Billy Wilder on Blu-ray

[filmlover22]

stepeanut, I totally agree. if you can get it at a great price from Eureka direct, then that is the best choice. Definitely top notch customer service!

[Dailyan]

Eureka's "Five Graves to Cairo" specs and cover:

SPECIAL EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:
1080p presentation on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK from a brand new 4K restoration | Uncompressed LPCM audio (original mono presentation) | Audio commentary by film scholar Adrian Martin | Billy Wilder on FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO | “FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO” episode of Lux Radio Theatre, originally aired in 1943, starring Franchot Tone and Anne Baxter | Theatrical trailer | A collector’s booklet featuring new writing by critic Richard Combs; and an archival article from 1944 about Wilder and Charles Brackett

[Dailyan]

Eureka is also doing a Billy Wilder sale again with 2 for £20 until June 9th:
https://eurekavideo.co.uk/promotions/billy-wilder-sale/

For region locked folks, "Irma la Douce" and "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" will work with the top menu trick on any non-Panasonic player.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

Eureka is also doing a Billy Wilder sale again with 2 for £20 until June 9th:
https://eurekavideo.co.uk/promotions/billy-wilder-sale/

For region locked folks, "Irma la Douce" and "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" will work with the top menu trick on any non-Panasonic player.

Jumped on this sale. Got, Witness For The Prosecution, One Two Three, The Lost Weekend, Irma La Douce!

[Gunsnroses092789]

Looks like Eureka beat Kino to the punch, even though I thought Kino was doing/paying for the new 4K restoration.

[rezpekt]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

Eureka is also doing a Billy Wilder sale again with 2 for £20 until June 9th:
https://eurekavideo.co.uk/promotions/billy-wilder-sale/

Also, A Foreign Affair and Five Graves to Cairo pre-orders are part of their 2 for £25 sale: https://eurekavideo.co.uk/promotions/2-for-25/

[Dailyan]

Site review for the Eureka release of "A Foreign Affair":
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/A-For...267335/#Review

[Dailyan]

I gave "Fedora" a spin for the first time today. I like the general idea ("Sunset Boulevard" for the New Hollywood era) but I felt the execution wasn't as strong as it could of been.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

I gave "Fedora" a spin for the first time today. I like the general idea ("Sunset Boulevard" for the New Hollywood era) but I felt the execution wasn't as strong as it could of been.

I just watched it about two weeks ago, I'm going through all the Wilder films I hadn't seen (which was about 3/4 of them).

I agree, I liked the idea, but the film isn't sure if it's a comedy or a drama. It leans mostly towards drama, but the tone remains uneven between light comedy and genuinely horrific tragedy.

The pacing is all off too. I read somewhere online that Wilder was famous for shooting his films so that he "edited in the camera," shooting exactly enough material to cut the film together in only one way, not shooting conventional coverage. As a result, he protected himself from meddlesome producers and studios early in his career. However, on Fedora, the people who worked on it said they felt restricted by the footage. It was beautifully staged, but there was no way to have the film cut together into anything but the funereal, glacial pace it has.

Apparently he wanted to cast Marlene Dietrich and Faye Dunaway in the two female leads roles, but when he couldn't get them, he went with Hildegard Knef and Marthe Keller. They're both gifted actresses, Keller is actually one of my favorite 70s actresses, along with Brooke Adams, but they're both wildly unsuited to their roles, those roles each needed MEGASTARS.

It's a fascinating companion piece to Sunset Boulevard, and it has some great scenes, but as a whole I don't think it works.

[20th Century Boy]

This is all so exciting. We're getting really close to a clean-sweep of the full filmography of Wilder on optimal blu-ray releases.

Still hoping for that extended Sherlock release someday...someday...

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by 20th Century Boy

This is all so exciting. We're getting really close to a clean-sweep of the full filmography of Wilder on optimal blu-ray releases.

It amazes me that Buddy Buddy hasn't had any legit release since the days of VHS. No matter how bad it is, it's still Wilder. I'll order the Spanish bootleg DVD soon.

I hope Amazon France starts shipping to the US again soon, so I can order The Emperor Waltz BD. Amazon US doesn't stock it, unlike most imports. I've heard it's a pretty good film.

