Story of Sin

[Ron]

Many thanks for the final specifications. The audio commentary and the other supplements sound very interesting, indeed.

@MichaelB:
By the way: Larraz`s The Coming of Sin might also be an interesting future realease for Arrow, since there is no uncut version of this movie around. The Pagan DVD release lost 1 min 15 secs of cuts by the BBFC in 1999.

[M Sanderson]

That's Larraz's The Coming of Sin.

Although when Kat Ellinger told me that she'd been hired to do a commentary for the Borowczyk film, she initially referred to it The Coming of Sin, so I just assumed that it was the Larraz film and congratulated her.

(I haven't heard the commentary yet, but I hear that it's exhaustively detailed - they got the gig because of their Daughters of Darkness podcasts, which are well worth a listen. They've just finished a four-part series on Elio Petri.)

Nice one, thanks for clarifying.

This period of films does get hazy in my mind.

[MichaelB]

I'm very happy to be able to confirm that if you like Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger's Daughters of Darkness podcasts, you'll like their commentary here: as ever, they cover a huge amount of historical, cultural, literary and sociological ground, and somehow manage to keep everything more or less scene-specific without ever falling into the usual trap of simply describing what's on screen.

It's hardly surprising that they have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Borowczyk, as they've been writing about him for years, but they've also delved deeply into the late 19th century setting, particularly the historical plight of women in various strata of so-called "society", and they'll happily namecheck everyone from Charles Baudelaire to Tinto Brass along the way. The female perspective is especially useful with regard to this particular film, not least the fact that Ellinger is a mother herself, so can identify particularly strongly with a mid-point scene whose content I won't spoil here.

Given that it's a commentary debut, there's a hint of beginners' nerves at the start, but they find their voice and rhythm very quickly indeed, and most of it sounds as though they've been recording commentaries for years. And if all goes according to multiple plans, this will merely be the first of many.

[MichaelB]

Trailer.

[Ron]

The picture quality of the trailer looks really amazing. Congratulations for the great restauration work! I ordered my BD copy at Zavvi and I hope that it will arrive soon.

[riderontherain]

Are the US and UK releases identical in content? There seems to be a huge difference in price. Also, is it still the case that there is a first press edition with an exclusive booklet? If yes, where to purchase it (perhaps directly from Arrow Academy)? Thanks.

As regards La Marge, I recall seeing snippets of the film in what looks like excellent video quality on one of the discs in the Boro box, so somebody somewhere must already have done a HD scan of the film?

[MichaelB]

Are the US and UK releases identical in content? There seems to be a huge difference in price. Also, is it still the case that there is a first press edition with an exclusive booklet? If yes, where to purchase it (perhaps directly from Arrow Academy)? Thanks.

The machine-readable side of each disc is absolutely identical regardless of where you purchase it - Arrow only created one master. (There's no point paying for two if it's not necessary.)

There'll be minor cosmetic differences on the sleeve and disc artwork (no BBFC logo on the US disc, territory-appropriate barcodes, etc.), but that's it.

At present, all copies come with a 44-page booklet - they're nowhere near to selling out of the first print run just yet.

As regards La Marge, I recall seeing snippets of the film in what looks like excellent video quality on one of the discs in the Boro box, so somebody somewhere must already have done a HD scan of the film?

Nope - that's just a tribute to David Mackenzie's encoding skills. To the best of my knowledge, there's no HD master available, and Arrow certainly didn't get their hands on one.

[jindianajonz]

Did this release get delayed? I had preordered the US version through Amazon, but got a message that it wouldn't be delivered on time, and Amazon is showing it as out of stock. Oddly enough my order status is listing it as delivered, though when I go to details it tells me it hasn't shipped yet.

[MichaelB]

The US release appears to have been delayed until March 28th: I'm not sure why.

The UK release came out last Monday, as planned.

[Drucker]

Thanks, Trump.

[TheSonOfDad]

Currently $19.99 for preorder at Barnes & Noble as the only Arrow Academy title in their Arrow Video $19.99 Sale

[jsteffe]

I received my copy in the mail from Arrow, and I'm completely bowled over! I've seen the film before and admired it, but seeing this gorgeous restoration makes me appreciate it on an entirely different level. The film is a masterpiece. The sound design is remarkable, as is its feeling for visual texture, combined with its many handheld shots and its precisely timed editing. Borowczyk was one of cinema's great stylists.

This is also by far one of the most successful restorations of a Polish film that I have seen. It's positively luminous.

[M Sanderson]

Yes this richly textured film looks beautiful- a triumphant restoration of a film I will revisit many times.