British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[The Coconut God]

Does anyone know how BFI's La Regle du Jeu compares to the Criterion 4K? Normally I would be tempted to future-proof with the 4K, but I understand Criterion didn't update the Blu-ray for their new release, so I'd effectively be watching the old print.

[trobrianders]

Originally Posted by The Coconut God

Does anyone know how BFI's La Regle du Jeu compares to the Criterion 4K? Normally I would be tempted to future-proof with the 4K, but I understand Criterion didn't update the Blu-ray for their new release, so I'd effectively be watching the old print.

Criterion's 4k policy is straightforward.

For 4K catalog upgrades where we've previously released a Blu-ray edition, the same Blu-ray is included in the 4K combo edition. It is not a new encode/Blu-ray from the new 4K restoration. For new 4K releases of titles not previously released by Criterion on Blu-ray, the 4K disc and the Blu-ray disc are from the same (new) 4K restoration.

[UltraMario9]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I learned recently that it was Christoper Nolan that apparently got Warner to bring The Hiill back into print years ago. Maybe he could work some more magic and get it released on BD now.

Here's some posts in the WAC thread about it:

He's mentioned screening a wonderful print in preparation for Oppenheimer.

Timestamp: 4:02

Christopher Nolan et Cillian Murphy sont dans le Vidéo Club, pour la sortie d'Oppenheimer 💥 - YouTube

[MifuneFan]

Ben Stoddart has mentioned on Twitter that Ghost Stories for Christmas Vol. 2 will be coming out later this year. He's currently working on it, and The Signalman will be part of it.

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Ben Stoddart has mentioned on Twitter that Ghost Stories for Christmas Vol. 2 will be coming out later this year. He's currently working on it, and The Signalman will be part of it.

I wonder if there will be a 3rd BD release containing the rest of the Ghost Stories for Christmas, basically ALL the Mark Gatiss ones from 2013 onwards (5 in total so far).

[side__on]

I think vol 2 will include the films up to 1978,Vol 3 will start with a view from a hill,(2005)

[BarnDoor]

Originally Posted by side__on

I think vol 2 will include the films up to 1978,Vol 3 will start with a view from a hill,(2005)

Since Stoddart has said the Gatiss films are very unlikely (they just had a DVD release from someone else), I assume Vol 2 will be the final volume (at least for now), and just include Number 13 and A View from the Hill as extras.

[gekats]

Anyone here familiar with/can recommend the work of Lorenza Mazzetti? Never heard of her before.. The blurb of the upcoming BD makes it sound intriguing enough.

[CelestialAgent]

Per the Facebook group, the DVD releases Manufacturing Consent, Magician and Visions of Change are now OOP.

[Mr. Thomsen]

Got a bit lucky yesterday.

Every other Sunday, I meet up with some friends at a local second hand record store to browse, drink coffee and just hang out for a few hours. One of them had a huge bag of DVDs and BDs with him that he wanted to trade in at the store and gave me the chance to look through it all before he sold them.

I picked up a new and still sealed copy of the 2019 BFI release of Salò from him for a very good price. It turned out to be from the first pressing with the now OOP booklet, which I have actually been looking for in this thread not so long ago.

[BarnDoor]

Coming later in the year:

Short Sharp Shocks Vol. 3 (Flipside) - 9th October

Three Films by Yasujiro Ozu - 23rd October

Bluebeard's Castle - 20th November

Ghost Stories for Christmas: Volume Two - 20th November

SHORT SHARP SHOCKS VOL.3 (FLIPSIDE NO.47) (2 x Blu-ray)
Director: Various

The third in the critically acclaimed BFI Flipside series – continuing its ongoing mission to curate an alternative Brit-screen history of overlooked rarities in deluxe home-entertainment editions – is a further compelling compendium of strange, striking, thrilling, horrific, eerie and eccentric short subjects from the heyday of the British cinematic supporting programme.

Settle down for another strange cinematic journey through uncanny stories, twists in the tale, low-budget weirdness, stylish spectacle, avant-garde art, peculiar public information, monstrous music and provocative experiment – many ultra-rare and all with oodles of atmosphere and in High Definition.

