘War’ triple with The Dambusters and Aces High.
Still in June - and these were mooted some time ago from Optimum, so be aware they could disappear off the schedule once again - ‘Screen Icons’ sets for Gerard Depardieu (4 discs) and, a month later, Brigitte Bardot (also four discs). In July, another in their ‘Boulting Brothers Collection’, the 1960 film Suspect, featuring Tony Britton and Virginia Maskell with Ian Bannen, Peter Cushing, Donald Pleasence, Thorley Walters, Raymond Huntley and Kenneth Griffith; look out for Spike Milligan as an Irish caretaker! Optimum have also boxed Richard Attenborough in a ‘Screen Icons’ set in July (five discs), and they use those sometimes dangerous words ‘Ultimate Collection’ to describe a 15 DVD set dedicated to Jean Luc Godard. There’s also a release from the Studio Canal owned outfit for John Boorman’s Emerald Forest. No details yet of the content of any of these - let the speculation begin…
June, and Odeon release Peter Walker’s 1972 film The Flesh & Blood Show; the same company looks set to release 1949’s School For Randle, with Frank Randle (natch), it having been certified at the BBFC.
It was originally included as an extra by Fox on the U.K. SE release of Carousel (which is based on the same story), then pulled, though it is included with the German and U.S. sets - Fritz Lang’s 1930 film Liliom has been passed at the BBFC for release by the BFI, who have also had Anthony Asquith’s superb silent thriller A Cottage on Dartmoor certified for DVD, and coming our way May:
“Shot at British Instructional Films’ newly opened Welwyn Studios, A Cottage on Dartmoor marked another milestone for Anthony Asquith following his impressive 1928 debut Shooting Stars. A straightforward but beautifully realised tale of sexual jealousy, the film easily counters the entrenched criticism that British cinema in the silent era was staid, stagy and lacking emotion.”
In a recent Showing Soon, I mentioned that Warner were releasing Burt Lancaster’s hugely enjoyable romp The Crimson Pirate in April, but now I’m flabbergasted (and very contrite) to see that I was wrong; the release is actually coming from - gulp - PD specialists Orbit Media. I’m not sure how Orbit have secured the rights to The Crimson Pirate, (and Orbit have titles in their catalogue where rights issues are, shall I say, confusing…) but I would warn potential purchasers that past transfers from this outfit have been among the poorest ever committed to DVD. Caveat Emptor…
Metrodome release Lewis John Collins’ 1976 film The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea with Sarah Miles and Kris Kristofferson at the end of May alongside 1952’s The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By, scripted and directed by Harold French from Georges Simenon’s novel of the same name; stars Claude Rains and Marius Goring. Sony give another outing to Groundhog Day, on Blue-ray, early June.
Shameless are set to release two more giallo’s; from 1971 Aldo Lado’s Glass Dolls (aka La Corta Notte Delle Bambole Di Vetro) in May, and in June the 1974 What Have They Done To Your Daughters? (aka La Polizia Chiede Aiuto), Massimo Dallamano’s sequel to What Have You Done to Solange?; “…a perverted murderer preys on Italian schoolgirls while prowling a dark underworld of vice and ‘cappuccino sex’. The police investigate and soon discover evidence of a teenage prostitution racket.”
Showbox release another set of ’50s Group 3 films in June in the shape of the Long Lost Comedy Classics Box Set: Vol.2 (4 Discs) featuring:
Miss Robin Hood: A newspaper columnist conspires with an elderly fan to steal a secret whiskey formula from a wealthy distiller. However, it’s not long before Scotland Yard is on the case!
You’re Only Young Twice: A young girl Ada Shore, arrives at Skerryvore University in Scotland in search of her long lost uncle who was once a subversive Irish poet but is now working under another name as the University Gate Keeper…
Brandy For The Parson: A young couple on a yachting holiday become involved with Tony Rackham who is smuggling brandy from France. Through various mishaps, they find themselves personally responsible for transporting the brandy kegs to London, whilst being pursued by Customs officials.
Time Gentlemen Please: The PM is planning a celebration visit to the model village of Little Hayhoe. However, local lay-about Dan Dance refuses to work, so he’s shipped off to the local almshouse where he awaits an uncertain, yet very funny future.
