BFI (British Film Institute)

[peerpee]

It's only the Ozu pricepoint that's been announced so far. I can't imagine the Flipside duals will be dearer than the previous Flipside DVDs -- but I might be wrong.

[perkizitore]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but many of the Flipside DVDs have been priced at £17.99. So if one isn't Blu-Ray enabled, that would represent a £2 increase, not a price drop, if a bundled edition of the same film were the only option.

Personally, I'm an enthusiastic customer for BFI's Blus, and am delighted at the prospect of paying slightly less for them. I hasten to add that, lest I be thought of as an idiot or a troll.

17.99 was some retailers' price, the RRP was never below 22.99! Now the RRP is 19.99 and HMV lists upcoming BFI blu-rays as cheap as 12.99£!

[bigP]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but many of the Flipside DVDs have been priced at £17.99. So if one isn't Blu-Ray enabled, that would represent a £2 increase, not a price drop, if a bundled edition of the same film were the only option.

That's actually correct but I think there is the added value of those not already Blu-Ray capable of being able to instantly upgrade when they have a system ready to go, and for me personally, at that stage I wouldn't be too put out by having spent a couple of pounds more for the chance to do so. I can't think of a more customer friendly option coinciding with good business skills than what they are offering. I only wish Criterion were as savvy as this when it comes to their lack of forewarning over the release of their Blu's sometimes months after the SD has hit stores.

[MichaelB]

This is also somewhat academic as I really can't imagine too many people round these parts paying full RRP - the pre-order price of the Ozus is just £13.99 on Amazon at the moment.

[swo17]

I only wish Criterion were as savvy as this when it comes to their lack of forewarning over the release of their Blu's sometimes months after the SD has hit stores.

When has Criterion done this? The only instances I can think of that come remotely close to what you're talking about are:

1. The Last Emperor and, to a lesser extent, Pierrot le fou, which had, respectively, eleven months and a year and a half between the release of the DVD and BD editions. But then, both of those came out on DVD before Criterion had even started putting anything out on BD, so it's hardly fair to hold that against them.

2. A Christmas Tale, for which a BD edition was announced one month after the DVD edition was announced. In this case, no one had had a chance to buy the DVD edition yet, so it's really no harm, no foul.

Is there something else I'm missing here?

[triodelover]

I only wish Criterion were as savvy as this when it comes to their lack of forewarning over the release of their Blu's sometimes months after the SD has hit stores.

When has Criterion done this? The only instances I can think of that come remotely close to what you're talking about are:

1. The Last Emperor and, to a lesser extent, Pierrot le fou, which had, respectively, eleven months and a year and a half between the release of the DVD and BD editions. But then, both of those came out on DVD before Criterion had even started putting anything out on BD, so it's hardly fair to hold that against them.

2. A Christmas Tale, for which a BD edition was announced one month after the DVD edition was announced. In this case, no one had had a chance to buy the DVD edition yet, so it's really no harm, no foul.

Is there something else I'm missing here?

I don't think your first point is wrong per se, but there are several titles - The 400 Blows, M, Wages of Fear, the upcoming Yojimbo and Sanjuro off the top of my head - that Criterion re-released in better transfers with additional restoration (and having HD masters) after other labels had begun releasing in HD or Blu-ray. To be fair to Criterion, it's clear that they didn't want to start the process of releasing their catalogue until the format wars were settled. Releases in both formats simultaneously would obviously be too expensive for what is still a small company. On the one hand it's somewhat frustrating for those who upgraded their SD versions. On the other, it's unavoidable. Criterion continue to re-release their back catalogue and presumably will do so selectively for quite a while. I suspect most of us here could compile a list of existing Criterion titles we would like to see released on Blu (except for the anti-Blu Flat Earthers, of course ).

Having said that, I would like the company to be more forthcoming about their plans for continuing to update their back catalogue to Blu - probable titles and estimated release dates (with confirmation once a title and date has been set in stone) would seem to be a fair concession to what has been, by and large, a very loyal customer base. I guess one consolation is that, for the moment, Criterion SDs still retain good resale value.

[bigP]

Sorry, I was a bit foot in mouth there and was referring to particularly Pierrot le Fou thinking that the releases of the two formats were closer together than they were, but badly worded it to coincide with my hope that they could - as triodelover stated much more eloquently - be a little more forthcoming about intentions with which films would hit which format. Either way, it was a pretty dumb, not-thought-out statement all round. Apologies.

[Perkins Cobb]

This is also somewhat academic as I really can't imagine too many people round these parts paying full RRP - the pre-order price of the Ozus is just £13.99 on Amazon at the moment.

Which is a little disingenuous, given that on-line discounts are usually somewhat proportional to the RRP (not always, I realize, but there seems to be a pretty stable pattern on BFI releases).

I do agree that the bundling seems like a good pragmatic solution to the format uncertainty of the moment, but I can also understand how it strikes some as wasteful or wishy-washy.

[ellipsis7]

Official announcement about the BFI's upcoming dual-format editions:

BFI to launch DVD and Blu-ray ‘Dual Format Editions’

The BFI announces today the introduction of ‘Dual Format Editions’, in which both the DVD and Blu-ray versions of selected releases – main features and extras alike – will sit side-by-side in a competitively-priced single package.

Dual Format Editions launch on 26 April, at RRP £19.99, with two classics from the master of Japanese cinema, Yasujiro Ozu: Tokyo Story (1953) and Early Summer (1951).

