Random DVD and Blu-ray announcements

Started by wilder, November 01, 2011, 01:54:56 AM

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wilder

December 8, 2017

Lech Kowalski's D.O.A.: A Right of Passage (1980) on blu-ray from High Times Productions



Documentary chronicaling the rise and fall of the punk movement with rare interview footage of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. Also concert and news footage.

D.O.A.: A Right of Passage (1980) - Amazon






November 14, 2017

F.W. Murnau's The Last Laugh (1924) on blu-ray from Kino, from a new 2K restoration



One of the crowning achievements of the German expressionist movement, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's The Last Laugh stars Emil Jannings as an aging doorman whose happiness crumbles when he is relieved of the duties and uniform which had for years been the foundation of his happiness and pride. Through Janning's colossal performance, The Last Laugh becomes more than the plight of a single doorman, but a mournful dramatization of the frustration and anguish of the universal working class.


November 21, 2017

12-Disc Fritz Lang Collection on blu-ray from Kino




DISC ONE

THE SPIDERS (Die Spinnen)
1919-1920 Germany 173 Min. Color Tinted
Part One: THE GOLDEN SEA 69 Min.
Part Two: THE DIAMOND SHIP 104 Min.
Music composed and performed by Ben Model


DISC TWO

HARAKIRI
1919 Germany 87 Min. Color Tinted
Music by Aljoscha Zimmermann

THE WANDERING SHADOW (Das Wandernde Bild)
1920 Germany 67 Min. Color Tinted
Music by Aljoscha Zimmermann
Note: Both films are sourced from standard definition masters that have been up-converted for Blu-ray release.


DISC THREE

FOUR AROUND THE WOMAN (Kämpfende Herzen / Hearts in Struggle / Vier um die Frau)
1921 Germany 84 Min. Color Tinted
Music by Aljoscha Zimmermann


DISC FOUR

DESTINY (Der müde Tod)
1921 Germany 98 Min. Color Tinted
Music composed by Cornelius Schwehr, performed by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB)

SPECIAL FEATURES
   •   Audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas
   •   Restoration demonstration footage
   •   2016 Re-release trailer


DISCS FIVE AND SIX

DR. MABUSE, THE GAMBLER (Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler)
1922 Germany 270 Min. B&W
Music (2001) by Aljoscha Zimmermann

SPECIAL FEATURES:
   •   "The Story Behind Dr. Mabuse," (52 Min.), a three-part documentary exploring the musical score by Aljoscha Zimmermann, the career of novelist Norbert Jacques, and an analysis of the film


DISCS SEVEN AND EIGHT

DIE NIBELUNGEN
1924-1925 Germany Color Tinted


DISC SEVEN: SIEGFRIED 149 Min.


DISC EIGHT: KRIEMHILD'S REVENGE 131 Min.
Original score by Gottfried Huppertz
Performed by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

SPECIAL FEATURES:
   •   "The Legacy of the Nibelungen," a 68-minute documentary on the making and restoration of the film, by Guido Altendorf and Anke Wilkening
   •   Newsreel footage taken on the set


DISC NINE

METROPOLIS
UFA 1927 Germany 148 Min. B&W
Original Score: Gottfried Huppertz
Performed by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB)

SPECIAL FEATURES:
   •   "Voyage to Metropolis," a 50-minute documentary on the making and restoration of the film
   •   Interview with Paula Felix-Didier, curator of the Museo del Cine, Buenos Aires, where previously missing footage was discovered


DISC TEN

SPIES (Spione)
1928 Germany 150 Min. B&W
Piano score (2005) by Neil Brand

SPECIAL FEATURES:
   •   "Spies: A Small Film With Lots of Action" (2006, 72 Min.) a documentary by Guido Altendorf and Anke Wilkening
   •   Original German theatrical trailer (5 min.) courtesy of the Austrian Film Museum, Vienna


DISC ELEVEN

WOMAN IN THE MOON (Frau im Mond)
1929 Germany 169 Min. B&W
Piano score (2005) by Javier Pérez de Azpeitia.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
   •   "Woman in the Moon: The First Scientific Science Fiction Film," a documentary on the making of the film (14 Min.)


