The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
01-30-11, 10:48 AM
#1
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Thread Starter
The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
I thought I'd create a thread specifically for BFI Blu-ray releases, as they have a pretty steady release schedule. I'll post announcements, region coding, cover art, specs on and reviews of each title as they become available. Each release will be a dual-format edition, including both a Blu-ray and a DVD of the film. In the meantime, here's their upcoming slate, with region-coding where confirmed:
The Crowded Day/ Song of Paris - 2/14 (Region-free)
The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) - 2/14 (Region-free)
L'Age d'Or (with Un Chien Andalou in SD only) - 3/15 (Region-free)
A Day in the Life - 3/21 (Region-free)
Joanna - 4/25 (Region B)
Lunch Hour - 4/25 (Region B)
Alice (Svankmajer) - 5/15 (Region-free)
An Autumn Afternoon/ A Hen in the Wind - 5/15 (Region B)
Late Autumn/ A Mother Should Be Loved - 5/15 (Region B)
The Great White Silence - 6/15 (Region-free)
Confirmed, but no release date yet:
Deep End
Requiem for a Village
The BFI forum on Criterion Forum
The Crowded Day/ Song of Paris - 2/14 (Region-free)
The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) - 2/14 (Region-free)
L'Age d'Or (with Un Chien Andalou in SD only) - 3/15 (Region-free)
A Day in the Life - 3/21 (Region-free)
Joanna - 4/25 (Region B)
Lunch Hour - 4/25 (Region B)
Alice (Svankmajer) - 5/15 (Region-free)
An Autumn Afternoon/ A Hen in the Wind - 5/15 (Region B)
Late Autumn/ A Mother Should Be Loved - 5/15 (Region B)
The Great White Silence - 6/15 (Region-free)
Confirmed, but no release date yet:
Deep End
Requiem for a Village
The BFI forum on Criterion Forum
Last edited by NoirFan; 02-07-11 at 10:29 AM.
02-01-11, 11:08 AM
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Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
The Adelphi Collection
The Crowded Day & Song of Paris
Two films by John Guillermin
The third release from the BFI’s Adelphi Collection is a vintage double bill of drama and comedy from British director John Guillermin (Death on the Nile, The Towering Inferno), released for the very first time, in a Dual Format Edition, containing Blu-ray and DVD versions of both films.
The Crowded Day (1954) sees five young women’s lives intertwine in a bitter-sweet tale of shop-floor intrigue. Set against the busy backdrop of a department store in post-war London, and with interiors shot at Bourne & Hollingsworth on Oxford Street adding authenticity, this engaging, tightly-written ensemble piece is bustling with familiar faces from the golden era of British cinema, including John Gregson, Joan Rice, Thora Hird, Vera Day, Edward Chapman, Rachel Roberts, Dora Bryan, Dandy Nichols, Prunella Scales, Sid James and Richard Wattis.
A high-quality comedy-drama aimed squarely at the women’s market, and billed as “a story of shop girls and their men,” The Crowded Day was perhaps the most ambitious production of the family-run Adelphi film company. Still resonant today, it offers both top-drawer entertainment and a fascinating insight into women’s lives, experiences and aspirations – from fashions to family – in the post-war period.
Song of Paris (1952) is a delightful romantic comedy which sees an archetypal Englishman – suavely played by debonair Dennis Price – return from a jaunt abroad to face a dastardly foreign count in a screwball duel for the hand of a beautiful mademoiselle.
Digitally restored and with new High Definition transfers taken from the original elements preserved at the BFI National Archive, the films are presented in a Dual Format Edition (Blu-ray and DVD) and packaged with an illustrated booklet that includes film notes, original promotional materials and new essays by John Guillermin, actresses Vera Day and Prunella Scales, author Mary Cadogan and BFI Curator Vic Pratt.
Adelphi Films was a small British company run by Arthur Dent and his sons that produced more than thirty films in the 1940s and 1950s from crime pictures and musicals to colourful melodramas and slapstick comedies. Peter Sellers, Sid James, Diana Dors, Petula Clark, Ronnie Corbett, Rolf Harris and Prunella Scales are just some of the many well-loved performers who appeared before Adelphi’s cameras early on in their careers. Adelphi is now managed by Arthur Dent’s granddaughter Kate Lees and the company’s original film materials – for a long time stored in a suburban garage in London – are now safely preserved at the BFI National Archive.
Release date: 14 February 2011
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIB1084 / cert PG
UK / 1954 and 1952 / black & white / English language / 83 mins & 80 mins /
Original aspect ratio 1.33:1
The Crowded Day & Song of Paris
Two films by John Guillermin
The third release from the BFI’s Adelphi Collection is a vintage double bill of drama and comedy from British director John Guillermin (Death on the Nile, The Towering Inferno), released for the very first time, in a Dual Format Edition, containing Blu-ray and DVD versions of both films.