The Films:

Return to Glennascaul (Hilton Edwards, 1951, 22 mins)
Strange Stories (John Guillermin and Don Chaffey, 1953, 45 mins)
Strange Experiences (1955, 10 mins)
Maze (Bob Bentley, 1970, 15 mins)
Skinflicker (Tony Bicât, 1973, 41 mins)
Beach Litter: Broken Bottle (1 min)
Firework: Chick (1 min)
Wings of Death (Nichola Bruce and Michael Coulson, 1985, 20 mins)
The Terminal Game (Geoff Lowe, 1982, 40 mins)

Extras:

Interview with filmmaker and artist Bob Bentley, director of Maze (2023)
Interview with Tony Bicât, director of Skinflicker (2023)
Interview with Nichola Bruce and Michael Coulson, directors of Wings of Death (2023)
Interview with Colin Towns, composer of the music for The Terminal Game (2022)
The Strange Stories Scrapbook (2023): video essay on 1950s British film producer Roger Proudlock by Vic Pratt
Interview with Geoff Lowe, director of The Terminal Game (TBC)
Rare scripts, stills, images and behind-the-scenes footage (TBC)
**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet including new writing by directors Bob Bentley, Nichola Bruce and Tony Bicât

THREE FILMS BY YOSUJIRŌ OZU (2 x Blu-ray)

This year marks the 120th anniversary of Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu’s birth. From his early silent films to his final features in the 1960s, Ozu perfected a style that stripped away unnecessary plot mechanics and camera movement. In doing so, he produced a cinema whose surface simplicity belies character studies of depth, warmth and on occasion, humour.

This new set features three newly restored films, all presented on Blu-ray in the UK for the first time:

Dragnet Girl (1933, 99 mins) Sweet-faced Tokiko is an ordinary typist, but come nightfall she's a fun-loving gangster's moll. When her boyfriend strays, Tokiko is forced to reassess her life. Hugely popular when it was released, Ozu's Dragnet Girl remains one of his most enduring silent films.

Record of Tenement Gentleman (1947, 75 mins) Tashiro, a fortune-telling resident in a poor district of Tokyo, has been followed home by a young boy whose father took him to the city but became separated from him. Initially unwilling to look after Kohei, Tashiro gradually warms to the boy.

A Hen in the Wind (1948, 84 mins) A soldier returns home at the end of World War II, and refuses to forgive his wife for prostituting herself one night to pay off medical bills for their son.

Extras TBC

Bluebeard’s Castle (Blu-ray)
Director: Michael Powell

Discover a ‘lost’ masterpiece from acclaimed director Michael Powell (The Red Shoes and Peeping Tom), with this stunning adaptation of Béla Bartok’s expressionist opera.

Starring Norman Foster as the murderous Bluebeard and Ana Raquel Satre as his doomed wife, Judith, this boldly original production was made for West German television in 1963. Combining outstanding performances with spectacular production designs (by Academy Award-winner Hein Heckroth), Powell concocts a daring and inventive interpretation of this haunting work, equal to the creative innovation of the iconic The Tales of Hoffmann.

Unavailable for many years, Bluebeard’s Castle has been painstakingly restored by the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation, and is presented here - on its 60th anniversary - in both its original broadcast format and its revised 1978 edition, featuring limited English subtitles added by Powell.

Extras

Newly restored by the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation in association with The Ashbrittle Film Foundation and presented in High Definition
Newly recorded interview with film scholar Ian Christie (2023)
Gallery
All extras are TBC and subject to change
**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Fully illustrated booklet featuring new and archive writing

GHOST STORIES FOR CHRISTMAS VOL. 2 (3 x Blu-ray)
Director: Lawrence Gordon Clark

Broadcast in the dying hours of Christmas Eve, the BBC’s A Ghost Story for Christmas series was a fixture of the seasonal schedules throughout the 1970s and spawned a long tradition of chilling tales, which terrified yuletide viewers for decades to come.

After the best-selling release of Volume One last year, this much-requested follow-up gives five more festive landmarks their Blu-ray debut, having been newly remastered by the BFI from original film materials. As well as two MR James adaptations, the series includes the celebrated version of Charles Dicken’s The Signalman starring Denholm Elliot, as well as specially written stories set in the contemporary 1970s. These influential films, all but one directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, were written by some of the best scriptwriters working in British TV in the 1970s: John Bowen, David Rudkin, Andrew Davies and Clive Exton.

