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Posted: |
Dec 19, 2014 - 6:04 PM
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By: |
johnjohnson
(Member)
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British distributors Arrow Video have announced that they will add a number of exciting new titles to their Blu-ray catalog. Amongst them are Norman Jewison's Rollerball, Sidney Lumet's Network, Tonino Valerii's Day of Anger, and Alexander Mackendrick's Sweet Smell of Success.
Please note that the announcement includes upcoming U.S. and UK releases. (See the listed specs).
UK RELEASE: Rollerball
In a corporate-controlled future, the world's nations have been disbanded and conflict is a thing of the past. But blood continues to be shed on the tracks of Rollerball – a brutal contact sport which pits players in a battle of life and death.
James Caan (The Godfather, Thief, Misery) plays Jonathan E., celebrated captain of the Houston Rollerball team whose prowess on the track has earned him renown across the globe. But this fame has also attracted the ire of the games' corporate sponsors, who wish to suppress any displays of individual achievement – fearing this could encourage the populace to revolt. With the powers-that-be pushing for his retirement, Jonathan is faced with a choice – concede to the Corporation's will or take a stand, by continuing to compete in the increasingly deadly games.
Shot in Munich to make use of the city's futuristic Olympic architecture, Rollerball is a classic slice of dystopian filmmaking, mixing high-octane action sequences with gripping (and thoroughly prescient) social commentary. The future is now – the future is Rollerball!
Special Features:
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the film from a digital transfer prepared by MGM Studios
Original Stereo 2.0 audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
Isolated Music and Effects Soundtrack
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio Commentary with director Norman Jewison
Audio Commentary with writer William Harrison
Blood Sports with James Caan – A brand-new interview with the Rollerball star
The Fourth City: Shooting Rollerball in Munich – Unit manager Dieter Meyer and others revisit the Audi Dome and other original locations
The Bike Work: Craig R. Baxley on the Motorcycle Stunts in Rollerball – Stunt artist Baxley on the challenges and dangers of being one of the Rollerball bikers
Return to the Arena: The Making of Rollerball
From Rome to Rollerball: The Full Circle – original EPK bringing together interviews and on-set footage
Original Theatrical Trailer
Theatrical Teaser
TV Spots
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper
Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film, illustrated with original archive stills and posters.
UK RELEASE: Tales of Terror
In his earlier Edgar Allan Poe films, Roger Corman took short stories by the great Gothic master and expanded them into full-length features. Here, by contrast, the stories stay short, the only other thing they have in common being the participation of Vincent Price.
In 'Morella', Price plays a tormented man forced to confront a dark family secret when his long-estranged daughter tracks him down. In 'The Black Cat', he's the rakish lover of the wife of Peter Lorre, who naturally plots a deadly revenge. And in the title role of 'The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar', he tries to relieve chronic pain by asking Basil Rathbone to hypnotise him, something that leaves poor Valdemar hovering on the border between the dead and the living.
Corman's previous Poe films were played completely straight, and parts of Tales of Terror are as authentically creepy as any of them. But he also stirred comedy into the Poe brew for the first time, particularly in the scenes between Price and Lorre.
Special Features:
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM
Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
The Directors: Roger Corman, an hour-long documentary on the filmmaker featuring contributions from James Cameron, Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard
Cats in Horror Films, critic and novelist Anne Billson discusses the contributions of our feline friends to genre cinema
The Black Cat, a 1993 short film adaptation of Poe's classic tale directed by Rob Green (The Bunker)
Kim Newman on Edgar Allan Poe, the novelist and critic looks at Poe's influence on the big screen
Original Theatrical Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford
Collector's booklet featuring new writing by Roger Clark and Rob Green, illustrated with original stills and artwork
STREET DATE: MARCH 9, 2015.
UK RELEASE: The Raven
Although The Raven is one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous poems, the lack of a narrative hook initially stumped screenwriting legend Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Duel) until he realised that the idea of adapting the poem was so ridiculous that he might as well make it a comedy.
And what a comedy! Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff play rival magicians whose paths cross when Dr Craven (Price) hears Dr Bedlo tap-tap-tapping on his windowpane. For Bedlo has been turned into a raven by Dr Scarabus (Karloff), and when transformed back into his old self he naturally vows revenge. But the scripted rivalry is as nothing compared to three great horror masters relentlessly upstaging each other - even a young Jack Nicholson, as Bedlo's son, barely gets a look-in.
