Studio Canal / Kinowelt / Optimum

[dwk]

Amazon has all the extras listed for the Hitchcock set

The Ring (1927) The Ring is a love triangle melodrama set in the world of boxing: the title refers not just to the boxing ring, but also to the wedding ring which unites Jack ‘one round’ Sander (Carl Brisson) and his girlfriend Mabel (Lilian Hall-Davis). / runtime: 106 mins
EXTRAS:
A Knockout Score: Neil Brand on The Ring,
Hitchcock / Truffaut: Archival Audio Interview
Audio commentary by film critic Nick Pinkerton
Introduction by Director & Film Historian Noël Simsolo
Stills Gallery

The Farmer's Wife (1928) The Farmer’s Wife concerns the search of a widowed farmer, Samuel Sweetland (Jameson Thomas), for a new wife, approaching four local spinsters with arrogant expectation, only to be wounded by rejection each time. / runtime: 112 mins
EXTRAS:
Hitch in the Countryside: Neil Brand on The Farmer's Wife
Extract from BEHP
Audio interview with Ronald Neame
Hitchcock / Truffaut: Archival Audio Interview
Introduction by Director & Film Historian Noël Simsolo
Stills Gallery

Champagne (1928) Disapproving of her love affair, a millionaire (Gordon Harker) sets out to teach his irresponsible daughter (Betty Balfour) a lesson by pretending to lose all his money in Champagne. / runtime: 106 mins
EXTRAS:
Hitch & Champagne: Neil Brand on music for Silent Film
A Heady Cocktail: Charles Barr on Champagne
Hitchcock/Truffaut: Archival Audio Interview
Audio commentary by film historian Farran Smith Nehme
Introduction by Director & Film Historian Noël Simsolo
Stills Gallery

The Manxman (1929) (NEW SCORE) In a remote Isle of Man fishing community, two men, friends since childhood, find themselves in love with the same woman. / runtime: 101 mins
EXTRAS:
Melodrama à la Manx: Stephen Horne on scoring Hitchcock
Hitch's Leading Ladies by Davina Quinliven
Audio commentary by film historian Farran Smith Nehme
Hitchcock/Truffaut: Archival Audio Interview
Introduction by Director & Film Historian Noël Simsolo
Stills Gallery

Blackmail (1929) - SILENT VERSION (new 4K restoration and NEW SCORE ) Grocer’s daughter Alice White (Anny Ondra) kills a man in self-defence when he tries to sexually assault her. Her policeman boyfriend covers up for her, but she has been spotted leaving the scene by a petty criminal who tries to blackmail her. / runtime: 76 mins
EXTRAS:
Silent into Sound: Neil Brand on Blackmail
Anny Ondra’s Screen Test
Extract from BEHP
Audio interview with Ronald Neame,
Audio Commentary by Film Historian Tim Lucas
Hitchcock/Truffaut: Archival Audio Interview
Introduction by Director & Film Historian Noël Simsolo
Stills Gallery

Blackmail (1929) - TALKIE VERSION (new 4K restoration) runtime: 86 mins
EXTRAS:
Hitch & The Irish Players - An Interview with Charles Barr
Hitchcock/Truffaut: Archival Audio Interview
Stills Gallery

Juno and the Paycock (1930) Starring Barry Fitzgerald, Marie O’Neill, Edward Chapman, Sara Allgood. During the Irish Civil War in 1922, a family earns a big inheritance. They start leading a rich life, forgetting what the most important values are. Based on the successful play by Seán O'Casey, Hitchcock filmed a faithful reproduction of the play using fewer of his directorial touches than he usually incorporated, often asking cinematographer Jack Cox to hold the camera for long single shots. / runtime: 96 mins
EXTRAS:
MARY: 1931 German version of 'Murder! '
Alternate Ending, Audio Commentary by film critic Nick Pinkerton
Hitchcock/Truffaut: Archival Audio Interview,
Introduction by Director & Film Historian Noël Simsolo
Stills Gallery

Murder! (1930) Starring Herbert Marshall, Nora Baring, Edward Chapman, Phyllis Konstam. An actress is convicted of the murder of another actress in the same touring company. But the distinguished actor Sir John Menier (Herbert Marshall), who served on the jury at her trial, becomes convinced of her innocence. One of Hitchcock’s few whodunits, MURDER! is a fascinating, multi-layered study of the role played by performance in public and private life, and features long, carefully choreographed takes, as well as an intriguing take on sexuality. Included as an extra is MARY the German language version of MURDER!, made at the same time as the English original and boasting not only top actor Abel (Phantom, Metropolis, L’Argent) but mysterious silent-era star Tchekowa. The film reflects the influence of German Expressionism on Hitchcock’s lighting. / runtime: 103 mins
EXTRAS:
lma Hitchcock: Jo Botting & Natalie Morris in Conversation
Hitchcock/Truffaut: Archival Audio Interview
Introduction by Director & Film Historian Noël Simsolo,
Stills Gallery

