Hidden City (Stephen Poliakoff, Charles Dance, Bill Paterson, May 2024)

[Nitroes]

An exciting release with a great cast and director. Not seen it in eons.

Buying it for the cast.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095298/reference

https://shop.bfi.org.uk/hidden-city-blu-ray.html
https://hmv.com/store/film-tv/blu-ray/hidden-city
https://www.rarewaves.com/pages/sear...0&type=product (yet to be listed)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CTMXCXNG/

[James Luckard]

I'm a huge Poliakoff fan. Depressingly few of his films have made it to HD.

A new remaster of this was uploaded to Film Rise, a US YouTube site, a few years ago, looking forward to being able to buy it on disc.

[ukpaul]

As a film director, Poliakoff has only had Glorious 39 on blu before this, and only released in the US. As Hidden City was released theatrically before it was on television, I'm interested to see what aspect ratio this is. Other versions I've seen have been 4:3 but is there a widescreen version?

Close My Eyes remains only on DVD, as does Century, but that is also in the wrong ratio. Food of Love only appears to be available via streaming.

It's with his TV series that he really excels, in my opinion. It would be great to see things like Shooting the Past and Perfect Strangers in HD. I have blus of The Lost Prince, Dancing on the Edge and Close to the Enemy (the latter two also only available in US editions) and that's your lot. The DVD I have (the only one?) of The Tribe is one of the most appalling quality discs that I own. Non-amorphic and a highly dodgy transfer.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by ukpaul

As a film director, Poliakoff has only had Glorious 39 on blu before this, and only released in the US. As Hidden City was released theatrically before it was on television, I'm interested to see what aspect ratio this is. Other versions I've seen have been 4:3 but is there a widescreen version?

Close My Eyes remains only on DVD, as does Century, but that is also in the wrong ratio. Food of Love only appears to be available via streaming.

It's with his TV series that he really excels, in my opinion. It would be great to see things like Shooting the Past and Perfect Strangers in HD. I have blus of The Lost Prince, Dancing on the Edge and Close to the Enemy (the latter two also only available in US editions) and that's your lot. The DVD I have (the only one?) of The Tribe is one of the most appalling quality discs that I own. Non-amorphic and a highly dodgy transfer.

I believe the new remaster of Hidden City was either 1.66 or 1.85 when Film Rise uploaded it to YouTube a couple of years back. It looked great. I'll check when I get home.

As far as I know, Century isn't on DVD anywhere, just VHS.

I agree, his miniseries are his best work.

Shooting the Past and Perfect Strangers are his masterpieces, to my mind, along with The Lost Prince.

As for his works as writer, with other directors:

Hitting Town is on DVD in the UK:


Bloody Kids is on DVD in the UK:


Soft Targets is also on DVD, but its release was VERY strange. The BBC did a "Helen Mirren at the BBC" box set, in both the UK and the US. The content on the sets was different in each country, possibly for contractual reasons. Soft Targets is only on the US edition of the DVD set:


Runners is also on DVD in the US:


She's Been Away (which I really liked) has never had any commercial release anywhere in the world, as far as I know, but it's been on YouTube for over a decade, without the BBC coming after it, and it's currently on BBC iPlayer, for anyone with a UK ISP:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...shes-been-away

[ukpaul]

Yes, you're right about Century, I must have been remembering the VHS.

Poliakoff's original theatre version of Hitting Town was paired with a play which foregrounded minor characters from it (DJ and waitress), called 'City Sugar'. It was also filmed for television but no media release at all and I've never come across an off air copy. I'd be grateful if anyone has any info. on its whereabouts.

For completists, there's also a couple of World Wildlife Fund Shorts, 'Astonish Me' (as writer, directed by Charles Sturridge) and 'Virunga' (as director). Both available on the web.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by ukpaul

Yes, you're right about Century, I must have been remembering the VHS.

Poliakoff's original theatre version of Hitting Town was paired with a play which foregrounded minor characters from it (DJ and waitress), called 'City Sugar'. It was also filmed for television but no media release at all and I've never come across an off air copy. I'd be grateful if anyone has any info. on its whereabouts.

For completists, there's also a couple of World Wildlife Fund Shorts, 'Astonish Me' (as writer, directed by Charles Sturridge) and 'Virunga' (as director). Both available on the web.

I've seen various brief clips of City Sugar online over the years, this one is on YouTube at the moment:

snippet of Tim Curry in City Sugar - YouTube

I've never found a source for the entire TV film, however. It's the only major filmed work of his I haven't seen.

I was the one who updated his IMDB to include Astonish Me, and I think I added Virunga too.

[James Luckard]

I found the remaster of HIDDEN CITY that was posted by FilmRise on YouTube. Turns out it was back in late 2017. Yikes, time flies. I can't guarantee it's the same master that'll be used for the upcoming BD, but I'd be a bit surprised for such an obscure film to have two new HD masters created so close together.

The master FilmRise posted was 1.66, pillarboxed within a 1.78 frame:

Here are a few screencaps. Again, to be 1000% clear, THESE ARE NOT FROM THE UPCOMING BLU-RAY, THEY ARE FROM A RECENT REMASTER THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE SAME. I'm only including them as an example of how good the disc may look:

[James Luckard]

Here are some comparison caps I did at the time between the FilmRise master and the existing DVD:

DVD:


FilmRise:


DVD:


FilmRise:

[Nitroes]

Finalised artwork:

[James Luckard]

Looks much better, more dramatic.
First cover looked like a movie about someone who's on hold with customer service, listening to muzak.

