British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[everygrainofsand]

Originally Posted by wabrit

Having originally splurged on the Criterion box set, I didn't feel the need to go for the BFI releases in general, but I did pick up BFI volume 1 as it contains (IIRC) 4 films not in the Criterion set.

I didn't release that. Thanks. My local FOPP had a tenner off the first volume, the last time I looked. I may pop in today and pick up both it and the BFI Alan Clarke set. The latter had been reduced to £29, which is - I think - a discount of over 50% RRP.

Of course, knowing my luck, I'll chump up to FOPP and they won't have either in stock . I still kick myself for not getting those Derek Jarman volumes. I adore most of his work - he really was a true artist - but was particularly skint at the time

[wabrit]

Yeah I missed out on the Jarman sets too, much to my annoyance!

FYI the films in the BFI v1 set not covered by Criterion are:

• Torment (1944) – Directed by Alf Sjöberg; screenplay by Ingmar Bergman.
• Eva (1948) – Directed by Gustaf Molander; screenplay by Ingmar Bergman.
• Music in Darkness (1948) – Directed by Ingmar Bergman; screenplay by Dagmar Edqvist.
• Prison (1949) – Directed and written by Ingmar Bergman.

[Sifox211]

Originally Posted by everygrainofsand

...Now, getting back to actual releases... What do we make of the BFI Bergman sets? Like BFI's Akerman release(s), do they benefit from better encodes? The Criterion encode of at least two of the Akerman releases were extraordinarily shoddy. Both ruined the beautiful texture of the 16mm film. I suppose I'm asking this: on Bergman, do I get the BFI or Criterion?

I don't have or know much about the BFI sets, but the Criterion is a fantastic release all round; the book is comprehensive and the whole set is clearly such a labour of love. It could/should be an iconic release in the boutique world!

[everygrainofsand]

Originally Posted by Sifox211

I don't have or know much about the BFI sets, but the Criterion is a fantastic release all round; the book is comprehensive and the whole set is clearly such a labour of love. It could/should be an iconic release in the boutique world!

Originally Posted by wabrit

Yeah I missed out on the Jarman sets too, much to my annoyance!

[Show spoiler]FYI the films in the BFI v1 set not covered by Criterion are:

• Torment (1944) – Directed by Alf Sjöberg; screenplay by Ingmar Bergman.
• Eva (1948) – Directed by Gustaf Molander; screenplay by Ingmar Bergman.
• Music in Darkness (1948) – Directed by Ingmar Bergman; screenplay by Dagmar Edqvist.
• Prison (1949) – Directed and written by Ingmar Bergman.

Cheers, gents. I'll pick up the first BFI Bergman set (which has a tenner off at FOPP), and put in an order for the Criterion big daddy box. Like you say, SiFox: the latter does seem to be a labour of love.

Oh, on the off chance anyone sees either of the BFI Jarman boxes in the wild, then please do let me know!

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by everygrainofsand

Oh, on the off chance anyone sees either of the BFI Jarman boxes in the wild, then please do let me know!

Someone's flogging volume 2 for £249.70 on Fleabay.

[wabrit]

Originally Posted by fatboyslim142

Someone's flogging volume 2 for £249.70 on Fleabay.

Thanks but no thanks

[darrellmaclaine]

Just watched the new Slade In Flame disc. The picture quality is absolutely transformative, really stunning, although the denoising on the audio is a little overaggressive for my liking. A bit of hiss should be good! It's film grain for the ears!

[Rutger Lundgren]

Originally Posted by wabrit

Thanks but no thanks

I mean, that's a good price now (not that I would pay it), I've seen them being offered for upwards of 700 pounds.

One of my biggest regrets as well.

[wabrit]

Originally Posted by Rutger Lundgren

I mean, that's a good price now (not that I would pay it), I've seen them being offered for upwards of 700 pounds.

One of my biggest regrets as well.

Looks those that have recently sold on there fetched around the £200 mark. Too rich for me :-), but I suspect no-one is going to bite at £700+!

[Sifox211]

Originally Posted by wabrit

Looks those that have recently sold on there fetched around the £200 mark. Too rich for me :-), but I suspect no-one is going to bit at £700+!