The Skin Game (1931) - REMASTERED FOR 2024 Starring Edmund Gwenn, Helen Haye, C V France, Jill Esmond, John Longden, Phyllis Konstam. The rivalry between a gentrified family and a wealthy tradesman turns to tragedy when the former use their discovery of the dark past of the tradesman's daughter-in-law to thwart his building plans. Adapted by Hitchcock with a script by Alma Reville, from the successful stage play by John Galsworthy, THE SKIN GAME presents a powerful and convincing portrayal of industrial encroachment on the rural gentry with a mix of long-take dialogue scenes and montage. / runtime: 83 mins
EXTRAS:
Unexpectedly Personal: Charles Barr on Rich and Strange
Audio Commentary by film historian Troy Howarth
Hitchcock/Truffaut: Archival Audio Interview
Introduction by Director & Film Historian Noël Simsolo
Stills Gallery

Rich and Strange (1931) Starring Henry Kendall, Joan Barry, Percy Marmont, Betty Amann, Elsie Randolph. 83min. Aspect Ratio: 1.19:1 Married couple Fred and Emily Hill (Henry Kendall and Joan Barry) go on a world cruise to escape their humdrum lives. Their relationship begins to fall apart when they both become attracted to other people. A charming film that possesses many of Hitchcock’s signature touches and with a somewhat daring theme which Hitchcock would return to in THE 39 STEPS./runtime: 84 mins
EXTRAS:
From Silent Film Idol to Superman: John Stuart by Jonathan Croall
Audio Commentary by film, historian and critic Peter Tonguette
Hitchcock/Truffaut: Archival Audio Interview
Introduction by Director & Film Historian Noël Simsolo
Lobby Cards Gallery

Number Seventeen (1932) (new 4K restoration) Starring John Stuart, Anne Grey, Leon M Lion. A detective (John Stuart) tracks a group of criminals to a deserted house above a rail depot which they are using to escape to the continent. A comedy thriller, adapted from Joseph Farjeon’s play, Hitchcock was initially unhappy with the project as he considered the story to be riddled with cliches, so the script written by Rodney Ackland with Hitchcock and Alma Reville takes on a satirical and entertaining tone and contained the first appearance of what was to become a characteristic of Hitchcock’s work – a MacGuffin – in this case a stolen necklace. / runtime: 64 mins approx.
EXTRAS:
From Silent Film Idol to Superman: John Stuart by Jonathan Croall
Audio Commentary by film, historian and critic Peter Tonguette
Hitchcock/Truffaut: Archival Audio Interview
Introduction by Director & Film Historian Noël Simsolo
Lobby Cards Gallery

BRAND-NEW DOCUMENTARY - BECOMING HITCHCOCK THE LEGACY OF BLACKMAIL (2024) Directed by Laurent Bouzereau, Narrated by Elvis Mitchell, Produced by Studiocanal in association with Nedland Films, 72min.BECOMING HITCHCOCK – THE LEGACY OF BLACKMAIL, a brand new 72-minute documentary from award-winning filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau (Faye, Music by John Williams, Five Came Back) and narrated by historian, critic and filmmaker Elvis Mitchell, reflects the development of Alfred Hitchcock’s signature style, through the making of one of his benchmark films, Blackmail (1929). The documentary highlights the birth of the “Hitchcock Touch” at a period when talking pictures first emerged and explores his trademark themes, such as murder, suspense and cool blondes. While focusing on Blackmail, the documentary reveals how this film also foreshadows the director’s later masterpieces, from Psycho to North by Northwest and from The Birds to Frenzy. / runtime: 70 mins

[Peacock]

I wonder if Mary will be in HD or not? The Kino has it as an SD upscale. Otherwise the only new to Blu title here is Juno and the Paycock and the new documentary. Of course it’ll be nice to see Blackmail looking good at last as well.