The Crowded Day (1954) sees five young women’s lives intertwine in a bitter-sweet tale of shop-floor intrigue. Set against the busy backdrop of a department store in post-war London, and with interiors shot at Bourne & Hollingsworth on Oxford Street adding authenticity, this engaging, tightly-written ensemble piece is bustling with familiar faces from the golden era of British cinema, including John Gregson, Joan Rice, Thora Hird, Vera Day, Edward Chapman, Rachel Roberts, Dora Bryan, Dandy Nichols, Prunella Scales, Sid James and Richard Wattis.
A high-quality comedy-drama aimed squarely at the women’s market, and billed as “a story of shop girls and their men,” The Crowded Day was perhaps the most ambitious production of the family-run Adelphi film company. Still resonant today, it offers both top-drawer entertainment and a fascinating insight into women’s lives, experiences and aspirations – from fashions to family – in the post-war period.
Song of Paris (1952) is a delightful romantic comedy which sees an archetypal Englishman – suavely played by debonair Dennis Price – return from a jaunt abroad to face a dastardly foreign count in a screwball duel for the hand of a beautiful mademoiselle.
Digitally restored and with new High Definition transfers taken from the original elements preserved at the BFI National Archive, the films are presented in a Dual Format Edition (Blu-ray and DVD) and packaged with an illustrated booklet that includes film notes, original promotional materials and new essays by John Guillermin, actresses Vera Day and Prunella Scales, author Mary Cadogan and BFI Curator Vic Pratt.
Adelphi Films was a small British company run by Arthur Dent and his sons that produced more than thirty films in the 1940s and 1950s from crime pictures and musicals to colourful melodramas and slapstick comedies. Peter Sellers, Sid James, Diana Dors, Petula Clark, Ronnie Corbett, Rolf Harris and Prunella Scales are just some of the many well-loved performers who appeared before Adelphi’s cameras early on in their careers. Adelphi is now managed by Arthur Dent’s granddaughter Kate Lees and the company’s original film materials – for a long time stored in a suburban garage in London – are now safely preserved at the BFI National Archive.
Release date: 14 February 2011
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIB1084 / cert PG
UK / 1954 and 1952 / black & white / English language / 83 mins & 80 mins /
Original aspect ratio 1.33:1
The Valley (Obscured by Clouds)
A film by Barbet Schroeder
The striking second feature from Barbet Schroeder (Barfly, Reversal of Fortune, Single White Female), released by the BFI in a Dual Format Edition package, explores the limits of experience as it journeys into the great unknown accompanied by Pink Floyd's wondrous soundtrack, later released as the album Obscured By Clouds.
When Viviane (Bulle Ogier), a chic diplomat’s wife, meets an intriguing adventurer (Michael Gothard) and his hippy friends in the wilds of Papua New Guinea, different worlds collide. The group, led by enigmatic visionary Gaetan (Jean-Pierre Kalfon), convince Viviane to join their expedition in search of a mysterious uncharted Valley.
Previously unavailable in the UK, the film is a Dual Format Edition release (a Blu-ray and a DVD disc in one box) and has special features including three documentary shorts directed by Barbet Schroeder about aspects of the lives of the tribes of Papua New Guinea, and a new director-approved ‘optical effect’ digitally-restored optional ending.
Special features
- Director-approved High Definition transfer from the original negative
- Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
- Original and digitally-restored optional endings (Blu-ray only)
- Original un-restored ending (5 mins, DVD only)
- Three ethnographic documentary shorts directed by Barbet Schroeder:
Le cochon aux patates douces (1971, 8 mins) about the Mapuga tribe’s feast of pigs with sweet potatoes; Maquillages (1971, 12 mins) which examines the different types of ceremonial make-up worn by the Mapuga tribe; Sing Sing (1971, 5 mins) on the ceremony of ‘Sing Sing’ practised by Papua New Guinea’s tribes
- Theatrical trailers for Schroeder’s The Valley, More (1969) and Maîtresse (1974)
- Illustrated 26-page booklet with rare on-set photographs, an essay, ‘Childhood’s End: Pink Floyd’s Music for The Valley (Obscured by Clouds)’ by Rob Young and an essay and new director interview by Emilie Bickerton, author of the recently published book A Short History of Cahiers du Cinéma.
Release date: 14 February 2011
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIB1039 / cert 15
France / 1972 / colour / French language, English subtitles / 105 mins / original aspect ratio 2.35:1 // Disc 1: BD50 / 1080p / 24fps / PCM mono audio (48k/16-bit) / Region free // Disc 2: DVD9 / PAL / Dolby Digital mono audio (320kbps) / Region 0
A film by Barbet Schroeder
The striking second feature from Barbet Schroeder (Barfly, Reversal of Fortune, Single White Female), released by the BFI in a Dual Format Edition package, explores the limits of experience as it journeys into the great unknown accompanied by Pink Floyd's wondrous soundtrack, later released as the album Obscured By Clouds.
