Okay but I did not forget this nice art film but I named my personal favorites.
I also want "Stroszek" and "Invincible" but again I listed my most wanted Herzog films.
Literally only just found out about the planned Aguirre, Wrath Of God (Dual Format Edition) release - made my day, that and seeing The Place Beyond The Pines this evening. I have been praying for a decent Herzog release, and have never seen Aguirre (I've been holding off older Herzog for decent transfers). Now BFI are doing a Herzog season, I expect they will do a few more releases at least - in fact, they hint at a Herzog Collection. The Enigma of Kasper Hauser is probably going to be one, but I would love Fata Morgana, Stroszek, Woyzeck, Fitzcarraldo or Nosferatu to get a full-blown decent transfer. Aguirre is the best news ever I guess, considering the recent Polasnki season only got one release from BFI - and that was Tess (yawn).
This summer the BFI releases the stunning new restoration of Roberto Rossellini’s classic Journey to Italy (1954), out on Blu-ray for the first time as part of a Dual Format Edition. Voted in the Top 50 in Sight & Sound’s Greatest Films of All Time critics’ poll last year, Journey to Italy can be seen in UK cinemas throughout May and will be released alongside a Dual Format Edition of Rossellini’s Stromboli (1950) by the BFI in August.
Other forthcoming releases include the first in a series of daring and controversial films made by French author Alain Robbe-Grillet. Best known in the film world as the writer of Last Year in Marienbad (1961), Robbe-Grillet also directed many features including Trans-Europ Express (1967) and Successive Slidings of Pleasure (1974) – both of which will be available in Dual Format Editions in September.
Also released this summer are:
A London Trilogy: the films of Saint Etienne – three films about the capital by director Paul Kelly, made in collaboration with one of Britain’s best-loved bands.
Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen’s groundbreaking 1977 experimental film Riddles of the Sphinx made available for the first time
The Complete Humphrey Jennings Volume Three: A Diary for Timothy – after 2012’s award-winning Volume 2, this third and final volume sees all of Jennings’ films finally available on Blu-ray/DVD.
Classic vintage kids adventure Emil and the Detectives – includes both the celebrated 1931 Billy Wilder-scripted German version and a rare 1935 British version, on one DVD.
The Adventures of Prince Achmed – Lotte Reiniger’s beautiful animation on Blu-ray/DVD with a wealth of previously unreleased films as extras
John Cassavetes’ classic The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), starring the late Ben Gazzara, in a three-disc limited edition presentation, featuring two different cuts of the feature.
Hopefully BFI have changed their minds and have put the longer cut of Chinese Bookie on a separate Blu-ray, though I suspect it will be DVD only, making this a 1 BD and 2 DVD set.
The British Film Institute has informed us that it is planning to bring to Blu-ray a number of classic and cult films, amongst them Alain Robbe-Grillet's Successive Slidings of Pleasure and Trans-Europ-Express, and Roberto Rossellini's Stromboli and Journey to Italy.
Technical specs and supplemental features for many of these upcoming releases are yet to be confirmed.
Trans-Europ Express
A film director, Jean, his producer, Marc, and his assistant, Lucette, board the Trans-Europ-Express in Paris bound for Antwerp. Once in their compartment it occurs to them that the drama of life aboard the train presents possibilities for a film, and they begin to write a script about dope smuggling. Subsequently, they see actor Jean-Louis Trintignant walking through the station. As seen through the eyes of Jean, Marc, and Lucette, Trintignant becomes Elias, the chief character in the script. Elias is going to Antwerp to pick up a suitcase of cocaine for delivery to an international organization based in Paris.
Successive Slidings of Pleasure
A young woman is questioned by the police and the judges, suspected of being a modern witch. The girl who shared her apartment has been found dead, and a pair of scissors impaled through her heart, as she lay attached to the bedposts. Apparently, the girl does have powers, to make all people around her fall prey to her spell, glissing progressively into desire, lust, and the unknown.
