Random DVD and Blu-ray announcements

[wilder]

UK label Powerhouse Films has a new series, Indicator. Many of their forthcoming releases are films previously put out by US label Twilight Time in limited edition copies (Christine, The Last Detail, Experiment in Terror, Fat City, Bunny Lake is Missing)

[wilder]

November 15, 2016

Abel Glance's J'accuse (1938) from Olive Films



After serving in the trenches of World War I, Jean Diaz recoils with such horror that he renounces love and personal pleasure to immerse himself in scientific research, seeking a machine to prevent war. He thinks he has succeeded, but the government subverts his discovery, and Europe slides with seeming inevitability toward World War II. In desperation, Diaz summons the ghosts of the war dead from the graves and fields of France to give silent, accusing protest.

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1942) from Olive Films



When Nazi anti-aircraft fire damages a British bomber, its crew bails out and seeks help from the Dutch underground.

Jim Jarmusch's Coffee & Cigarettes (2003) from Olive Films



A series of vignettes that all have coffee and cigarettes in common.

[wilder]

November 15, 2016

Orson Welles' Macbeth (1948) on blu-ray from Olive Signature, from a new digital restoration



Welles stars as the titular Macbeth—a doomed Scottish lord tragically undone by his own ambition. Welles' noir-tinged interpretation bubbles over with supernatural prophecy and murderous intrigue, effectively mixing the use of shadow and oblique camera angles to achieve anominous sense of a land in peril. Shot by John L. Russell (Psycho).

Macbeth (1948) - Amazon

[wilder]

December 12, 2016

Woody Allen: Six Films 1979-1985 on blu-ray from Arrow (UK)




-Manhattan
-Stardust Memories
-A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
-Zelig
-Broadway Danny Rose
-The Purple Rose of Cairo


December 12, 2016

Donnie Darko (2001) limited edition blu-ray from Arrow (UK), with 4K restorations of both the Theatrical Cut and Director's Cut from the original camera negatives



Donnie Darko (2001) - Limited Edition - Amazon UK

[wilder]

November 2016 TBD

Peter Bogdanovich’s Saint Jack (1979) on limited edition blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing



Compelling character study, revolving around Jack Flowers (Ben Gazzara), an American hustler trying to make his fortune in 1970s Singapore in small time pimping. He dreams of building a fortune by running a brothel himself and returning to the States to lead a life of luxury. Savvy but not unsavory he strikes up a friendship with William Leigh (Denholm Elliot), a genial and decent auditor who travels to Singapore every year. Ultimately, the background of the Vietnam War comes into the picture as Jack is offered the opportunity by the CIA to run a brothel for the R&R activities of U.S. soldiers on leave in Singapore.

[wilder]

Fall 2016 TBD

Nicholas Ray's On Dangerous Ground (1951) from Warner Archive, from a 4K restoration



Rough city cop Jim Wilson is disciplined by his captain and is sent upstate, to a snowy mountain town, to help the local sheriff solve a murder case.

On Dangerous Ground (1951) - Amazon

Abel Ferrara's Body Snatchers (1993) from Warner Archive



A teenage girl and her father discover alien clones are replacing humans on a remote U.S. military base in Alabama.

Body Snatchers (1993) - Amazon

[wilder]

November 15, 2016

Dario Argento’s Phenomena (1985) on blu-ray from Synapse in a 3-disc limited edition



A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.

Phenomena (1985) - Synapse

December 13, 2016

David Miller’s Sudden Fear (1952) from Cohen Media Group, from a new 2K restoration



After an ambitious actor insinuates himself into the life of a wealthy middle-aged playwright and marries her, he plots with his mistress to murder her.

Sudden Fear (1952) - Amazon

[wilder]

December 13, 2016

Frank Llloyd and Joseph Von Sternberg’s Children of Divorce (1927) on blu-ray from Flicker Alley, from a 4K restoration



The film begins in an American "divorce colony" in Paris after the First World War, where parents would leave their children for months at a time. Jean, Kitty, and Ted meet there as children and become fast friends. Years later, in America, when wealthy Ted (Gary Cooper) reconnects with Jean (Esther Ralston), the two fall deeply in love, vowing to fulfill a childhood promise to one day marry each other. But true love and the most innocent of plans are no match for the scheming Kitty-played by the original Hollywood "It" girl, Clara Bow-who targets Ted for his fortune. After a night of drunken revelry, Ted wakes up to find he has unwittingly married Kitty. This unfortunate turn of events, however, carries with it the traumatized pasts of the three players, whose views of marriage have been shaped as children of divorce.