When Viviane (Bulle Ogier), a chic diplomat’s wife, meets an intriguing adventurer (Michael Gothard) and his hippy friends in the wilds of Papua New Guinea, different worlds collide. The group, led by enigmatic visionary Gaetan (Jean-Pierre Kalfon), convince Viviane to join their expedition in search of a mysterious uncharted Valley.
Previously unavailable in the UK, the film is a Dual Format Edition release (a Blu-ray and a DVD disc in one box) and has special features including three documentary shorts directed by Barbet Schroeder about aspects of the lives of the tribes of Papua New Guinea, and a new director-approved ‘optical effect’ digitally-restored optional ending.
Special features
- Director-approved High Definition transfer from the original negative
- Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
- Original and digitally-restored optional endings (Blu-ray only)
- Original un-restored ending (5 mins, DVD only)
- Three ethnographic documentary shorts directed by Barbet Schroeder:
Le cochon aux patates douces (1971, 8 mins) about the Mapuga tribe’s feast of pigs with sweet potatoes; Maquillages (1971, 12 mins) which examines the different types of ceremonial make-up worn by the Mapuga tribe; Sing Sing (1971, 5 mins) on the ceremony of ‘Sing Sing’ practised by Papua New Guinea’s tribes
- Theatrical trailers for Schroeder’s The Valley, More (1969) and Maîtresse (1974)
- Illustrated 26-page booklet with rare on-set photographs, an essay, ‘Childhood’s End: Pink Floyd’s Music for The Valley (Obscured by Clouds)’ by Rob Young and an essay and new director interview by Emilie Bickerton, author of the recently published book A Short History of Cahiers du Cinéma.
Release date: 14 February 2011
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIB1039 / cert 15
France / 1972 / colour / French language, English subtitles / 105 mins / original aspect ratio 2.35:1 // Disc 1: BD50 / 1080p / 24fps / PCM mono audio (48k/16-bit) / Region free // Disc 2: DVD9 / PAL / Dolby Digital mono audio (320kbps) / Region 0
A Day in the Life
Four Portraits of Post-War Britain by John Krish
Winner of the Evening Standard Film Award for 2010 - Best Documentary
Fresh from a triumphant theatrical release in November 2010, as part of the BFI’s Boom Britain project, John Krish’s unforgettable film quartet is now released in a Dual Format Edition with extras including two previously unreleased films and a director interview.
Until last autumn, John Krish was one of British cinema’s best-kept secrets: an unsung master of post-war documentary filmmaking who repeatedly turned his works, for sponsors as diverse as the Central Office of Information and the NSPCC, into truly stirring cinema to rank alongside the world’s greatest directors. Both critical and audience reaction to A Day in the Life: Four Portraits of Post-War Britain has deservedly brought long-overdue recognition to this most modest but brilliant of filmmakers.
This celebrated programme contains four of Krish’s most cherished films: The Elephant Will Never Forget (1953), a poetic farewell to London’s trams; They Took Us to the Sea (1961), a poignant record of a seaside outing for disadvantaged children; Our School (1962), charting the beliefs of educators, and the aspirations of the decade’s young school-leavers; and I Think They Call Him John (1964), a deeply moving account of the life of an elderly widower.
In each of these films – richly textured with the details of Britain in a time of transition – Krish combines an understated humanism with clarity of purpose to create works that are timelessly affecting and entertaining.
Although some of John Krish’s work has previously been featured on BFI DVD compilations, including Shadows of Progress: Documentary Film in Post War Britain 1951-1977, Stop! Look! Listen! The COI Collection Vol 4 and The British Transport Films Collection Volume Seven: The Age of the Train (which features what may well be his best known work, the chillingly effective warning film The Finishing Line, 1976), this is the first time that his work has been collected together in a single dedicated volume.
Special features
- All films transferred from elements preserved in the BFI National Archive, and presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition (Blu-ray and DVD)
- I Want to Go to School (John Krish, 1959, 30 mins): a charming portrait of a typical day at a primary school, made for the NUT
- Mr Marsh Comes to School (John Krish, 1961, 28 mins): a distinctly unorthodox film for teenagers, featuring a supernaturally talented Youth Employment Officer
- New interview with John Krish at BFI Southbank (2010, 19 mins, DVD only)
- Illustrated booklet with film notes and essays by John Krish, Kevin Brownlow, BFI Senior Curator (Non Fiction) Patrick Russell and others
Release date: 28 March 2011
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIB1017 / Cert E
UK / 1953-1964 / black & white / English, optional hard-of-hearing subtitles on all films /
90 mins / original aspect ratio 1.33:1 / region 0
Four Portraits of Post-War Britain by John Krish
Winner of the Evening Standard Film Award for 2010 - Best Documentary
Fresh from a triumphant theatrical release in November 2010, as part of the BFI’s Boom Britain project, John Krish’s unforgettable film quartet is now released in a Dual Format Edition with extras including two previously unreleased films and a director interview.
