Arrow Announcements, Speculation & Wild, Irresponsible Conjecture

[rapta]

I Know Where I Am Going! is listed as having a 4K DCP on the Park Circus/MGM list. But the BBFC page says the BFI was the distributor of the UK theatrical re-issue late last year. Anyone have a better understanding of who has the home video rights? I'd be surprised if it came from Arrow after they dropped their Academy line. ITV or MoC or maybe even Radiance instead.

EDIT: I checked the BFI's cinema release page and the poster carries the logos for ITV, the Film Foundation and Park Circus.

ITV definitely have the rights to most of the Powell & Pressburger library, including I Know Where I’m Going. Frustratingly, they won’t do a deal with anyone domestically unless it’s a large one (including TV series) so nobody could afford to do it here other than Network (who went bust).

You might remember when Criterion announced A Matter of Life and Death for the UK, then pulled their release suddenly and later ITV themselves released it instead (seems Criterion hadn’t secured the necessary rights). I thought ITV might do the same for I Know Where I’m Going but seems they don’t really care about physical media so haven’t bothered (probably more focused on ITVX). Network were our best bet for Region B, but I’m sure Criterion will get it for the US eventually.

[Orlac]

Arrow has posted about the Dollars Trilogy on FB...

[tenia]

Woof, for once, such an announcement happened BEFORE I pulled the trigger on other releases, and not just after.
So long, almost purchasing the Kino releases !

[therewillbeblus]

The Kinos are still good though

[dwk]

Are any of those three cut in the UK?

[ChunkyLover]

Are any of those three cut in the UK?

No cuts to my knowledge (I don't believe MGM's original Blus have to make a unique disc to accommodate cuts like with "Never Say Never Again").

[tenia]

There’s at least a technical interest for me, which is that Kino releases (IIRC) all derives from Ritrovata masters that had to be color-corrected, like what Shout and Criterion had to do with the Bruce Lee movies, instead of being properly graded straight from the start, like what Arrow did with the Bruce Lee movies and Profondo Rosso.
I also seem to recall that at least one of those didn’t get the promised correctly reconstructed versions. For A Few Dollars More at least is for sure missing 2 or 3 seconds (negligible, but still), and this one and A Fistful of Dollars mono tracks are remixes with alterations.

These are things I’d tend to trust Arrow more, providing they treat this set like they did with the Bruce Lee set (and I’d expect them to do so, as it’d be suicidal for such extreme sellers like these to be anything less than that).

The Kino would be “still good” indeed, and I really on the verge on importing them as their prices recently dropped on Amazon, and they do provide good upgrades.
But with the perspective of such an alternative, it’s a no-brainer for me to now hold on.

[nicolas]

There’s at least a technical interest for me, which is that Kino releases (IIRC) all derives from Ritrovata masters that had to be color-corrected, like what Shout and Criterion had to do with the Bruce Lee movies, instead of being properly graded straight from the start, like what Arrow did with the Bruce Lee movies and Profondo Rosso.
I also seem to recall that at least one of those didn’t get the promised correctly reconstructed versions. For A Few Dollars More at least is for sure missing 2 or 3 seconds (negligible, but still), and this one and A Fistful of Dollars mono tracks are remixes with alterations.

These are things I’d tend to trust Arrow more, providing they treat this set like they did with the Bruce Lee set (and I’d expect them to do so, as it’d be suicidal for such extreme sellers like these to be anything less than that).

The Kino would be “still good” indeed, and I really on the verge on importing them as their prices recently dropped on Amazon, and they do provide good upgrades.
But with the perspective of such an alternative, it’s a no-brainer for me to now hold on.

Aren’t the KL UHDs (again) hampered by audio issues? I remember a big conversation at BR about this. I watched the KL‘s too and found them somewhat murky but I couldn’t pinpoint to anything specifically.

[rapta]

I'm excited, as I've been hoping for a decent UK edition for many years (I reluctantly bought the MGM set when it was cheap, just to upgrade from DVD). Arrow getting it is probably the best outcome, as we know they'll at least attempt to make it the definitive release (unless blocked by the studio for some reason). They recently released a near perfect release of The Silence of the Lambs, and apparently are doing The Great Escape soon too, so it's a good time to be an Arrow collector.

Guessing we'll get The Great Escape in time for Christmas, but are we thinking this might not be actually released til early 2025? I'm down, whatever it is. Have to get this, they'll hopefully correct previous pitfalls and give us the ultimate edition.

