Are You Being Served Blu-ray was announced today and the insider offered these updates on StudioCanal titles:
There are 27 yet to be announced titles in the current deal.
7 of them have been previously released on Blu-ray, 6 of these will be released on UHD, two from UHD SDR masters and 4 from brand new HDR Dolby Vision masters.
The remaining 20 titles will be released for the first time on Blu-ray. At least 1 and potentially more will be released on 4K.
6 of these will be Kino Classics releases, 5 of these are French films, 1 British.
The 14 others are all KLSC titles, mostly US and UK films, one French one. 4 are British comedies, we have HD masters for 3, need to remaster 1.
The decades breakdown for the deal
40s x 2
50s x 3
60s x 7
70s x 1
80s x 10
90s x 3
2000s x 1
And UHDs of previously released StudioCanal titles
Besides the previously announced Alphaville, we're also planning to release 20 previously released Blu-rays on 4K, some UHD SDR, others HDR Dolby Vision. And tentatively another 12. For a titles of 32 or maybe even more.
Some of the 4Ks will be released under the Kino Cult brand.
And, some may be part of collections or double features.
would have to hazard a guess they'll do the stateside editions of Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Lavender Hill Mob, since Canal recently announced those for the UK. wonder if Last Year at Marienbad is something on the horizon...
I’m guessing Peter Hyams titles move a lot of copies for them, but I’d rather see them release his incredible 1972 TV film Goodnight, My Love with is neck and neck with Duel and Sticks and Bones as being among the high watermarks of post-60’s American TV features
jazzo wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2024 5:57 pm
Yeah, I’d like those, as well. Or his feature m, Our Time.
Gotta live that Hyams! A journeyman who just happens to also be a pretty good accidental auteur!
I saw him speak at a screening of 2010 a few years ago. He basically admitted that he’s out of the game as far as directing films, but I think he’d still DP other peoples’ films. He really hates the American Society of Cinematographers for never letting him into their club, but it’s pretty obvious from his first films that the photography in his films has a relatively uniform aesthetic that he is responsible for
The upcoming 4K UHD of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) on 6/25/2 is listed as including both the 1.85 and 2.00 aspect ratios. I believe this is the first time the 1.85 AR has been released on home video.
• 2022 HD Masters by Paramount Pictures – From 4K Scans
• Includes Both the 1948 119-Minutes Roadshow Edition and the 1950 Pared-Down 85-Minute Re-Release
• NEW Audio Commentary by Novelist and Critic Tim Lucas
• Audio Commentary by Orson Welles Biographer Joseph McBride
• Welles and Shakespeare: 2016 Interview with Michael Anderegg (11:56)
• That Was Orson Welles: 2016 Interview with Legendary Filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich (9:49)
• Restoring Macbeth: 2016 Interview with Robert Gitt (8:22)
• Free Republic: Herbert J. Yates and the Story of Republic Pictures: 2016 interview with archivist Marc Wanamaker (6:32)
• Limited Edition Reversible Art and O-Card Slipcase
• Optional English Subtitles
Something wicked this way comes in Orson Welles’s cinematic retelling of William Shakespeare’s immortal classic. The larger-than-life Welles (Citizen Kane, The Lady from Shanghai, Othello, Touch of Evil) adapts, produces, directs and stars as the titular Scottish lord who is tragically undone by his own vaulting ambition. Welles’s noir-tinged interpretation bubbles over with supernatural prophecy and murderous intrigue, effectively mixing the use of shadow and oblique camera angles (courtesy of cinematographer John L. Russell, Psycho) to achieve an ominous sense of a land in peril. Co-starring Dan O’Herlihy (Robinson Crusoe), Roddy McDowall (Planet of the Apes), Alan Napier (TV’s Batman) and Jeanette Nolan (The Big Heat) in her stunning film debut as Lady Macbeth, this iconic Mercury Production of The Scottish Play is an altogether stark and singular vision. This 2-disc Special Edition includes both the original 1948 119-minute cut, replete with overture/exit music and affected Highland burrs, and the 1950 pared-down 85-minute re-release which excised most of the accented dialogue.
