British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by D27

*Kikujiro ��

You can edit your posts. Just click "edit".

[Si Parallel Universe]

Originally Posted by D27

For those of you with a gap in your BFI Ozu’s , HMV have launched a Japanese cinema promo, the Ozu blu rays for example are 5 for 30! Theyve been pricey on Amazon of late.
Some Kitano blu rays in the same offer- Kikijuro being a personal fave.

Link please ?

[CrockettandTubbs]

I just searched for Japanese blu-ray: but most of them are out of stock

Lady Snowblood is there: out of stock. Will it still come with a booklet?

[CrockettandTubbs]

Originally Posted by rapta

Bargain over at Base.com - Madame de... for £6.45 delivered!

https://www.base.com/buy/product/the...c-bfib1284.htm

I already have this and haven't watched it yet but you can't turn down Ophuls at that price.

Despatched at last. Getting worried as they were awaiting stock - and it's unavailable now.

Got my order in just in the nick of, then

[coenesque]

With BFI doing an upcoming season on Joan Crawford featuring Johnny Guitar, and them using Johnny Guitar as well as part of a Psychological Westerns season a few years ago, anyone know of any chance they might release it on Blu? Or any other company that anyone knows of that might release it instead?

[stepeanut]

Originally Posted by coenesque

With BFI doing an upcoming season on Joan Crawford featuring Johnny Guitar, and them using Johnny Guitar as well as part of a Psychological Westerns season a few years ago, anyone know of any chance they might release it on Blu? Or any other company that anyone knows of that might release it instead?

There’s an excellent Olive Signature edition in the States, which I can recommend.

[coenesque]

Originally Posted by stepeanut

There’s an excellent Olive Signature edition in the States, which I can recommend.

I know, it looks lovely that one. But I’m not multi-region capable.

[John Hodson]

Originally Posted by coenesque

With BFI doing an upcoming season on Joan Crawford featuring Johnny Guitar, and them using Johnny Guitar as well as part of a Psychological Westerns season a few years ago, anyone know of any chance they might release it on Blu? Or any other company that anyone knows of that might release it instead?

There's a German release, coming September.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by coenesque

With BFI doing an upcoming season on Joan Crawford featuring Johnny Guitar, and them using Johnny Guitar as well as part of a Psychological Westerns season a few years ago, anyone know of any chance they might release it on Blu? Or any other company that anyone knows of that might release it instead?

It's one of my most-wanted titles for a UK release. I saw it a year or so ago on Netflix and fell in love with it. Would require a deal with Paramount (and possible cooperation with Olive Films) as well as possible agreement with Universal. Most likely label to be able to do that are Eureka, since they've released Paramount titles in the past and must know the right people to talk to, though perhaps BFI will attempt it (they've managed to license from tricky licensors such as Film4 and even Warner Bros).

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by rapta

It's one of my most-wanted titles for a UK release. I saw it a year or so ago on Netflix and fell in love with it. Would require a deal with Paramount (and possible cooperation with Olive Films) as well as possible agreement with Universal. Most likely label to be able to do that are Eureka, since they've released Paramount titles in the past and must know the right people to talk to, though perhaps BFI will attempt it (they've managed to license from tricky licensors such as Film4 and even Warner Bros).

Eureka is definitely most likely. Shame they couldn't nab it when they got The Quiet Man.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by CouncilSpectre

Eureka is definitely most likely. Shame they couldn't nab it when they got The Quiet Man.

Yeah, same for High Noon and Macbeth. Perhaps the freshly restored masters weren't ready when they signed off on the deal? Might explain why Olive released them but MoC didn't.

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by rapta

Yeah, same for High Noon and Macbeth. Perhaps the freshly restored masters weren't ready when they signed off on the deal? Might explain why Olive released them but MoC didn't.

You look at that Republic library and shake your head. First at how little of it has been prepped for HD, and then at how little, of the little that has been done, is over here. That library is an absolute gold mine.

[rapta]

I tried to ask Kevin at Eureka about it - before he had moved to Arrow - but unfortunately he wouldn't/couldn't say in great detail. I basically asked if Universal might get in the way of any future Paramount deal and he said it could make things complicated (hence the extended deal the second time around). Let's hope Eureka can still cut through any red tape, either by getting to Paramount directly, or by setting up a Universal deal and accessing Paramount through those avenues. Worth it for those three titles alone, but I'd also go for other things with decent HD masters like The Pawnbroker, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Letter from an Unknown Woman and The Spy Who Came In From the Cold...

