British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[nitin]

Black Girl, Pasolini and Love on the Dole all 8.29 GBP at base.

[Lutz]

Are any of the BFI Flipside titles out of print?

[malcy30]

Originally Posted by Lutz

Are any of the BFI Flipside titles out of print?

Don't think any OOP but there are a couple where versions currently on sale lose some of the original content.

Herostratus

Original version was 2xBD
Disk 1 : Film in director approved 1.78 aspect ratio
Disk 2 : Original theatrical 1.33 aspect ratio



Reissued as dual format.
BD as disk 1 above
DVD version of the BD



Deep End

There was a long OOP limited edition of only 1,000 copies which included an extra DVD with the BFI Q&A plus trailer for the theatrical reissue.



Only the standard dual formal BD+DVD still available.

[Fnord Prefect]

Originally Posted by Lutz

Are any of the BFI Flipside titles out of print?

Judging by the fact it's starting to go up in price and is only available from third party sellers and Ebay Primitive London appears to be OOP, with even last year's non-Flipside DVD pressing out of stock everywhere and "2 copies left" at Amazon UK.

Privilege is out of stock everywhere with only Moviemail claiming to be able to get hold of it, but who trusts them any more? Didn't Rapta say that the BFI had confirmed that one was getting a repackaged re-release in the near future?

Originally Posted by nitin

Black Girl, Pasolini and Love on the Dole all 8.29 GBP at base.

Black Girl is a great release of an interesting, engaging and perhaps important movie. As it's a limited edition release and I highly doubt we'll see it cheaper than £8.29 postpaid I encourage people to snap it up while they can.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by Fnord Prefect

Judging by the fact it's starting to go up in price and is only available from third party sellers and Ebay Primitive London appears to be OOP, with even last year's non-Flipside DVD pressing out of stock everywhere and "2 copies left" at Amazon UK.

Privilege is out of stock everywhere with only Moviemail claiming to be able to get hold of it, but who trusts them any more? Didn't Rapta say that the BFI had confirmed that one was getting a repackaged re-release in the near future?

Black Girl is a great release of an interesting, engaging and perhaps important movie. As it's a limited edition release and I highly doubt we'll see it cheaper than £8.29 postpaid I encourage people to snap it up while they can.

According to my source (who produces BFI home video releases), they'll be reissuing all Flipside titles if they go OOP. He mentioned Privilege, but not any others. I'm waiting for Privilege because it has shot up in price since going OOP.

Black Girl/Borom Sarret is one of the best releases of last year and I included it in my Top 10 of 2015 published in the DVDBeaver end-of-year summary. It looks beautiful and is a rarely-seen film, and for £8 it's a bargain. Criterion are planning their own release, and that'll be at least twice as much as this and without a booklet, so it'll never get better treatment. Just as essential if not more essential than MoC's WCP Volume 1 set, I reckon, since it's been beautifully restored by WCP. Even an optional colour sequence has been restored and included!

[nitin]

Originally Posted by Fnord Prefect

Judging by the fact it's starting to go up in price and is only available from third party sellers and Ebay Primitive London appears to be OOP, with even last year's non-Flipside DVD pressing out of stock everywhere and "2 copies left" at Amazon UK.

Privilege is out of stock everywhere with only Moviemail claiming to be able to get hold of it, but who trusts them any more? Didn't Rapta say that the BFI had confirmed that one was getting a repackaged re-release in the near future?



Black Girl is a great release of an interesting, engaging and perhaps important movie. As it's a limited edition release and I highly doubt we'll see it cheaper than £8.29 postpaid I encourage people to snap it up while they can.

I snapped up all 3, passed on Murder in a Cathedral though which is also the same price.

[Fnord Prefect]

Originally Posted by rapta

Black Girl/Borom Sarret is one of the best releases of last year and I included it in my Top 10 of 2015 published in the DVDBeaver end-of-year summary. It looks beautiful and is a rarely-seen film, and for £8 it's a bargain. Criterion are planning their own release, and that'll be at least twice as much as this and without a booklet, so it'll never get better treatment. Just as essential if not more essential than MoC's WCP Volume 1 set, I reckon, since it's been beautifully restored by WCP. Even an optional colour sequence has been restored and included!

I loved Dry Summer, adored Trances and quite liked Revenge (needs a revisit I think) in the MoC set so had little qualms regarding preordering Black Girl despite not being at all sure what I was buying.

Was very happy I did. Heck, the BFI even managed to knock up genuinely attractive cover artwork for it which as recent as the time Black Girl was released was still a rarity re the BFI.

Originally Posted by nitin

I snapped up all 3, passed on Murder in a Cathedral though which is also the same price.

I really enjoyed Murder at the Cathedral but it's a very stylised/theatrical movie and probably not for everyone.

The preview clip the BFI put on YouTube is pretty much worthless:

Murder in the Cathedral (extract) | BFI DVD - YouTube

Tempted to order Love On the Dole at that price but I always meant to revisit my old VHS copy before doing so and never got around to it.

