Kino Lorber Studio Classics

[Adam X]

Bob Murawski also “turned them down” for an interview. This is starting to sound like the PR for their Lost Highway release. At least they’ve got the DP involved.

…and then there’s this, in response to including the cut workprint scenes:

Like we said before, we're not interested in clearing (if we could) VHS quality extras and dirtying up our beautiful discs. You can purchase many bootleg versions of the work prints on VHS or DVD (ripped from VHS) if you're really interested in owning it.

[tenia]

…and then there’s this, in response to including the cut workprint scenes:

Like we said before, we're not interested in clearing (if we could) VHS quality extras and dirtying up our beautiful discs. You can purchase many bootleg versions of the work prints on VHS or DVD (ripped from VHS) if you're really interested in owning it.

Wouldn't be Kino's PR without silly spins like "more extras would be dirtying our release".
Sure, the workprint is in a very crappy quality, but the issue lies within its legal clearance. Why not simply leaving it at that ?

[beamish14]

Bob Murawski also “turned them down” for an interview. This is starting to sound like the PR for their Lost Highway release. At least they’ve got the DP involved.

…and then there’s this, in response to including the cut workprint scenes:

Like we said before, we're not interested in clearing (if we could) VHS quality extras and dirtying up our beautiful discs. You can purchase many bootleg versions of the work prints on VHS or DVD (ripped from VHS) if you're really interested in owning it.

Woo seems to have done a 180 on this film. He's never previously stated that the international version is his director's cut, and Murawski has said that the version Woo locked has never been released. Never a dull moment with Kino!

[Finch]

I'd not seen Hard Target until last night: while the contemporary criticism still holds true (JCVD is no Chow Yun Fat), this film feels more like classical Woo than almost all his other American films, except perhaps Face/Off (and Broken Arrow is a decent action programmer). I like that Lance Henriksen clearly did the fire stunt himself, and I totally confused Arnold Vosloo for Billy Zane until I saw the credits. Also, no film is a complete loss if it has Wilfred Briemley taking out villains with his arrows and crossbow, and JC punching a rattlesnake AND using it as a booby trap. I mean, I'd be more likely to buy this than Hannibal.

Kino's PR department are really in a class of their own!

[beamish14]

Also, no film is a complete loss if it has Wilfred Briemley taking out villains with his arrows and crossbow

Kino's PR department are really in a class of their own!

The scene with him on horseback is beautiful. He really was a rancher who owned a large stable of horses.

[dwk]

Another Price re-issue:
The Tomb of Ligeia

[dwk]

And more Price re-releases (Twilight Time this time):
Theater of Blood

[FrauBlucher]

Two Claude Chabrol's getting released...

Coming in September!
Two Fully Restored Classics from the Great Claude Chabrol!

BLUEBEARD (1963)
• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Kat Ellinger

BLUE PANTHER (1965)
• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson

[therewillbeblus]

Glad to see more early Chabrol, but I wish they'd pick better movies instead of seemingly making an effort to work around releasing his best from the period

[What A Disgrace]

Its incredibly frustrating. I've almost given up on the idea of ever seeing Les Bonnes femmes, or that run of films from the late 60s to the early 70s,

[therewillbeblus]

Its incredibly frustrating. I've almost given up on the idea of ever seeing Les Bonnes femmes, or that run of films from the late 60s to the early 70s,

I wouldn't give up considering KL specifically is on a roll of releasing a lot of Chabrol's early output lately, it's just puzzling what they decide to prioritize (and I definitely have a personal fear that if these lesser-known and often worse titles don't sell well, they'll stop the floodgates)

[knives]

I like Bluebeard quite a lot and Blue Panther, if it’s the one I’m thinking of, is his best of the Spy films from this era.

[yoloswegmaster]

Steven Soderbergh's 'Out of Sight' will be getting a 4K UHD release.

[captveg]

More OOP based on previously being in the "While Supplies Last" sale and now no longer appearing on the website:

Chamber of Horrors (1940) (BD)
Z.P.G. (1972) (BD) (DVD still available)

[captveg]

More OOP based on previously being in the "While Supplies Last" sale and now no longer appearing on the website:

The Destructors (1974) (BD)

[Glowingwabbit]

I wish they did boxsets (and proper ones at that), but still excited to see these getting announced (no mention of special features yet, but it'll probably just be more Ellinger/Pinkerton commentaries and trailers):

Coming this Fall!
Three Classics Starring Comedy Legend W.C. Fields!

• The Old Fashioned Way (1934)
• It’s a Gift (1934)
• The Bank Dick (1940)

Coming in 2022!

• You’re Telling Me (1934)
• Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
• You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man (1939)

[DandyDancing]

Should be said that these films were with Criterion about a year ago (according to KL insider).

[dwk]

Love Rites coming out from Kino in August

Coming to DVD and Blu-ray August 31st from Kino Classics and StudioCanal!