[ryannichols7]

okay those are all the Kino extras, awesome. the $159 price tag is a lot higher than what I paid for the Kinos I'm sure, but I like the design of the box, would prefer having a boxset, and quite love Blackmail so I'll take it

[nicolas]

From the SC press release for the upcoming African Queen 4K release:

NEW Audio Commentary with Script Supervisor Angela Allen and Ian Christie
NEW Sir John Woolf on the Making of The African Queen
Audio commentary by cinematographer Jack Cardiff
Embracing Chaos: Making The African Queen, a comprehensive documentary about the making of the film (60 mins)
A video interview with co-screenwriter Peter Viertel, produced by Eureka Entertainment
Video interview with critic Kim Newman, produced by Eureka Entertainment
Video interview with historian Neil Sinyard, produced by Eureka Entertainment
2010 NFT Q&A with Anjelica Huston and script supervisor Angela Allen ©BFI
1981 NFT / Guardian interview with John Huston ©BFI
Lux Radio Theatre adaptation from 1952 with Humphrey Bogart and Greer Garson
Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery
Original theatrical trailer
Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

For the 2010 4k restoration of THE AFRICAN QUEEN, Romulus Films —one of the film's original production companies— provided access to the original three-strip negative at a London facility where the film was carefully scanned and digitized. The separate elements were then transferred to Los Angeles and painstakingly recombined and inspected frame by frame to ensure that every detail aligned and that any dirt and scratches were removed.

To ensure that the restored picture matched the filmmakers' original vision, Paramount arranged a screening of an MPAA archive print for the film's original cinematographer, Academy Award winner Jack Cardiff, whose comments were recorded live during the screening. That same archival print was later screened alongside the newly restored version so that the restoration team could ensure that all of Cardiff's notes had been addressed. The result is a vibrant, warm picture that reverentially recreates the film as it was originally meant to be seen.

In 2024 a new 4K Blu-ray was produced from the 2010 restoration.

[MichaelB]

Imprint has confirmed that its upcoming Hitchcock 9 box contains the nine surviving silent films - i.e. not including the sound version of Blackmail.

In other words, while there's a hefty overlap with StudioCanal's upcoming Hitchcock box, each has unique titles - The Pleasure Garden, The Lodger, Downhill and Easy Virtue in the case of the Imprint box, and the sound version of Blackmail, Juno and the Paycock, Murder!, The Skin Game, Rich and Strange and Number Seventeen in the StudioCanal box.

Titles common to both are The Ring, The Farmer's Wife, Champagne, The Manxman and the silent Blackmail, and I believe that the nine silent films are all sourced from the BFI restorations, although I don't know about scores or commentaries in the Imprint set.

[eerik]

Variety has an article on the Becoming Hitchcock - the Legacy of Blackmail doc that is included in the boxset. Supposedly it is the first in a line of similar documentaries highlighting Studiocanal's catalog, and apparently the boxset is commemorating Hitchcock's 125th birthday (which I don't think I saw mentioned elsewhere).

[nicolas]

David M / Fidelity in Motion retweeted the SC Hitchcock box announcement!

[nicolas]

Fantastic news for Terrence Malick fans! StudioCanal acquired global rights to The Tree of Life and others from the River Road library.

Also, 12 Years a Slave, Into the Wild, Food Inc, Chicago 10, Doug Liman’s “Fair Game,” “The Last Face,” “A Monster Calls,” “A Prairie Home Companion,” “The Runaways,” directed by Floria Sigismondi, and “Love & Mercy,” the Beach Boys-centered film directed by River Road founder Bill Pohlad.

https://variety.com/2024/film/global/ri ... 236182171/

[Grand Wazoo]

The Last Face UHD WHEN!?"

[eerik]

Fantastic news for Terrence Malick fans! StudioCanal acquired global rights to The Tree of Life and others from the River Road library.

Also, 12 Years a Slave, Into the Wild, Food Inc, Chicago 10, Doug Liman’s “Fair Game,” “The Last Face,” “A Monster Calls,” “A Prairie Home Companion,” “The Runaways,” directed by Floria Sigismondi, and “Love & Mercy,” the Beach Boys-centered film directed by River Road founder Bill Pohlad.

https://variety.com/2024/film/global/ri ... 236182171/

Looks like there has been a correction to the article and Diznee will retain US and UK rights for The Tree of Life.

Correction: An early version of this article indicated that Studiocanal had acquired global rights to 11 River Road Entertainment, but Searchlight holds domestic U.S. and Canada rights to “12 Years a Slave” and U.S. and U.K. rights to “The Tree of Life.”

[nicolas]

Looks like there has been a correction to the article and Diznee will retain US and UK rights for The Tree of Life.

Bummer but StudioCanal could still put out a 4K of The Tree of Life in France and Germany similar to The Straight Story and all three of their operating territories for 12 Years a Slave.

For the other films where they have global rights, I can imagine the majority of these will be licensed to Kino Lorber

[eerik]

No doubt about it. This also means Criterion's release is more likely to stay in print, so who knows, maybe they can work together on producing new HDR grading (assuming it doesn't already exist).

