British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[kidc]

Originally Posted by rapta

There seems to be some confusion about what films are actually included in [Pioneers of African American Cinema]. BFI saying the films span from 1920 to 1946, but the US set states 1915 to 1946. I assumed this would be basically a direct port of the Kino Lorber set, maybe with one or two changes to the extras? I doubt BFI would have any films taken out, let alone added...

The quoted length of BFI is exactly the same as the Kino: 952 minutes. The earliest feature length film on the set is from 1920, perhaps that's what they're counting from?

[rapta]

Originally Posted by kidc

The quoted length of BFI is exactly the same as the Kino: 952 minutes. The earliest feature length film on the set is from 1920, perhaps that's what they're counting from?

The US Kino set:



Length: 1178m
13 Movies, 1915-1946

I guess you're right about them counting from the feature-length films. Maybe the shorts were omitted from the overall running time then?

[kidc]

Huh. Kino's site claims 952 minutes. Please say if you hear confirmation anywhere that the sets are going to be identical.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by kidc

Huh. Kino's site claims 952 minutes. Please say if you hear confirmation anywhere that the sets are going to be identical.

Perhaps they didn't update it. According to the Kickstarter they had to ditch some titles and add others, so that was probably a provisional running time.

I just added all of the separate times up and it adds up to 1178. Is anyone else counting 15 feature films rather than 13 though?

I assume the BFI set will be a direct port of the Kino Lorber one, perhaps with one or two extras added and maybe a different booklet (we'll have to see).

I wonder if the BFI quarterly announcement will be tomorrow? I'm assuming all of the titles have already shown up on Amazon already, but anything else would definitely be a bonus!

[Gerby]

Does anyone know if the BFI Flipside release of Privilege is now OOP?
It's going for silly money on Amazon now, wish I would of picked it up last month now with the others I bought.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by Gerby

Does anyone know if the BFI Flipside release of Privilege is now OOP?
It's going for silly money on Amazon now, wish I would of picked it up last month now with the others I bought.

Yeah I noticed it's been OOP for at least a few weeks (maybe a month) now, and kicking myself for not getting it since it had extras on there that weren't in the Culloden/The War Game release. Oh well, maybe we'll find a copy in-store (HMV/Fopp) or randomly (eBay/Amazon/CeX) for a fair price at some point.

The stupidest thing was it was £8 from MovieMail before they changed their website and I didn't order it then! I assumed it'd be in-print for a while now, but I guess the release of Culloden/The War Game and Edvard Munch meant that people picked up Privilege as well!

[Fnord Prefect]

Originally Posted by Gerby

Does anyone know if the BFI Flipside release of Privilege is now OOP?
It's going for silly money on Amazon now, wish I would of picked it up last month now with the others I bought.

The Flipside branded DVD can still be picked up for about £11.

PMed you about a possible lead re a relatively cheap Blu-ray copy. Please post a comment whether it's in stock or not as I'm sure other folk on here may be interested.

[IanSchultz23]

Maybe it went oop because of a upcoming Watkins boxset?

[Gerby]

Originally Posted by Fnord Prefect

The Flipside branded DVD can still be picked up for about £11.

PMed you about a possible lead re a relatively cheap Blu-ray copy. Please post a comment whether it's in stock or not as I'm sure other folk on here may be interested.

http://shop.readersdigest.co.uk/cult...d-blu-ray.html
Just placed an order for it from here if anyone's interested. £9.98 in p&p.
Got an email receipt so hopefully that means it's in stock & will ship shortly.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by IanSchultz23

Maybe it went oop because of a upcoming Watkins boxset?

That would be great! But might be wishful thinking. They could have held off the Culloden/The War Game release if they were planning on doing that...

It could get reissued, sans-booklet (like The Loneliness of the Distance Runner or Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, both of which I haven't got yet either), but wouldn't they have announced it already?

It's a bit of an odd one to suddenly go OOP, that's for sure. Some other titles that are seemingly OOP haven't shot up in price as much as this one. Maybe in a few months copies will start to show up from third-party sellers and the price will drop.

