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Australia got all the Alfred Hitchcock Presents seasons too if I'm not mistaken. Thanks for the heads up!

Down here there was a recent announcement from Shock that their recently acquired Hollywood Gold Series will branch into Blu Ray. I have some of the releases & they are priced reasonably around the $14 - $19 mark. I have added some notes from observations made by members over at Bluray.com. General consensus so far seems to be that the three Kubrick’s are the Criterion licensed restorations (they’re credited on the presentation) & (partial) special features.

Quick link (with a few strays) http://www.screenpop.com.au/search/form ... w-releases

Thought you guys might like to see the schedule:

July 2013

Night of the Hunter
Hang ‘em High (Port of the US MGM)
Exodus
Man of the West (Port of the Koch Media)
Bandolero
Lifeboat
Devils Brigade
Boston Strangler
The Unforgiven
Masters of the Universe
The Killing/Killers Kiss
Paths of Glory
Vanishing Point

Paths of Glory Special Features (Partial port of Criterion release)
Excerpt from a 1966 audio commentary featuring critic Gary Giddens
Television interview from 1979 with star Kirk Douglas
Trailer

The Killing Special Features (Partial port of Criterion release)
Includes Bonus Feature: Stanley Kubrick's 'Killer's Kiss' (67 mins)
Excerpted Interviews With Actor Sterling Hayden From Cinema Cinemas
Trailers

Boston Strangler Special Features (Port of Carlotta Films edition)
Real Killer, Fake Nose - the documentary film Real Killer, Fake Nose offers a look at the production history of The Boston Strangler and the life and legacy of its director, Richard Fleischer. It contains interviews with Mark Fleischer (Richard Fleischer's son), director of photography Richard H. Kline, and actress Sally Kellerman (plays Dianne Cluny in the film). The documentary was directed by Robert Fischer. In English, with optional French subtitles. (30 min).
In this video piece, director William Friedkin discusses the unique qualities of The Boston Strangler, Tony Curtis' performance, Richard Fleischer's directing methods, and the real events that inspired the film. Friedkin also talks about his desire to film The Boston Strangler. In English, with optional French subtitles. (22 min).

September 2013

Midnight Lace
Doctor Doolittle
Journey to the Centre of the Earth – Speculation that this could be a port of the Twilight Time release.

Just picked up a copy of Umbrella's CHABROL COLLECTION VOL. 2

It contains LA RUPTURE (1970)
JUST BEFORE NIGHTFALL (1971)
LES NOCES ROUGES (1972)
And INNOCENTS WITH DIRTY HANDS (1974)

The transfers are all anamorphic (apart from NIGHTFALL - set at 1.33:1) and look better than the earlier DVD releases of his late sixties period films (like LES BICHES). Apart from the blu rays of some of his early B & W films out there these are the best transfers in colour of his seventies films I have yet seen. I'm not sure of the quality of UK & US versions of these films but the reviews I could find we're not encouraging. It seems that, like the R4 version of MARAT/ SADE Australia has released these transfers first.

The only minus is the lack of menus and the use of yellow subs (something Umbrella stopped doing in recent years).

Horror fans are very well served with the latest Shock Blu’s announced in Australia. No information on special features yet although for the non Hammer titles we may see some Blue Underground/Shout/Arrow goodies ported over.

I'm particularly happy about the Hammer titles listed as I believe these will all predate the UK releases. Not sure that Quatermass Xperiment is available in Blu anywhere else yet.

02 October 2013 (All Hammer Titles RRP $24.91)

Landing page

The Quatermass Xperiment
Frankenstein Created Women
Frankenstein & the Monster from Hell
The Witches

20th November 2013 (All RRP $19.93)

Includes artwork

Lisa & the Devil/House of Exorcism
Vampyres
Dead & Buried
Life-force
House by the Cemetery
City of the Living Dead
The Beyond
Maniac
The Burning

Shock are releasing the Sterling Hayden documentary 'Pharos of Chaos' on DVD & Blu-Ray 8th Jan 2014. Never been released anywhere in the world before now.

DVD: http://www.screenpop.com.au/dvd/pharos- ... /4486.html
Blu-Ray:http://www.screenpop.com.au/blu-ray/pha ... /4487.html

Even has special features! Thought this would be an interesting one for the film heads among us.

Dave, have you had a chance to look at any of these War and Peace blu-rays out? There's this Australian one, a French one as well, a number of others I believe. I cannot seem to find any reviews.

Umbrella has the Jack Thompson starrers The Journalist (apparently an old 4:3 master, unless that's an error) and Scobie Malone coming next year.

Went with the German edition of WAR AND PEACE(only 23 bucks from Amazon.de) but this JB deal is nonetheless phenomenal. Thanks for the heads-up, David.

