British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[Arkadin]

received The valley today, and I love everything about this release.
I gotta admit I'm becoming more and more obsessed with Bfi's releases, and there are some amazing prices on amazon right now on many of the titles destined for dual release in the future.
I ordered 4 flipside titles for 5 pounds a piece a few weeks back.
you just can't beat that even if I have another 600 films to watch before I get to them.
btw: love the way the "dual release" paper is on top of the shrinkwrap so that it doesn't mar the look of the artwork. It's a minor thing, but very thoughtful.
can't wait for more world cinema classics to get released by Bfi.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by Kaminari

Would love me some Floating Weeds or Tokyo Twilight

Either of those would work for me...plus the missing silent and any other of his early films.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

received The valley today, and I love everything about this release.
I gotta admit I'm becoming more and more obsessed with Bfi's releases, and there are some amazing prices on amazon right now on many of the titles destined for dual release in the future.
I ordered 4 flipside titles for 5 pounds a piece a few weeks back.
you just can't beat that even if I have another 600 films to watch before I get to them.
btw: love the way the "dual release" paper is on top of the shrinkwrap so that it doesn't mar the look of the artwork. It's a minor thing, but very thoughtful.
can't wait for more world cinema classics to get released by Bfi.

Yeah...I've always loved the soundtrack and the album associated with it...plus the film looks really good!

I wonder if we'll see any more Barbet Schroeder (More?)

[John Hodson]

Originally Posted by rkish

Yeah...I've always loved the soundtrack and the album associated with it...plus the film looks really good!

I wonder if we'll see any more Barbet Schroeder (More?)

More is coming September.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by John Hodson

More is coming September.

Any one with any personal feedback on this film? I've heard the soundtrack (college radio station), but it's been years. I never saw the film...

[Arkadin]

hopefully Maitresse will get a release also.
can't wait for More.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

hopefully Maitresse will get a release also.
can't wait for More.

The R1 SDVD of More is quite problematic (aspect ratio).

Pro-B

[pro-bassoonist]

Here's a Health to the Barley Mow: A Century of Folk Customs and Ancient Rural Games

SDVD only.

PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heres-Health...8866391&sr=1-1

For the first time ever on DVD, the BFI has compiled an idiosyncratic and highly entertaining collection of startling short films, poetic documentaries, long-unseen TV reports and rare silent film footage all celebrating the traditional folk customs, songs, dances and games of Great Britain. Here’s a Health to the Barley Mow: A Century of Folk Customs and Ancient Rural Games is released on 18 July.

This 6-hour double-disc set of 44 newly remastered films, accompanied by a 58-page booklet of essays and notes by leading folk authorities, reveals just how powerful and enduring our folk traditions have always been, and celebrates the enjoyment that these customs continue to bring to communities nationwide.

These eye-opening films, with subjects ranging from pagan customs to traditional dances and extreme sports, come from all over the country. There’s Cornwall’s 'sexy, savage Spring-time rite' performed on May Day; the highly anarchic ball games played in Leicester and Orkney; the Mummers' plays of Derbyshire, Dorset and Dartmoor; mischievous 'dwile flonking' in Suffolk; the extraordinary Burry Man of West Lothian; sword and step dancing in Yorkshire and Norfolk; and the carrying of barrels of burning tar in Ottery St Mary, Devon.

Spanning almost 100 years, there is also recent footage shot by filmmakers Doc Rowe and the Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller with Alan Kane, showing the exhilarating contemporary performance of folk customs and rituals.

Drawing on films collected over many years by the Britain's national and regional film archives, as well as the BFI National Archive, Here’s a Health to the Barley Mow is presented in collaboration with the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS).

Pro-B

[bgart13]

Wow! Wonder what kind of cool Christmas stuff will be in it (besides the Mummers)?

[zombeaner]

That set looks very interesting.

[ccfixx]

Originally Posted by bgart13

Wow! Wonder what kind of cool Christmas stuff will be in it (besides the Mummers)?

From MichaelB...

Here’s a Health to the Barley Mow
A Century of Folk Customs and Ancient Rural Games

Disc One

Dance and Song

Films Taken from Kinora Spools Made in 1912 (1912/1982)
Bampton Broom and Morris Dances (1928)
Sword Dances in North Skelton, Handsworth, Sleights, Westerhope and Grenoside (c. 1927)
Dances by Ilmington Teams in the Grounds of Peter De Montfort's House 1220 AD. Fiddler Sam Bennett (1926)
Abbots Bromley, Painswick and Bampton (c. 1928–36)
High Spen Sword Dancers (c. 1928)
Bacup Coconut Dancers (1930)
Grenoside Long Sword Dancers (1938)
Wake Up and Dance (1950)
Here’s a Health to the Barley Mow (1952)
‘Winlaton Sword Dance’ from Mining Review 8th Year No 5 (1955)
Dick Hewitt 'The Norfolk Step Dancer' with Percy Brown – melodeon (1979)
The Flora Faddy Furry Dance Day (1989)
Rapper Dancers at ‘The National’ (2003)