Axiom films release Wim Wenders Wings of Desire in June, alongside Paris Texas; I’ve no idea what extras if any are included, but retailing around £15, they’ll have to be good. Yume release Nigisa Oshima’s Night And Fog in Japan (aka Nihon No Yoru To Kiri) at the end of June.
Vintage television, and in April they’ll be dancing in the streets of Stoneybridge with the release of an eight disc set that contains the whole of Absolutely called, aptly, Everything!
Network’s next two Armchair Thriller offerings will be Victim and Dying Day. They’ve also added yet another iteration of Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead to their schedule (May) and Jason King; The Complete Series (seven discs), for June. June TV also includes Takin’ Over The Asylum, and the two-disc The Paul Merton Collection (no details as yet).
I can’t for the life of me fathom what’s happening with Fox in R2, but they seem to have abandoned new classic releases altogether. There has been nothing of note in ‘08, certainly no new Studio Classics or Cinema Reserve titles - their only tactic seems to be that old standby: ‘when in doubt, re-release it in a steelbook’. Appalling…and quite worrying.
High Noon; Paramount’s License to Thrill…
A quick huzzah for an upcoming U.S. release; Lionsgate has scheduled High Noon as a two-disc SE for June. Effectively, it will be the set that Paramount abandoned some 18 months ago now, when they made that sudden and depressing about face that left their Republic holdings still in the hands of Lionsgate. Happily, the new set will boast that eye-wateringly wonderful restoration and transfer that has already been enjoyed by fans in Holland, France and Australia (you can read about it here), all the extras from previous releases, plus (the come-on for those of us that already have this) a new and potentially fascinating 50 minute plus documentary. Can’t wait to see it.
Apparently, word has it that Paramount has opened its vaults to Lionsgate and will allow them access, at last, to elements they have been busy restoring over the past few years; if that news is accurate - and Paramount, we know, appears to have little or no interest in classic releases themselves - we could at last see some spanking discs from the Republic catalogue instead of the sometimes awful fare that Artisan / Lionsgate have foisted on fans in the past. Licensing - to Lionsgate, Criterion and possibly others - does appear to be the way forward as far as Paramount is concerned. Now, what about The Quiet Man..?
Bette Davis on Tour…
They called her the ‘First Lady of Film’ – and Bette Davis saw no reason to disagree. “I always had the will to win,” she once proclaimed. Now the career of one of Hollywood’s most colourful grandes dames is being celebrated by the U.K. film channel TCM (Turner Classic Movies), the BFI and distributors Park Circus, with nationwide screenings of 11 of her most memorable dramas to coincide with the centenary of her birth on 5th April, 2008.
The 11 titles include new 35mm prints of Jezebel, The Letter and The Little Foxes, together with a fully restored digital print of All About Eve, which has been back in selected cinemas since the end of November 2007. The tour was launched at the Glasgow Film Festival in February, and it continues through to July, with over 50 cinemas thoughout Britain taking part.
TCM pays its own tribute to this tempestuous screen icon, with an on air season airing on the channel in April 2008. ‘Bette Davis on Tour’ represents ‘a unique opportunity to admire an actress whose contribution to motion picture history lives on.’
More information including broadcast times, full tour map, a run-down of the titles on offer, and more click here to visit the special TCM UK Bette Davis page.
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…
David Lean Centenary; Special Events, Theatrical Showings, new 10 DVD Box Set… March 10, 2008
Posted by John Hodson in : Film General, DVD News & Info, British Film , 4 commentsThis is Sir David Lean’s centenary year.
To mark the event, and as a tribute to the great director - born 25 March 1908, died 16 April, 1991 - 10 films directed by Lean during the 1940s and ’50s have been ‘faithfully restored’ by the BFI National Archive, in partnership with Granada 
International. Alongside many special events both at home and abroad, the films will be shown theatrically and form a special season on the film channel Film 4, before being released in the U.K. in a David Lean Cententary Collection box set come August.
The blurb:
…The sparkling new restorations were announced as part of a year-long programme of events, screenings, tributes, book and DVD releases involving different organisations and allowing people across Britain to discover and rediscover Lean’s work.