If there's not much authentic Poe in these sorcery shenanigans, the sets and cinematography more than compensate: director Roger Corman was by then a master of conjuring Gothic atmosphere on a very modest budget.
Special Features:
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM
Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Peter Lorre: The Double Face, Harun Farocki's 1984 documentary, subtitled in English for the first time
Richard Matheson: Storyteller, an interview with the legendary novelist and screenwriter
Corman's Comedy of Poe, an interview with Roger Corman about making The Raven
The Trick, a short film about rival magicians by Rob Green (The Bunker)
Promotional Record
Stills and Poster Gallery
Original Theatrical Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Vladimir Zimakov
Collector's booklet featuring new writing by Vic Pratt and Rob Green, illustrated with original stills and artwork
STREET DATE: MARCH 9, 2015.
UK RELEASE: Network
In 1976 two of the key players in the Golden Age of Television, writer Paddy Chayefsky and director Sidney Lumet, delivered a coruscating attack – at once savage and hilarious – on the medium that made their names.
SINCE THIS SHOW IS THE ONLY I HAD GOING FOR ME IN MY LIFE, I'VE DECIDED TO KILL MYSELF.
To speak Chayefsky's Oscar-winning dialogue, Lumet enlisted a powerhouse cast list, including Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch (as 'the mad prophet of the airwaves' Howard Beale), Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty and Beatrice Straight. Four of them would be nominated for Academy Awards, three would win.
I'M GOING TO BLOW MY BRAINS OUT RIGHT ON THIS PROGRAMME A WEEK FROM TODAY.
As well as its four Oscars, Network was also garlanded with a quartet of Golden Globes, a BAFTA and numerous other awards. In the years since its release, its reputation has only grown: the Library of Congress granted it a place on their prestigious National Film Registry; the American Film Institute named it as one of the greatest American films of all time; and the Writers Guild of America declared it screenplay one of the ten best of all time. It remains a true classic.
SO TUNE IN NEXT TUESDAY.
Special Features:
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the film
Uncompressed mono PCM audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
The Directors: Sidney Lumet - a 1999 documentary on the director, containing interviews with Jack Lemmon, Rod Steiger, Christopher Walken and others
Tune in Next Tuesday - a visual essay by Dave Itzkoff, the author of Mad as Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies
Theatrical Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw
Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Mike Sutton and an American Cinematographer article by director of photography Owen Roizman, illustrated with original stills and artwork
STREET DATE: MARCH 23, 2015.
U.S. RELEASE: Blind Woman's Curse
From Teruo Ishii "The King of Cult", Blind Woman's Curse (also known as Black Cat's Revenge) is a thrilling Yakuza film featuring eye-popping visuals, sensational fight sequences and the gorgeous Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood, Stray Cat Rock), in her first major role.
Akemi (Kaji) is a dragon tattooed leader of the Tachibana Yakuza clan. In a duel with a rival gang Akemi slashes the eyes of an opponent and a black cat appears, to lap the blood from the gushing wound. The cat along with the eye-victim go on to pursue Akemi's gang in revenge, leaving a trail of dead Yakuza girls, their dragon tattoos skinned from their bodies.
A bizarre blend of the female Yakuza film and traditional Japanese ghost story, with a strong dash of grotesque-erotica (the same movement was a sensibility of Edogawa Rampo whose works were adapted by Ishii in Horrors of Malformed Men), Blind Woman's Curse is a delirious mash-up of classic genre tropes, of which Ishii was no stranger, having directed everything from Super Giant films to Biker movies!
Special Features:
New high definition digital transfer of the film prepared by Nikkatsu Studios
Presented in High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD
Uncompressed mono PCM audio
Newly translated English subtitles
Audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp
Original Trailer
Trailers for four of the films in the Meiko Kaji-starring Stray Cat Rock series, made at the same studio as Blind Woman's Curse
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes, illustrated with original archive stills.
STREET DATE: MARCH 24, 2015.
UK/U.S. RELEASE: Day of Anger
When Sergio Leone turned Lee Van Cleef into a major star with For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the actor sensibly stayed in Italy to make several more spaghetti westerns, including this one from Leone's former assistant Tonino Valerii that genre aficionados rank amongst the best ever made.
Giuliano Gemma plays street cleaner Scott Mary, relentlessly bullied by the people of the small town of Clifton. When legendarily ruthless master gunfighter Frank Talby (Van Cleef) rides into town, Scott seizes the opportunity to lift himself out of the gutter, and possibly even surpass Talby's own skills. But what is Talby doing in Clifton in the first place?