Was wondering about this, e-mail from Amazon explains, the 3rd Ozu, LATE SPRING (+ THE ONLY SON) has slipped to 21st June...

[perkizitore]

Is there a chance that older Flipside releases will be re-released as dual format editions?
Also, are there any plans for Terence Davies in HD?

[tojoed]

The following May releases will be in these formats:
Institute Benjamenta (Brothers Quay, 1995) – Dual Format Edition
BFI Flipside series:
The Party’s Over (Guy Hamilton, 1963) – Dual Format Edition
The Pleasure Girls (Gerry O’Hara, 1965) – Dual Format Edition
Privilege (Peter Watkins, 1967) – Blu-ray
Kim Newman’s Guide to the Flipside of British Cinema (retail-wide) – DVD

[MaxCastle]

Moviemail has a very nice-looking new BFI sale.

[Awesome Welles]

I've just noticed that the BFI are handling the theatrical re-issue of Rashomon, I wonder if this has any effect on the (hopefully) upcoming BR release? I don't know why Optimum wouldn't do it themselves re-issues is not something they have shied away from in the past and have quite a few scheduled for the year to come.

[ouatitw]

I love the dual format idea and at the same retail price, I can't see why anyone would complain about a free disk even if they only want the bluray or the dvd. I could see if the price what higher but its not.

[stephan73]

The next Flipside releases will be Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (Clive Donner, 1968) and Bronco Bullfrog (1969) by Barney Platts-Mills in September 2010.

http://homecinema.thedigitalfix.co.uk/c ... n-may.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[antnield]

Kurosawa's samurai films are getting buddled together in a boxed-set on June 7th. (BFI Filmstore link)

[Sloper]

Over on the Criterion 'Forthcoming' thread, Jonathan S mentioned that the Brownlow/Gill restoration of The Birth of a Nation (vastly superior to the Kino in every respect) is supposedly forthcoming from the BFI, according to Photoplay Productions' Home Video page. I emailed Photoplay to check whether this was old news, and eight minutes later got this reply:

Thanks for your email. The version of The Birth of a Nation previously available from Connoisseur Video, which was produced by Photoplay, is indeed in the process of being re-released through the BFI. We are still in the stages of remastering and due to funding we are not sure when the process will be completed. So maybe it's not going to happen that soon, but it will at some point - and we will announce the release via our website.

I've yammered on about this restoration more than once on this board, and this is very exciting news, even if the release is not imminent. It really is a different film - scarier, more exciting, more beautiful, dangerous, etc - in this presentation.

[Dr Amicus]

Fantastic news.

I take it this is the restoration that was shown on Channel 4 in the mid-nineties and introduced by (IIRC) Paul Gilroy? I certainly hope so - my off-air VHS copy has long since disappeared.

[Tommaso]

I've yammered on about this restoration more than once on this board, and this is very exciting news, even if the release is not imminent. It really is a different film - scarier, more exciting, more beautiful, dangerous, etc - in this presentation.

What exactly are the differences? Longer cut, scenes extended or edited in a different way, more overt racism, different tintings?

[Sloper]

What exactly are the differences?

Extra footage (Stoneman flirting with his housekeeper, another Cameron boy dying on the battlefield), more information in the frame (you can see Gus in his entirety at the top of the cliff after Mae Marsh kills herself, greatly improving the shot), and a brilliant rendition/adaptation of the score conducted by John Lanchbery, which is really the biggest selling point. I haven't done a detailed comparison between the two versions, so there may be more to it than that; can't comment on the tinting, but I think it's the same.

And Dr A, I assume it's the same version shown on Channel 4 as I'm not aware of any other versions.

[antnield]

They haven't got individual threads so best to post here: both Michael Powell's The Edge of the World and Peter Greenaway's A Zed and Two Noughts are coming to Blu on August 23rd according to the BFI's latest press release.

[perkizitore]

I just bought The Edge of the World #-o ](*,)

[MichaelB]

I've been asked to post this in connection with the first batch of Dual Format Editions:

We've been waiting with bated breath for finished copies of our first batch of Dual Format Editions (Institute Benjamenta, The Pleasure Girls and The Party's Over) to be delivered to the office, and, now that they have arrived, we are delighted to say that they look great.

However, it is with no small amount of frustration that I need to report a finding about which we are a little unhappy. Each of our new Dual Format Editions features a prominent sticker across the top of pack which indicates that the release contains both a DVD and a Blu-ray disc. The intention was to have this sticker applied to the outside of the shrinkwrap, so that it would be easily removed when the outer wrap was taken off, but it transpires that our manufacturer has applied the sticker directly to the case.

What this means is that when the sticker is peeled away it leaves a sticky residue which, although not permanent, takes a little bit of dedication to remove. (I've found that 'dabbing' with a piece of cellotape does the trick, but any better ideas are more than welcome!)

While this does not constitute anything close to a fault, and although the situation certainly won't give rise to a re-press or the provision of replacement stock, we felt it only right to let you know what to expect if you are planning to buy one or more of these first 3 Dual Format titles.

Rest assured, though, that once the sticker is off, what you're left with is perfect and most pleasing (even if we say so ourselves). Do also rest assured that all future Dual Format Editions will have the sticker applied on the outside of the shrinkwrap only.

[Svevan]

Another reason to love the BFI - they care as much as I do about stuff like this.