British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[Dailyan]

I'm glad to see more Bogdanovich on Blu. I've been wanting to see "Targets" for a while.

[CelestialAgent]

This is all I could have ever dreamt of and more <3

I’m so gay for Mädchen in Uniform does the BFI want to unleash the hidden lesbian inside me huh

Which are the best of the Dietrichs? Any not so good?

[jackranderson]

More Dietrich? Oh sweet jesus, thank you!

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Huge news - BFI releasing Bogdanovich's Targets in March, along with some other goodies:

Blue Sky (18th January)

Marlene Dietrich at Universal, 1940-1942 (4-Film Collection) (18th January)

Madchen in Uniform (8th March)

Romeo is Bleeding (8th March)

Targets (22nd March)

Ben Stoddart has been very pessimistic about the prospects of UK labels licencing from Paramount - perhaps he was just trying to pull the wool over our eyes?

Looks like I will be getting the Dietrich set since I haven't got around to getting the Kino releases yet.

[havalina]

Fantastic news about Targets. And Madchen in Uniform, always good to see more Weimar.

Dietrich set looks nice package but those kind of films don't really appeal to me (seen The Spoilers only but they look of similar ilk to that). Great for her fans though, she getting pretty well represented on blu now.

[tomaren]

Some of the titles that were £7 on HMV yesterday (e.g. Odds Against Tomorrow, Vivre sa vie, Madame de, some of the Ozus) are back up to £14.99 now. Kicking myself for not buying them there and then!

I had thought it was a bit odd that these were priced at £7 (rather than £6.99) and weren't marked as sale items, so I guess these price decreases were independent of the sale.

[justwannaboogie]

What a slate! So in for the Dietrich set and Targets is a great film.

[Big Jim McLain]

The Dietrich set looks very nice, especially since three of the four titles in the set are also John Wayne titles . Think I’ll have to pick this up.

[Yami]

Phenomenal line up. Madchen in Uniform is a masterpiece, and I've been very close to importing the Kino. Hopefully it includes more extras in that release - I've got my fingers crossed for Anna und Elisabeth. Targets has been my most wanted Paramount title for a long time (and very conspicuously absent from the format) so I'm very excited for that one - advertised as coming from a new remaster to boot.

The Dietrich set looks nice, hot on the heels of the Southbank's Dietrich season (which must now be in question, with lockdown and all), but I don't think any of the films in the set actually interest me. I would have been much more interested in a set of her early German films.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Huge news - BFI releasing Bogdanovich's Targets in March, along with some other goodies:

Blue Sky (18th January)

Marlene Dietrich at Universal, 1940-1942 (4-Film Collection) (18th January)

Madchen in Uniform (8th March)

Romeo is Bleeding (8th March)

Targets (22nd March)

Ben Stoddart has been very pessimistic about the prospects of UK labels licencing from Paramount - perhaps he was just trying to pull the wool over our eyes?

Holy crap! Targets is the best announcement for a long time. I've wanted to see that film for years - one of my best friends went out with a freelance illustrator years ago who was doing work for Little White Lies, and he was asked to watch Targets in order to do a commission for them (it was published but I forget which issue). I'd never heard of it but was aware of Bogdanovich to some extent (both as a director and an actor in The Sopranos, but I don't think I'd seen Paper Moon at that point) so was immediately curious to see it. However, I never hunted it down on DVD and assumed one day it might make it to Blu-ray. It took almost a decade but here we are!

As for the others, I'm very intrigued by the Dietrich set of course (especially the René Clair one; as well as appearances from John Wayne and Randolph Scott), and both Romeo is Bleeding and Blue Sky look interesting. Never heard of Mädchen in Uniform but will get that eventually too.

Great that more boutique labels have Paramount deals. I never thought BFI would get something like Targets - I had assumed MoC would be the closest to bagging a title like that! Hopefully we get more from Eureka/Indicator/Arrow in the new year as there are plenty of titles in the Paramount vaults begging to get rediscovered in HD!

[Rutger Lundgren]

I saw Romeo is Bleeding on TV years ago, and I remember liking it quite a bit. I guess it's finally time to revisit it.

[benkell]

What a fantastic selection of titles,as with many other posters Targets has been on my most wanted list for ages,still got a home recording on VHS of this from the early 90's.

Romeo Is Bleeding is another title i have come close to importing the Twilight Time release in the past,great that the BFI,Indicator et al are putting out some of these TT releases,will probably get Madchen In Uniform as well.

[CrockettandTubbs]

Wasn't Targets on BBC2's Moviedrome in the 90s?

That's the last time I saw it!

EDIT:

It was -

https://moviedromer.tumblr.com/post/...8/targets-1968

[benkell]

Originally Posted by CrockettandTubbs

Wasn't Targets on BBC2's Moviedrome in the 90s?

That's the last time I saw it!

EDIT:

It was -

https://moviedromer.tumblr.com/post/...8/targets-1968

That must be the transmission i taped, thought it was earlier than 1998.

Probably been said dozens of times on these boards before,but what a phenomenal series Moviedrome was back in the day,i saw so many great movies for the first time during it's run.

[floor pie]

Originally Posted by CelestialAgent

This is all I could have ever dreamt of and more <3

I’m so gay for Mädchen in Uniform does the BFI want to unleash the hidden lesbian inside me huh

Which are the best of the Dietrichs? Any not so good?

Saw The Spoilers on MUBI. Not so hot. John Wayne does blackface briefly. It's got a fun barroom fight at the end, although I remember spotting a mattress one of the stunt doubles fell on.

[nitin]

Hmm, not top tier Diretrich films by any stretch (was Angel not available to them?) but Targets is wonderful news as is Madchen in Uniform.

[blujazz]

Went and saw MOGUL MOWGLI before everything closes again on Thursday and let me tell you, if you can, definitely worth a visit - Riz Ahmed firing on all cylinders.

[rossbirks]

Oooh Targets is a brilliant announcement! I used to own the long OOP US Paramount DVD and have been keen to revisit this recently.

Tarantino actually did a pretty good write-up about Targets over on the New Bev blog in March. Maybe BFI could try include it in the booklet?

[MichalisM]

I just had a quick look at bfi's recent release of Capra's Pocketful of Miracles. It's a very good transfer and the booklet is excellent, quite text heavy in high-quality glossy paper. For the retail price I consider it a bargain and a must-own for Capra fans.

[Telstar]

Just read an early review of Dementia that reports several instances of missing footage, including one key image towards the end. Huge disappointment.