This lively, intelligent western, notable for the chemistry between its charismatic leads, some memorable action set-pieces (including a rifle duel on horseback that has to be seen to be believed), and a jazzy Riz Ortolani score, is presented here in an exclusive high-definition restoration from the original Techniscope negative.
Special Features:
Brand new restoration of the original 35mm Techniscope camera negative
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of both the Italian and International versions of the film
Original uncompressed mono audio
Newly translated English subtitles for Italian audio and optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for English audio
Brand new interview with screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi
An interview programme featuring archival interviews with director Tonino Valerii and a newly recorded interview with his biographer, Roberto Curti
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Reinhard Kleist
Booklet featuring new writing on the film by spaghetti western expert Howard Hughes, illustrated with original archive stills
STREET DATE: MARCH 30 (UK), MARCH 31 (USA)
UK RELEASE: Sweet Smell of Success
One of the darkest films ever to come out of the Hollywood mainstream - both literally and figuratively - this spellbindingly cynical study of Machiavellian media machinations in a neon-drenched New York City was the first and best American film by Alexander Mackendrick, who already had several Ealing Studios classics on his CV (Whisky Galore, The Man in the White Suit, Mandy, The Ladykillers) when he crossed the Atlantic.
Considering his star status, Burt Lancaster was famously fearless when it came to risking audience sympathies, and he gives one of his most memorable performances as ruthless gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker, who'll go to any lengths to break up his sister's unsuitable romance, even if it means destroying the reputation of press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis).
Brilliantly scripted by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman from the latter's autobiographical short story, and filmed in gleaming monochrome by legendary cinematographer James Wong Howe, Sweet Smell of Success is one of the greatest and most clear-eyed of all American films, lifting up the stone of Fifties decorum and unflinchingly revealing what was crawling underneath.
Special Features:
Restored High Definition (1080p) presentation of a digital transfer from the original 35mm camera negative
Original uncompressed PCM mono 1.0 audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
New video essay by critic and film historian Philip Kemp, author of Lethal Innocence: The Cinema of Alexander Mackendrick
Mackendrick: The Man Who Walked Away - Dermot McQuarrie's Scottish Television documentary from 1986, featuring interviews with Mackendrick, Burt Lancaster, producer James Hill and many others
Theatrical trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring an original poster and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Walker
Collector's booklet with new writing on the film by Michael Brooke and excerpts from Alexander Mackendrick's writings on film directing, illustrated with original stills and posters.
STREET DATE: MARCH 16, 2015.
U.S. Release: Mark of the Devil
Once proclaimed as "positively the most horrifying film ever made", Mark of the Devil arrives in a director-approved edition featuring a new restoration of the feature.
A bloody and brutal critique of religious corruption, Mark of the Devil sees horror icon Udo Kier (Flesh for Frankenstein, Suspiria) play a witchfinder's apprentice whose faith in his master (Herbert Lom) becomes severely tested when they settle in an Austrian village. Presided over by the sadistic Albino (a memorably nasty turn from Reggie Nalder), the film presents its morality not so much in shades of grey as shades of black.
Written and directed by Michael Armstrong, who would later pen Eskimo Nell, The Black Panther and House of the Long Shadows, this classic shocker has lost none of its power over the years.
Special Features:
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements
Optional English and German audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Newly translated English subtitles for the German audio
Audio commentary by director and co-writer Michael Armstrong, moderated by Calum Waddell
Mark of the Times – exclusive feature-length documentary from High Rising Productions on the emergence of the 'new wave' of British horror directors that surfaced during the sixties and seventies, featuring contributions from Michael Armstrong, Norman J. Warren (Terror), David McGillivray (Frightmare), Professor Peter Hutchings (author of Hammer and Beyond) and famed film critic Kim Newman
Hallmark of the Devil – author and critic Michael Gingold looks back at Hallmark Releasing, the controversial and confrontational distributor that introduced Mark of the Devil to theaters
Interviews with composer Michael Holm and actors Udo Kier, Herbert Fux, Gaby Fuchs, Ingeborg Schöner and Herbert Lom
Mark of the Devil: Now and Then – a look at the film's locations and how they appear today
Outtakes
Gallery
Reversible Sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Adrian Smith and Anthony Nield, plus an interview with Reggie Nalder by David Del Valle, all illustrated with original stills and artwork
STREET DATE: MARCH 17, 2015.
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=15705
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