The £1 million restoration project was completed thanks to generous funding from the David Lean Foundation. The Foundation was set up at Lean’s request to promote the appreciation of film as an art form and to encourage skills and technical excellence in filmmaking.
David Lean remains one of Britain’s most widely known and respected directors and many of his films are part of our national memory, whether the forlorn couple in the station café or that tiny figure shimmering on the desert horizon. A master of visual storytelling, Lean was meticulous in his craft and admired by filmmakers for his loving attention to detail. Like Hitchcock, Lean loved to explore the nature of British or English identity whether on the Home Front of wartime drama, literary adaptations and doomed romances, or on the larger canvas of his later Hollywood-backed epics.
Most of us know the great Lean epics that won many awards here and in Hollywood - The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965) - but he directed 16 fiction films and edited numerous others in a career that spanned six decades. The BFI and its partners aim to cast new light on his earlier work which includes the classics In Which We Serve (1942), Brief Encounter (1945) and Great Expectations (1946), also enabling people to rediscover lesser-known films such as The Passionate Friends (1948), to be released by the BFI in June.
At BFI Southbank in June and July there will be a retrospective of the 16 feature films Lean directed, as well as a number of the more significant ones he edited, including Pygmalion (1938) by Anthony Asquith and 49th Parallel (1941), directed by Michael Powell. The two month season, in association with Film 4, will also include events with documentary clips, discussions and feature presentations from experts exploring themes around his career and working style.
Throughout the year, brand new 35mm and high definition digital prints of the restored films will be screened up and down the country by Granada International, through its theatrical partners Park Circus and the BFI, and by Canal Plus. A complete season is also planned for screening on Film 4 in September, taking Lean’s films to a wider audience across Britain. Also ITV DVD and Optimum will release the newly restored pictures on DVD in the UK in August.
BAFTA is a charity organisation with long-established links with David Lean, which supports, develops and promotes the art forms of the moving image. BAFTA will be holding events and screenings in London, New York and Los Angeles for the public and for Academy members, which started with a tribute to David Lean at the Orange British Academy Film Awards on 10 February. There will be further tributes in the US later in the year, and during the first weekend in August four restored prints will be screened publicly at BAFTA’s headquarters on Piccadilly. The annual David Lean Lecture will also take place as usual this year, details of the date and 2008 lecturer are yet to be announced.
Carnforth Tribute
Also paying tribute to David Lean will be Carnforth Station in Lancashire, the location for most of the key scenes in Brief Encounter (1945). This poignant story of unfulfilled passion and guilt will be shown along with other Lean classics during a week of screenings in March at the station itself or in nearby Lancaster.
A week-long calendar of ‘fun-filled activities’ at both Carnforth Station Visitor Centre and the Dukes Theatre, Lancaster will be launched on Saturday 22 March. There will be special screenings of the newly restored films Great Expectations; Brief Encounter; Dr Zhivago and Oliver Twist at both venues, and there will be a David Lean exhibition at Carnforth Station to commemorate the life and career of ‘one of the most iconic film directors of all time’:
DAVID LEAN CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS PROGRAMME
22nd – 29th March 2008
Sat 22nd March
LAUNCH DAY
3pm Great Expectations Dukes
6pm Brief Encounter Carnforth
6pm-8pm Evening meal / Browse Visitor Centre Carnforth
8pm Brief Encounter Carnforth
Tues 25th March
CENTENARY DAY
7.30pm Oliver Twist Carnforth
Thurs 27th March
5.15pm Dr Zhivago Dukes
8.30pm David Lean Lecture/Discussion Dukes
Fri 28th March
7.00pm Still Life Carnforth & 8.30pm After Dark Theatre
Sat 29th March
5.30pm Summer Madness Dukes
An exhibition of the life and work of David Lean will be on display throughout in the Furness & Midland Hall.
In February David Lean: A Biography was republished by Faber & Faber UK. Written by filmmaker and historian Kevin Brownlow who spent many hours in conversation with David Lean, his family and co-workers, this exhaustive book is universally acknowledged to be the definitive biography and provides the reader with a unique insight into the man, the director, his career and his work. It’s a mammoth tome and fascinating reading, not least in the way Brownlow describes how Lean had the capacity to completely cut out of his life those who were no longer of any use, be they ex-lovers or former colleagues.
