British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[Yami]

Play for Today: Vol. 1 is the highest ranked Blu-Ray on Sight & Sound's annual poll of the best home video releases

I'm actually quite surprised by that, seeing as it was only released last week and I would have thought that the deadline for votes would have been before then.

[Eibon]

Originally Posted by Yami

Play for Today: Vol. 1 is the highest ranked Blu-Ray on Sight & Sound's annual poll of the best home video releases

I'm actually quite surprised by that, seeing as it was only released last week and I would have thought that the deadline for votes would have been before then.

Most Blu ray buyers are only interested in the latest shiny bauble. Once they get them, they're shelved and rarely brought to mind again. About a week sounds about right.

[thuata]

Originally Posted by Yami

Play for Today: Vol. 1 is the highest ranked Blu-Ray on Sight & Sound's annual poll of the best home video releases

I'm actually quite surprised by that, seeing as it was only released last week and I would have thought that the deadline for votes would have been before then.

What surprises me is that this list is already there, don't they usually do those in January ?

edit: I didn't necessarily expect it to rank very high but I didn't think only one person (Kim Newman of course) would vote for the Gamera set.

[minister_x]

Also whilst Play for Today appears in the greatest number of lists, it occupies lower entries. I'm intrigued as to how they calculate the winner - is it just that it appeared in six lists whereas the second place Walkabout only appeared in five? I guess that makes sense on one hand, but on the other it never got past third place, whereas Walkabout was in 1st and 2nd place on three of its lists... Guess the metric is the simpler 'occurrence' and no weighting is applied.

Regardless, a great selection of blus that have been released, and hopefully there will be more releases of Play for Today!

Side note: The only release that bemuses me on those lists is the StudioCanal 4K release of The Fifth Element, which really ought to be the sole entry/winner in a list of its own - Most Barebones UHD.

[JimDiGriz]

Originally Posted by rapta

Herzog set down to £24.99 as a Black Friday deal. Bargain if you ask me, as in my opinion it's the best set BFI have ever produced!

Gutted because I paid £5 more as a Xmas present for my brother from BFI themselves too. Ah well - still a good price.

[Danse Macabre]

I've just gone through the first disc of Short Sharp Shocks.

I have to say, these are pretty crap. I guess Telltale Heart was ok and Death Was A Passenger had a nice idea, but the other 3 were a bore.

Here's hoping disc 2 is better.

[Gerby]

Originally Posted by Danse Macabre

I've just gone through the first disc of Short Sharp Shocks.

I have to say, these are pretty crap. I guess Telltale Heart was ok and Death Was A Passenger had a nice idea, but the other 3 were a bore.

Here's hoping disc 2 is better.

I watched both discs last night...the 4 shorts on disc 2 are much better in my opinion. I hope they do a 2nd volume with some of my favourite shorts like Panic (1978) & The Dumb Waiter (1979).

[DefLeppard]

Ignore if this was already posted here but looks like this Flipside release London in the Raw is going OOP; BFI shop currently has only DVD but available on Amz/Zavvi/HMV. This is somewhat similar to the OOP status of another Flipside release The Party's Over .

[wabrit]

Originally Posted by Danse Macabre

I've just gone through the first disc of Short Sharp Shocks.

I have to say, these are pretty crap. I guess Telltale Heart was ok and Death Was A Passenger had a nice idea, but the other 3 were a bore.

Here's hoping disc 2 is better.

Yeah disc 1 is curiosity value at best, and that's being very generous! Disc 2 is an improvement, and a couple of them are not half bad, but overall I was somewhat underwhelmed.

[James78]

Originally Posted by wabrit

Yeah disc 1 is curiosity value at best, and that's being very generous! Disc 2 is an improvement, and a couple of them are not half bad, but overall I was somewhat underwhelmed.

I really liked Lock Your Door. I found it creepy, maybe because I watched it late at night. The Lake and The Errand were very atmospheric too. Perhaps consider these releases too:

[Killer Meteor]

Originally Posted by Danse Macabre

I've just gone through the first disc of Short Sharp Shocks.