Extreme Sports

Newsreels: Shrove Tuesday Football Games (1921-29): Ye Olde Game of Football (1921); Shrove Tuesday Football (1924); Uppies and Downies (1926); Not For ‘The Cup’ (1929)
600-Year-Old Custom! (1927)
The Game of Haxey Hood (1929)
Handba’ at Kirkwall, Orkney (1939)
New Year Fireball Festival, Stonehaven (1965)
News Stories: Shrove Tuesday in the 1960s (1965-66); Shrove Tuesday Football at Sedgefield and Alnwick (1965); Sedgefield Shrove Tuesday Football Match Plans (1966)
Ancient and Traditional Sport of Dwile Flonking (1966)
Dwile Flonking from Harleston (1967)
Tar Barrel Rolling, Ottery St Mary (2000)
Shrovetide Football, Ashbourne (2000)
Hare Pie and Bottle Kicking, Hallatan (2005)

Disc Two

Mummers and Hobbyhorses

The Tichbourne Mummers’ Play (1919)
Walk in St George (1952)
Oss Oss Wee Oss (1953)
Derby Tup (1974)

All Manner of Customs

Newsreels: Greater London May Queens (1922-30); For I’m to be Queen of the May, Mother (1927); Prettiest May Queen (1926);London’s May Queen (1927); Call Me Early, Mother Dear (1930); Llandudno May Queens (1927-29); Llandudno – May Day Festival (1927); Llandudno’s Chosen (1929)
Boy Bishop of Berden (1927)
Merrie England (1928)
One Potato, Two Potato (1957)
Castleton Garland Day (1957)
Election of New Mayor of Harwich and the Traditional Ceremony of Throwing Kitchels (1962)
All Manner of Customs (1965)
Informal Gurning Contest at Whitley Bay (1963)
Girl Wearing Earring at School Dispute (1966)
Children of the Moor (1975)
The Face of a County (1976)
Castleton’s Traditional Garland Day (2000)
The Burry Man of South Queensferry (2000-02)

Release date: 18 July 2011
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIVD920 / Cert 12
UK / 1912-2005 / black & white, and colour / 365 mins / 2 x DVD9 / Dolby Digital mono audio (320kbps) / Mixed original aspect ratios

[pro-bassoonist]

'Rescue the Hitchcock 9' is the BFI's major campaign to restore all nine surviving silent films by one of the greatest directors of all time, Alfred Hitchcock. Earlier today, the BFI posted a video in which curator of silent film Bryony Dixon, conservation specialists Angello Lucatello and Claire West, and film conservation manager Kieron Webb answer a series of questions about the restoration project.

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6767

Pro-B

[BigNickUK]

Just got my copy of the Great White Silence....awesome stuff, very atmospheric and the PQ is unbelievable for a film this age. The soundtrack is very off the wall ambient/chill out stuff which actually lends itself to the images nicely but also makes it feel even more poignant knowing what the outcome of the Scott expedition will be.

[Kaminari]

Same here! This is a fantastic restoration.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by BigNickUK

Just got my copy of the Great White Silence....awesome stuff, very atmospheric and the PQ is unbelievable for a film this age. The soundtrack is very off the wall ambient/chill out stuff which actually lends itself to the images nicely but also makes it feel even more poignant knowing what the outcome of the Scott expedition will be.

Did you preorder this before it was released?

My copy shipped on 6/20 (Amazon UK) and I hope to see it by the week's end (I live in the US-NY State). I would have figured that you would have received yours a lot sooner. My copy of "Coere Fidele" from Eurkea/MoC took only 7 days and was shipped the same day and was also shipped by Royal Mail.

Psyched about seeing this as well...the YouTube videos I watched from it were very intriguing.

[Arkadin]

just ordered 3 more titles from amazon.uk.
these prices are just impossible to pass up.
got Winstanley, That Kind of Girl, and The Bed Sitting Room.
the total with shipping was less than 20 pounds.
INCREDIBLE!
(I think I have almost 20 bfi bds now)

[PowellPressburger]

I pre-ordered this title last week and was just looking at the current amazon UK listing... does this mean they may have hit their amount of Limited copies they were recieving? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0055OJUK2

[BigNickUK]

Originally Posted by rkish

Did you preorder this before it was released?

My copy shipped on 6/20 (Amazon UK) and I hope to see it by the week's end (I live in the US-NY State). I would have figured that you would have received yours a lot sooner. My copy of "Coere Fidele" from Eurkea/MoC took only 7 days and was shipped the same day and was also shipped by Royal Mail.

Psyched about seeing this as well...the YouTube videos I watched from it were very intriguing.

Hi. No I didnt preorder. Thats why I have received it a short while after release date.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by BigNickUK

Hi. No I didnt preorder. Thats why I have received it a short while after release date.

Thanks BigNick!. Hope to get it today or tomorrow.

EDIT: IT ARRIVED TODAY!

[Buffalo66]

Originally Posted by BigNickUK

Just got my copy of the Great White Silence....awesome stuff, very atmospheric and the PQ is unbelievable for a film this age. The soundtrack is very off the wall ambient/chill out stuff which actually lends itself to the images nicely but also makes it feel even more poignant knowing what the outcome of the Scott expedition will be.

I watched my copy last night and, oh man it was good! Loved the soundtrack as it gave great emotional depth to the story and pictures. This disc surprised me in the best way possible.

10/10