A two-day conference gathering together filmmakers, writers, scholars and collaborators of Lean is planned for late July at Queen Mary University of London and will offer a broad range of perspectives examining aspects of the director’s life and career in cinema.
The David Lean Film Restoration Project
Perhaps the most mouth-watering prospect for fans is the aforementioned restoration and theatrical presentation of 10 of Lean’s films, from before his ‘epic’ period, and perhaps all the more satisfying for it. It is these films that explore ‘Englishness’, whether we’re stood on the bridge of a stricken Naval vessel with the stiff-upper lipped Captain ‘D’, struggling vainly to maintain some semblance of middle-class morality in a railway canteen, or finding the cracks in the patriarchal society in a Salford boot shop.
The films with then be released in a 10 DVD box set by ITV DVD, with Hobson’s Choice and The Sound Barrier re-released by Optimum; a bit tough on those Lean fans who already have the 2006 released nine disc David Lean Collection (it’s minus In Which We Serve) from ITV DVD, only to find that obsolescence is just around the corner. Incidentally, the transfers in that set range from excellent to average - it will be interesting to see what transpires in the new set; new extras would be nice. The blurb:
All film restorations require collaboration, but the David Lean Film Restoration Project partnership is a model for how this kind of collaboration can most profoundly affect film heritage. The David Lean Foundation, whose resources come directly from the revenue the films of David Lean still generate, sponsored the restoration of eleven* of the sixteen films that David Lean directed.
The BFI undertook the technical side of the restoration of ten of these titles, working with Granada International and Canal Plus. The BFI National Archive in Berkhamsted is now the permanent home of the preservation elements resulting from the restoration work. The restored films will be the basis of all distributed elements in the future, ensuring that every audience everywhere will see the restored version of each film.
The overall technical approach to the project, led by Andrea Kalas, Senior Preservation Manager of the Archive Film Lab, was to find the best surviving material on each title and restore and preserve each film using the best methods available. For 8 of the films this involved collaboration with Granada International’s Perivale archive and working with the technical team headed by Fiona Maxwell, Director of Operations and Servicing. As quality considerations focus mainly on elements duplicated from an original, each element was inspected for quality and condition. Dirt and scratches can be printed in, and focus and fluctuation issues in the image can also occur. Condition issues can include signs of deterioration, mould, and most often the effects of usage.
Original camera negatives of many of the films were badly damaged: with scratches, frames missing, tears, even one important original negative entirely missing. Elements from both the BFI and Granada International archives were viewed and compared to find the best materials to work from.
The next stage was to decide how and where to complete the restoration which needed specialized equipment and expertise. Archival film is often fragile and in need of printers and scanners that have been optimized for this purpose, and the knowledge of the experts who are restoring the films is crucial. The ability to ensure that Guy Green’s black and white cinematography is brought back to life with utmost care is the ability to understand how to effectively reproduce sharpness, contrast and the greyscale range. To ensure that the Blithe Spirit is a shade of green that looks ghostly and not cartoonish, requires an understanding of the Technicolor process and how to replicate that in modern film stocks.
The ten films were restored by one of three standard film restoration processes:
Photochemical, Digital Sections and Full Digital Intermediate. Each film also had digital audio restoration. Although the Archive Film Lab at the BFI National Archive was the main facility for the restoration work, other film labs such as Cineric in New York were used for additional specialized work. Following the photo-chemical work, Granada International remastered their films to High Definition with full digital picture and sound restoration.THE RESTORED TITLES
IN WHICH WE SERVE
Lean shared the directing credit with Noël Coward, who wrote and starred in this tense and moving account of life on board a wartime destroyer. Although based on the experiences of Louis Mountbatten, this is a state-of-the-nation film with social divisions on shore faithfully mirrored aboard ship. Lean arranged all the camera set-ups and directed Coward in his scenes in front of the camera.
With John Mills, Bernard Miles, Celia Johnson, Richard Attenborough.
