The Crowded Day / Song of Paris

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antnield
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The Crowded Day / Song of Paris

#1 Post by antnield » Mon Nov 22, 2010 12:59 pm

14th February 2011
The third release of the BFI's pioneering Adelphi Collection is a double bill showcasing two early films by John Guillermin (The Towering Inferno, Death on the Nile).

The Crowded Day (1954) is an engaging, bittersweet comedy-drama focusing on the intertwined lives of a group of shop girls working in a London department store in the 1950s, with a wonderful cast including John Gregson, Joan Rice, Dora Bryan, Thora Hird, Prunella Scales, Sid James and Dandy Nicholls.

Song of Paris (1952) is a charming romantic comedy which sees an archetypal Englishman - suavely played by Dennis Price - return from a jaunt abroad to face a dastardly foreign Count in a duel for the hand of a beautiful mademoiselle.

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MichaelB
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Re: The Crowded Day / Song of Paris

#2 Post by MichaelB » Tue Nov 23, 2010 6:13 am

In common with the other Adelphi releases (and, I believe, all future releases in the collection too), I'm very happy to confirm that this is region-free - I've just updated the list.

Most of the other January/February Blu-rays are region-free too - the exceptions, unsurprisingly, being the Ozus.

Isaac Theo Materna

Re: The Crowded Day / Song of Paris

#3 Post by Isaac Theo Materna » Wed Nov 24, 2010 7:45 am

Hi all - I am new here today.

Google Alert found your wonderful forum because of my long search for a missing Joan Rice movie.

Joan is very dear to me as I used to know her way back when in Maidenhead, where she lived a the time.

More about her you will find at her

I am not sure but is there going to be a re-release of Crowded Day?

I wouild be very interested. Can anyone provide me with details?

Looking forward,
Regards,

Isaac , The Hague, The Netherlands

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MichaelB
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Re: The Crowded Day / Song of Paris

#4 Post by MichaelB » Wed Nov 24, 2010 2:39 pm

See above! It's a dual format (i.e. Blu-ray and DVD in the same package) double bill (i.e. both titles on the same disc), and if it's anything like the two previous Adelphi releases you can guarantee it will look as good as surviving materials permit. There should also be a comprehensive booklet.

I'll post more details when the press release is ready, but that probably won't be until January.

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antnield
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Re: The Crowded Day / Song of Paris

#5 Post by antnield » Wed Dec 01, 2010 8:56 am

Cover art:

Image

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MichaelB
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Re: The Crowded Day / Song of Paris

#6 Post by MichaelB » Wed Dec 01, 2010 10:42 am

For the record, the typo has already been spotted and corrected.

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antnield
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Re: The Crowded Day / Song of Paris

#7 Post by antnield » Sat Dec 11, 2010 1:10 pm

Arguably too early to set up individual threads for them, but the Adelphi Films website says the next double bills after this one will be Fun at St Fanny's (1956, d. Maurice Elvey) and You Lucky People (1955, d. Elvey) in August 2011 and The Great Game (1953, d. Elvey) and Miss Tulip Stays the Night (1955, d. John O. Douglas) in January 2012.

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RossyG
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Re: The Crowded Day / Song of Paris

#8 Post by RossyG » Sat Dec 11, 2010 5:06 pm

Fun At St Fanny's in HD? That's just so mental it's brilliant.

HD Claude Hulbert? Sold!

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MichaelB
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Re: The Crowded Day / Song of Paris

#9 Post by MichaelB » Tue Jan 11, 2011 12:48 pm

Full specs announced:
The Adelphi Collection
The Crowded Day & Song of Paris
Two films by John Guillermin


The third release from the BFI’s Adelphi Collection is a vintage double bill of drama and comedy from British director John Guillermin (Death on the Nile, The Towering Inferno), released for the very first time, in a Dual Format Edition, containing Blu-ray and DVD versions of both films.

The Crowded Day (1954) sees five young women’s lives intertwine in a bitter-sweet tale of shop-floor intrigue. Set against the busy backdrop of a department store in post-war London, and with interiors shot at Bourne & Hollingsworth on Oxford Street adding authenticity, this engaging, tightly-written ensemble piece is bustling with familiar faces from the golden era of British cinema, including John Gregson, Joan Rice, Thora Hird, Vera Day, Edward Chapman, Rachel Roberts, Dora Bryan, Dandy Nichols, Prunella Scales, Sid James and Richard Wattis.

A high-quality comedy-drama aimed squarely at the women’s market, and billed as “a story of shop girls and their men,” The Crowded Day was perhaps the most ambitious production of the family-run Adelphi film company. Still resonant today, it offers both top-drawer entertainment and a fascinating insight into women’s lives, experiences and aspirations – from fashions to family – in the post-war period.

Song of Paris (1952) is a delightful romantic comedy which sees an archetypal Englishman – suavely played by debonair Dennis Price – return from a jaunt abroad to face a dastardly foreign count in a screwball duel for the hand of a beautiful mademoiselle.

Digitally restored and with new High Definition transfers taken from the original elements preserved at the BFI National Archive, the films are presented in a Dual Format Edition (Blu-ray and DVD) and packaged with an illustrated booklet that includes film notes, original promotional materials and new essays by John Guillermin, actresses Vera Day and Prunella Scales, author Mary Cadogan and BFI Curator Vic Pratt.

Adelphi Films was a small British company run by Arthur Dent and his sons that produced more than thirty films in the 1940s and 1950s from crime pictures and musicals to colourful melodramas and slapstick comedies. Peter Sellers, Sid James, Diana Dors, Petula Clark, Ronnie Corbett, Rolf Harris and Prunella Scales are just some of the many well-loved performers who appeared before Adelphi’s cameras early on in their careers. Adelphi is now managed by Arthur Dent’s granddaughter Kate Lees and the company’s original film materials – for a long time stored in a suburban garage in London – are now safely preserved at the BFI National Archive.

Release date: 14 February 2011
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIB1084 / cert PG
UK / 1954 and 1952 / black & white / English language / 83 mins & 80 mins /
Original aspect ratio 1.33:1

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MichaelB
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Re: The Crowded Day / Song of Paris

#10 Post by MichaelB » Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:30 am

Exhaustive and hugely knowledgeable review by our very own antnield at The Digital Fix.

I've forwarded the link to our visitor in the third post, as that's the only contribution he ever made here.

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antnield
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Re: The Crowded Day / Song of Paris

#11 Post by antnield » Mon Feb 21, 2011 5:36 am


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