If they're still available the other way is to pick up the individual releases, although I never checked if all the films were released that way (I have both sets).

[darrellmaclaine]

Originally Posted by darrellmaclaine

Just watched the new Slade In Flame disc. The picture quality is absolutely transformative, really stunning, although the denoising on the audio is a little overaggressive for my liking. A bit of hiss should be good! It's film grain for the ears!

Some naff and glitchy AI upscaling on the legacy DVD extras, which have also lost their original videolook as a result, but at least they're all in one place now. They've also replaced the clips in the documentary with the restored ones which is a plus as the aspect ratio was completely messed up on them in the DVD edit.

[MaciejCichosz]

BFI's "Throne of Blood" looks amazing in 4K, same fantastic work done to it just like on the other releases. The film also comes in a thick, but not rigid, matt slipbox, just like "Yojimbo/Sanjuro" and "La Haine" recently. Can't wait for the release of "The Hidden Fortress"!

[rapta]

Originally Posted by MaciejCichosz

Can't wait for the release of "The Hidden Fortress"!

Is this definitely happening? I seem to remember asking Ben Stoddart on Facebook and getting a bit of a non-answer, whereas he was previously openly hinting at other Toho announcements whenever I or others asked him.

EDIT: Okay just saw him say "I couldn’t possibly say" to someone who asked a few weeks back, so that's good news!

[Mr. Thomsen]

Originally Posted by Guernica78

I’m curious about how small the print run was for the Akerman set. It sold out very quickly and there were warnings from Ben on Facebook that it wouldn’t last long. Why didn’t they do a bigger run?

I believe Ben said they made 2,000.

[Jonatan C.]

Originally Posted by MaciejCichosz

BFI's "Throne of Blood" looks amazing in 4K, same fantastic work done to it just like on the other releases. The film also comes in a thick, but not rigid, matt slipbox, just like "Yojimbo/Sanjuro" and "La Haine" recently. Can't wait for the release of "The Hidden Fortress"!

It´s a small peeve for these gorgeus releases, but I wish they had a bit of consistency with the spine color, or all white or all black

[MifuneFan]

Here are the finalized extras for TwentyFourSeven (1997):

Extras

• Newly remastered by the BFI and presented in High Definition
• Newly recorded audio commentary by Andrew Graves
• The Guardian Interview: Shane Meadows and Bob Hoskins (1997/2025, 79 mins)
• Ritchie, The World’s Light-Weight Boxing Champion (1914, 1 min): newsreel capturing Willie Ritchie’s victory over the incumbent light-weight champion Freddie Welsh
• Twelve Hours Punching (1924, 2 mins): amateur fighters trade blows at a variety of weights during a boxing tournament at London’s Alexandra Palace
• Trailers (1997, 4 mins)
• **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet featuring new essays by Andrew Graves, Caj Sohal and Tim Coleman

[SmittysGelato]

I see the BFI Shop is still offline. I wonder when it will be back online.

[ryanhoward79]

Originally Posted by SmittysGelato

I see the BFI Shop is still offline. I wonder when it will be back online.

Yea, who knows at this point. I will say, although I got this sense from the jump, it's reassuring to see just how seriously BFI is taking this. They are obviously losing a great deal of revenue from this I would imagine, so the fact that they are seemingly doing everything they need to insure something like this won't happen again is a very good thing!

[robsinden]

Originally Posted by wabrit

Yeah I missed out on the Jarman sets too, much to my annoyance!

FYI the films in the BFI v1 set not covered by Criterion are:

• Torment (1944) – Directed by Alf Sjöberg; screenplay by Ingmar Bergman.
• Eva (1948) – Directed by Gustaf Molander; screenplay by Ingmar Bergman.
• Music in Darkness (1948) – Directed by Ingmar Bergman; screenplay by Dagmar Edqvist.
• Prison (1949) – Directed and written by Ingmar Bergman.

I made this post comparing Bergman availability if anyone is interested. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=1774

[JackyJacquard]

Originally Posted by SmittysGelato

I see the BFI Shop is still offline. I wonder when it will be back online.

BFI shop goes offline…a month later Tom Cruise is seen standing atop BFI IMAX…

Clearly this is the work of The Entititty