I think that just leaves that first French film of his not on BD.

Originally Posted by 20th Century Boy

Still hoping for that extended Sherlock release someday...someday...

I just watched Sherlock last night and was AMAZED, even in its truncated form it's brilliant. It's absolutely astounding how many genres he could work in.

Christopher Lee is interviewed on the disc and, having worked with Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Tim Burton, and a legion of other major directors, he says that Wilder was the most brilliant director he ever worked with, without question.

I still need to watch the deleted scenes.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by 20th Century Boy

This is all so exciting. We're getting really close to a clean-sweep of the full filmography of Wilder on optimal blu-ray releases.

The Spirit of St. Louis is still up toward the top of my WAC Wish List for this very reason.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by jayembee

The Spirit of St. Louis is still up toward the top of my WAC Wish List for this very reason.

I just bought the DVD as I'm working my way through his films. That should ensure the BD is announced soon, so you can all thank me.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I just watched it about two weeks ago, I'm going through all the Wilder films I hadn't seen (which was about 3/4 of them).

I agree, I liked the idea, but the film isn't sure if it's a comedy or a drama. It leans mostly towards drama, but the tone remains uneven between light comedy and genuinely horrific tragedy.

The pacing is all off too. I read somewhere online that Wilder was famous for shooting his films so that he "edited in the camera," shooting exactly enough material to cut the film together in only one way, not shooting conventional coverage. As a result, he protected himself from meddlesome producers and studios early in his career. However, on Fedora, the people who worked on it said they felt restricted by the footage. It was beautifully staged, but there was no way to have the film cut together into anything but the funereal, glacial pace it has.

It's unevenness in tone almost gave an unintentional surreal tone at times (especially Henry Fonda's cameo).

Apparently he wanted to cast Marlene Dietrich and Faye Dunaway in the two female leads roles, but when he couldn't get them, he went with Hildegard Knef and Marthe Keller. They're both gifted actresses, Keller is actually one of my favorite 70s actresses, along with Brooke Adams, but they're both wildly unsuited to their roles, those roles each needed MEGASTARS.

I felt both women were miscast; it also doesn't help they were both dubbed and can sound a bit awkward (especially some of those early Fedora scenes where it makes Keller sound she's in an over the top trashy melodrama instead of a tragic figure).

[Show spoiler]After the "twist", I felt a real-life mother-daughter pair like Bergman/Rossellini would of worked better.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

[Show spoiler]After the "twist", I felt a real-life mother-daughter pair like Bergman/Rossellini would of worked better.

That would have been brilliant casting!!!!!!!

The

[Show spoiler]twist was also given away to me from the moment they spoke, because they had the EXACT SAME VOICE. I instantly realized, why would you redub them both, unless them sounding identical was a vital plot point? Until I read up on the film after watching it, I actually thought Keller had redubbed Knef, because the dubbing actress sounded so much like Keller. And apparently Keller is not redubbed in her final scene, before her suicide, she requested that.

I still adore Keller though, her performance in Black Sunday, one of my favorite films ever, is also one of my favorite screen performances ever. She has an absolutely impossible role to play - a murderous terrorist who is also the protagonist, who we will obviously never root for, but must be willing to follow for two hours, and to even see broken fragments of humanity in. I think her character, Dahlia Iyad, is one of Thomas Harris's greatest creations. Indeed, he writes in the foreward to the current edition of the novel that she was the forerunner, for him, of Clarice Starling.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by jayembee

The Spirit of St. Louis is still up toward the top of my WAC Wish List for this very reason.

Ditto. I feel like that and 'Pump Up The Volume' are no-brainers for them. I'm (im)patiently awaiting those two titles from WAC.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

It amazes me that Buddy Buddy hasn't had any legit release since the days of VHS. No matter how bad it is, it's still Wilder. I'll order the Spanish bootleg DVD soon.

I get the feeling that maybe its buried release is from Wilder's own impetus. But I'm just guessing.

[20th Century Boy]

It would really make my day to know a Monkees fan started this thread...

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I just bought the DVD as I'm working my way through his films. That should ensure the BD is announced soon, so you can all thank me.

Thank you for your service. :salute:

[seagal]

I´m waiting for a release of "Buddy Buddy".