British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[pro-bassoonist]

BFI Blu-ray Collection

[McCrutchy]

Sampled from the British Film Institute's press release.

Discover The Flipside

A new DVD and Blu-ray strand from the BFI...a new strand presenting weird and wonderful British films in new high-quality editions on DVD and Blu-ray.

Developed from its popular monthly screening slot at BFI Southbank, the BFI’s Flipside series on DVD and Blu-ray is designed to revisit and reappraise British films that have slipped through the cracks of cinema
history – films that were overlooked, marginalised, or undervalued at the original time of release, or sit outside the established canon of recognised classics. Subject matter will vary widely (and will encompass
everything from nuclear war to Soho striptease, from forbidden love to international intrigue) and is likely to appeal to a diverse range of film fans, many of whom may be unfamiliar with the BFI’s more traditional DVD and Blu-ray output.

All Flipside releases, newly-mastered in HD from original film elements, are presented with a wide array of special features and extensive illustrated booklets containing informative notes and thought-provoking essays. Initial contributors include respected writers Stewart Home and Iain Sinclair.

Three new Flipside titles will appear approximately every three months.

Source

[McCrutchy]

Released in 2008:

Salò Blu-ray.com Review

Region B

Red Desert Blu-ray.com Review

Region B

Released in 2009:

GAZWRX: The Films of Jeff Keen Blu-ray.com Review

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Blu-ray.com Review

Region B

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Blu-ray.com Review

Region B

Nighthawks / Strip Jack Naked Blu-ray.com Review

Arabian Nights Blu-ray.com Review
The Canterbury Tales Blu-ray.com Review
The Decameron Blu-ray.com Review

Region B

The Magick Lantern Cycle

The Other Side of the Underneath Blu-ray.com Review

Separation Blu-ray.com Review

The Bill Douglas Trilogy Blu-ray.com Review

Comrades

Anti-Clock Blu-ray.com Review

Penny Points to Paradise / Let's Go Crazy

Winstanley

Released in 2010:

Institute Benjamenta (BD + DVD) Blu-ray.com Review

To be released in 2010:

The Leopard 21 June

Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary / My Wife's Lodger (BD + DVD) 21 June

Late Spring (BD + DVD) 21 June

Early Summer (BD + DVD) 19 July

Tokyo Story (BD + DVD) 19 July

The Innocents 23 August

BFI Flipside Collection

Released in 2009:

001. The Bed Sitting Room Blu-ray.com Review

Region B

002. London in the Raw Blu-ray.com Review

003. Primitive London Blu-ray.com Review

004. Herostratus Blu-ray.com Review

005. All the Right Noises Blu-ray.com Review

006. Man of Violence / The Big Switch Blu-ray.com Review

Released in 2010:

007. Privilige

Region B

008. That Kind of Girl Blu-ray.com Review

009. Permissive Blu-ray.com Review

010. The Pleasure Girls (BD + DVD)

011. The Party's Over (BD + DVD)

012. Prostitute (BD + DVD)

[DCSholtis]

Also remember The Adelphi Collection. I believe Penny Points To Paradise/Let's Go Crazy is the first one of that series.

[Bruce Morrison]

BFI released a great DVD edition of this amazing film, which I regard as Pasolini's masterpiece. As they have already released Antonioni's 'Red Desert' on BD and have announced Visconti's 'The Leopard', they seem to be building up a catalogue of classic Italian cinema on Blu-ray, so I'm hoping that 'Teorema' won't be far behind. Anyone else interested in this one?

[Bruce Morrison]

I recall that BFI released Tony Richardson's 'The Charge Of The Light Brigade' on DVD several years ago and they have already done one of his earlier films on Blu-ray, so I hope they will get around to this one soon. It has a great satirical script, and Trevor Howard and John Gielgud were never better.

[Alex DeLarge]

BFI is far and away my favorite company for Blu-ray, though Optimum is releasing some great stuff in September. I just hope their mastering is as good as BFI because I was never a big fan of their DVD releases.
I'd love to see TEOREMA in high-definition!

[McCrutchy]

We now have reviews up for the three August Flipside releases, courtesy of Dr. A. (scroll down this post).

[Deco King]

On the You Tube website there is a BFI trailer for Hammer's 1958 version of Dracula ( Horror Of Dracula in the USA ) , this was the trailer for the new print struck by the BFI , and it has a cut restored of a staking sequence. The colours in the trailer look great and the picture quality is excellent.

See the link here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDTxH...om=PL&index=14


So having seen the trailer I telephoned the BFI and discovered happily that the BFI is in discussion with Warner Bros to get the rights to do a DVD and presumably a
Blu Ray from the "new" ( actually about two or three years old now ) print! Let's hope this comes off because the image quality was super!

[HotRats]

Does anyone know hat happened to the Blu release Of Time And The City, I ordered it from Play and its been saying delivery in a fortnight for months now http://www.play.com/DVD/Blu-ray/4-/8...y/Product.html

[HotRats]

Thanks for the info.

[keenan_investigates]

just to let you know, Play.com have lowered the prices on some of their BFI Blu-rays. I just picked up 'Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner' and 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' for 11 quid each, theres quite a few more for £10 or £11, Red Desert, Salo, Bed Sitting Room etc and the Jeff Keen Gazwrx Boxset is £15. I don't think they have been cheaper. Hopefully this is useful to someone.

[Grubert]

Amazon too - which ships to the US

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies...ortby=bestdeal

I ordered:
- The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
- Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
- London in the Raw

[HotRats]

Thanks for that excellent news. Does anyone know if two of my favourites, London and Robinson In Space might get the blu ray treatment

[rezpekt]

Two very early release dates:
"The Innocents" - March 22nd 2010
"The Leopard" - May 10th 2010

Seems that both were originally planned for November this year and have been delayed few times so they may be delayed again.

[demoni]

www.play.com has lowered their prices for Passolini's Arabian Nights, The Canterbury Tales, Salo and The Decameron to £10.99 each.

[demoni]

And as expected; Arabian Nights looked awesome!

[Chippy1969]

Originally Posted by Bruce Morrison

I recall that BFI released Tony Richardson's 'The Charge Of The Light Brigade' on DVD several years ago and they have already done one of his earlier films on Blu-ray, so I hope they will get around to this one soon. It has a great satirical script, and Trevor Howard and John Gielgud were never better.

Agreed this is a movie I would love to see on Blu-Ray, unfortunately the BFI DVD released in 2004 was slashed to ribbons edited down from around 145 minutes to 125 minutes! Hopefully a Blu-Ray release will see the restoration of these 20 minutes

[Bruce Morrison]

Originally Posted by Chippy1969

Agreed this is a movie I would love to see on Blu-Ray, unfortunately the BFI DVD released in 2004 was slashed to ribbons edited down from around 145 minutes to 125 minutes! Hopefully a Blu-Ray release will see the restoration of these 20 minutes

I hadn't realised that. It's surprising for BFI to have released a cut version of a British film. I actually bought the Region 1 DVD edition in the end because it was a slightly better transfer (and of course didn't suffer from the PAL speed-up). But I think there's a better chance of getting a Blu-ray release from BFI in the UK than from Fox/MGM in the US, so I certainly hope they wouldn't release a cut version again.

[John Hodson]

Unfortunately, the BFI lost the home video rights (hence their SD version going OOP), subsequently picked up by Optimum...who have since re-released the same cut version. I wouldn't bank on anything better from them in BD.

Tragic really; times have changed at the BFI since that quite poor version, a BD set from them would have been quite something (particularly since it's rumoured they have filmed, but unused, extras in their vaults).