Re: Missing in Action - Films still not released on DVD/Blu Ray
Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2017 1:05 am
dws1982,
There are a number of interesting films still only available in the U.K. on Blu Ray and I understand some excellent films in the pipeline. Some that come to mind include:
Ruggles of Red Gap (1935) - was released in 2012 by Eureka - Masters of Cinema and I amazed that it has shown up yet in the U.S. (aside from what I understand to be an ordinary DVD-R release as part of the Universal Vault Series. It's a perfect release for Criterion;
Carl Theodor Dreyer Collection released by the BFI in 2015 worth considering for Day of Wrath (1943) & Ordet (1955). It's a limited edition with loads of interesting extra features;
The Tarnished Angels & A Time To Love and a Time To Die, both directed by Douglas Sirk. It's possible that A Time To Love has sold out but is still available on DVD. The Tarnished Angels is very much in the vein of Sirk's most celebrated 50's classics, whilst A Time To Love is a more somber effort and not surprisingly as Sirk was attracted to the project due to his own son's death on the Russian front in WW2. I recall that A Time To Love was a favourite of Damien;
The Lion in Winter - recently restored and looking the best it ever has it also includes the commentary from the U.S. DVD by director Anthony Harvey. There have been numerous rumours of this coming out in the U.S. on Blu Ray but there have also been rumours of issues of the U.S. rights to the restoration;
Things to Come - I'd wait and see if it gets a Blu Ray release in the U.S. but if not the Curzon Artificial Eye will certainly we worthy considering though it is light on special features (if any);
Two Women - released by a new company called Cult Films who have some interesting films coming up including Umberto D. (probably the greatest Italian film of it's era) & Visconti's last film The Innocent - one of his lesser efforts but I'm very interested to see who is has aged;
Fallen Idol - Carol Reed was nominated for a Best Director Oscar and the restoration is very good (if you purchase this one be careful where from because there was a problem with the first pressing and they were recalled but you never know who is trying to sell copies of the first pressing over the internet);
The Flight of the Phoenix (Eureka - Masters of Cinema) - Restoration of Robert Aldrich's minor classic;
I Wanna Hold Your Hand - Fabulous Films - Big improvement over the original US DVD release of Robert Zemeckis' directoral debut, however it lacks the director's commentary;
Our Little Sister, Like Father Like Son & I Wish all directed by Koreeda Hirokazu and all on Blu Ray in the UK. I was shocked to discover that Our Little Sister is only released on DVD-R by Sony in the U.S. Our Little Sister & Like Father Like Son look great, I Wish less so but it didn't look that great at the cinema either.
Coming soon from Curzon Artificial Eye is a Louis Malle box set which will include Elevator to the Gallows, The Lovers, Zazie dans le Metro, The Fire Within, Murmur of the Heart, Lacombe Lucien, Black Moon, My Dinner with Andrew, Au Revoir Les Enfants & May Fools (Milou in May). It will be interesting to see if they use the same masters the Studiocanal used on the French Blu Rays as some people had problems with some of those (Eleavtor & The Fire Within). I personally found them all very good but was only disappointed with Atlantic City which had a teal look to it as opposed to the more natural look of the US DVD. (Atlantic City is not included in the upcoming Malle box set).
One also needs to be careful too as some Blu Ray release turn out to be duds. This tend to happen far more with releases outside the U.S. than U.S. releases. A case in point is the Andrei Tarkovsky films released by Curzon Artificial Eye in 2016. Stalker is apparently quiet muddy. An older print of the film was used for the transfer as they couldn't get the rights to the recent restoration which is apparently speculator. There is hope that Criterion will be able to get access to the restoration.
I would also recommend checking some sites before buying. DVD Beaver is useful as are these two forums for Blu-Rays:
http://forum.blu-ray.com
http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/ind ... 7ecbc7b059
I check out the threads relating to the various companies from the U.S. and U.K on a daily basis.
There are a lot of great labels in the U.K. and sometimes English friendly releases from France, Italy & Germany of local films. I tend to purchase most of my films through Amazon and sellers through Amazon. However, most of the distributors in the U.K. sell directly to the public and have sales on a regular basis. A few words of warning in relation to France, Italy, Germany and other non-English countries. Buying English language films from them can be a problem in relation to subtitling. France tends to impose the French subtitles on lots of English language films that cannot be removed by manipulating the remote control. Reunion direct by Jerry Schatzberg is a good example. The Blu-Ray is stunning but marred by forced French subtitles. However, most German & Italian Blu-Rays of English language films have removable subtitles however if a part of the film is in another language it will be missing English subtitles. Always worth keeping those issues in mind.