[crazyman]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

The technical and artistic achievements of this film from 1915 is incredible and is very much the forefather of modern American film as we know it. It's top-tier silent film-making, and as early as this too! Griffiths was ahead of his game in that regard.

The way the subject matter is handled is frankly, jaw-dropping in the 2nd half especially but depending on what angle you go from, it can be a bit of a social study. I was fascinated by the hypocrisy of Griffiths, with Intolerance as his following feature yet quite clearly his views as evidenced by Birth of a Nation are anything but tolerant.

A film does not represent a director's view. Do you also think Spielberg is paranoid that the government is out to get him and one day aliens will take him away in a spaceship?

It's also, worryingly, all too relevant today with Trump and his supporters but fascinating how the fears of today and back then as evidenced in Birth of a Nation are, when you boil it down, identical. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

WOW. Equating Trump and his supporters to the KKK. I hope this guy gets banned for that. I know I have been for less.

[Fnord Prefect]

Originally Posted by crazyman

WOW. Equating Trump and his supporters to the KKK. I hope this guy gets banned for that. I know I have been for less.

Missed all that as I deliberately skipped most of the debate re Birth of a Nation. But as you said, equating Trump and his supporters with the KKK. Wow, just wow, especially as a Brit and a default outside observer Hilary Clinton and many of her more left leaning (not meant disparagingly) supporters appear to be the genuine mentalists re the 2016 USA precedential campaign, not Trump.

[IanSchultz23]

Originally Posted by crazyman

A film does not represent a director's view. Do you also think Spielberg is paranoid that the government is out to get him and one day aliens will take him away in a spaceship?



WOW. Equating Trump and his supporters to the KKK. I hope this guy gets banned for that. I know I have been for less.

Uh... just gonna leave this here
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/...it-out/494855/

[Lutz]

Thanks everyone. I have Primitive London so that should be fine but I don't have Privilege.

Originally Posted by rapta

According to my source (who produces BFI home video releases), they'll be reissuing all Flipside titles if they go OOP. He mentioned Privilege, but not any others. I'm waiting for Privilege because it has shot up in price since going OOP.

With the reissues will they be following the standard BFI formula of being DVD only after the initial run?

I noticed Privilege and a few of the other Flipside titles already have later DVD only releases.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by crazyman

A film does not represent a director's view. Do you also think Spielberg is paranoid that the government is out to get him and one day aliens will take him away in a spaceship?



WOW. Equating Trump and his supporters to the KKK. I hope this guy gets banned for that. I know I have been for less.

A film doesn't necessarily have to but many certainly do. Birth of a Nation is one of them. I gave him the benefit of the doubt when I first saw the film since I was conflicted how someone with such terrible viewpoints could make something of such artistically mesmerising scale, but one of the extras on both editions feature Griffiths on the screen repeating the same sort of stuff. Some of the best write ups of this film comment upon this conflicting duality. It's a beautiful, and terrible masterpiece but I cannot agree with brushing this under the carpet.

Wishing me banned for trying to debate the content of a highly controversial film? Can you not disagree with a viewpoint without being so histrionic? End of the day, I'm discussing a film from 1915 which, like it or not, you can draw parallels on to any political movement based on the fear of others. Regardless, it's a plain fact there is support for Trump from the KKK, not something I made up.

[Se.Vero]

Originally Posted by rapta

According to my source (who produces BFI home video releases), they'll be reissuing all Flipside titles if they go OOP. He mentioned Privilege, but not any others. I'm waiting for Privilege because it has shot up in price since going OOP.

interesting info on the "reissue" plans..

but as Lutz mentioned before me, "primitive london" had it's reissue last year, but it was a DVD-only release. :/

so, do you know, or is there a way to ask your source if the "dual format" releases will go back in-print too?

another question which maybe finds an answer here:
do the BLU-RAY-only releases of BFI flipside come in slim amaray cases, or in these thicker (14mm) cases like the dual format versions?
spines look different i guess? if somebody could do a picture of one BD-only release together with a dual format release for comparison, that would be great.

[Telstar]

Originally Posted by nitin

Black Girl, Pasolini and Love on the Dole all 8.29 GBP at base.

Wow - how long do sale prices like this usually last?

[rapta]

Ugh, why are HMV's prices for BFI pre-orders so inconsistent? The one title I most want that's coming out soon is Cry of the City which is £12.99 (higher than usual), but Women in Love is £10.99 and On the Black Hill only £9.99! When will the madness end? Should I not buy it and wait for it to fall closer to the £10 mark?

Originally Posted by Telstar

Wow - how long do sale prices like this usually last?

Could be a couple of weeks, or a couple of months. BFI prices seem to randomly fluctuate with no fixed pattern. Also, they can be cheap from one website and expensive from another. Very strange!

Originally Posted by Lutz

Thanks everyone. I have Primitive London so that should be fine but I don't have Privilege.