Until last autumn, John Krish was one of British cinema’s best-kept secrets: an unsung master of post-war documentary filmmaking who repeatedly turned his works, for sponsors as diverse as the Central Office of Information and the NSPCC, into truly stirring cinema to rank alongside the world’s greatest directors. Both critical and audience reaction to A Day in the Life: Four Portraits of Post-War Britain has deservedly brought long-overdue recognition to this most modest but brilliant of filmmakers.
This celebrated programme contains four of Krish’s most cherished films: The Elephant Will Never Forget (1953), a poetic farewell to London’s trams; They Took Us to the Sea (1961), a poignant record of a seaside outing for disadvantaged children; Our School (1962), charting the beliefs of educators, and the aspirations of the decade’s young school-leavers; and I Think They Call Him John (1964), a deeply moving account of the life of an elderly widower.
In each of these films – richly textured with the details of Britain in a time of transition – Krish combines an understated humanism with clarity of purpose to create works that are timelessly affecting and entertaining.
Although some of John Krish’s work has previously been featured on BFI DVD compilations, including Shadows of Progress: Documentary Film in Post War Britain 1951-1977, Stop! Look! Listen! The COI Collection Vol 4 and The British Transport Films Collection Volume Seven: The Age of the Train (which features what may well be his best known work, the chillingly effective warning film The Finishing Line, 1976), this is the first time that his work has been collected together in a single dedicated volume.
Special features
- All films transferred from elements preserved in the BFI National Archive, and presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition (Blu-ray and DVD)
- I Want to Go to School (John Krish, 1959, 30 mins): a charming portrait of a typical day at a primary school, made for the NUT
- Mr Marsh Comes to School (John Krish, 1961, 28 mins): a distinctly unorthodox film for teenagers, featuring a supernaturally talented Youth Employment Officer
- New interview with John Krish at BFI Southbank (2010, 19 mins, DVD only)
- Illustrated booklet with film notes and essays by John Krish, Kevin Brownlow, BFI Senior Curator (Non Fiction) Patrick Russell and others
Release date: 28 March 2011
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIB1017 / Cert E
UK / 1953-1964 / black & white / English, optional hard-of-hearing subtitles on all films /
90 mins / original aspect ratio 1.33:1 / region 0
Last edited by NoirFan; 02-09-11 at 08:09 AM.
02-02-11, 08:41 AM
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Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
L'Age d'Or
A Film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí
More than 80 years on, this masterpiece of cinematic surrealism remains as brilliantly witty and shocking as ever. Uniting the genius of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, L'Age d'Or (1930) is a uniquely savage blend of visual poetry and social commentary. A sinister yet poignant chronicle of a couple's struggle to consummate their desire the film was banned and vilified for many years for its subversive eroticism and furious dissection of civilised values.
Also includes Bunuel and Dali s surrealist masterpiece Un Chien Andalou (1928, 16min) and A Propósito de Buñuel (2000, 103 mins) a documentary on the life and work of Luis Buñuel by José Luis López-Linares and Javier Rioyo.
Extra Features:
Dual Format Edition: Feature and some special features presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition (Blu-ray and DVD)
- A Propósito de Buñuel (2000, 103 mins): feature-length documentary on the life and work of Luis Buñuel by José Luis López-Linares and Javier Rioyo
- Un Chien Andalou (1929, 17 mins, DVD only): Buñuel and Dalí s provocative entrée into the Surrealist movement
- Fully illustrated booklet features newly commissioned sleeve notes
- New and improved English subtitles
Joanna
A Film by Mike Sarne
Billed on the film s original release as 'the female Alfie , seventeen-year-old Joanna is cool, stylish, and determined to start a new life as an art student in swinging London. Played with gusto by Geneviève Waïte, Joanna indulges in the pleasures of casual sexual encounters, colourful daydreams, and an impromptu trip to Morocco with the wise and debonair Lord Peter Sanderson (wonderfully played by Donald Sutherland). But when Joanna falls in love with Gordon, from Sierra Leone, her life begins to get complicated.
Extra Features:
Dual Format Edition: includes both Blu-ray and the DVD versions of the main feature. All films newly transferred to High Definition
Road to Saint Tropez (1966): Joanna director Mike Sarne s fictional travelogue, starring Udo Kier and Melissa Stribling
Death May Be Your Santa Claus (Frankie Dymon Jnr, 1969): Radical story of an interracial relationship in late-60s London
Fully illustrated booklet features newly commissioned sleeve notes
New and improved English subtitles
Lunch Hour
A Film by James Hill
Shirley Anne Field gives a fiery performance as a young designer on the brink of starting an affair with a married male supervisor (Robert Stephens) at the wallpaper factory where she works. Based on the play by acclaimed writer John Mortimer (Rumpole of the Bailey), Lunch Hour is directed by James Hill (Black Beauty, Born Free). With its tightly-focused plot and real-time narrative this stylish examination of an illicit lunch-hour rendezvous features an underlying sexual radicalism that tells us much about the time in which it was made.