The Adventures of Prince Achmed
The Adventures of Lotte Reiniger was the first feature-length animation in film history, created by Lotte Reiniger and hand-tinted frame by frame. Based on 'The Arabian Nights', this classic film tells the epic tale of Prince Achmed, who is tricked into mounting a magical flying horse by a wicked sorcerer. The horse carries Achmed off on a series of adventures, over the course of which he joins forces with a young Aladdin, battles ogres and monsters and romances the beautiful Princess Peri Banu.
Newly mastered to High Definition, this exquisite film is presented with the original Wolfgang Zeller score, as well as a newly-created track which combines Zeller score with a voice over (by actress Penelope McGhie) based on Reiniger's own telling of the tale.
Also included in this Dual Format Edition is an extensive selection of Lotte Reiniger's celebrated animated shorts, including The Lost Son, Star of Bethlehem, The Flying Coffer and the 'Dr Dolittle' films (Trip to Africa, In Cannibal Lane, The Lion's Den).
Special Features
New High Definition transfer of the film
All films presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
Original Wolfgang Zeller score
Optional narration soundtrack
The Flying Coffer (1921, 9 mins): the Emperor of China banishes his daughter's mortal suitors in Lotte Reiniger's first film using silhouette animation
The Marquess Secret (1922, 2 mins): early advertising film for Nivea
Dr Dolittle and His Animals (1928, 31 mins): a series of three short films about the famous doctor and his menagerie
The Lost Son (14 mins): a prodigal son returns in Lotte Reiniger's colour version of the biblical story
Star of Bethlehem (18 mins): three wise men follow the star to Bethlehem animated in colour by Lotte Reiniger
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Receiving its long-overdue Blu-ray premiere, as part of this Dual Format Edition, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is John Cassavetes uncompromising character study of a gangster.
Cassavetes regular Ben Gazzara (Anatomy Of a Murder, Husbands, The Big Liebowski), plays a seedy Los Angeles strip-club owner who runs up heavy gambling debts which he arranges to wipe out by murdering an elderly Chinese gangster. Also stars Seymour Cassel (Faces, Rushmore) and legendary crime actor Timothy Carey (The Killing, Paths of Glory).
Arguably the most plot-driven of his films, Cassavates withdrew The Killing of a Chinese Bookie shortly after the initial release and subsequently re-cut a shorter version with a different opening. The re-cut version is available on the Blu-ray and the DVD includes the long version amongst the special features.
Stromboli
Ingrid Bergman stars as Karin, a Second World War refugee who marries an Italian fisherman to escape from a displaced person's camp. She is filled with romantic notions as her husband takes her to his home - the island of Stromboli - but her dreams of an idyllic paradise are shattered by the reality of a barren, desolate landscape. She finds herself frowned upon by the local women and decides to leave, but her plan to raise enough money for her departure involves seducing the local priest.
Journey to Italy
A film that was hugely influential on the new wave of French cinema as well as being widely regarded as one of Roberto Rossellini's finest. Katherine Joyce (Ingrid Bergman, and wife of Rossellini at the time) and her husband Alex (George Sanders) are traveling around Italy on their way to a villa they have just inherited. Far from their London home, Katherine confesses to having had a secret lover and finds her husband becomes even more distant with her; to such an extent that they decide to finish their holiday apart from each other. Whilst Alex enjoys the company of other ex-pats on the island of Capri, Katherine tours around the sights of Naples and Pompeii. However, the different events they experience begin to bind them together.
The Complete Humphrey Jennings
After 2012's award-winning Volume 2, this third and final volume sees all of Jennings' films finally available on Blu-ray/DVD.
Hopefully, we will eventually see someone release Gradiva and especially Le jeu avec le feu a.k.a Playing With Fire. The latter overshadows the best of Ferreri and Borowczyk's films. Will pay whatever it is any distributor asks for a Blu-ray release.
BFI is just about done wrapping up and releasing films from John Cassavetes. I've held off actually picking them up in hopes that here in N. America we would see a Criterion Box set. But I'm getting impatient.
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