With the reissues will they be following the standard BFI formula of being DVD only after the initial run?

I noticed Privilege and a few of the other Flipside titles already have later DVD only releases.

Originally Posted by Se.Vero

interesting info on the "reissue" plans..

but as Lutz mentioned before me, "primitive london" had it's reissue last year, but it was a DVD-only release. :/

so, do you know, or is there a way to ask your source if the "dual format" releases will go back in-print too?

another question which maybe finds an answer here:
do the BLU-RAY-only releases of BFI flipside come in slim amaray cases, or in these thicker (14mm) cases like the dual format versions?
spines look different i guess? if somebody could do a picture of one BD-only release together with a dual format release for comparison, that would be great.

Oh I didn't realise it only got a DVD-only reissue. That kinda goes against what this guy said, as he seemed to imply all Flipside DF titles would be reissued as new Dual Format editions. Maybe he actually meant all popular Flipside titles would get Dual Format reissues (with booklet and new artwork) but others might get DVD-only reissues (and sans-booklet too).

As for cases, almost all Blu-ray only releases come in blue cases. Older titles in the slimmer Viva Elite style case, but some newer ones (like The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Vivre Sa Vie, Night and the City, Bande á Part) came in regular blue Amaray cases. All Dual Format releases still come in clear Amaray cases (the kind MoC and Arrow use consistently). I think the only Blu-ray titles I've seen in a clear case are the Kurosawa ones (Rashomon and Seven Samurai), but no idea why they decided to do that just for Kurosawa...perhaps to make them look more appealing? Who knows.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by Se.Vero

another question which maybe finds an answer here:
do the BLU-RAY-only releases of BFI flipside come in slim amaray cases, or in these thicker (14mm) cases like the dual format versions?
spines look different i guess? if somebody could do a picture of one BD-only release together with a dual format release for comparison, that would be great.

The initial Blu-ray only Flipsides came in the slim blue-tinted normal cases, with the exception of Herostratus which was in the thicker blue coloured style case.

[aewb]

Looks like a few BFI titles will be entering HMV's 3 for 20/5 for 30 deal soon. Bande a part, Man With A Movie Camera, Around the World with Orson Welles, Night and the City, Germany Pale Mother, Rashomon, Saturday Night Sunday Morning and Vivre sa vie have all dropped to £8.99

[rapta]

Originally Posted by aewb

Looks like a few BFI titles will be entering HMV's 3 for 20/5 for 30 deal soon. Bande a part, Man With A Movie Camera, Around the World with Orson Welles, Night and the City, Germany Pale Mother, Rashomon, Saturday Night Sunday Morning and Vivre sa vie have all dropped to £8.99

Yeah I literally just saw those and was gonna post something similar. Might get Around the World with Orson Welles since that's a great price (and it comes with a slipcover), and maybe Man with a Movie Camera (although I still have my MoC edition to watch).

Excellent prices for Bande à part, Night and the City and Vivre sa vie in particular. Rashomon is a must-buy too if you don't already have it!

PS: Waiting for Sicario to be added as well since I was hoping for it to be added and it sounds like it will be soon. Frustrating though 'cause I only just ordered 3 the other day (Citizen Kane, THX 1138, Ed Wood).

[Fnord Prefect]

Originally Posted by rapta

Oh I didn't realise it only got a DVD-only reissue. That kinda goes against what this guy said, as he seemed to imply all Flipside DF titles would be reissued as new Dual Format editions. Maybe he actually meant all popular Flipside titles would get Dual Format reissues (with booklet and new artwork) but others might get DVD-only reissues (and sans-booklet too).

I don't remember Privilege getting a DVD only rerelease, but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

The ones I remember getting concurrent non-Flipside DVD only editions are:

London In the Raw
Primitive London (OOP already?)
That Sinking Feeling
Deep End
The Pleasure Girls
The Party's Over
Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush
Bronco Bullfrog

I simply thought the BFI were quietly and cheaply testing the waters for future non-Flipside branded previously Flipside releases. Rapta's confirmation of repackaged reissues coupled with the new style artwork used on numbers 30 thru 33 seems to mostly confirm my presumtions.

I see no reason to presume future new editions won't be dual format or "limited availability" blu-rays.

[ParisTexan]

Originally Posted by rapta

Yeah I literally just saw those and was gonna post something similar. Might get Around the World with Orson Welles since that's a great price (and it comes with a slipcover), and maybe Man with a Movie Camera (although I still have my MoC edition to watch).

Excellent prices for Bande à part, Night and the City and Vivre sa vie in particular. Rashomon is a must-buy too if you don't already have it!

PS: Waiting for Sicario to be added as well since I was hoping for it to be added and it sounds like it will be soon. Frustrating though 'cause I only just ordered 3 the other day (Citizen Kane, THX 1138, Ed Wood).

I also got Aguirre, Wrath of God Steelbook in the 5 for £30 last night in HMV, along with a couple of these. Bargain if you ask me.