DISC TWELVE - BONUS DISC

THE PLAGUE OF FLORENCE (Pest in Florenz)
1919 Germany 102 Min. B&W
Directed by Otto Rippert - Screenplay by Fritz Lang
Based on "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe
Music (2014): Uwe Dierksen.

wilder

December 19, 2017

Paddy Chayefsky's The Hospital (1971) on blu-ray from Twilight Time



An over-burdened doctor struggles to find meaning in his life while a murderer stalks the halls of his hospital.





wilder

October 31, 2017

Jerry Schatzberg's Scarecrow (1973) on blu-ray from Warner Archive



Just out of jail after serving time on an assault rap, Max (Gene Hackman) is headed for Pittsburgh to open a deluxe car wash. Back from five years at sea, Lion (Al Pacino) wants to hit Detroit and visit the child he's never seen. The dreams may not be glorious but you'll want Max and Lion to fulfill them, because Scarecrow, cowinner of the 1973 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize, has a heart as big as its cross-country journey. Its hard-luck drifters drift permanently into our souls. This is due to teamwork of a high order: The moving performances of Hackman and Pacino, the sensitive direction of Jerry Schatzberg and the glowing landscape cinematography of Vilmos Zsigmond.

Scarecrow (1973) - Amazon



wilder

November 14, 2017

Arturo Ripstein's Time to Die (1966) on blu-ray from Film Movement, from a new 2K restoration



This classic Mexican neo-western was the first realized screenplay of Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez and legendary Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes. Under the direction of Mexican auteur Arturo Ripstein, Time to Die tells the story of a former gunman who returns to his town after serving time in prison. He plans to live a quiet life, but the sons of the man he killed have other plans.

Time to Die (1966) -
Amazon




jenkins


wilder

September 25/26, 2017

Ermanno Olmi's The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1988) on blu-ray from Arrow US & Arrow UK



The story of a drunken homeless man in Paris, who is lent 200 francs by a stranger as long as he promises to repay it to a local church when he can afford to; the film depicts the man's constant frustrations as he attempts to do so.

The Legend of the Holy Drinker - Amazon

The Legend of the Holy Drinker - Amazon UK








wilder

November 24, 2017

Slava Tsukerman's Liquid Sky (1982) on limited edition blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome, from a 4K restoration of the original camera negative



Invisible aliens in a tiny flying saucer come to Earth looking for heroin. They land on top of a New York apartment inhabited by a drug dealer and her female, androgynous, bisexual nymphomaniac lover, a fashion model. The aliens soon find the human pheromones created in the brain during orgasm preferable to heroin, and the model's casual sex partners begin to disappear. This increasingly bizarre scenario is observed by a lonely woman in the building across the street, a German scientist who is following the aliens, and an equally androgynous, drug-addicted male model. (Both models are played by Anne Carlisle, in a dual role.)

Available to pre-order for 24 hours on September 28th, starting at noon







December 12/11, 2017

Billy Wilder's The Apartment (1960) from Arrow US & Arrow UK, from a new 4K restoration



Bud Baxter is a struggling clerk in a huge New York insurance company. He's discovered a quick way to climb the corporate ladder - by lending out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. He often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits and one night he's left with a major problem to solve.

The Apartment (1960) - Amazon

The Apartment (1960) - Amazon UK

wilder

October 30, 2017

Otakar Vávra's Witchhammer (1970) on blu-ray from Second Run (UK)



Otakar Vávra's Witchhammer, co-written by Ester Krumbachová (Daisies, Fruit of Paradise) from Václav Kaplický s 1963 novel, chronicles the series of notorious 17th Century Czech witch trials, undertaken using the infamous Malleus Maleficarum (the Witchhammer of the title), the Catholic treatise on witchcraft which endorses the extermination of witches and developed a detailed legal and theological theory for this purpose. Using genuine court transcripts from the forced confessions of those accused of sorcery and collusion with the Devil, it is a powerful and often shocking allegory of life under totalitarian rule.