[tenia]

Very saddened to report the new Pépé le moko BD, released in France by Studio Canal from a 4K Ritrovata restoration from the 35mm OCN, is a frozen grain fest.
It does look, detailed-wise, like a new 4K resto from a 35mm OCN, but the frozen grain gives it a life-less dated aspect it shouldn't have. Ugh.

[nicolas]

Very saddened to report the new Pépé le moko BD, released in France by Studio Canal from a 4K Ritrovata restoration from the 35mm OCN, is a frozen grain fest.
It does look, detailed-wise, like a new 4K resto from a 35mm OCN, but the frozen grain gives it a life-less dated aspect it shouldn't have. Ugh.

It seems like they’re rolling a dice when deciding if a title gets the DigiSmear treatment or not. And it always baffles me that them doing this costs more money and personell compared to getting a better result with less effort by leaving the grain intact. Not sure if the people in charge at Ritrovata have any inkling of what it is they’re greenlighting or enforcing and how unnecessary and damaging it is.

[JSC]

The question is why do it at all at this late stage in the game? Back when Pathe did their atrocious DNR job on
Les enfants du paradis you'd think someone somewhere at some point must have realized that removing
grain from the image adds the collateral damage of removing general detail. I'm still waiting for someone to
understand this basic notion and release Carne's film properly. Never would have thought that after fourteen
years on from the original blu-ray release I'd be still holding onto my old Criterion DVD.

[yoloswegmaster]

I recall Criterion doing their own restoration of Pépé le moko that was screened on TCM a couple years back. Hopefully they decide to use that restoration whenever they decide to upgrade the DVD (whenever that is).

[eerik]

Trailer for the Hitchcock boxset

[Stefan Andersson]

Specs, with restoration information, for the Hitchcock box set:
http://www.cineoutsider.com/news/storie ... 41005.html

[videozor]

Are any details known of BD of Tristana listed on Amazon.co.uk as upcoming on Feb 25th 2025? There is not even a cover art image there..

[Stefan Andersson]

Are any details known of BD of Tristana listed on Amazon.co.uk as upcoming on Feb 25th 2025? There is not even a cover art image there..

Maybe a UK issue of this French disc, w/ French, Spanish and German audio and English subs:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/test/blu-ray ... tudiocanal

[domino harvey]

It already came out in the UK as part of their Bunuel Blu-ray box. Presumably it’s a solo release of that disc

[MichaelB]

Yes, I'd assume it's the exact same disc - no reason to think otherwise.

[hearthesilence]

Specs, with restoration information, for the Hitchcock box set:
http://www.cineoutsider.com/news/storie ... 41005.html

The Ring and particularly the silent version of Blackmail are the two films I'd want to return to - I was hoping to skip this box set and stick with Kino's releases for those titles, but it looks like Blackmail is one of several new 4K restorations making their Blu-ray debut. Per those notes for Blackmail:

4K restoration (2024) of the silent version: This restoration was scanned in 4k by the British Film Institute in the UK, from the original 35mm nitrate negative. Colour grading and restoration were completed by Silver Salt Restoration in the UK, who dedicated over 200 hours to manually clean and carefully remove sparkle, dirt and scratches, repair of missing frames and tears. A restoration by Studiocanal, supervised by Jahanzeb Hayat and Mariana Ledesma.

4K restoration (2024) of the sound version: This restoration was scanned in 4k by Silver Salt Restoration in the UK, from a 35mm duplicating positive. Colour grading and restoration were completed by Silver Salt Restoration in the UK, who dedicated over 300 hours to manually clean and carefully remove sparkle, dirt and scratches, repair of missing frames, tears and correction of severe density fluctuation. A restoration by Studiocanal, supervised by Jahanzeb Hayat and Mariana Ledesma.

I'll hold off until someone can make a comparison, but on paper it looks promising.

FWIW, the previous restoration of Blackmail completed in 2012 was principally funded by The Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The Film Foundation. They restored both the silent and sound versions as well, and here are the restoration notes published by the HFPA:

Film elements were scanned and restored digitally at 2K resolution and output back to 35mm film. BFI archivists completed a worldwide search for materials to examine as many existing copies of the films as possible. Some intertitles were reconstructed digitally, then returned to film and printed twice before being scanned and inserted into the digital master to give a filmic appearance to the new titles. The scans and restored data were preserved on data tape and 35mm restoration negatives were created for preservation and access.

The original camera negative was scanned at 4K resolution. Sections with the most severe damage were re-scanned with a wet-gate. Despite the significant curl of the film emulsion and delicate splices, a sharp scan with excellent tonal range was achieved, also allowing archivists to retain the film’s original intertitles.

[videozor]

Yes, I'd assume it's the exact same disc - no reason to think otherwise.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my question!