Children of Divorce (1927) - Amazon

[wilder]

Cohen Media: Ten Jacques Rivette Films and Recently Discovered Shorts Acquired for U.S. Distribution
via blu-ray.com

U.S. label Cohen Media has announced that it has acquired the distribution rights for ten films directed by Jacques Rivette. The label has also secured the rights to three early, recently discovered shorts.

The newly licensed films will be digitally restored by Celluloid Dreams. Theatrical screenings are also planned for 2017.

Complete list of titles:

1. La Belle Noiseuse (1991)
2. The Beautiful Troublemaker (1991), re-edited shorter version of La Belle Noiseuse
3. The Gang of Four (1989)
4. Jeanne la Pucelle I - Les batailles a.k.a. Joan the Maiden: Part I (1994)
5. Jeanne la Pucelle II - Les batailles a.k.a. Joan the Maiden: Part II: The Prisons (1994)
6. Up, Down, Fragile (1995)
7. Secret Defense a.k.a. Top Secret (1998)
8. The Story of Marie and Julien (2003)
9. Love on the Ground (1984)
10. Wuthering Heights (1985)
11. Aux Quatre Coins (1949) - short, newly discovered
12. La Quadrille (1950) - short, newly discovered
13. La Divertissement (1952) - short

The label has also confirmed that it is working with Universal Studios on a brand new 4K restoration of James Whale's film The Old Dark House (1932), starring a very young Boris Karloff.

Another recent acquisition for the label is acclimated French helmer Philippe de Broca's film King of Hearts (1966), starring Alan Bates, Geneviève Bujold, and Pierre Brasseur.

[wilder]

October 25, 2016

Joe Sarno's Sin You Sinners (1963) and Vampire Ecstasy (1973) on blu-ray from Film Movement



Vampire Ecstasy (1973) / Sin You Sinners (1963) - Amazon

It’s incredible how much difference a restoration can make in the perception of a film having production value or not:

[Jeremy Blackman]

For some reason I can't get enough of these restoration comparisons. 

[wilder]

May 23, 2017

The Coen Bros. Barton Fink (1991) on blu-ray from Kino



Set in 1941, an intellectual New York playwright Barton Fink accepts an offer to write movie scripts in L.A. He finds himself with writer's block when required to do a B-movie script. His neighbor tries to help, but he continues to struggle as a bizarre sequence of events distracts him.

Barton Fink (1991) - Amazon



January 17, 2017

Michael Mann’s Ali (2001) on blu-ray from Sony






Joseph von Sternberg’s The Salvation Hunters (1925) and The Case of Lena Smith (1929) on DVD from German Filmmuseum



Before making (sound) film history with The Blue Angel, Viennese-born filmmaker Josef von Sternberg directed a series of thematically and stylistically daring silent films. This DVD presents the first and last of his surviving silents, digitally restored from archival 35mm elements and supplemented by a new video essay by film historian Janet Bergstrom. The Salvation Hunters, von Sternberg's self-financed, socially conscious directorial debut, won praise from Charles Chaplin, among others, and is featured here with a new score by award-winning Austrian composer Siegfried Friedrich. The sole extant fragment of The Case of Lena Smith brings the director’s youthful memories of fin de siècle Vienna vividly to life.

The Salvation Hunters / The Case of Lena Smith - German Filmmuseum

[polkablues]

[wilder]

March 20, 2017

Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) on blu-ray from BFI (UK)



A recently widowed woman on the road with her precocious young son, determined to make a new life for herself as a singer.

Martin Scorsese's Who's That Knocking at My Door? (1967) on blu-ray from BFI (UK)



A young man struggles with the fact that his girlfriend was once raped.

[wilder]

November 21, 2016

Abel Glance’s Napoleon (1927) on blu-ray from BFI (UK)



This ambitious silent film, renowned for its groundbreaking camerawork and editing, portrays the early life of French ruler Napoleon Bonaparte (Albert Dieudonne), beginning with his childhood and ending with a successful military campaign in Italy. A native of Corsica, Napoleon becomes a staunch supporter of his island home, but eventually flees due to conflicts with its leadership. Once settled on the French mainland, Napoleon begins his climb up the military ranks.

Napoleon (1927) - Amazon UK