British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[James78]

11th April


25th April


30th May


13th June


20th June


27th June

[BarnDoor]

Since Targets isn't mentioned in the official announcement, I'm guessing it's been delayed again.

[AnnThrope]

Great news about The Men (and Nineteen Eighty-Four obviously).

There are far too many Brando films unavailable on Blu-ray in the UK.
Oh we get the obvious well-known ones of course but what about...

Julius Caesar
The Young Lions
Morituri
A Countess from Hong Kong
Reflections in a Golden Eye
The Night of the Following Day
Burn (Queimada)

Go looking for any of that lot in yer local HMV and you'll be coming home with a full wallet.
Lions and Morituri had U.S. Twilight Time releases.
Reflections a recent Warner Archive Collection release.
Countess and Night have French releases from Elephant films and the latter also has a U.S. Kino.
But none of them have UK blu-ray editions.
And some of those films rank amongst his very best (OK not Countess - but it's an interesting oddity.)

Oh and how about porting The Fugitive Kind over here, Criterion?

Well at least we get his debut now - and not before time.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by AnnThrope

Great news about The Men (and Nineteen Eighty-Four obviously).

There are far too many Brando films unavailable on Blu-ray in the UK.
Oh we get the obvious well-known ones of course but what about...

Julius Caesar
The Young Lions
Morituri
A Countess from Hong Kong
Reflections in a Golden Eye
The Night of the Following Day
Burn (Queimada)

Go looking for any of that lot in yer local HMV and you'll be coming home with a full wallet.
Lions and Morituri had U.S. Twilight Time releases.
Reflections a recent Warner Archive Collection release.
Countess and Night have French releases from Elephant films and the latter also has a U.S. Kino.
But none of them have UK blu-ray editions.
And some of those films rank amongst his very best (OK not Countess - but it's an interesting oddity.)

Oh and how about porting The Fugitive Kind over here, Criterion?

Well at least we get his debut now - and not before time.

Most likely is The Fugitive Kind, if Criterion continue porting MGM titles here (as they recently did for The Night of the Hunter and Blow Out). I'm hoping they start getting more MGM titles here so we can also get Blue Velvet, The Silence of the Lambs, In the Heat of the Night, The Great Escape, House of Games, Moonstruck, Love Streams, and Some Like it Hot.

Other than that, The Night of the Following Day or maybe The Appaloosa could come from a UK boutique at some point through Universal, should they be interested in either. The former could be something Indicator might consider, for example, as they've picked up a few interesting 60's American films that other UK labels haven't touched (as have Arrow occasionally, now I think about it). Reflections in a Golden Eye may show up through the Premium Collection eventually too...

[Yami]

I'm surprised that a UK label hasn't released A Countess from Hong Kong yet. It doesn't have the greatest reputation, but it's still Chaplin's final film - and with Brando and Loren! It's by no means any of their finest hours but I do think it's fine. And I'd like to read Rohmer's writing on it

[rapta]

Originally Posted by Yami

I'm surprised that a UK label hasn't released A Countess from Hong Kong yet. It doesn't have the greatest reputation, but it's still Chaplin's final film - and with Brando and Loren!

That's true! Feels like the kind of thing MoC might have put out back in the day, but you'd probably never see it now. Perhaps Indicator or BFI will get to it at some point, feels like the kind of curio either of them might be into. Just checked on YouTube and the master looks healthy.

[AnnThrope]

Originally Posted by rapta

Most likely is The Fugitive Kind, if Criterion continue porting MGM titles here (as they recently did for The Night of the Hunter and Blow Out). I'm hoping they start getting more MGM titles here so we can also get Blue Velvet, The Silence of the Lambs, In the Heat of the Night, The Great Escape, House of Games, Moonstruck, Love Streams, and Some Like it Hot.

Other than that, The Night of the Following Day or maybe The Appaloosa could come from a UK boutique at some point through Universal, should they be interested in either. The former could be something Indicator might consider, for example, as they've picked up a few interesting 60's American films that other UK labels haven't touched (as have Arrow occasionally, now I think about it). Reflections in a Golden Eye may show up through the Premium Collection eventually too...

The Night of the Following Day's got Indicator written all over it!