[mattyl149]

I've also seen Privilege on here:

http://www.simplyhe.com/cult/139461-...FSuBoCyE_w_wcB

I can't believe how expensive this is now

[rapta]

Whilst we're on the subject of bad news in regards to BFI releases, I thought I'd share a few answers to questions I had to somebody at the BFI team regarding upcoming titles. Some good news too though!

• The upcoming Dual Format release of Henri-Georges Clouzot's The Wages of Fear is still behind held back due to a change of plan to use a brand new scan they're now waiting on. Not heard back about it yet so waiting on response from labs/licensors I assume. So might not see it 'til next year now (I'm assuming they might not make the updated Oct 2016 date).
• Apparently Charles Burnett's The Glass Shield was never due to come out on Blu-ray and that was an error. They were only ever given an SD master, so DVD-only was always the plan.
• Great news in that Victor Erice's El Sur is indeed due to come out on Dual Format (or separate Blu-ray and DVD...they've not decided yet). They do say it's 'a bit of a way off' but it is in the works!
• There are no current plans for any more Japanese titles quite yet (my fingers are crossed for next year though). No upgrades to Ozu DVD titles specifically, as the materials are an issue (for those that have asked in the past).
• The Klushantzev Collection is still off the cards, and will probably never show up (unless they were to have another relevant film season and everything did line up, of course).

Hope this answers a few of the questions posted on here and on the Criterion Forum regarding some of these issues!

Originally Posted by mattyl149

I can't believe how expensive this is now

I guess only those with privilege will be able to afford it...

Jokes aside, I also asked about this and was told that Privilege will be getting reissued with new artwork to bring it in-line with the recent Flipside titles (Symptoms, Beat Girl, Expresso Bongo, Psychomania). Good news for me, 'cause I didn't want to have to spend £10+ rushing out to get a copy right now.

Apparently this will happen with other Flipside titles too so no rush (in no particular order, so presumably we'll see them drop off one-by-one)! Not clear on whether the booklets would stay or go but did say the "only difference" would be the cover art.

Also, I personally only own one Flipside title (Deep End), so might actually wait on some of the titles to see what the new artwork will be like. Unless I find them at a good price, of course (Deep End only cost me about £6).

[aewb]

Originally Posted by rapta

[*] There are no current plans for any more Japanese titles quite yet (my fingers are crossed for next year though). No upgrades to Ozu DVD titles specifically, as the materials are an issue (for those that have asked in the past).

I didn't expect any more Ozu blus but I'm disappointed that they won't be releasing the remaining 6 films on dvd.

[nitin]

Great news re El Sur and I would double dip (from the CC release) for a new scan of The Wages of Fear.

[GemmaH]

Originally Posted by rapta

Jokes aside, I also asked about this and was told that Privilege will be getting reissued with new artwork to bring it in-line with the recent Flipside titles (Symptoms, Beat Girl, Expresso Bongo, Psychomania). Good news for me, 'cause I didn't want to have to spend £10+ rushing out to get a copy right now.

Apparently this will happen with other Flipside titles too so no rush (in no particular order, so presumably we'll see them drop off one-by-one)! Not clear on whether the booklets would stay or go but did say the "only difference" would be the cover art.

If this is true, the very least BFI can do is make it possible to buy the covers on their own to keep the collection consistent for those who already own the flipside series. Was a tad miffed when the new titles came out and were designed differently to the others. At least they could have kept the spines the same.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by aewb

I didn't expect any more Ozu blus but I'm disappointed that they won't be releasing the remaining 6 films on dvd.

Perhaps they had a deal with the studios at the time and it has been a few years now so would prove expensive to do those 6 on their own? Who knows...it could just be that they didn't sell as well as they'd hoped, and therefore reluctant to do any more. After all, they never reissued the Naruse set that me and so many others have been longer for since it went OOP!

Originally Posted by nitin

Great news re El Sur and I would double dip (from the CC release) for a new scan of The Wages of Fear.