UK / 1942 / bw / 116 mins / Granada International / Park CircusTHIS HAPPY BREED
Noël Coward was again the source for this story of a London lower middle-class suburban family in the inter-war years from 1919 to 1939. The finely and wittily observed family feuds unfold against a panorama of public events ranging from the General Strike of 1926 to the outbreak of war itself. Beautifully acted by an ensemble cast and shot in Technicolor, the film was a huge contemporary hit and has lost little of its appeal.
With Robert Newton, Celia Johnson, John Mills, Kay Walsh, Stanley Holloway.
UK / 1944 / Technicolor / 114 mins / Granada International / Park CircusBLITHE SPIRIT
David Lean’s first comedy, again scripted by Noël Coward from his Broadway hit, stars Rex Harrison as a successful and cheerfully cynical novelist whose marital bliss is interrupted by the mischievous ghost of his first wife, visible to him but invisible to everyone else. The simple but effective special effects, all the more impressive in Technicolor, won an Oscar.
With Constance Cummings, Kay Hammond, Margaret Rutherford.
UK / 1945 / Technicolor / 96 mins / Granada International / Park Circus
BRIEF ENCOUNTER
David Lean’s international reputation was established with this study of unfulfilled passion and guilt – themes that were to recur in his later work. Critically debated, mocked, referenced and remade, this account of an unconsummated affair between a middle-class housewife and a doctor, forced to meet at a railway station, retains a tight emotional grip on any contemporary audience.
With Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard.
UK / 1945 / bw / 86 mins / Granada International / Park CircusGREAT EXPECTATIONS
Undoubtedly one of the finest Dickens adaptations, the film is studded with memorable setpieces, from young Pip’s hair-raising encounter with Magwitch in the graveyard to the eerie Gothic fantasy world of Miss Havisham. The Oscar-winning team of cinematographer Guy Green and production designer John Bryan bring Dickens’ settings to vivid, indelible life.
With John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Bernard Miles, Alec Guinness.
UK / 1946 / bw / 118 mins / Granada International / BFI (licensed by Park Circus)OLIVER TWIST
Dickens’ extravagant vision of Victorian London is perfectly balanced by superb performances and Lean’s fierce grip on the sprawling narrative. Guy Green and John Bryan lend an Expressionist look to Fagin’s hellish underworld and Alec Guinness, in his second major role, gives a finely judged theatrical – if controversial – depiction of Fagin himself. Lean was always eager to open a film without dialogue and here he excels himself with a tour de force sequence of Oliver’s pregnant mother battling against a storm.
With Robert Newton, John Howard Davies, Kay Walsh.
UK / 1948 / bw / 116 mins / Granada International / BFI (licensed by Park Circus)THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS
Re-released by the BFI to mark David Lean’s centenary in 2008, The Passionate Friends has been hailed by critic David Thomson as his work ‘most deserving rediscovery’. Mary (Ann Todd) has chosen a comfortable secure life with her rich banker husband (Claude Rains) over romantic passion with her first love Steven (Trevor Howard). Turmoil ensues when Steven suddenly reappears in her life. With its subtle performances, nuanced direction and beautiful cinematography, Lean’s absorbing romance, adapted from a story by H G Wells, is a fascinating companion piece to Brief Encounter.
With Ann Todd, Trevor Howard, Claude Rains.
UK / 1948 / bw / 91 mins / Granada International / BFI (licensed by Park Circus)MADELEINE
In this period drama, set in Victorian Glasgow and based on a true story, Lean exploits the ambiguous and enigmatic screen presence of Ann Todd. Here she plays a young woman who, rebelling against her patriarchal father, falls for a penniless but exploitative French aristocrat who later dies of arsenic poisoning. Madeleine is anything but a victim, daring to expose her sexuality. Guy Green’s deep focus photography owes much to CITIZEN KANE.
With Leslie Banks, Elizabeth Sellars, Ivan Desny.
UK / 1949 / 91 mins / Granada International / BFI (licensed by Park Circus)THE SOUND BARRIER
The human cost of scientific progress underlies this story of an aircraft manufacturer whose obsession for perfection leads him into near madness and brings his family suffering – a tendency shared by Lean himself. The script by Terence Rattigan delivers the drama, but the exhilarating aerial footage and the score by Malcolm Arnold are what lodge in the memory.
With Ralph Richardson, Ann Todd, Nigel Patrick.