Also presented here are three of James Hill s critically acclaimed and fondly remembered short films, all of which have more recently garnered an appreciative fan-base amongst enthusiasts of so-called Trade Test films (which were broadcast, to test the then-new colour transmission system, by BBC TV engineers during the 60s and 70s).
Extra Features:
Dual Format Edition: includes both Blu-ray and the DVD versions of the main feature and extras
All films newly remastered using materials preserved in the BFI National Archive
Skyhook (James Hill, 1958, 17 mins): Sumptuous colour documentary film
Giuseppina (James Hill 1959, 32 mins): Academy Award® winner for Best Documentary Short Subject
The Home-Made Car (James Hill, 1963, 28 mins): Fondly-remembered and hugely entertaining short film
Fully illustrated booklet features newly commissioned sleeve notes
Alice
A Film by Jan Svankmajer
Czech surrealist Jan vankmajer s Alice (1988) is a creepy and disturbing adaptaion of Lewis Carroll s perennial literary classic, and perhaps the most faithful the original work. Combining a live-action Alice (Kristýna Kohoutová) with a Wonderland filled with threatening stop-motion characters, Svankmajer s deliberately crude style of animation, use of close-ups, and rich design work lend the film a pervading sense of unease and a menacing dream-logic which marries a sly visual wit with piercing psychological insight.
Extra Features:
All films presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
Alternative English language version of the feature
Alice in Wonderland (1903, 10 mins): the first screen version of Lewis Carroll s classic
Alice in Label Land (1974, 12 mins): animated COI film by Richard Taylor
Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married? (1992, 3 mins): first of the Quay Brothers Alice-inspired short music film
Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You (1993, 3 mins): Quay Brothers second Alice-inspired short music film
Fully illustrated booklet with newly commissioned essays
Last edited by NoirFan; 02-07-11 at 10:26 AM.
02-03-11, 10:54 AM
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02-04-11, 01:32 PM
#7
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02-05-11, 12:02 PM
#8
Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
The only BFI Blu-ray I own is The Red Desert and just days after I received it at my house Criterion announced it. I feel a little hesitant to buy anything from them. And I haven't seen anything I really want from them either.
02-05-11, 12:18 PM
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Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
The Innocents, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner are all established classics that are highly unlikely to receive R1 Blu-ray releases. Edge of the World (Milestone has no R1 Blu-ray plans) is a must for Powell/Pressberger fans, and I'd also recommend the Kenneth Anger set.
02-05-11, 05:57 PM
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Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
Not to mention the Ozu titles, although Criterion might release them at some point, BFI is pumping them out (using master elements from Criterion no less).
At the very least least There was a Father and My Only Son are not getting Criterion HD treatment, and they are bonus extras on the blus of Late Spring and Equinox Flower.
At the very least least There was a Father and My Only Son are not getting Criterion HD treatment, and they are bonus extras on the blus of Late Spring and Equinox Flower.
02-05-11, 06:06 PM
#11
Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
The Innocents, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner are all established classics that are highly unlikely to receive R1 Blu-ray releases. Edge of the World (Milestone has no R1 Blu-ray plans) is a must for Powell/Pressberger fans, and I'd also recommend the Kenneth Anger set.
02-06-11, 08:09 AM
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Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
Might pick up The Valley. I like the film--can't say I necessarily LOVE it--but the thought of Almendros' scope photography on BD...
02-07-11, 10:19 AM
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Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
Late Autumn
A Film by Yasujiro Ozu
When nostalgia about college days inspires a group of middle-aged men businessmen to match-make for a widow, played by Setsuko Hara (Tokyo Story), and her daughter they have no idea of the strife their careless interference will cause. Late Autumn's examination of familial upheaval moves effortlessly from comedy to pathos and is amongst Ozu's finest post-war films.
Included here is Ozu's moving silent drama A Mother Should be Loved (1934). Young Sadao struggles to come to terms with the discovery that he is not the son of his father's widow. His fragile acceptance of this is soon disrupted.
Extra Features:
- Dual Format Edition: includes both Blu-ray and the DVD versions of the main feature
- Transferred from best available film elements to High Definition
- Contains full length feature A Mother Should be Loved (1934) (DVD only)
- Newly commissioned score for A Mother Should be Loved by composer Ed Hughes
- Fully illustrated booklet features newly commissioned sleeve notes
- New and improved English subtitles
An Autumn Afternoon
A Film by Yasujiro Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu's captivating final film, An Autumn Afternoon, displays the master director s skills at their consummate best. Ozu regular Chishu Ryu (Tokyo Story) plays Shuhei Hirayama, a concerned father eager to find a husband for his faithful daughter Michiko (Shima Iwashita) before she sees out her days caring for him. A cast of colourful characters weave seamlessly in and out of the story, highlighting themes of loneliness and fear for the future with deep poignancy and ironic humour.
