Raro Video

[Saimo]

Italian Rarovideo released a DVD boxset also featuring Il Generale Della Rovere preview cut (longer, shown in Venice before the actual release). Hope the BD will include both versions.

[Yojimbo]

Raro Video USA is starting North American releases in February, to be distributed by E1 Entertainment. On February 22, first releases will be Federico Fellini's Clowns and 4-disc Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection.

More details of those releases:

RaroVideo US's restored version of Fellini's The Clowns, one of the director's final masterpieces will arrive on DVD for the first time ever in the US on February 22. The DVD extras contain a rare and exclusive short film by Fellini, a video essay on the genesis of the film and a 40 page booklet with exclusive Fellini drawings. Hard-to-find, this 1970 film melds memoir and documentary into a circus of fiction and reality where Fellini delights in the role of ringmaster. The carnival-sounding score composed by Nino Rota, and an appearance by Anita Ekberg (star of Fellini's 1960's masterpiece La Dolce Vita), enhances the Fellini-esque experience.

RaroVideo US collects some of his finest work in The Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection, a four-DVD set that includes Di Leo's highly influential "Milieu Trilogy" - Caliber 9 (Milano Calibro 9), The Italian Connection (La Mala Ordina) and The Boss (Il Boss). The set's final disc includes 1976's Rulers of the City, which stars Jack Palance as a mob boss. All four films were digitally restored and remastered in collaboration with the Venice Film Festival. Each is presented with a number of extras, including a documentary about each film. The Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection will arrive on DVD February 22.

"The two killers in The Italian Connection inspired me to conceive of Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield for Pulp Fiction," says director Quentin Tarantino. "The Italian Connection is work of a genius."

Just been watching The Italian Connection (La Mala Ordina) of the di Leo box-set, and I'd rate it far superior to the first film in the trilogy, 'Caliber 9', which most reviewers somehow seem to consider the best of the bunch.
I'm just wondering, though, - and I haven't checked their respective years of release, - but in basic story of small-time hustler falling foul of the mob,

Spoiler

and somehow finding vast reserves of bravery to triumph over the cold-blooded professionals sent to dispose of him, - and also in the final scene,

it does remind me a lot of Don Siegel's low-budget gem, 'Charley Varrick'.

I'm looking forward to watching the remaining two films in the set; I've also watched the di Leo-scripted, Ruggero Deodato-directed, 'Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man', which is full of violent fast-action thrills and spills, and much politically incorrect 'fun and games', even if the two hero detetectives look more like male models than rough tough cops

[Saimo]

News: Il Generale della Rovere will feature a new video-essay by Rossellini's scholar Adriano Aprà.

[hammock]

I find it very hard to resist this set!

[Yojimbo]

I find it very hard to resist this set!

So, are you telling me just after I've splurged on the 'Harry O', and 'Cannon' sets, as well as a whole bunch of Russian Masterpieces, I'm going to have to shell out on this, also?

[hammock]

That's exactly what I'm saying. There is still time to cancel those other sets if you have to chose.

[Yojimbo]

That's exactly what I'm saying. There is still time to cancel those other sets if you have to chose.

'Harry O' has already arrived; and the others have been dispatched,.....

EDIT: the others have just arrived

[kekid]

I read in New York Times Sunday Arts and Leisure section a few weeks ago that Fernando Di Leo Collection Volume 2 was expected this fall, but I cannot find it on Amazon. Any information?

[ellipsis7]

See here - is coming on 15th December and be ordered directly through Raro USA....

[TMDaines]

For what it is worth I've been trying for over six months to get in touch with Raro Video and they are ignoring my every attempt. I received some badly packed stuff from them a while back and a faulty set of Avere vent'anni. They said they were in the process of waiting for some new stock but that was ages ago. I keep writing to them on Facebook and e-mailing them every month (on three different addresses) and they haven't responded at all.

[Yojimbo]

See here - is coming on 15th December and be ordered directly through Raro USA....

From what I've been reading I don't think its as strong as the first set to warrant buying at that price
Particularly after the Barnes & Noble / ImportCDs Criterion Mega-Splurge I've been sucked into recently

[perkizitore]

Buy it from Importcds, it is only $27 shipped to Europe.

[Yojimbo]

Buy it from Importcds, it is only $27 shipped to Europe.

Thats more manageable; can I wait until my first Importcds order arrives, to see that they're reliable?

[perkizitore]

You can, but you will miss the 10% off coupon that expires today. They are extremely reliable and fast, but they are a bit slow at answering e-mails.

[Yojimbo]

You can, but you will miss the 10% off coupon that expires today. They are extremely reliable and fast, but they are a bit slow at answering e-mails.

Oh yes, I forgot about that 10% off.
I guess I still have 7 hours to make up my mind, if they're still 8 hours behind us!

[Cash Flagg]

Import CDs 10% code is dead.

[TMDaines]

Import CDs 10% code is dead.

Just went to place my order before heading to bed... Oh well.

[Yojimbo]

Import CDs 10% code is dead.

Well, that's that, then!

[Saimo]

For what it is worth I've been trying for over six months to get in touch with Raro Video and they are ignoring my every attempt. I received some badly packed stuff from them a while back and a faulty set of Avere vent'anni. They said they were in the process of waiting for some new stock but that was ages ago. I keep writing to them on Facebook and e-mailing them every month (on three different addresses) and they haven't responded at all.

...For what it is worth I've been trying for over three months to get my salary paid, but Rarovideo is ignoring my every attempt ](*,)

[TMDaines]

Wow, really? The strange thing is they used to respond to everything I sent them. If I asked about upcoming releases, they responded. If I asked whether they could use cardboard packaging in the future, in order to protect slipcases, they responded that they would and they did. Since the summer, though, they've responded to nothing even though they pledged to send out replacements and a working Avere vent'anni when they got stock back in.

Are you referring to Raro US or Raro Italy, saimo?

[Kauno]

Yet again, some changed street dates (according to their web site):

The Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection Vol. 2 February 15
Uomini Contro February 28
Il Generale Della Rovere March 20

I feel like something's wrong with what they are doing.

[TMDaines]

I think it's quite clear they're in trouble. Their release schedule has dropped off a cliff and they've become close to impossible to get hold off.

They've finally responded to one of my Facebook posts with the intention of sending me a replacement for Avere vent'anni, but haven't given me a further response since I gave them my address.

[ellipsis7]

In the end I just went for the excellent Minerva Classic DVD of UOMINI CONTRO, not least because it includes the script as a pdf file... And while I mounted some sort of defence of Raro USA's CONVERSATION PIECE BR, Pietrangeli's windowboxed LA VISITA was the final straw, and is painful to watch, whereas its companion ADUA & HER FRIENDS while anamorphic is just adequate... Even if they achieve some kind of resuscitation, I am sceptical about the consistency of their product...

[Perkins Cobb]

Would really be a shame if the second Di Leo set doesn't make it out before they go the way of NoShame.

[TMDaines]

I think it's quite clear they're in trouble. Their release schedule has dropped off a cliff and they've become close to impossible to get hold off.

They've finally responded to one of my Facebook posts with the intention of sending me a replacement for Avere vent'anni, but haven't given me a further response since I gave them my address.

As a follow up to this, they've now deleted all my comments and blocked me from commenting on their Facebook page after I was trying to get an update on whether they sent my replacement or not. They haven't responded to e-mails for months. Lovely company: lead me on for six months (twelve for a damaged order) and then just silence me anyway. Not once have I been rude to them.

I hope Saimo got paid but I doubt it somehow.