I have to say, these are pretty crap. I guess Telltale Heart was ok and Death Was A Passenger had a nice idea, but the other 3 were a bore.

Here's hoping disc 2 is better.

That Matador short is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. Plus I think the title character drenched me in spittle!

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by Danse Macabre

I've just gone through the first disc of Short Sharp Shocks.

I have to say, these are pretty crap. I guess Telltale Heart was ok and Death Was A Passenger had a nice idea, but the other 3 were a bore.

Here's hoping disc 2 is better.

I'd seen a few before, mostly on Talking Pictures, and found them pedestrian at best and ramblingly pointless and uncinematic at worst (yes The Reformation of St Jules, I do mean you), the kind of quota short films that used to feel like purgatory sitting through when they still played on the big screen(I still remember one audience member loudly commenting "Bloody Hell, I've driven to Manchester in less time than this" halfway through The Sex Victims, which was still turning up in the 80s purely because of its title), but the BFI's marketing and packaging is a glorious throwback to the days when indie distributors really knew how to pull off a luridly appealing bait and switch bit of hyperbole for a bit of old rope.

It's a shame they didn't include the infamous Red (which played with Damien Omen II) or the spoof Cry Wolf (which played with Airplane!), the last two films the great Robert Krasker shot.

[BarnDoor]

Originally Posted by Gerby

I watched both discs last night...the 4 shorts on disc 2 are much better in my opinion. I hope they do a 2nd volume with some of my favourite shorts like Panic (1978) & The Dumb Waiter (1979).

Given it was previously screened as part of BFI's Short Sharp Shocks strand, I did think Panic was a shoo-in, but I read somewhere it's with Paramount, which probably explains its omission (I've no idea if this is true however). Let's say it is with Paramount - even though BFI now have a relationship with Paramount, it might be that the major studios are reticent to allow one of their films on a disc with several other properties from different licensors.

If it is the case that CIC-distributed short films are now with Paramount, that means they'd also have The Dumb Waiter (1979), Victims (1980), Cry Wolf (1980), Dead End (1980) and Vampyr (1981). That said, I'm not at all convinced all of these - if any - would still be with Paramount.

My hope for the set was more 70s and 80s short films, but I'm guessing these are probably a rights (and materials) minefield.

[Aclea]

There are a lot of decent shorts that would be ideal for a non-genre release - The Dollar Bottom, Butch Minds the Baby, The Rocking Horse Winner (1983), Black Angel, Sredni Vashtar, A Shocking Accident, Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life - not to mention obvious sets like Hammer shorts or Bob Godfrey (Great and A Christmas Carol are long overdue). Which makes it all the more disappointing when the naffer ones get released instead.

Paramount would certainly be a problem for James Dearden's Diversion: even though they were rumoured to have destroyed all copies when they remade it as Fatal Attraction, copies survive. Maybe a BFI Paramount shorts set could be easier to collate and licence?

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by James78

I really liked Lock Your Door. I found it creepy, maybe because I watched it late at night. The Lake and The Errand were very atmospheric too. Perhaps consider these releases too:

Schalcken the Painter is certainly intriguing:



“His later work, which I promise you will see and remember, seems to have its roots in some private world of dreams, perhaps never otherwise expressed.”

Produced as part of the BBC’s Omnibus arts documentary strand rather than by its drama department, 1977’s Schalcken the Painter feels like a close relation to the channel’s revered Ghost Story for Christmas specials. Using Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1839 Strange Event in the Life of Schalcken the Painter as its starting point, it weaves a story around the real 17th Century Dutch artist’s paintings that’s a combination of ghost story and twisted morality play, but those coming to it expecting a conventional horror story are likely to come away disappointed. Director Leslie Megahey’s idea was to subvert an art film and turn it into something else, but the art is very much in the foreground, with its story unfolding slowly and subtly, with much of the horror unfolding between the brushstrokes.