The Films:

The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974, 37 min)
The Ash Tree (1975, 32 min)
The Signalman (1976, 39 min)
Stigma (1977, 32 min)
The Ice House (1978, 34 min)

Extras:

A View From a Hill (2005, 39 mins): a young museum curator, Fanshawe finds himself in possession of a pair of binoculars that grant him a strange new ability. Ignoring all warnings about their necromantic creator, Fanshawe carries out his research, but the bloody past of the area is best left undisturbed…
Number 13 (2006, 40 mins): infuriated by the ghoulish noises made nightly by his neighbour, Professor Anderson is soon driven to investigate the diabolical secrets of the old hotel and its mysteriously vanishing room 13.
Newly recorded audio commentary on The Treasure of Abbot Thomas by TV historian Simon Farquhar
Newly recorded audio commentary on The Ash Tree by author Johnny Mains
Newly recorded audio commentary on The Signalman by TV historian Jon Dear
Newly recorded audio commentaries on Stigma and The Ice House by Kim Newman and Sean Hogan
Ghost Stories for Christmas With Christopher Lee (2000, 30 mins): Ronald Frame's adaptation is brought to life by horror maestro Christopher Lee
Introductions by Lawrence Gordon Clark (2012, 39 mins): the director introduces The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, The Ash Tree, The Signalman and Stigma
Illustrated booklet with archival essays by Alex Davidson, Dick Fiddy, Matthew Sweet, and Helen Wheatley

[OceanBlue]

Wasn't able to properly quote your post from the previous page MifuneFan, where you posted the finalised details of the extras/bonus features for the BFI's Blu-ray release of Brannigan. Still to get their Blu-ray releases of Blue Black Permanent, The Driver's Seat, Enys Men and Full Circle/The Haunting of Julia, and it looks like I'll be adding Brannigan to that list of BFI physical media titles I want to get.

Thanks also for posting the update about the second Blu-ray volume of Ghost Stories for Christmas.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Since Stoddart has said the Gatiss films are very unlikely (they just had a DVD release from someone else), I assume Vol 2 will be the final volume (at least for now), and just include Number 13 and A View from the Hill as extras.

I was just about to ask you BarnDoor about the chances of there being a third volume of Short Sharp Shocks. Welcome news that you've posted.

I was going to ask if there was much chance of the BFI doing a physical media release of the surviving episodes of one or two TV anthology series (including one you've brought up not too long ago (think it was in one of the DVD Movies threads where TV anthology and horror series have been posted about), West Country Tales?

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Coming later in the year:

Short Sharp Shocks Vol. 3 (Flipside) - 9th October

Three Films by Yasujiro Ozu - 23rd October

Bluebeard's Castle - 20th November

Ghost Stories for Christmas: Volume Two - 20th November

[Show spoiler]

Very happy to see the Ozu set. Of the three films, I've only seen Dragnet Girl, which I watched for the first time earlier this year.

[knuckles96]

in for the Ozu set. nearly bought the gangster films DVD release for Dragnet Girl but glad i didnt seeing as this is coming out in HD - along with Hen in the Wind, which is an excellent film, previously available on the Autumn Afternoon blu-ray in SD

[OceanBlue]

Bluebeard's Castle is a possibility (would need to check that out as I've not heard of it). Short Sharp Shocks: Volume Three and Ghost Stories for Christmas: Volume Two definitely going to get (hopefully).

A welcome batch of forthcoming label/boutique label titles.

[Sifox211]

Bluebeard's Castle - wow! Wasn't aware of this but as a big fan of both Bartók and Powell this is going to be a day one for me

[trobrianders]

Very pleased for the Ozu set which for me are new films. I have the BFI blu of An Autumn Afternoon but never got round to the SD of A Hen in the Wind and I didn't have the Ozu silents Eclipse set for Dragnet Girl.

Bluebeard's Castle is also a great surprise.

[oddbox83]

Cool.

So, there's no reason to hang onto the old Ghost Stories box set, is there? I already have the Robert Powell readings from the expanded collection separately.

[yukito]

Will be getting short sharp shocks vol.3. But my OCD is already kicking in I thought starting from now all releases would be 4K with slipcover...