...This 2-disc Special Edition includes both the original 1948 119-minute cut, replete with overture/exit music and affected Highland burrs, and the 1950 pared-down 85-minute re-release which excised most of the accented dialogue.
The overture/exit music is unique to this release as far as I can tell, but if the 119-minute running time is accurate then the additional music runs for 12 minutes... which seems unlikely. Fortunately, unlike some of the music forced on Welles' films of the period (I'm looking at you, Lady From Shanghai), Jacques Ibert's score for Macbeth is excellent.
curious to see if they end up doing all the Republic titles that Olive did twice. I know the Insider has been on record to saying Letter From an Unknown Woman won't happen. I'm still surprised Masters of Cinema never got to Macbeth considering they did quite a few of the Olive Signature titles
random aside - I was thinking about this last night. Kino have often licensed their commentaries out frequently to the UK labels (most notably Eureka and Powerhouse) but have they ever done the inverse? they've kept extras from Olive (as we see here) and Twilight Time, as well as studio produced extras, but I don't remember them ever porting a UK produced extra. The Tarnished Angels inspired this, as it has an Adrian Martin track on the OOP MOC disc (which itself was probably produced by Madman Australia) which isn't found on the Kino disc. luckily we have the ever capable Imogen Sara Smith on there, but would be nice to have Martin's track too (and not as an MP3 on my computer), among other cases.
EDIT: the Sirk I have a Martin commentary for is There's Always Tomorrow, so I will have to hunt down the OOP MOC disc...
Last edited by ryannichols7 on Fri Apr 12, 2024 8:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
...This 2-disc Special Edition includes both the original 1948 119-minute cut, replete with overture/exit music and affected Highland burrs, and the 1950 pared-down 85-minute re-release which excised most of the accented dialogue.
The overture/exit music is unique to this release as far as I can tell, but if the 119-minute running time is accurate then the additional music runs for 12 minutes... which seems unlikely. Fortunately, unlike some of the music forced on Welles' films of the period (I'm looking at you, Lady From Shanghai), Jacques Ibert's score for Macbeth is excellent.
Remember that KLSC famously lists incorrect runtimes on their releases. They were 36 minutes low on Daddy Long Legs, and list it as a 1972 film instead of 1955. Could just be a hasty screwup (they could have meant 109 and hit another 1 by accident or something)
The 1948 Integral Version, which adds overture (8 min) and exit (4 min) music (119 min)
This is well-timed for me given I only ordered the Olive edition a few months ago, and it arrived with what looks like a holepunch scar on Disc 2, rendering most of the extras unplayable. Shame to lose the We Work Again excerpt but it’s easily found elsewhere.
Rights outside the US are held by Ignite Films, not Paramount.
Coming Soon on Blu-ray!
Brand New 2K Master! Repossessed (1990) Starring Leslie Nielsen, Linda Blair, Ned Beatty, Anthony Starke & Willie Garson – Shot by Michael D. Margulies (Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Police Academy) – Music by Charles Fox (Foul Play, 9 to 5) – Produced by Mario Kassar (First Blood, Total Recall) – Written and Directed by Bob Logan (How to Get… Revenge, Meatballs 4).
The 1948 Integral Version, which adds overture (8 min) and exit (4 min) music (119 min)
This is well-timed for me given I only ordered the Olive edition a few months ago, and it arrived with what looks like a holepunch scar on Disc 2, rendering most of the extras unplayable. Shame to lose the We Work Again excerpt but it’s easily found elsewhere.
Rights outside the US are held by Ignite Films, not Paramount.
Thanks for the confirmation regarding the overture/exit music (obviously, I didn’t do enough research before stating this feature was unique to the upcoming release - just comparing it to the Olive edition). That’s a long overture - could this be the only Republic film to have an overture and exit music?
dwk wrote: Sun Apr 14, 2024 3:28 pm
De Palma's Snake Eyes UHD is today's a announcement
I'm not sure how much of a quality-boost the blu's transfer gave, but this had a rough DVD picture - highly underrated De Palma, and welcome in superior form!