Love Rites (Cérémonie d'amour, 1987)
Directed by Walerian Borowczyk
Starring Marina Pierro and Mathieu Carrière

Love Rites (Cérémonie d’amour) is cult director Walerian Borowczyk’s (The Beast) subversively erotic final feature. He returns with a vengeance to a signature theme—emasculation. Vain clothing buyer Hugo (Mathieu Carrière) meets beautiful Myriam (Marina Pierro) on the subway and pursues her, discovering to his delight that she’s a prostitute. The crafty Myriam, of course, has more in mind for their encounter than smug Hugo bargained for. Love Rites turns the sexual tables with perverse exactitude.

Special Features:
*Shorter Director's Cut of the Feature (93 minutes, Blu-ray only)
*Brief von Paris (1976, short film by Walerian Borowczyk)
*Audio commentary by film historian Daniel Bird
*New interview with Mathieu Carrière
*Optional English subtitles
*Trailer

[Maltic]

I wish they did boxsets (and proper ones at that), but still excited to see these getting announced (no mention of special features yet, but it'll probably just be more Ellinger/Pinkerton commentaries and trailers):

Coming this Fall!
Three Classics Starring Comedy Legend W.C. Fields!

• The Old Fashioned Way (1934)
• It’s a Gift (1934)
• The Bank Dick (1940)

Coming in 2022!

• You’re Telling Me (1934)
• Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
• You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man (1939)

Good news.

I would give a Pinkerton commentary a listen. The last two I heard, Drive a Crooked Road and The Game, were decent.

It occurs to me that I've never actually read anything scholarly or semi-scholarly on Fields, except for Sarris' rather dismissive takes.

Btw, I have a feeling many people here prefer boxsets over single releases (I myself don't really care one way or the other). I suppose it's because of the packaging?

[Glowingwabbit]

It really depends on the films being collected together.and the taste of the person buying it.

It can also be a nice way to bundle lesser films that one might not otherwise want to purchase as individual titles (or titles that one hasn't seen yet). Indicator has done a great job of this with their Hammer and Noir sets as opposed to Scream (Hammer) and Arrow (Noir) releasing them individually. It's a shame Arrow never followed up on their own Noir boxset.

I have 2 DVD sets of WC Fields films and while they arent all as good as say The Bank DIck and It's a Gift, it's nice have them around to revisit. But I'm not sure I'll buy some as individual titles.

However, I do understand there are times when only 1 film is of interest and paying extra just to have it and 3 dull films (or titles you just don't like or care to own) can be annoying (ex. SF getting me to pay extra to own The Black Cat and 3 meh titles).

[Maltic]

Yeah, good points.

To take the Columbia Noir #1 set, I've only gotten around to watching The Undercover Man and Drive a Crooked Road. I probably would've bought The Lineup on its own as well, had it not been part of a set, but the remaining 3? Not so sure. Am I glad I they were "forced upon me"? I guess. Then there's the broader picture.. maybe the films wouldn't have been released at all if they couldn't be filler in a box set, maybe their inclusion in a set means added exposure etc

[Maltic]

Coming Soon!
• Brand New 4K Restoration!
Violent City (1970) aka The Family - Starring Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas, Jill Ireland, Umberto Orsini & Michel Constantin – Shot by Aldo Tonti (Nights of Cabiria) – Music by Ennio Morricone (A Fistful of Dollars) – Co-Written by Lina Wertmüller (Seven Beauties) – Directed by Sergio Sollima (The Big Gundown).

[L.A.]

Hopefully The Antichrist (1974) materializes soon.

[captveg]

More OOP based on previously being in the "While Supplies Last" sale and now no longer appearing on the website:

The January Man (1989) (BD)
The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) (BD) (DVD Still Available)
Paris Blues (1961) (DVD) (BD previously OOP)
The Spikes Gang (1974) (BD)

[Godot]

It occurs to me that I've never actually read anything scholarly or semi-scholarly on Fields, except for Sarris' rather dismissive takes.

The biographies of Fields by Simon Louvish and James Curtis are both entertaining and have observations about his performance style and evolution. But the two books I recommend for analysis are Louvish's entry in the BFI Film Classics on It's a Gift (1994) and William K. Everson's The Art of W.C. Fields (1967). It's a Gift is one of my favorite films, so any discussion of it is delightful. Louvish does a commendable job of connecting the movie's skits and characters to previous films and stage routines, to emphasize how different Harold Bissonette is from Fields' usual protagonist, and how he tweaks details to create memorable scenes. Everson's book is like his many others, with profuse plot and scene descriptions, written before home video, when older films could be difficult to see, so he acknowledges the reader may not know or remember. But he also inserts observations about Fields' overall career, compares him to other comedians and some of the meta context, and exudes his usual enthusiasm for the films that makes you want to rush out and watch them again.