It begins with Godfried Schalcken (Jeremy Clyde) a student of Gerrit Dou (Maurice Denham) and quietly in love with the master painter’s niece (Cheryl Kennedy) – or, as Charles Gray’s narrator notes, “as much as a Dutchman can be.” But the appearance of the deathly Vanderhausen (John Justin, looking like a freshly exhumed corpse, his appearances heralded by the creak of a floorboard and always discovered in the frame rather than making an entrance) changes all that when he makes Dou an offer he cannot refuse for her hand: “You need not pledge yourself unnecessarily, but I think when you see the value of my commission you will find it is necessary.” Rather than run away with her, Schalcken breaks her heart by promising to buy back her marriage contract once he has made his name and fortune, only for both Vanderhausen and the niece to disappear without trace until one night the manic and terrified girl returns begging for protection and repeating “The dead and the living can never be one”…

Along with the deliberate pacing, the veiled nature of the plot may frustrate some, and the film is in many ways more about mood and atmosphere than plot - at times it’s more interested in the shifting light and shadows as a candle moves around a statue’s face. Yet that emphasis on the visual over the narrative seems entirely appropriate for a film about an artist and the look of the of the film is remarkable, the lighting and colour looking uncannily like a living painting of the period, with careful composition and a measured editing style that allows you to feel like you’re in a private gallery viewing with plenty of time to take in each detail. Like Barry Lyndon, it uses natural light and candlelight, the latter burning brightly but still unable to cast any light on the surrounding darkness to mirror both Vermeer and Schalcken’s own visual style (and not just Schalcken’s: at one point Rembrandt makes a brief appearance looking just like his self-portrait). There’s a documentary-like attention to detail too, with the scrubbing and clothing of the artist’s model carried out without any regard for either her comfort or even her humanity, reducing her to an object to be reproduced on canvas. And it’s that rejection of the human comforts for artistic success that’s at the heart of this dark tale: Schalcken’s damnation, like Dau’s, comes from forsaking and ultimately damning the human being who should be closest to them. It’s a simple enough moral, but delivered with a spellbinding style rare in television work of any era.

There’s an intriguing interview featurette on the BFI’s Blu-ray/DVD combo with director Megahey, editor Paul Humphries and lighting cameraman John Hooper that reveals the development of the piece and the casting process. The narrator was originally intended as an onscreen figure and written with Vincent Price in mind, hoping that his love of art would attract him to the project, and when he passed on it was offered to Peter Cushing, who found the script extremely distasteful and rejected it in no uncertain terms. Similarly the role of Schalcken’s mentor was originally intended for Arthur Lowe. There’s also an explanation of why the final painting was an original work created for the film after they found themselves unable to locate the one Le Fanu referred to or even confirm it had ever existed. Additionally, there are two short films, The Pit (a stylised half hour adaptation of The Pit and the Pendulum from 1962 that includes some production design sketches as well) and The Pledge from 1981 (in which a trio of petty criminals resolve to cut down a colleague from the gallows tree) as well as the customary booklet.

[Nedoflanders]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

If it is the case that CIC-distributed short films are now with Paramount, that means they'd also have The Dumb Waiter (1979), Victims (1980), Cry Wolf (1980), Dead End (1980) and Vampyr (1981). That said, I'm not at all convinced all of these - if any - would still be with Paramount.

Well, the CIC-distributed Le Pétomane is up for free on the BFI Player (complete with the original CIC and Paramount idents attached to the print), so you might be on to something.

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/...ne-1979-online

Originally Posted by Aclea

There are a lot of decent shorts that would be ideal for a non-genre release - The Dollar Bottom, Butch Minds the Baby, The Rocking Horse Winner (1983), Black Angel, Sredni Vashtar, A Shocking Accident, Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life - not to mention obvious sets like Hammer shorts or Bob Godfrey (Great and A Christmas Carol are long overdue).

A Bob Godfrey collection is long overdue, his family are looking to remaster his work.

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by Nedoflanders

Well, the CIC-distributed Le Pétomane is up for free on the BFI Player (complete with the original CIC and Paramount idents attached to the print), so you might be on to something.

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/...ne-1979-online

A Bob Godfrey collection is long overdue, his family are looking to remaster his work.

Godfrey is definitely worth checking out. Wasn't aware that was on there thanks for the pointer.