There are a number of interesting films still only available in the U.K. on Blu Ray and I understand some excellent films in the pipeline. Some that come to mind include:
Ruggles of Red Gap (1935) - was released in 2012 by Eureka - Masters of Cinema and I amazed that it has shown up yet in the U.S. (aside from what I understand to be an ordinary DVD-R release as part of the Universal Vault Series. It's a perfect release for Criterion;
Carl Theodor Dreyer Collection released by the BFI in 2015 worth considering for Day of Wrath (1943) & Ordet (1955). It's a limited edition with loads of interesting extra features;
The Tarnished Angels & A Time To Love and a Time To Die, both directed by Douglas Sirk. It's possible that A Time To Love has sold out but is still available on DVD. The Tarnished Angels is very much in the vein of Sirk's most celebrated 50's classics, whilst A Time To Love is a more somber effort and not surprisingly as Sirk was attracted to the project due to his own son's death on the Russian front in WW2. I recall that A Time To Love was a favourite of Damien;
The Lion in Winter - recently restored and looking the best it ever has it also includes the commentary from the U.S. DVD by director Anthony Harvey. There have been numerous rumours of this coming out in the U.S. on Blu Ray but there have also been rumours of issues of the U.S. rights to the restoration;
Things to Come - I'd wait and see if it gets a Blu Ray release in the U.S. but if not the Curzon Artificial Eye will certainly we worthy considering though it is light on special features (if any);
Two Women - released by a new company called Cult Films who have some interesting films coming up including Umberto D. (probably the greatest Italian film of it's era) & Visconti's last film The Innocent - one of his lesser efforts but I'm very interested to see who is has aged;
Fallen Idol - Carol Reed was nominated for a Best Director Oscar and the restoration is very good (if you purchase this one be careful where from because there was a problem with the first pressing and they were recalled but you never know who is trying to sell copies of the first pressing over the internet);
The Flight of the Phoenix (Eureka - Masters of Cinema) - Restoration of Robert Aldrich's minor classic;
I Wanna Hold Your Hand - Fabulous Films - Big improvement over the original US DVD release of Robert Zemeckis' directoral debut, however it lacks the director's commentary;
Our Little Sister, Like Father Like Son & I Wish all directed by Koreeda Hirokazu and all on Blu Ray in the UK. I was shocked to discover that Our Little Sister is only released on DVD-R by Sony in the U.S. Our Little Sister & Like Father Like Son look great, I Wish less so but it didn't look that great at the cinema either.
Coming soon from Curzon Artificial Eye is a Louis Malle box set which will include Elevator to the Gallows, The Lovers, Zazie dans le Metro, The Fire Within, Murmur of the Heart, Lacombe Lucien, Black Moon, My Dinner with Andrew, Au Revoir Les Enfants & May Fools (Milou in May). It will be interesting to see if they use the same masters the Studiocanal used on the French Blu Rays as some people had problems with some of those (Eleavtor & The Fire Within). I personally found them all very good but was only disappointed with Atlantic City which had a teal look to it as opposed to the more natural look of the US DVD. (Atlantic City is not included in the upcoming Malle box set).
One also needs to be careful too as some Blu Ray release turn out to be duds. This tend to happen far more with releases outside the U.S. than U.S. releases. A case in point is the Andrei Tarkovsky films released by Curzon Artificial Eye in 2016. Stalker is apparently quiet muddy. An older print of the film was used for the transfer as they couldn't get the rights to the recent restoration which is apparently speculator. There is hope that Criterion will be able to get access to the restoration.
I would also recommend checking some sites before buying. DVD Beaver is useful as are these two forums for Blu-Rays:
http://forum.blu-ray.com
http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/ind ... 7ecbc7b059
I check out the threads relating to the various companies from the U.S. and U.K on a daily basis.
There are a lot of great labels in the U.K. and sometimes English friendly releases from France, Italy & Germany of local films. I tend to purchase most of my films through Amazon and sellers through Amazon. However, most of the distributors in the U.K. sell directly to the public and have sales on a regular basis. A few words of warning in relation to France, Italy, Germany and other non-English countries. Buying English language films from them can be a problem in relation to subtitling. France tends to impose the French subtitles on lots of English language films that cannot be removed by manipulating the remote control. Reunion direct by Jerry Schatzberg is a good example. The Blu-Ray is stunning but marred by forced French subtitles. However, most German & Italian Blu-Rays of English language films have removable subtitles however if a part of the film is in another language it will be missing English subtitles. Always worth keeping those issues in mind.