[AlexJRascal]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Since Targets isn't mentioned in the official announcement, I'm guessing it's been delayed again.

Still, currently listed as a pre-order for 20th June here :
https://shop.bfi.org.uk/pre-order-targets-blu-ray.html


So hopefully it's just not in this new announcement because it's been announced previously?


*crosses fingers*

[Krynoid-Man]

I'm in for Nineteen Eighty Four and the Truffauts (except for 400 Blows since I have it in the Antoine Doinel box set).

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Yami

I'm surprised that a UK label hasn't released A Countess from Hong Kong yet.

Originally Posted by rapta

Feels like the kind of thing MoC might have put out back in the day, but you'd probably never see it now.

They could still put it out. Hey, it's got Hong Kong in the title
[I'll let myself out]

[GG88]

Originally Posted by rapta

Most likely is The Fugitive Kind, if Criterion continue porting MGM titles here (as they recently did for The Night of the Hunter and Blow Out). I'm hoping they start getting more MGM titles here so we can also get Blue Velvet, The Silence of the Lambs, In the Heat of the Night, The Great Escape, House of Games, Moonstruck, Love Streams, and Some Like it Hot.

I don’t believe Blue Velvet is MGM in the UK. Same company as Lynch’s Dune so hopefully Arrow do a UHD, the films many dark scenes would greatly benefit from HDR.

Criterion porting Silence of the Lambs over here would be terrible news for myself and many others hoping Arrow come to the rescue and fix Kino’s mess

[justwannaboogie]

Originally Posted by Yami

I'm surprised that a UK label hasn't released A Countess from Hong Kong yet. It doesn't have the greatest reputation, but it's still Chaplin's final film - and with Brando and Loren! It's by no means any of their finest hours but I do think it's fine. And I'd like to read Rohmer's writing on it

I'm not, it's awful. The German Blu-ray can be had very cheap for those interested.

[drush9999]

Nineteen Eighty-Four, the Alan Clarke re-release and The Appointment for me
Not often I pre-order BFI titles, but good selection.

[Aunt Peg]

Originally Posted by AnnThrope

Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar is with Warners so sooner or later it will get a region free Warner Archive release (sooner I hope).

[dallywhitty]

I missed out on the original Alan Clarke set, so I'm glad it's being re-issued. I see it's one disc short... anything significant being axed?

[CZDK]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

I missed out on the original Alan Clarke set, so I'm glad it's being re-issued. I see it's one disc short... anything significant being axed?

According to BarnDoor:

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Re-issue of the Alan Clarke at the BBC set also coming in June (no book, no Half-Hour Stories bonus DVD, and it looks like George's Room and The Road couldn't be renewed):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09RNWBBY5

[rapta]

Originally Posted by GG88

I don’t believe Blue Velvet is MGM in the UK. Same company as Lynch’s Dune so hopefully Arrow do a UHD, the films many dark scenes would greatly benefit from HDR.

Criterion porting Silence of the Lambs over here would be terrible news for myself and many others hoping Arrow come to the rescue and fix Kino’s mess

Ah yeah I forgot that it was Universal when I bought it originally. Well an Arrow release would be even better. It’s my favourite Lynch film so I really hope someone gets to do it soon. Same goes for The Straight Story which I really hope Indicator are getting as they’re in the best position to do so…

The Silence of the Lambs is the same really - would obviously prefer to see Arrow, BFI or MoC get it and do a decent disc with their own extras. The Great Escape too of course, which I’m very surprised hasn’t already been picked up by a UK label considering it’s probably more popular here than the US. In the Heat of the Night and House of Games are two I’d really like to see too but reckon Criterion are our best bet for both at this point.

[koberulz]

Do the folk at BFI answer emails? I emailed bfishop@bfi.org.uk on January 12, no response. Emailed the Sight & Sound department via the web forum a couple of days ago, no response to that so far either.

[CelestialAgent]

Maybe try Twitter or the Facebook group.

[jhm]

Will The 400 Blows ("new 4K restoration") be better than the Criterion (2017) ?

Similarly, The Last Metro ("new 2K restoration") vs the AE boxset (2014) ?

The remaining two - La peau douce and Jules et Jim - are also in the AE boxset so presumably they're the same quality.