Yeah, El Sur is by far the most exciting singular title they've announced this year in my opinion (except for Napoleon, of course). I joked before that The Wages of Fear looks to be 'the new Eyes Without a Face' in that it'll be constantly delayed, but if it's for a new scan I can happily wait. I did pre-order it literally a year ago though!

Originally Posted by GemmaH

If this is true, the very least BFI can do is make it possible to buy the covers on their own to keep the collection consistent for those who already own the flipside series. Was a tad miffed when the new titles came out and were designed differently to the others. At least they could have kept the spines the same.

Unfortunately I dunno how feasible that would be. They're not going to be reissuing them in any order, so who knows which Flipside title could be next. Your best bet is to get all the current Flipside editions with the current artwork if you want consistency with at least the first 29. I'd imagine the move is to make them look a little less cut-off from the rest of the BFI library and also a little less homogeneous. When I started collecting BFI titles I thought Flipside were just a bunch of weird little British films, and whilst that sentiment may be true in most cases, it took me a while to realise some of them are by more established directors (Jerzy Skolimowski, Peter Watkins, Richard Lester, Bill Forsyth, Guy Hamilton, Val Guest). So they're perking them up a bit to attract more sales, presumably, as well as let the films stand on their own and not just be known as 'Flipside titles'.

It'll be like when Arrow Academy phased out the windowbox editions. I was annoyed because they then brought out standard Amarays which I would've waited for them had I known. I emailed Arrow about it - in other words, could they send me the new inserts - and they just ignored my email. You might be able to ask BFI if they'll send you the inserts you need, but it might prove a little tricky if you're asking them every time they reissue a Flipside title. My advice would just be to swallow it and move on - after all, there isn't always consistency! In fact, I think MoC are the most consistent company in terms of design/packaging, and that's because they've stuck to a formula that works for them.

PS: I noticed they spruced up the artwork for both The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Saturday Night & Sunday Morning a while back, although I think those reissues don't have booklets (and are Blu-ray only too, rather than Dual Format).

I have just had it confirmed that the Flipside reissues will be Dual Format and will still include booklets, so that's good news. Any future DVD-only reissues of non-Flipside Dual Format titles will not include booklets, so those are the titles to keep an eye on!

[Fnord Prefect]

Originally Posted by GemmaH

If this is true, the very least BFI can do is make it possible to buy the covers on their own to keep the collection consistent for those who already own the flipside series. Was a tad miffed when the new titles came out and were designed differently to the others. At least they could have kept the spines the same.

The 2016 Flipside releases are certainly on the whole more attractively packaged than the previously released titles, even if their booklets are little less substantial.

Frankly however I was a little irritated that they had slightly changed the spine layout but as the number's still in the same style and place I've no right to complain, especially considering my Flipside shelf (all releases 000 through 032) is a mishmash of DVDs, slim case blu-rays and dual format releases to begin with.

Originally Posted by rapta

PS: I noticed they spruced up the artwork for both The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Saturday Night & Sunday Morning a while back, although I think those reissues don't have booklets (and are Blu-ray only too, rather than Dual Format).

Both were reissued as separate DVD and Blu-ray releases.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by Fnord Prefect

Both were reissued as separate DVD and Blu-ray releases.

Yes, and booklet-less. That must be what he meant when he was referring to DVD reissues of previously Dual Format titles. It's hard to tell which ones will not be reissued in Dual Format though - it's not clear whether the plan for non-Flipside titles is to reissue them all separately on Blu-ray and DVD and without booklets, or just certain titles.

Perhaps Dual Format titles that have specific extras on the DVD disc are more likely to be reissued as Dual Format editions? Ozu or Cassavetes, for example - though they could end up doing box sets like the Pasolini one in those cases.

[RDA]

'The Wages Of Fear' is included in the April 2016 CNC list of French film restorations, so it makes sense for BFI to wait and put out a theoretically vastly superior product whenever the restoration is complete.

[BarnDoor]

Women in Love £10.99 at HMV. Just waiting for them to add Cry of the City now, which will hopefully be the same price.