Ozu's rarely-seen post-war film A Hen in the Wind (1948) is also included here. In a Japan recently devastated by WWII a devoted but near destitute mother waits for her husband's demobilisation. When her son falls seriously ill she turns to prostitution to pay his hospital bills.
Extra Features:
- Dual Format Edition: includes both Blu-ray and the DVD versions of the main feature
- Transferred from best available film elements to High Definition
- Contains previously unavailable full length feature A Hen in the Wind (1948) (DVD only)
- Fully illustrated booklet features newly commissioned sleeve notes
- New and improved English subtitles
Great White Silence
A Film by Herbert Ponting
The official record of Captain Scott's legendary expedition to the South Pole restored by the BFI and presented , with live musical performance from Simon Fisher Turner, on DVD & Blu-ray for the first time.
A hundred years ago the British Antarctic Expedition led by Captain Scott set out on its ill-fated race to the South Pole. Joining Scott on board the Terra Nova was official photographer and cinematographer Herbert Ponting, and the images that he captured have fired imaginations ever since. Ponting filmed almost every aspect of the expedition: the scientific work, life in camp and the local wildlife - including the characterful Adélie penguins. Those things he was unable to film he boldly recreated back home. Most importantly, Ponting recorded the preparations for the assault on the Pole - from the trials of the caterpillar-track sledges to clothing and cooking equipment - giving us a real sense of the challenges faced by the expedition. Ponting used his footage in various forms over the years and in 1924 he re-edited it into this remarkable feature, complete with vivid tinting and toning.
The BFI National Archive - custodian of the expedition negatives - has restored the film using the latest photochemical and digital techniques and reintroduced the film's sophisticated use of colour. The alien beauty of the landscape is brought dramatically to life and shows the world of the expedition in brilliant detail. A happy scene of Scott and his team in a tent demonstrating how they would cook and sleep on their race to the Pole - the same tent that would be their tomb - is particularly poignant.
Extra Features:
Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
Includes 90 Degrees South (1933, 70min); the re-edited, official sound film of the Antarctic expedition
Last edited by NoirFan; 02-07-11 at 10:27 AM.
02-20-11, 12:00 PM
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05-02-11, 09:06 AM
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Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
A couple of updates:
On L'âge d'or, Un chien andalou will now be in 1080p and included on the Blu-ray disc. The BFI initially believed that they would only be able to gain access to the SD video master that fuelled their earlier DVD release, but they've since managed to arrange an HD transfer of a dupe 35mm negative. It will also come with a choice of three soundtracks - the one the Buñuel created in 1960, based on the music that he played at the premiere (a mixture of tango music and Wagner), a brand new score by Mordant Music, or a commentary by Robert Short.
Alice has had another short film added to the extras line-up, in the form of Elsie and the Brown Bunny, an 8-minute commercial (!) for Cadbury's chocolate from 1921 that was heavily influenced by Lewis Carroll's characters. This was only available in SD, so it's on the DVD only - but all the other supporting shorts will also be in HD.
On L'âge d'or, Un chien andalou will now be in 1080p and included on the Blu-ray disc. The BFI initially believed that they would only be able to gain access to the SD video master that fuelled their earlier DVD release, but they've since managed to arrange an HD transfer of a dupe 35mm negative. It will also come with a choice of three soundtracks - the one the Buñuel created in 1960, based on the music that he played at the premiere (a mixture of tango music and Wagner), a brand new score by Mordant Music, or a commentary by Robert Short.
Alice has had another short film added to the extras line-up, in the form of Elsie and the Brown Bunny, an 8-minute commercial (!) for Cadbury's chocolate from 1921 that was heavily influenced by Lewis Carroll's characters. This was only available in SD, so it's on the DVD only - but all the other supporting shorts will also be in HD.
05-02-11, 09:34 AM
#16
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Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
Thanks for the updates, Michael! I keep checking Amazon for a Deep End pre-order. Not that it would arrive any earlier obviously, but it's a release I'm really looking forward to.
05-02-11, 09:39 AM
#17
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Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
I'm trying to find out the region code from the producer - no definitive answer yet, but Region B wouldn't surprise me because the rights are carved up between Bavaria Film (Europe) and Paramount (the US).
05-03-11, 01:57 PM
#18
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Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
Alice
A film by Jan Švankmajer
Following its release of Jan Švankmajer: The Complete Short Films in 2007, the BFI now presents the legendary Czech surrealist’s award-winning 1988 feature film Alice in a Dual Format Edition with a host of bonus extras.