Really is a bounty of riches on BFI Player.

https://letterboxd.com/hulksmash/list/bfi-player-free/

[sjt]

"It begins with Godfried Schalcken (Jeremy Clyde) a student of Gerrit Dau (Maurice Denham) and quietly in love with the master painter’s niece (Cheryl Kennedy) – or, as Charles Gray’s narrator notes, “as much as a Dutchman can be.” But the appearance of the deathly Vanderhausen (John Justin, looking like a freshly exhumed corpse, his appearances heralded by the creak of a floorboard and always discovered in the frame rather than making an entrance) changes all that when he makes Dau an offer he cannot refuse for her hand: “You need not pledge yourself unnecessarily, but I think when you see the value of my commission you will find it is necessary.” Aclea.

Neither to discourage the better sort of art-historical reference nor your own commendable labours in the pits of celluloid, but the C17th Dutch minor master is Gerrit DOU (though one occasionally sees an older form - DOUW - used). Your spelling would produce the right(ish) phonetic results, but unfortunately only in French, not Dutch. Homer Simpson makes the same sound with some frequency. Here endeth the lesson.

[Aclea]

Well, in my defence I was always more Magritte than chiaroscuro...

[Danse Macabre]

Originally Posted by Gerby

I watched both discs last night...the 4 shorts on disc 2 are much better in my opinion. I hope they do a 2nd volume with some of my favourite shorts like Panic (1978) & The Dumb Waiter (1979).

Originally Posted by wabrit

Yeah disc 1 is curiosity value at best, and that's being very generous! Disc 2 is an improvement, and a couple of them are not half bad, but overall I was somewhat underwhelmed.

Just finished the second disc and what a difference, almost redeems disc 1.
Overall I'd rate each tale the following:
Disc 1
Lock Your Door - 1
The Reformation of St Jules - 1
The Tell-Tale Heart - 3
Death Was A Passenger - 2
Portrait Of A Matador - 1

Disc 2
Twenty-Nine - 6.5
The Sex Victims - 5
The Lake - 8
The Errand - 6.5

The Blu-ray might be worth getting just for The Lake alone.

Originally Posted by Aclea

I'd seen a few before, mostly on Talking Pictures, and found them pedestrian at best and ramblingly pointless and uncinematic at worst (yes The Reformation of St Giles, I do mean you), the kind of quota short films that used to feel like purgatory sitting through when they still played on the big screen(I still remember one audience member loudly commenting "Bloody Hell, I've driven to Manchester in less time than this" halfway through The Sex Victims, which was still turning up in the 80s purely because of its title), but the BFI's marketing and packaging is a glorious throwback to the days when indie distributors really knew how to pull off a luridly appealing bait and switch bit of hyperbole for a bit of old rope.

It's a shame they didn't include the infamous Red (which played with Damien Omen II) or the spoof Cry Wolf (which played with Airplane!), the last two films the great Robert Krasker shot.

Oh god, The Reformation of St Jules, the funny thing is that I watched each film individually and thought they were ordered in chronology vertically, so I went Lock Your Door > Tell-Tale Heart > Death Was A Passenger.

So when I picked St Jules, a deep sense of dread seized me as soon I saw the same opening Lock Your Door had, followed by despair when I saw that doddery old fool in his armchair. The only time Algernon Blackwood has ever caused those emotions.

That one is possibly my pick for worst film of the set, that or Matador. At least Lock Your Door had some vague resemblance to a horror story, even if it was completely overplayed and clumsy. I honestly think he had a stroke halfway through telling the story and then came up with that load of old bollocks. The ravings of a madman, which is fitting.

I can't say the marketing of this set is wrong though, I did get a short sharp shock of going "Wait? That's it?' after watching the films on disc 1.

Originally Posted by Killer Meteor

That Matador short is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. Plus I think the title character drenched me in spittle!

In my above ratings I was tempted to bump up Lock Your Door to a 2 just because the Matador was so bad. Laboriously told with abysmal acting and with zero clue how to suspend disbelief. Plus the guy who told the story kept changing his accent and it distracted me.

Both of the Zichy films have a weird obsession with tacked on romance.