I am a little worried Eureka are letting some titles slip past them. Their Sony deal, for example - there were dozens of titles Indicator still hadn't licensed when I enquired, all very much MoC-worthy. I bet Indicator have snapped many of those up now, meaning Eureka may not bother with a second Sony deal, which is a shame for them. I still love Indicator, but MoC titles are often more affordable and they always keep booklets in-print. I guess there are more than enough studio titles to go round though, so we'll have to wait and see. I'll be curious to see what studio deal Eureka strike a deal with next other than MGM and Fox - they haven't dealt with Universal for years, so maybe they'll try them out again? I'd still prefer a (third) Paramount or (second) Sony deal though.

[CouncilSpectre]

A Paramount deal would be my preference, either directly, or via Universal. I know what you're saying about Sony, but I'm not overly concerned there as I expect Powerhouse to continue mining it for a good while yet, and obviously Criterion will continue to ship some across as well.

Fox and MGM seem to be well-represented as well, so would be of a lesser concern to me.

I suppose the other factor to consider is that for some titles, the respective license holder may simply choose not to license them out where their own DVDs are still in print. Hopefully as more goes OOP, they choose not to go through the expense of producing and distributing themselves and simply take the easy license fee instead.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by CouncilSpectre

A Paramount deal would be my preference, either directly, or via Universal. I know what you're saying about Sony, but I'm not overly concerned there as I expect Powerhouse to continue mining it for a good while yet, and obviously Criterion will continue to ship some across as well.

Fox and MGM seem to be well-represented as well, so would be of a lesser concern to me.

I suppose the other factor to consider is that for some titles, the respective license holder may simply choose not to license them out where their own DVDs are still in print. Hopefully as more goes OOP, they choose not to go through the expense of producing and distributing themselves and simply take the easy license fee instead.

I was wondering about that myself. I notice some recent MGM/Fox titles from Eureka are Blu-ray only (Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Party, The Vikings, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Witness for the Prosecution), whilst most others are Dual Format (The Barefoot Contessa, Marty, Inherit the Wind, Breakheart Pass, The Defiant Ones, No Way Out, Birdman of Alcatraz, Flesh + Blood, Salvador). Is it because some of the former are Fox titles, or is it due to there being DVD editions already available some of them?

And you're right that Indicator and Criterion will have most Sony titles covered, but there are a handful of foreign-language films that Indicator won't touch and Criterion might not (either because another US label has licensed them, or they just haven't got around to them yet) that Eureka could have poached (and still could). Mothra and The Big Gundown, to give two examples.

[CouncilSpectre]

It's a tricky one - I guess there's two things there;

1 - Where a license holder doesn't want to license out because they have a DVD still in print, or

2 - Where a license holder doesn't want to license out because they might want to release it themselves at some point

Both of those are bad news - the first maintains a DVD-only release with no HD option, the other just puts the title into a state of limbo.

[DefLeppard]

Eng subbed OOP version of Victor Erice's (BFI's El sur) The Spirit of the Beehive is now being listed as 'Temp out of stock' on Amz.ES; Worth trying and I really hope this one don't end up like recent order cancellation with that OOP La Piscine/Park Circus on Amz.UK .

Not sure about those negative reviews on Amz.ES but Blu-ray is significantly better than DVD as seen on caps.

https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B008GOUURA/

[cool hand bluke]

Originally Posted by DefLeppard

Eng subbed OOP version of Victor Erice's (BFI's El sur) The Spirit of the Beehive is now being listed as 'Temp out of stock' on Amz.ES; Worth trying and I really hope this one don't end up like recent order cancellation with that OOP La Piscine/Park Circus on Amz.UK .

Not sure about those negative reviews on Amz.ES but Blu-ray is significantly better than DVD as seen on caps.

https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B008GOUURA/

I can answer that one for you.
They released El Spiritu de la Colmena a second time and the new release was scrubbed of that horrible, ugly, old fashioned grain to give it a nice smooth digital look.
You can see the results here

Lucky for me, I got the first release.
Jesus, what are these companies thinking!!!!

[CouncilSpectre]

Perhaps Krekel has branched out into the Spanish market.....

[DefLeppard]

Originally Posted by cool hand bluke

I can answer that one for you.
They released El Spiritu de la Colmena a second time and the new release was scrubbed of that horrible, ugly, old fashioned grain to give it a nice smooth digital look.
You can see the results here

Lucky for me, I got the first release.
Jesus, what are these companies thinking!!!!

Thanks.. so those bad reviews were for Divisa version then.

Anyways ,I have placed an order for the first release . I'll update here if my order gets dipatched.