UK / 1952 / bw / 118 mins / Canal PlusHOBSON’S CHOICE
Charles Laughton delivers a bravura performance as a self-important Lancashire bootmaker who attempts to dictate his daughter’s choice of husband, only to find that she marries his downtrodden and simple-minded employee and starts a rival business. Set in the 1890s, this working class comedy by Harold Brighouse was first staged in 1916 but is here given a fresh breath of cinematic life thanks to luminous cinematography by Jack Hildyard.
With John Mills, Brenda de Banzie, Prunella Scales.
UK / 1953 / bw / 107 mins / Canal Plus
*Mentioned above, the 11th film restored is Summer Madness, one of the last independent films Lean made and the most important in need of restoration.
The work was carried out five years ago by experts at the British Film Institute at a cost approaching £60,000 with support from the American Academy Foundation and the David Lean Foundation, and a screening of the film closed the 2003 The Venice Film Festival.
Kevin Brownlow, David Lean’s biographer, said: “Colour film has a horrible habit of fading and this was in Eastmancolor, which wasn’t a permanent colour.
“But Lean was such a visual artist it is important to get it as close as possible to what it originally looked like. What is strange about Summer Madness is that it was his favourite film. It’s a curious choice for someone who made Lawrence of Arabia.”
More details on Centenary activities at the BFI here and at the Carnforth Railway Visitors Centre here. Meanwhile, it’s worthwhile ending with a précis of the diary of just some of the special event highlights, though it has still to be finalised:
March
Screenings of Lean films in Carnforth, Lancaster and, his birthplace, Croydon.
25 March
Centenary of David Lean’s birth. Academy members’ screening of Ryan’s Daughter in 70mm at 195 Piccadilly, London. Film4 screening of The Bridge on the River Kwai
April
An evening in honour of David Lean as part of Brit Week, presented by BAFTA/LA in Los Angeles.
7 – 11 April
Granada International to launch the David Lean Centenary collection to international broadcasters at MIPTV in Cannes
Summer
Open-air screening events (BFI, Park Circus) TBC
June
Ten newly restored titles released across the UK - The David Lean Foundation has generously funded the restoration of ten of Sir David Lean’s sixteen films by the BFI National Archive, Granada International and Canal Plus, and these will be available in high quality 35mm prints and HD digital format through BFI Distribution and Park Circus.
June – July
Rediscover David Lean: Retrospective at BFI Southbank. In addition to screening all of David Lean’s works as director and a selection of those which he edited, BFI Southbank will also present a number of events ranging from presentations by experts in particular aspects of his work, to introduced screenings by those associated with individual titles and will also include discussions embracing different perspectives on some of these classic titles.
July – December
USA theatrical tour (BFI, Park Circus)
24 / 25 July
David Lean Conference, Queen Mary University of London. Gathering together film-makers, writers, scholars and people who knew Lean, this conference will offer a broad range of perspectives. Papers welcome on individual films, conditions of production, literary adaptation, key collaborations, as well as all other aspects of Lean’s life in the cinema.
August
ITVDVD release The David Lean Centenary Collection. Optimum Releasing issue The Sound Barrier and Hobson’s Choice on DVD
2 – 3 August
Public screenings of a selection of four restored prints of David Lean films at BAFTA’s headquarters on 195 Piccadilly, London
September
An event in honour of David Lean, presented by BAFTA East Coast in New York City. David Lean Season on Film4, including restored prints. Opening of The David Lean Library at the National Film and Television School - Generously supported by the David Lean Foundation, the light and airy David Lean Library is a central feature of the School’s new building, completed in time for the new academic year starting at the end of January 2008. As well as increased space for books and study, the new Library provides improved storage facilities for the School’s collections, including room for many years of growth in audio-visual material.
Date TBC
BAFTA David Lean Centenary Lecture - Since 2001, the David Lean Foundation has generously supported BAFTA’s high profile annual film lecture at 195 Piccadilly designed to educate, inform and inspire practitioners by providing insight into the experiences of some of the world’s most compelling filmmakers. Previous lectures have been given by Sydney Pollack, Robert Altman, Ken Loach, John Boorman, Woody Allen, Oliver Stone and David Lynch. The lecturer for 2008 has yet to be announced.