Stromboli

[ellipsis7]

From the blurb on Amazon re. BFI STROMBOLI...

...this is the definitive presentation of one of the classics of Italian cinema.

So I think we can rest assured, barring any cuts by the BBFC...

[ellipsis7]

Release pushed back to 17th June...

[TMDaines]

I'm wondering if there's any chance of the LUCE documentary on the making of Stromboli and Vulcano being present on this release: La Guerra Dei Vulcani. It would make for an interesting extra. I could even hope to see Dieterle's Vulcano paired as a second feature, although RHV did a sterling job of putting that out in Italy.

[ellipsis7]

I have that recorded from Sky Arts HD... One slightly irrritating aspect of the docu is that they have pillaged Vittorio de Seta's short ISOLE DI FUOCO to use as contemporaneous colour stock footage of the Aeolian Islands, not really giving it due credit in its own right...

[ellipsis7]

Pushed back again - 19th August now...

[Tommaso]

Sigh... the only good thing about it is that by then we'll probably know whether Criterion is going to release that much-rumoured Bergman/Rossellini box set or not.

[TMDaines]

Sigh... the only good thing about it is that by then we'll probably know whether Criterion is going to release that much-rumoured Bergman/Rossellini box set or not.

I know that it's coming - just don't expect the complete works, unfortunately...

[antnield]

STROMBOLI (DVD + Blu-ray)

A film by Roberto Rossellini

This Dual Format Edition brings Rossellini's celebrated film to Blu-ray for the first time in the UK

Roberto Rossellini's 1950 classic of neo-realism stars Ingrid Bergman as Karin, a displaced Lithuanian in Italy, who escapes an internment camp by marrying an Italian ex-soldier turned fisherman (Mario Vitale). She soon discovers that his home, the volcanic island of Stromboli, is harsh and barren, and that its traditional and conservative people treat her with hostility

Released at the height of the international scandal surrounding the director's affair with his star, and newly restored by Cineteca di Bologna this is the definitive presentation of one of the classics of Italian cinema.

Special Features

- Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
- Includes Bergman and Magnani: The War of the Volcanos (2012, 52 mins): archive-based documentary which plots the tabloid scandal that erupted around Rossellini ending his relationship with Anna Magnani and his affair with Ingrid Bergman during the shooting of Stromboli
- Extensive booklet with essays and film credits
- Other extras TBC

[TMDaines]

That's a fantastic extra. Great news.

[ellipsis7]

Another nice extra would be INGRID IN ITALY (c.1989), a half hour docu constructed round rare colour home movie footage of the shoot of STROMBOLI & the developing relationship of director & star... Includes the comment by Bergman that in order to cue the non-actors in the film, RR attached strings to their feet which he then pulled to trigger them into action... Sharing the same scenes, and classically Hollywood schooled, she found it hard to embrace this methodology....

[MichaelB]

Another nice extra would be INGRID IN ITALY (c.1989), a half hour docu constructed round rare colour home movie footage of the shoot of STROMBOLI & the developing relationship of director & star... Includes the comment by Bergman that in order to cue the non-actors in the film, RR attached strings to their feet which he then pulled to trigger them into action... Sharing the same scenes, and classically Hollywood schooled, she found it hard to embrace this methodology....

It sounds to me as though this covers pretty much the same ground, and very possibly with the same footage (I note the phrase "archive-based documentary").

[ellipsis7]

Yes & no... I've watched WAR OF THE VOLCANOES several times on Sky Arts HD, and have INGRID IN ITALY on an old VHS of STROMBOLI (rx. from BBC late 80's).... WAR obviously builds on the rivalry (also actually uses uncredited footage from the Vittorio de Seta's short ISOLE DI FUOCO), while INGRID is less contextualised & constructed, and I think (without checking again) has home movie footage not included in the first... For instance it is especially striking to see the scene of the Tuna fishing photographed in colour on home movie...

[Peacock]

So no news on the dub yet?

[ellipsis7]

STROMBOLI pushed back yet again according to Amazon - 2nd December now!... Groan!!...

Just speculating, maybe there's some licensing issue whereby the Criterion Bergman/Rossellini set & this have to be released concurrently in their respective territories?... Such a restriction might not apply to JOURNEY TO ITALY, which is already released in a pre-restoration version DVD by the BFI...

[JonasEB]

It could be that only the Italian language versions were ready and BFI has to wait to get the other versions of the films. The restorations TCM recently showed here in the States - Journey to Italy, Fear - were Italian language versions (Italy the Italian cut with the one scene missing, Fear the original Rossellini cut but in Italian.) Stromboli and Europe 51 were in English and were the "good" versions...but they weren't from the restoration series and are probably not HD masters (Stromboli almost certainly isn't.)

[GaryC]

Just to note that BBC2 are showing Stromboli next Sunday morning (15th) at 6am in its weekend-morning old film slot. It's an hour and three quarters according to the TV Guide, so would seem to be the full version. I saw this on BBC2 years ago, in the Film Club slot if I remember rightly. I don't remember if the material the BBFC cut is in the BBC's copy or not.

[Orlac]

When I saw Journey to Italy at my local art house a few months ago, it was Italian credits and English dialogue. Most likely the old dvd?

[Orlac]

Does the BFI have the rights to Europe'51?

[AidanKing]

I've had an e-mail from MovieMail stating that the release of Stromboli has been put back until probably the end of next year. At the moment, it seems to be completely off the schedule.

[Kauno]

There's no need to wait.

[ellipsis7]

There's no need to wait.

The glowing & extensive review of the CC Rossellini-Bergman set in the BFI's December ish of Sight and Sound would point to this position, perhaps also a reason why this release has been put on the long finger...

[Tommaso]

But if they wait any longer, practically everyone of their potential customers will buy the CC version. If they want to make any business at all, they should release it now. Delaying it for one year is as pointless as the forthcoming German Murnau-Stiftung Blu release of "Die Nibelungen", one year after the rest of the world has seen it.

[MichaelB]

But if they wait any longer, practically everyone of their potential customers will buy the CC version.

I think you have a somewhat inflated idea of how many UK-based Blu-ray users are multi-region! I only went multi-region myself last year, and the vast majority of my friends are still region-locked.

This is quite aside from the fact that the CC version is vastly more expensive to a UK purchaser, not least because you have to buy the lot.

[HJackson]

But if they wait any longer, practically everyone of their potential customers will buy the CC version. If they want to make any business at all, they should release it now. Delaying it for one year is as pointless as the forthcoming German Murnau-Stiftung Blu release of "Die Nibelungen", one year after the rest of the world has seen it.

I'm not entirely sure how true that is. Brits importing Criterion discs seems common on this board, but I don't really think it is among the average BFI customer. I've never found a way to do it without triggering the government's ransom operation (or "import duties") on top of the already bloated price of the product so I've never done it, and neither has anybody I've ever spoken to in real life about this sort of thing. Most of them haven't even considered it because they're locked to Region B.

[ellipsis7]

The CC set cost me a total of €75 ($99), that works out at €25 (approx £19.99) a film, from Amazon... That includes the cost of the set, 2 day courier to Ireland, and import fees deposit so it is guaranteed to pass through customs promptly... I know it's not for everyone, but it proved pretty cost effective for me in this instance...