With echoes of Bergman and Franti ek Vlá il, and with literary antecedents in Arthur Miller's The Crucible and Aldous Huxley's The Devils of Loudon, it is a disturbing political fable; and like Ken Russell's controversial, expressionistic adaptation of Huxley s text, The Devils (1971) and other films of the period such as Michael Reeves' Witchfinder General (1968) and Michael Armstrong's Mark of the Devil (1970), it serves as both grim genre film and compelling historical drama.


Witchhammer (1970) - Amazon UK





wilder

December 5, 2017

Jack Clayton's The Pumpkin Eater (1964) on limited edition blu-ray from Indicator (UK)



Anne Bancroft delivers a towering performance as a deeply troubled and tormented wife in this sharply observed portrait of a woman – and a marriage – in crisis. Directed by Jack Clayton (Room at the Top, The Innocents), with a screenplay by Harold Pinter (The Birthday Party) based on the acclaimed novel by Penelope Mortimer, this spellbinding film boasts sublime cinematography by the great Oswald Morris (Look Back in Anger, Fragment of Fear), a wonderful score by Georges Delerue (Le Mépris) and outstanding supporting performances from James Mason (The Deadly Affair), Maggie Smith (California Suite) and Yootha Joyce (Fanatic, Fragment of Fear)

The Pumpkin Eater (1964) - Amazon UK








February 23, 2018

Joe Sarno's Deep Throat Part II / Pandora and the Magic Box / A Touch of Genie (1965-1974) on blu-ray from Film Media, restored in 2K from original 35mm film elements (Volume 3 in the Joseph W. Sarno Retrospect series)











Quote from: blu-ray.comFilm Media has also confirmed that restoration is under way on the films that will make up Volumes 4-11 of the series:

Sarno 04 - Sin in the Suburbs / Confessions of a Young American Housewife

Sarno 05 - Moonlighting Wives / Naked Fog

Sarno 06 - Abigail Lesley is Back in Town / Laura's Toys

Sarno 07 - Daddy Darling / The Indelicate Balance

Sarno 08- Inga / Seduction of Inga

Sarno 09 - Odd Triangle / Desire Under the Palms

Sarno 10 - Swedish Wildcats / Siv and Anne and Sven

Sarno 11 - Butterflies / Bib



December 12, 2017

Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) on blu-ray from Kino. Previously available from Twilight Time.



In 1947, four German judges who served on the bench during the Nazi regime face a military tribunal to answer charges of crimes against humanity. Chief Justice Haywood (Spencer Tracy) hears evidence and testimony not only from lead defendant Ernst Janning (Burt Lancaster) and his defense attorney Hans Rolfe (Maximilian Schell), but also from the widow of a Nazi general (Marlene Dietrich), an idealistic U.S. Army captain (William Shatner) and reluctant witness Irene Wallner (Judy Garland).



December 12, 2017

Stanley Kramer's Inherit the Wind (1960) on blu-ray from Kino. Previously available from Twilight Time.



In the 1920s, Tennessee schoolteacher Bertram Cates (Dick York) is put on trial for violating the Butler Act, a state law that prohibits public school teachers from teaching evolution instead of creationism. Drawing intense national attention in the media with writer E. K. Hornbeck (Gene Kelly) reporting, two of the nation's leading lawyers go head to head: Matthew Harrison Brady (Fredric March) for the prosecution, and Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy) for the defense.



wilder

#744
January 23, 2018

Woody Allen's Husbands & Wives (1992) on blu-ray from Twilight Time



Gabe (Woody Allen) and his wife, Judy (Mia Farrow), are shocked to discover that their best friends, Sally (Judy Davis) and Jack (Sydney Pollack), are splitting up. Not only did they not see the breakup coming, but it makes them start to question their own relationship. While Gabe flirts with the idea of dating one of his college students (Juliette Lewis), Sally and Jack discover that being single again isn't all its cracked up to be and contemplate getting back together.