I hope it sells really well and leads the BFI to do more Poliakoff BDs.

[bn_oakes]

This is great news! I saw this at the Barbican in 2013, followed by a Q&A with Poliakoff.
The film I would love to see get a release though is CENTURY. It’s only available on VHS or very poor quality rips on youtube, with terrible audio. The other Clive Owen film (Close My Eyes) is available in HD digitally, so I wonder why Century has been so neglected?

It would nice to have a release of Food of Love also, even if only on DVD. The only way to see it right now is to rent it via the BFI Player.


I’ll be buying Hidden City though, for sure…

[bn_oakes]

Originally Posted by ukpaul

As a film director, Poliakoff has only had Glorious 39 on blu before this, and only released in the US. As Hidden City was released theatrically before it was on television, I'm interested to see what aspect ratio this is. Other versions I've seen have been 4:3 but is there a widescreen version?

Close My Eyes remains only on DVD, as does Century, but that is also in the wrong ratio. Food of Love only appears to be available via streaming.

It's with his TV series that he really excels, in my opinion. It would be great to see things like Shooting the Past and Perfect Strangers in HD. I have blus of The Lost Prince, Dancing on the Edge and Close to the Enemy (the latter two also only available in US editions) and that's your lot. The DVD I have (the only one?) of The Tribe is one of the most appalling quality discs that I own. Non-amorphic and a highly dodgy transfer.

Hi. Would you say that The Lost Prince is worth the upgrade? I’ve not been able to find any sort of comparison or review of it online.

[ukpaul]

Originally Posted by bn_oakes

Hi. Would you say that The Lost Prince is worth the upgrade? I’ve not been able to find any sort of comparison or review of it online.

I'm afraid I don't have the DVD to compare it to, anymore. I can only presume that the improvement to 1080i, though not the highest resolution, still bests what a DVD could show.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by bn_oakes

Hi. Would you say that The Lost Prince is worth the upgrade? I’ve not been able to find any sort of comparison or review of it online.

The Lost Prince BD is definitely an improvement on the DVD, but be aware that the BBC chose to make the BD 1080p, so they had to slow the film down from its native 25fps to 24fps.

The increase in image quality is definitely worth it to me, but the slowed video and resulting pitch shift in audio is a bit annoying.

[ukpaul]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

The Lost Prince BD is definitely an improvement on the DVD, but be aware that the BBC chose to make the BD 1080p, so they had to slow the film down from its native 25fps to 24fps.

The increase in image quality is definitely worth it to me, but the slowed video and resulting pitch shift in audio is a bit annoying.

Are you sure it's p? Mine is definitely 1080i (at least that's what the cover says).

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by ukpaul

Are you sure it's p? Mine is definitely 1080i (at least that's what the cover says).

Hmm, is it possible for a BD to be 1080i but also 24fps?

I remember the disc being slowed down and not at the native 25fps.

I'll try and check tonight.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Hmm, is it possible for a BD to be 1080i but also 24fps?

I remember the disc being slowed down and not at the native 25fps.

I'll try and check tonight.

The Lost Prince could be 1080/60i (which may show up as 29.97 fps) or 1080p, which was the case with many early BBC Blu-rays, even if they weren't sold in the USA. For example, Brideshead Revisited (2008) was released a month afterwards and is apparently 1080p, even though the case says 1080i and it wasn't sold in the USA:



Either way, if it turns out to be 1080/50i, I would love to pick up a copy.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

The Lost Prince could be 1080/60i (which may show up as 29.97 fps) or 1080p, which was the case with many early BBC Blu-rays, even if they weren't sold in the USA. For example, Brideshead Revisited (2008) was released a month afterwards and is apparently 1080p, even though the case says 1080i and it wasn't sold in the USA:

Either way, if it turns out to be 1080/50i, I would love to pick up a copy.

I can definitely check the running time, to see if it's slowed down. I'm 99.999% sure it is.

I'm not 1000% sure how I'd check the video format though. I'll do my best.

My Panasonic player won't play discs that are PAL or 25fps, as far as I know, so that's usually a good test. Those discs have to be played in my cheap backup regionless player.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I can definitely check the running time, to see if it's slowed down. I'm 99.999% sure it is.

I'm not 1000% sure how I'd check the video format though. I'll do my best.

My Panasonic player won't play discs that are PAL or 25fps, as far as I know, so that's usually a good test. Those discs have to be played in my cheap backup regionless player.

The PAL DVD says 179 minutes (I don't own it):

[Show spoiler]

Assuming that's accurate, if the Blu-ray is sped down to 1080p24 fps, it would be 186-187 minutes. If the Blu-ray is 1080/60i, it would have the PAL runtime, but probably show as 29.97 fps or 59.94 fps. It would not show as 25 fps.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

The PAL DVD says 179 minutes (I don't own it):

Assuming that's accurate, if the Blu-ray is sped down to 1080p24 fps, it would be 186-187 minutes. If the Blu-ray is 1080/60i, it would have the PAL runtime, but probably show as 29.97 fps or 59.94 fps. It would not show as 25 fps.

It's definitely slowed down to 24fps, it runs 3:07:45.

Here's the info that shows up when I hit "Playback Info" on the remote: