Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

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Ovader
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:56 am
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Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#201 Post by Ovader » Thu Dec 17, 2020 7:37 pm

Received "Removal of Your Garments For Your Killer" with no booklet from Unobstructed View today.

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L.A.
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#202 Post by L.A. » Fri Dec 18, 2020 4:56 pm

The Arrow Christmas Sale:

Manon with booklet
Dream Demon with booklet and slipcover

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AidanKing
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2012 12:22 pm
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Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#203 Post by AidanKing » Sat Apr 10, 2021 3:58 am

'Black Test Car', ordered from the current sale, came with a booklet, which contains an interesting article on the Black films series. The producer of the set was James Flower: I hope he is going to be producing the next two Masumura releases.

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Grand Wazoo
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:23 pm

Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#204 Post by Grand Wazoo » Sat Apr 10, 2021 1:04 pm

AidanKing wrote:
Sat Apr 10, 2021 3:58 am
'Black Test Car', ordered from the current sale, came with a booklet, which contains an interesting article on the Black films series. The producer of the set was James Flower: I hope he is going to be producing the next two Masumura releases.
Hopefully three, providing I can will Red Angel into existence.

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AidanKing
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2012 12:22 pm
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Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#205 Post by AidanKing » Sun Apr 11, 2021 4:10 pm

I would also like to see 'A Wife Confesses', but I think that might have been more likely as an Arrow Academy release.

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Telstar
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 12:35 pm

Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#206 Post by Telstar » Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:52 pm

Guess I've been lucky so far, but after amassing way too many Arrow titles over the past decade I finally received my first one to come without a booklet -- Hagazussa.
So can anyone fill me in on what I'm missing?

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L.A.
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#207 Post by L.A. » Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:57 pm

Telstar wrote:
Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:52 pm
Guess I've been lucky so far, but after amassing way too many Arrow titles over the past decade I finally received my first one to come without a booklet -- Hagazussa.
So can anyone fill me in on what I'm missing?
If I recall, besides the booklet the limited edition also included a soundtrack CD and a poster.

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Telstar
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 12:35 pm

Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#208 Post by Telstar » Mon Apr 12, 2021 4:57 pm

Wasn't particularly interested in the soundtrack cd or poster but if the Hagazussa booklet is a good read I'm gonna be upset.

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Finch
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:09 pm
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Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#209 Post by Finch » Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:44 pm

From the current sale, The Possessed and Hold Back The Dawn did not come with a booklet; Hotel Du Nord did.

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senseabove
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:07 am

Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#210 Post by senseabove » Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:28 pm

Unexpectedly, since multiple people reported bookless copies a year ago, my copy of Irma Vep from the Easter Carnage sale came with a booklet.

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JamesF
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 1:36 pm

Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#211 Post by JamesF » Thu Apr 15, 2021 2:21 am

AidanKing wrote:
Sat Apr 10, 2021 3:58 am
'Black Test Car', ordered from the current sale, came with a booklet, which contains an interesting article on the Black films series. The producer of the set was James Flower: I hope he is going to be producing the next two Masumura releases.
Glad you enjoyed the booklet! Not me, but both Masumuras are being overseen by a recent addition to the Arrow producing team, Jasper Sharp, who’s forgotten more about Japanese cinema than I’ll ever learn. They’re in very safe hands.

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AidanKing
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Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#212 Post by AidanKing » Thu Apr 15, 2021 4:23 am

Jasper Sharp joining the team is indeed excellent news. His articles for Midnight Eye and Sight and Sound have always been very interesting and informative. Hopefully, this bodes well for more Japanese films to be released. Some more Masumura would be welcome and I wonder whether Arrow might consider some of the Ichikawa films that have been released in Japan, but which the BFI didn't release along with An Actor's Revenge: I think Conflagration was one of these.

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MichaelB
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Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#213 Post by MichaelB » Thu Apr 15, 2021 4:24 am

Very much seconded - with every imaginable respect to the rest of the Arrow team, if I had to choose between any of them or Jasper to oversee a Japanese release, it wouldn't be much of a head-scratcher.

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#214 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri May 21, 2021 5:00 pm

AidanKing wrote:
Sat Apr 10, 2021 3:58 am
'Black Test Car', ordered from the current sale, came with a booklet, which contains an interesting article on the Black films series. The producer of the set was James Flower: I hope he is going to be producing the next two Masumura releases.
Ordered this separately from the sale, through Amazon, and it still came with a booklet- happy to report a good track record for the black test car

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esl
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:54 pm
Location: Yokohama, Japan

Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#215 Post by esl » Thu May 27, 2021 9:04 am

AidanKing wrote:
Thu Apr 15, 2021 4:23 am
Jasper Sharp joining the team is indeed excellent news. His articles for Midnight Eye and Sight and Sound have always been very interesting and informative. Hopefully, this bodes well for more Japanese films to be released. Some more Masumura would be welcome and I wonder whether Arrow might consider some of the Ichikawa films that have been released in Japan, but which the BFI didn't release along with An Actor's Revenge: I think Conflagration was one of these.
With the Hiroshi Shimizu retrospective (of 50! films) currently happening in Paris, I hope Arrow considers doing a set of some of his films not yet released commercially; Children of the Beehive, Children and the Great Buddha, Story of Jiro to name just a few.

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esl
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:54 pm
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Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#216 Post by esl » Thu May 27, 2021 9:08 am

Received yesterday Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji with booklet from Amazon.

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Ovader
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:56 am
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Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#217 Post by Ovader » Wed Jun 30, 2021 7:32 pm

Received today from Deep Discount Requiescant (new version: A0102586597-B911) with a booklet! Not too bad from a 2015 release.

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swo17
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Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#218 Post by swo17 » Tue Jul 06, 2021 5:25 pm

Ovader wrote:
Wed Jun 30, 2021 7:32 pm
Received today from Deep Discount Requiescant (new version: A0102586597-B911) with a booklet! Not too bad from a 2015 release.
Your post prompted me to buy this but I think it was released before The Event. Note that the back cover advertises a booklet, which they don't do anymore even for first pressings

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Boosmahn
Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2017 10:08 pm

Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#219 Post by Boosmahn » Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:08 pm

From Arrow's store, Smash Palace, [REC], and Empathy, Inc. included booklets. (Smash Palace was released over three years ago, so I'm guessing that hasn't been a big seller.) The rest did not, but the absences of booklets from Gas Food Lodging and Double Face were especially surprising/disappointing.

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Adam X
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:04 am

Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#220 Post by Adam X » Tue Jul 13, 2021 4:28 am

I just came across what I'm pretty sure is a new/reworded entry in Arrow's website FAQ:
PRODUCTS/Do all your titles have booklets?
Excluding limited editions, booklets will be included with applicable titles for the first 4 months after release.

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
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Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#221 Post by tenia » Tue Jul 13, 2021 4:38 am

I'm surprised they would settle for a given duration. Except by strictly getting the unsold stock back after 4 months to render them booklet-less, I'd suppose it'd be much easier to say "1st pressing of usually x copies" or explain the duration is on average but may vary based on how quickly a release is selling.

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Adam X
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Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#222 Post by Adam X » Tue Jul 13, 2021 4:51 am

Well, they've shown no interest in providing transparency over even how many copies of most of their Limited Edition titles are being printed, so I can't see them putting a number on it. I'd imagine that it's something like they're not going to repress copies with the booklet after that 4 month window.

Of course, who's to say "applicable titles" is referring to every non-limited AV release. At least it's a little more reassuring than the general "just pre-order everything individually so you don't miss out" approach they've held in recent years.

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rapta
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2014 5:04 pm
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Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#223 Post by rapta » Tue Jul 13, 2021 8:33 am

I imagine they gauge booklet printing on how popular a title is, or how integral they may feel the written material is for that release, so there may be longer booklet runs on Academy titles for example but maybe they change it for every release. It'd be better if they were a bit more transparent, like BFI have been doing, by saying in the specs for each release that the booklet is limited to the first 2000/3000/4000 copies.

I have been prioritising titles I want the most and pre-ordering those, and generally waiting for a sale for other titles. I've been lucky so far but there have been a few where the booklet seems to have disappeared ridiculously quickly (Man of a Thousand Faces is a good example of that, I find it hard to believe the first print-run sold out in a few months).

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
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Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#224 Post by tenia » Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:17 am

What I meant is that industrially speaking, it's just so much easier to print a given quantity rather than trying to gauge a time window within which the quantity will sell out, hence x months of availability.

And Arrow used to say explicitly every of their LE batch sizes (I have a table full of them). It's never been really the case for non-LE but it was the case for LE. I don't see why, since they made their non-LE booklets not unlimited anymore, they couldn't say "this 1st pressing is x copies". I mean : it is produced in such a fashion. They do know how big their 1st pressing is.

Not that I care myself : I do think Arrow's non-LE booklet have dropped significantly in interest quite some time ago, but from a pure logistic aspect, orienting the limit this way is strange to me.

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Adam X
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:04 am

Re: Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

#225 Post by Adam X » Sat Jul 17, 2021 5:46 am

For anyone who missed the original edition, the complete Dekalog book is now available to download from Arrow's site.

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