[Drucker]

FWIW, the Kino TGTBTU is exceptional, and this fun YT video details why. A combination of fan-sourced intel, an audio track ripped from the laserdisc, and a lot of TLC went into making it an exceptional release.

[colinr0380]

Are any of those three cut in the UK?

No cuts to my knowledge (I don't believe MGM's original Blus have to make a unique disc to accommodate cuts like with "Never Say Never Again").

All of the Dollars trilogy are uncut in the UK. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly was even reclassified down in recent years from an 18 to a 15, which matches the other two films. The Leone spaghetti western that is BBFC edited is A Fistful of Dynamite, by 6 seconds to remove horse falls.

[Finch]

The Cell got a 4K restoration and the sheet for a screening at the Egyptian quotes Arrow and WB Discovery as the distributors.

[Stefan Andersson]

FWIW, the Kino TGTBTU is exceptional, and this fun YT video details why. A combination of fan-sourced intel, an audio track ripped from the laserdisc, and a lot of TLC went into making it an exceptional release.

Real good news about an Arrow Dollars box. If done well, it could sell extremely well on both UHD and Bluray formats.

Some more relevant links about TGBTBTU versions; some links go to videos showing editing and audio differences between various homevideo versions; maybe Arrow can do more restoration work, as needed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxEo33L1zBI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcCDZcgmj0w
https://theeditroomfloor.blogspot.com/2 ... -ugly.html
https://sadhillmedia.com/filmformally/s3e10-gbu - article contains yet more relevant links

https://nationalpost.com/entertainm...- ... horization - 2019 article. From this article we learn:
- a shot of a cannon firing on the Confederate outpost is mssing a few seconds (to be found on the MGM LD)
- the 1998 MGM DVD is "a hybrid of the Italian and international versions, with “some shots added, some subtracted,”" and "the Tuco torture scene /.../ had been radically changed."
-the MGM laserdisc is closest to the 1967 cut, except for one deviation, a close-up of a "wall exploding after a cannon fires"
- Leone never wanted the "bogus Tuco recruitment scene" in the film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vckxJAu3gxw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K48ef5w1GP0
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/commun ... ay.371814/
https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=624419
https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=1622
https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=867

[dwk]

The Cell got a 4K restoration and the sheet for a screening at the Egyptian quotes Arrow and WB Discovery as the distributors.

Pretty, but bad movie. Still a step up from the rest of the WB post 2K slop they've been announcing.

[cdnchris]

It's more along the lines of what I would have expected them to go after

[ryannichols7]

yes, while it's a bad movie (I'm not a fan of any Tarsem Singh), it's definitely something that's more up Arrow's alley, and is an actual rescue. I give them props for it, even if I'm not interested at all. much better than the slop so far. gives me some hope we may see further interesting material from this deal

[yoloswegmaster]

Arrow has sent Sam Raimi's The Gift to be rated by the BBFC

[dwk]

I wonder if that is still with Paramount in the US or if the rights have reverted to Lakeshore?

[yoloswegmaster]

I wonder if that is still with Paramount in the US or if the rights have reverted to Lakeshore?

iTunes and Amazon Prime have it under Paramount, so that's who I'm assuming has it in the U.S.

[dwk]

That is what I assumed, but the film is almost 25 years old now.. Curious if Arrow has licensed it in the US from Paramount or if some one else has it.

[flyonthewall2983]

Would Dark City be fair game for release? Or is the WB deal only for movies 2000 and after?

[domino harvey]

I believe they have some older films. I think that one is as likely as anything else, but as I recall, it’s already a pretty stacked disc, no?

I have a pet theory that Arrow has licensed Hawks’ the Thing From Another World

[flyonthewall2983]

It’s a title I would be surprised to see WB update to UHD.

[dwk]

Dark City's master is heavily DNR'd, so there is massive room for improvement.

Thing from Another World is a WAC Blu-ray, isn't it? Those haven't really been licensed out (other than Shaft's Big Score), so I don't think they are on the table.

Mike Muncer of Evolution of Horror, on something called the Brain Rot podcast, said that Arrow will he releasing Killer Party, which I assume will be a UK only Blu-ray because Scream Factory has already released it in the US

[yoloswegmaster]

Hint for an upcoming release of Critters