January 23, 2018

Paul Mazursky's Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) on blu-ray from Twilight Time



After returning to Los Angeles from a group therapy session, documentary filmmaker Bob Sanders (Robert Culp) and his wife, Carol (Natalie Wood), find themselves becoming vigilante couples counselors, offering unsolicited advice to their best friends, Ted (Elliott Gould) and Alice Henderson (Dyan Cannon). Not wanting to be rude, the Hendersons play along, but some latent sexual tension among the four soon comes bubbling to the surface, and long-buried desires don't stay buried for long.






January 23, 2018

Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Dragonwyck (1946) on blu-ray from Twilight Time



For Miranda Wells (Gene Tierney), moving to New York to live in Dragonwyck Manor with her rich cousin, Nicholas (Vincent Price), seems like a dream. However, the situation gradually becomes nightmarish. She observes Nicholas' troubled relationship with his tenant farmers, as well as with his daughter (Connie Marshall), to whom Miranda serves as governess. Her relationship with Nicholas intensifies after his wife dies, but his mental imbalance threatens any hope of happiness.



November 27, 2017

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) on blu-ray from Second Sight (UK) in the original 25fps broadcast format. Also includes the new feature-length documentary Fassbinder: To Love Without Demands (2015)



In late-1920s Berlin, Franz Biberkopf is released from prison and vows to go straight; however he soon finds himself embroiled in the city's criminal underworld.

Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) - Amazon UK

wilder

January 12, 2018

Robert Sigl's Laurin (1989) on blu-ray from Bildstoerung (Germany), restored in 2K from the original 35mm negative



Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. In a small coastal village a boy kills. In agonizing visions, little Laurin (Dora Szinetar) sees the criminal and his gruesome deeds. But how can she put him? Her mother is dead and the father at sea...

Laurin (1989) - Amazon Germany



wilder

November 7, 2017

Robert Mulligan's Summer of '42 (1971) on blu-ray from Warner Archive



The sensual, heartwarming and sentimental story of three 15-year-old boys who spend a pleasant but sometimes painful summer vacation in New England. While his friends fumble with girls their own age, one boy finds first love in the arms of Jennifer O'Neill ("Bare Essence"), a young war bride.

QuoteAs well as being a commercial success, Summer of '42 also received rave critical reviews. It went on to be nominated for over a dozen awards, including Golden Globe Awards for "Best Motion Picture – Drama" and "Best Director", and five Academy Award nominations for Best Original Music Score, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Writing-Story and Best Screenplay. It counted among its fans Stanley Kubrick, who had the film play on a television in a scene in The Shining.

Summer of '42 (1971) - Amazon



wilder

January 2018 TBD

Martin Scorsese's Kundun (1997) on blu-ray from Kino



The incredible true story of one of the world's most fascinating leaders - Tibet's Dalai Lama - and his daring struggle to rule a nation at one of the most challenging times in its history.






December 12, 2017

Anthony Mann's Raw Deal (1948) on blu-ray from ClassicFlix



An escaped convict (Dennis O'Keefe) flees with his moll (Claire Trevor) and a social worker (Marsha Hunt) he loves.

Raw Deal (1948) - Amazon

wilder

January 9, 2018 TBD

Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger's Gone to Earth aka The Wild Heart (1950) on blu-ray from Kino. Anna Biller has mentioned liking this movie.



Hazel Woodus (Jennifer Jones) is a child of nature in the Shropshire countryside in 1897. She loves and understands all the wild animals more than the people around her. Whenever she has problems, she turns to the book of spells and charms left to her by her gypsy mother.

Local squire Jack Reddin (David Farrar) sees Hazel and wants her, but she has already promised herself to the Baptist minister, Edward Marston (Cyril Cusack). A struggle for her body and soul ensues.
   




Full movie on youtube

wilder

Quote from: wilder on August 25, 2017, 05:24:36 PM
2017 TBD

Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977) on blu-ray from Synapse, from a new 4K restoration





Currently up for pre-order at Synapse Films