British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[jhm]

Originally Posted by koberulz

How does the BFI store handle orders that including preorder items? Have had several items sitting in my cart for months now waiting for Draughtsman's Contract to get a release, what happens if I throw it in and order now?

You're in Australia I think ? For me in the UK at least, on a few occasions in the past where I've pre-ordered items released at different times, I get charged postage for the whole order and they seem to wait until everything is in stock before dispatch. However, each time, I've e-mailed the BFI shop and they were happy to ship (without any additional charge) the available items first.

[minister_x]

I've always had items dispatch separately when I've had pre-orders with different dates, or pre-orders and in-stock titles. And the BFI has recently (re)started sending pre-orders out so they arrive (in the UK) before release date, rather than after it. Appreciate that Covid messed that up, but nice to see it return to the pre-Covid dispatching.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by CrockettandTubbs

Whistle and I'll Come To You (the b/w Michael Hordern version especially) and A Warning to the Curious are excellent.

Big fan of ‘The Signalman’ also.

[trobrianders]

I always hoped BFI would get round to releasing some more Emir Kusturica films after their excellent release of Underground which also contained the lengthier TV cut. Black Cat White Cat is the release I was hoping for. Never laughed as hard in a cinema as I did for that one.

[CrockettandTubbs]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Big fan of ‘The Signalman’ also.

Adapted by Andrew Davies - he's a friend of the family. My mum went to college with them both, although he was a year ahead.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by CrockettandTubbs

Adapted by Andrew Davies - he's a friend of the family. My mum went to college with them both, although he was a year ahead.

Cool, he knows how to create a eerie atmosphere for sure.

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by trobrianders

I always hoped BFI would get round to releasing some more Emir Kusturica films after their excellent release of Underground which also contained the lengthier TV cut. Black Cat White Cat is the release I was hoping for. Never laughed as hard in a cinema as I did for that one.

Annoyingly the TV Mini-Series version on Underground is DVD ONLY in the BFI release.

[FantasticMrFox]

Yes! Ghost Stories for Christmas! Multiple times I was so close to import the DVD boxset. Glad I held out without thinking this would ever get upgraded. I'll happily pay full price day one to support future volumes

[drush9999]

Originally Posted by CrockettandTubbs

Adapted by Andrew Davies - he's a friend of the family. My mum went to college with them both, although he was a year ahead.

He lives in my hometown of Kenilworth.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Does anyone know whether the Bressons will be getting UHD releases in France eventually? The French and the Germans seem to be less risk-averse when it comes to UHDs than the Anglos. I have a feel that more obscure titles have been released there than across the pond (alas, without English subtitles).

Just saw the review for the BFI's new release of Bresson's "Joan of Arc: http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=7105 Looking forward to a triple feature comparison with Dreyer's and Fleming's versions.

[ikms]

Originally Posted by CrockettandTubbs

I'll wait for Ghost Stories to come down in price I think.

"**LIMITED EDITION ONLY** Illustrated booklet with essays by Reggie Oliver, Jonathan Rigby, Adam Easterbrook and Ramsey Campbell"

I assume these are identical to the (first) four essays in the 44 page booklet from the complete DVD set. In which case, there is really no hurry to upgrade given the price. Why they decided to split this into two sets (released over two years?) is perplexing when they could have easily fit all the HD content and SD supplements onto three or four BDs total. (maybe down to the original booklet unable to fit into BD case dimensions? )

[Dan8700]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Big fan of ‘The Signalman’ also.

Yeah, great film!

Originally Posted by The Second Floor

It might also be worth noting that the version of Smiles of a Summer Night in the BFI set is apparently based on a more recent transfer, and is an improvement over the Criterion.
The BFI version of The Magician apparently looks better than the Cirterion.

Thanks for your observations. I totally forgot there were two more recent scans of these two: I even saw a comparison a few years ago of "Smiles" when it was released in France prior to the CC box set, and the quality was 10 times better than the old scan. I'll definitely buy Vol. 2 asap and report back to all Bergman fans here!

[gap]

Originally Posted by ikms

"**LIMITED EDITION ONLY** Illustrated booklet with essays by Reggie Oliver, Jonathan Rigby, Adam Easterbrook and Ramsey Campbell"

I assume these are identical to the (first) four essays in the 44 page booklet from the complete DVD set. In which case, there is really no hurry to upgrade given the price. Why they decided to split this into two sets (released over two years?) is perplexing when they could have easily fit all the HD content and SD supplements onto three or four BDs total. (maybe down to the original booklet unable to fit into BD case dimensions? )

Most likely to charge twice - the LE (in this case, booklet only) model works as a revenue generator; why have one when you can have two?

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by fatboyslim142

Annoyingly the TV Mini-Series version on Underground is DVD ONLY in the BFI release.

Pretty sure it doesn’t have the elements for HD.

[AnnThrope]

Originally Posted by ikms

"**LIMITED EDITION ONLY** Illustrated booklet with essays by Reggie Oliver, Jonathan Rigby, Adam Easterbrook and Ramsey Campbell"

I assume these are identical to the (first) four essays in the 44 page booklet from the complete DVD set. In which case, there is really no hurry to upgrade given the price. Why they decided to split this into two sets (released over two years?) is perplexing when they could have easily fit all the HD content and SD supplements onto three or four BDs total. (maybe down to the original booklet unable to fit into BD case dimensions? )

Maybe they needed more time to restore the other films?
Maybe they need more time to sort out rights clearances?
Someone was saying here somewhereabouts that the BBC won't licence the Mark Gatiss films to the BFI for release. (I think I must have read that in the Ghost Stories for Christmas thread).

[andantelise]

What are the chances we get rereleases of the Jarman sets. I missed out on these when they were first released ( I didn't know about them).

[sjt]

Originally Posted by andantelise

What are the chances we get rereleases of the Jarman sets. I missed out on these when they were first released ( I didn't know about them).

Well, my feeling is that they've almost certainly gone for good. But your best bet would be to email Ben.Stoddart@bfi.org.uk and ask him directly, since all anybody here can do is speculate, whereas he'll know what the actual likelihood is.

[Sifox211]

Originally Posted by andantelise

What are the chances we get rereleases of the Jarman sets. I missed out on these when they were first released ( I didn't know about them).

They had a vol. 2 in my local HMV last time I was there. No spiderwraps. PM me if interested!

[Mr. Thomsen]

Does anybody here know whether Psychomania still comes with the booklet?

Any idea which BFI Flipside releases now come without booklets?

[yukito]

Originally Posted by Mr. Thomsen

Does anybody here know whether Psychomania still comes with the booklet?

Any idea which BFI Flipside releases now come without booklets?

I bought some of the ones I was missing from amazon, these are the ones I didn't get the booklet from:

#37 Stranger in the house
#38 Mr Topaze
#39 Legend of the witches