Jan Švankmajer’s Alice (Něco z Alenky) is a distinctly disturbing and creepy interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s perennial literary classic, yet it is perhaps the closest to the original work. It is released on both DVD and Blu-ray discs in this Dual Format Edition.
Combining a live-action Alice (Kristýna Kohoutová) with a stop-motion Wonderland filled with threatening, bizarre characters, Švankmajer’s deliberately crude style of animation, use of close-ups and rich design work lend the film a pervading sense of unease and a menacing dream-logic which marries a sly visual wit with piercing psychological insight.
Jan Švankmajer won the Feature Film Award for Alice at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, 1987 and the film was nominated for Best Film in the Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Awards, 1989.
Presented here fully uncut and in its original Czech-language version for the very first time, this comprehensive release also gathers together a selection of rare and fascinating Alice-related short films.
Special features
• Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
• Original Czech and alternative English-language audio
• Alice in Wonderland (1903, 9 mins): the first screen adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic
• Elsie and the Brown Bunny (1921, 8 mins, DVD only): early advertising film for Cadbury Bros. Ltd
• Alice in Label Land (1974, 12 mins): animated COI film explaining the 1973 food labelling laws
• Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married? (1992, 3 mins): the Quay Brothers' Alice-inspired music film
• Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You (1993, 4 mins): the white rabbit returns in the second of the Quay Brothers' music films for His Name is Alive
• 34-page illustrated booklet with essays, film notes, biographies and credits
Release date: 23 May 2011
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIB1095 / Cert PG Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, UK, West Germany / 1988 / colour / Czech with optional English subtitles / 86 minutes / Original aspect ratio 1.33:1
Disc 1: BD50 / 1080p / 24fps / PCM mono audio (48k/24-bit)
Disc 2: DVD9 / PAL / PCM mono audio (48k/16-bit)
A film by Jan Švankmajer
Following its release of Jan Švankmajer: The Complete Short Films in 2007, the BFI now presents the legendary Czech surrealist’s award-winning 1988 feature film Alice in a Dual Format Edition with a host of bonus extras.
Jan Švankmajer’s Alice (Něco z Alenky) is a distinctly disturbing and creepy interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s perennial literary classic, yet it is perhaps the closest to the original work. It is released on both DVD and Blu-ray discs in this Dual Format Edition.
Combining a live-action Alice (Kristýna Kohoutová) with a stop-motion Wonderland filled with threatening, bizarre characters, Švankmajer’s deliberately crude style of animation, use of close-ups and rich design work lend the film a pervading sense of unease and a menacing dream-logic which marries a sly visual wit with piercing psychological insight.
Jan Švankmajer won the Feature Film Award for Alice at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, 1987 and the film was nominated for Best Film in the Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Awards, 1989.
Presented here fully uncut and in its original Czech-language version for the very first time, this comprehensive release also gathers together a selection of rare and fascinating Alice-related short films.
Special features
• Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
• Original Czech and alternative English-language audio
• Alice in Wonderland (1903, 9 mins): the first screen adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic
• Elsie and the Brown Bunny (1921, 8 mins, DVD only): early advertising film for Cadbury Bros. Ltd
• Alice in Label Land (1974, 12 mins): animated COI film explaining the 1973 food labelling laws
• Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married? (1992, 3 mins): the Quay Brothers' Alice-inspired music film
• Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You (1993, 4 mins): the white rabbit returns in the second of the Quay Brothers' music films for His Name is Alive
• 34-page illustrated booklet with essays, film notes, biographies and credits
Release date: 23 May 2011
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIB1095 / Cert PG Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, UK, West Germany / 1988 / colour / Czech with optional English subtitles / 86 minutes / Original aspect ratio 1.33:1
Disc 1: BD50 / 1080p / 24fps / PCM mono audio (48k/24-bit)
Disc 2: DVD9 / PAL / PCM mono audio (48k/16-bit)
05-06-11, 12:33 PM
#19
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Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
Full specs announced:
L’Âge d’or
A film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí
One of cinema history’s greatest collaborations, L’Âge d’or united the genius of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí. Now this controversial masterpiece is being released by the BFI in newly mastered High Definition for the very first time, in a Dual Format Edition (containing Blu-ray and DVD versions) with extensive extra features.
Even now, more than 80 years since it was made, this uniquely savage blend of visual poetry and social commentary remains as brilliantly witty and shocking as ever. A sinister yet poignant chronicle of a couple’s struggle to consummate their frenzied desire in the face of a stream of obstacles, in the form of bourgeois society and the Church, the film was banned and vilified for many years for its subversive eroticism and furious dissection of ‘civilised’ values.
Extras include a new HD transfer of the 1960 restoration of Un Chien Andalou, Buñuel and Dalí’s provocative debut which created a scandal at its premiere. Presented here with the restoration score, based on Buñuel’s notes, the BFI has also commissioned musicmakers Mordant Music (who re-scored an array of 70s and 80s public information films and documentary shorts produced by the Central Office of Information (COI) last year for the startling BFI DVD release MisinforMation) to create an alternative soundtrack option, which is premiered on this release.