Ned Landers little seen and little known children's film from the 1980s called Molly received its DVD premiere last week. I'm still trying to find a retailer that is stocking it.

Aunt Peg wrote:Ned Landers little seen and little known children's film from the 1980s called Molly received its DVD premiere last week. I'm still trying to find a retailer that is stocking it.

Did you try the Leftorium?

The Ana Kokkinos film Head On from 1998 made it's Blu Ray debut and what a disappointment it is!

All of the scenes set indoors and at night time are much darker on the Blu Ray then the DVD.

Recommendation: Keep the DVD and avoid this Blu Ray.

Hopefully I can post this here...

Is Umbrella's Blu-ray of Black Robe (1991) possibly still available, or is it OOP?

The Devil's Playground (1976) is out on Blu Ray on 4 Jun.

L.A. wrote:Hopefully I can post this here...

Is Umbrella's Blu-ray of Black Robe (1991) possibly still available, or is it OOP?

As far as I know with their website, Out of Stock = Out of Stock, not Out of Print. But you'd be better off contact them directly if you want a definite answer.

The Devil's Playground (1976) was recently released in Australia on Blu Ray.

Same special features as the DVD. Picture quality is better but not significantly so.

Aunt Peg wrote:The Devil's Playground (1976) was recently released in Australia on Blu Ray.

Same special features as the DVD. Picture quality is better but not significantly so.

Do you know if it has English SDH, the DVD didn't.

The back of the case states: 2.0 English DTS-HD

Has anyone used Artfilms as a supplier? They have both Australian and UK websites here and here respectively, depending on which country you're based in, and whether you wish to pay in pounds or Australian dollars. Their Australian section contains several pretty obscure films on DVD which I don't believe are otherwise commercially available and some I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to see short of a visit to an Australian archive. They aren't cheap, though: starting from £25 for personal use (plus VAT), more than that for school/academic use. They airmail from Australia, which gets round the fact that almost all of these titles have never been BBFC-certificated.

Picked up 'Blood for Dracula' today for AUD $11 - https://www.jbhifionline.com.au/dvd/dvd ... ray/698386" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Haven't watched it yet, but it comes with a commentary, production stills and screen tests. It states that it's 1080i and region B. The bluray case is in a slipcase, like other discs in the Cinema Cult series. I'll report back on how it looks on screen.

I've been searching the web high and low for Oz-ploitation Volume 2 with frankly disappointing results... It's the only one I'm missing from the 4 volumes released so far... Does anyone know where can I get one, even though it seems to be out of stock in every nook and cranny I desperately look in?

If anyone would like to sell an used copy, hey! - be my guest! Just PM me!

The Charles Chauvel Collection was released by Umbrella on 4 November, and my copy arrived yesterday, along with the Blu-ray of Jedda.

The Collection brings together DVDs of all seven of Chauvel's sound features, which had been separately released on DVD in 2014 and 2015 plus an additional disc containing his two silent films, The Moth of Moonbi and Greenhide (both 1926), or rather what remains of them, 31 and 34 minutes respectively. Jedda was also released on Blu-ray, following its recent restoration, and is still available in that format.

I've only glanced at each disc and haven't watched any of the features yet, but reviews will be forthcoming at The Digital Fix, most likely starting in December. So a few comments.

All the DVDs are Region 0 NTSC, and the Jedda Blu-ray is Region ABC.

Aspect ratios are 1.33:1 (obviously correct*). Oddly, the Jedda DVD and the silents' disc are 1.33:1 anamorphically-enhanced while the other discs are non-anamorphic. The transfers are variable at first glance, probably reflecting the state of the original materials. The two silents are presented mute, no music score.

Extras include the 74-minute documentary on Chauvel, The Big Picture, which is included on all the discs. Also included are trailers and stills galleries in some cases. The trailer for Jedda is in black and white, despite the film being the first Australian feature made in colour. The Jedda Blu-ray has two additional extras not on the DVD, both possibly confusingly called "Screen Tests" - mute screen tests for Jedda and the 1937 short film Screen Tests which Chauvel co-directed, filming the Australian scenes.


*Jedda was released in 1955, premiering at Cannes, though there was a print available in the UK in November 1954, as the BBFC passed it (A certificate with cuts) in that month. However, it started production in 1952 so Academy Ratio would be correct.

The exclusive pre-order allocation of Umbrella's Tom Savini/George A Romero Night of the Living Dead dual edition is selling quickly at JB HiFi online.

Anyone who missed the announcement a earlier this month, the master of the 1990 film from Sony differs from the edition put out by Twilight Time. There's brand new & existing extras to look forward to & some marvellous new artwork. The 1990 edition is getting a solo general release should this only be of interest, but the limited edition has got to be the one to snap up.

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/movies-tv-sho ... on/889426/

Hey Stephen, do you have a link to that announcement?