In addition to Robert Short’s fascinating filmed introduction and audio commentaries for both L’Âge d’or and Un Chien Andalou, this comprehensive release is completed by A Propósito de Buñuel – a feature-length documentary on the life and work of Luis Buñuel, by José Luis López-Linares and Javier Rioyo.
Special features
• Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
• Selected scenes commentary for L’Âge d’or by author and filmmaker Robert Short
• Un Chien Andalou (1929, 16 mins): the 1960 restoration of Buñuel and Dalí’s debut
• Alternative score for Un Chien Andalou by Mordant Music
• Commentary for Un Chien Andalou by Robert Short
• A Propósito de Buñuel (2000, 99 mins, DVD only)
• Filmed introduction by Robert Short (25 mins, DVD only)
• 26-page illustrated booklet with essays, biographies and credits
Release date: 30 May 2011
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIB1059 / Cert 15 France, Spain / 1930 / black and white / French with optional English subtitles / 63 mins / original aspect ratio 1.19:1 Disc 1: BD25 /1080p / 24fps / PCM mono audio (48k/24-bit) Disc 2: DVD9 / PAL / Dolby Digital 320kbps mono audio
A film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí
One of cinema history’s greatest collaborations, L’Âge d’or united the genius of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí. Now this controversial masterpiece is being released by the BFI in newly mastered High Definition for the very first time, in a Dual Format Edition (containing Blu-ray and DVD versions) with extensive extra features.
Even now, more than 80 years since it was made, this uniquely savage blend of visual poetry and social commentary remains as brilliantly witty and shocking as ever. A sinister yet poignant chronicle of a couple’s struggle to consummate their frenzied desire in the face of a stream of obstacles, in the form of bourgeois society and the Church, the film was banned and vilified for many years for its subversive eroticism and furious dissection of ‘civilised’ values.
Extras include a new HD transfer of the 1960 restoration of Un Chien Andalou, Buñuel and Dalí’s provocative debut which created a scandal at its premiere. Presented here with the restoration score, based on Buñuel’s notes, the BFI has also commissioned musicmakers Mordant Music (who re-scored an array of 70s and 80s public information films and documentary shorts produced by the Central Office of Information (COI) last year for the startling BFI DVD release MisinforMation) to create an alternative soundtrack option, which is premiered on this release.
In addition to Robert Short’s fascinating filmed introduction and audio commentaries for both L’Âge d’or and Un Chien Andalou, this comprehensive release is completed by A Propósito de Buñuel – a feature-length documentary on the life and work of Luis Buñuel, by José Luis López-Linares and Javier Rioyo.
Special features
• Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
• Selected scenes commentary for L’Âge d’or by author and filmmaker Robert Short
• Un Chien Andalou (1929, 16 mins): the 1960 restoration of Buñuel and Dalí’s debut
• Alternative score for Un Chien Andalou by Mordant Music
• Commentary for Un Chien Andalou by Robert Short
• A Propósito de Buñuel (2000, 99 mins, DVD only)
• Filmed introduction by Robert Short (25 mins, DVD only)
• 26-page illustrated booklet with essays, biographies and credits
Release date: 30 May 2011
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIB1059 / Cert 15 France, Spain / 1930 / black and white / French with optional English subtitles / 63 mins / original aspect ratio 1.19:1 Disc 1: BD25 /1080p / 24fps / PCM mono audio (48k/24-bit) Disc 2: DVD9 / PAL / Dolby Digital 320kbps mono audio
05-20-11, 10:08 AM
#20
DVD Talk Legend
Thread Starter
05-20-11, 11:47 AM
#21
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05-21-11, 09:35 AM
#22
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05-23-11, 01:12 PM
#23
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Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
6/20:
8/22:
Other upcoming releases:
Fun at St. Fannys / You Lucky People - 8/22
More (1969) - 9/19
The Soviet Influence: From Turksib to Night Mail - 9/19
8/22:
Other upcoming releases:
Fun at St. Fannys / You Lucky People - 8/22
More (1969) - 9/19
The Soviet Influence: From Turksib to Night Mail - 9/19
05-23-11, 01:19 PM
#24
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Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
Interested in More and Before the Revolution, but the others, not so much. I got Joanna, Lunch Hour, and Alice for review. Really enjoying Joanna so far. It has that feel of the late 60's British youth films like Bedazzled, Alfie, etc...
05-23-11, 03:44 PM
#25
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Re: The Official BFI Blu-ray Thread
I've already got the RHV release of Before the Revolution, so I'll probably just stick with that. Deep End (7/18), however, I will definitely pre-order. Great cover too, though it may be slightly NSFW:
Spoiler:
