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BFI's Q4 lineup:

The Ballad of Tam Lin (Flipside) (10th October)
Watership Down (4K UHD) (24th October)
The Draughtman's Contract (21st November)
Nil by Mouth (5th December)
Ghost Stories for Christmas - Volume One (5th December)



Newly remastered in 4K by the BFI National Archive
Limited edition 2-disc set
Newly recorded audio commentary by writer and director Gary Oldman and producer Douglas Urbanski
Interviews with the cast and crew
Perfect-bound book featuring new and archive writing on the film, and rare production materials from Gary Oldman’s personal archive
Trailer
Newly created English subtitles for the Deaf and partial hearing
Newly created audio description track
Other extras TBC
**All extras are TBC and subject to change**



Presented in High Definition
Interview with Roddy McDowall (1998, 17 mins)
Interview with Jacqui McShee (2022): newly recorded interview with the lead singer of British folk-jazz band Pentangle
**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet with new writing on the film by William Fowler
Other extras TBC



Defining a Style (2005): short featurette about the film’s aesthetic
A Conversation with the filmmakers (2005)
Storyboard comparison
Super 8 version of the film
Trailer
TV Spots
Newly created optional English subtitles for the Deaf and partial hearing
Newly created audio description track
Double-sided poster featuring the original UK quad and the 2022 re-release artwork
A set of four postcards featuring iconic scenes from the film
Perfect-bound book featuring new writing on the film by Jez Stewart and Catherine Lester
Newly commissioned sleeve art by Andrew Bannister
**All extras are TBC and subject to change**



Newly remastered by the BFI National Archive
Limited edition 2-disc set
The Greenaway Alphabet (2017, 68 mins): an intimate portrait of painter and filmmaker Peter Greenaway, directed by his wife Saskia Boddeke. Together with his daughter Pip, Greenaway formulates an alphabet that represents his personality and thoughts about art and life
H Is for House (1973, 10 mins): experimental short film by Peter Greenaway
Audio commentary by Peter Greenaway
Introduction by Peter Greenaway
Interview with Michael Nyman
Behind-the-scenes footage
Deleted scenes
Trailers
Stills gallery
Newly created audio description track
Other extras TBC



Presented in High Definition (Limited Edition)
Whistle and I’ll Come to You (2010, 52 min): John Hurt stars in this more recent reinterpretation of MR James' chilling tale
Newly recorded commentaries on Whistle and I’ll Come to You (1968) and The Stalls of Barchester by Jon Dear
Lawrence Gordon Clark introductions (2012, 33 mins): introductions to The Stalls of Barchester, A Warning to the Curious and Lost Hearts previously recorded for the BFI’s DVD release
Ramsay Campbell on MR James (2001, 16 mins)
Jonathan Miller and Christopher Frayling discuss Whistle and I’ll Come to You (2012, 3 mins)
Neil Brand reads MR James’ Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Lad (2001, 42 mins, audio only)
Ramsey Campbell reads his own MR James-inspired story The Guide (2001, 27 mins)
Ghost Stories for Christmas with Christopher Lee: The Stalls of Barchester and A Warning to the Curious (2000, 60 mins total)
**LIMITED EDITION ONLY** Illustrated booklet with essays by Reggie Oliver, Jonathan Rigby, Adam Easterbrook and Ramsey Campbell
Newly commissioned sleeve art by Matt Needle
Other extras TBC

That's a legendary line-up, definitely in for Watership Down UHD, Nil by Mouth, and The Draughtsman's Contract and could be persuaded for Ghost Stories.

Either way my wallet is taking a hit!

No new Bergman set(s)? I thought I saw a pre-order page on Amazon.

Thrilled they're upgrading Ghost Stories to Blu-Ray. A Warning to the Curious is a stone-cold masterpiece while I've cooled quite a bit on Whistle and I'll Come To You. I need to revisit Watership Down; been ages since I've seen it.

Been waiting for Draughtsman for over a decade, so pleased its finally happening! Also glad the Ghost Stories for Christmas are finally being upgraded.

I'm excited for all these. Nice to see the inclusion of H is for House on The Daughtman's Contract too. Hopefully that bodes well for a Blu-ray upgrade of the two Early Films of Peter Greenaway sets (or at the very least The Falls [-o< )

Watership Down doesn’t include the Martin Rosen commentary that appeared on earlier R4 and, I think, R2 releases of the film

Disappointed that Draughtsman’s Contract still has no scenes of the material intended for the parallel Hedgecutters project that Greenaway has long claimed would materialize one day. He’s coming to Los Angeles for a series of screenings and lectures in a few weeks, and I hope he discusses it.

"The Greenaway Alphabet" is a wonderful extra; a touching, intimate portrait of the man, who for once comes across surprisingly warm and endearing. Worth the upgrade alone if you haven't seen it 'elsewhere' yet.

andyli wrote: Thu Aug 04, 2022 1:00 pm No new Bergman set(s)? I thought I saw a pre-order page on Amazon.

Yes, Volume 4 is out on 21 November (same date as The Draughtsman's Contract).

The Ballad of Tam-Lin has some dialogue cut from the current releases. Wonder what is the situation now?

A shame they went for Dual Format UHD + BD for Watership Down...if they'd done separate releases like they did for Get Carter and The Proposition, they'd have got an immediate pre-order from me. BFI going the way of Second Sight now?

Anyway, other titles are quite exciting. I'm actually very intrigued by both The Ballad of Tam Lin and Ghost Stories for Christmas, the latter being a BFI DVD I very nearly bought a few times (finally got Schalcken the Painter recently, so tempted to pre-order this now).

Since I'm not going to be pre-ordering Watership Down and will have to get the eventual Blu-ray reissue instead, I'm tempted by Nil By Mouth. Never seen it but its reputation precedes it.

beamish14 wrote: Thu Aug 04, 2022 4:06 pm Watership Down doesn’t include the Martin Rosen commentary that appeared on earlier R4 and, I think, R2 releases of the film

Just the old Australian DVD. The absence of Rosen in the extras might be due to the recent lawsuit in which he was successfully sued by Richard Adams' estate and lost the rights to the film.

EDIT: Scratch that, Ben Stoddart says re: the commentary that "[they're] trying to get that but it’s proving tough to get hold of the guy that owns it"

beamish14 wrote: Thu Aug 04, 2022 4:06 pm Disappointed that Draughtsman’s Contract still has no scenes of the material intended for the parallel Hedgecutters project that Greenaway has long claimed would materialize one day. He’s coming to Los Angeles for a series of screenings and lectures in a few weeks, and I hope he discusses it.

Has Greenaway mentioned this project recently? The only mentions I can find through Google are from around the time of Draughtsman's original release, which makes it sound like another one of the bajillion projects he's talked up at one point or another but never realized for whatever reason (still waiting for the other nine dead composers...).

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote: Thu Aug 04, 2022 6:20 pm

beamish14 wrote: Thu Aug 04, 2022 4:06 pm Disappointed that Draughtsman’s Contract still has no scenes of the material intended for the parallel Hedgecutters project that Greenaway has long claimed would materialize one day. He’s coming to Los Angeles for a series of screenings and lectures in a few weeks, and I hope he discusses it.

Has Greenaway mentioned this project recently? The only mentions I can find through Google are from around the time of Draughtsman's original release, which makes it sound like another one of the bajillion projects he's talked up at one point or another but never realized for whatever reason (still waiting for the other nine dead composers...).

I don’t think he’s talked it up in quite a few years, but the idea of this parallel work that was shot from the enormous amount of footage created for this film has always fascinated me.

Hang on a minute. Didn't the BBFC threaten to upgrade the U certificate to a PG for Watership Down if it ever came up for submission again? Certainly one of the most brutal U certificate films you will see!

Even in the U.S., the weird crawl away from the G rating in the last few years has resulted in the once-striking PG attached to Watership Down now putting it on the same level with, like, Shrek (although there are numerous such cases of PG films pre-1984 seeming like really strong stuff now, this is just the only animated example that springs to mind).

jlnight wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 1:41 pmThis is actually an interesting scenario as I'm pretty sure that the BFI aren't required to re-submit it for home video release but they have done so for theatrical. So can they still release it as U on home video even though it has been re-rated PG for cinema?

They have done!

This is actually an interesting scenario as I'm pretty sure that the BFI aren't required to re-submit it for home video release but they have done so for theatrical. So can they still release it as U on home video even though it has been re-rated PG for cinema?

Calvin wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 4:31 pm This is actually an interesting scenario as I'm pretty sure that the BFI aren't required to re-submit it for home video release but they have done so for theatrical. So can they still release it as U on home video even though it has been re-rated PG for cinema?

They can - see for example Wild Strawberries, which carries a 15 for homeviewing (which dates from 1995) though when it was resubmitted for cinema in 2018 it was given a PG.

(I don't know why the film is a 15, given that it had an A certificate on its original cinema release, but that's by the by. I imagine the BFI didn't think the under-15s market for a film like Wild Strawberries was big enough to justify the cost of resubmitting.)

dustybooks wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 1:48 pm Even in the U.S., the weird crawl away from the G rating in the last few years has resulted in the once-striking PG attached to Watership Down now putting it on the same level with, like, Shrek (although there are numerous such cases of PG films pre-1984 seeming like really strong stuff now, this is just the only animated example that springs to mind).

It is great fun listening to the commentary tracks over those Trailer Trauma compilations and hearing the speakers nostalgically say "this was originally rated PG"! Things like Cops and Robbers (which in the UK was released with a "AA" rating limiting it to fourteen year olds and over)!

Calvin wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 4:31 pmThis is actually an interesting scenario as I'm pretty sure that the BFI aren't required to re-submit it for home video release but they have done so for theatrical. So can they still release it as U on home video even though it has been re-rated PG for cinema?

If the version they're releasing is identical to the version passed with a U certificate, and that U certificate was explicitly for video release, then they don't need to resubmit, and there's a strong case for not doing so given that the fee will amount to hundreds of pounds.

The 2018 PG theatrical certificate would have been a compulsory resubmission as all pre-1982 classifications are officially void, and Watership Down was previously submitted for theatrical classification in 1978, on its original release. (Video classifications are post-1982 by definition, as the BBFC only started formally vetting video releases in 1984, so will always be valid.)

See also eyebrows recently being raised over Creatures the World Forgot sporting an 18 certificate - it's only been submitted for video classification once, in 1986, and got that for sexual violence, albeit fairly mild as these things go. I suspect if it was resubmitted today it might get a 15, but it might equally still get an 18, and I don't imagine Indicator's anticipating too many sales to the under-18s. And they can undoubtedly think of plenty of more worthwhile things to spend the money on.

Er, I think something has gone wrong with the quotes there!

I thought new release/reissue means new submission. In any case, don't guidelines change down the years, which is why titles can get downgraded from 18 to 15 or upgraded from PG to 12, etc?

Thanks for the info though.

jlnight wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 11:11 amI thought new release/reissue means new submission.

Nope - if a film already has a post-1982 certificate for the exact same version (to the frame) that's being reissued, in the same medium in which it was originally submitted (i.e. theatrical or video), resubmission isn't legally necessary.

In any case, don't guidelines change down the years, which is why titles can get downgraded from 18 to 15 or upgraded from PG to 12, etc?

They do, and of course a label is welcome to gamble that it will get a lower classification - but they don't get a refund if the BBFC decides that the same classification applies, which is why boutique labels rarely go down this route.

A case in point: when Indicator tracked down a decent SD master of the longer UK cut of The Legacy, they had to upgrade the entire package to an 18 certificate, as that's what that version received when released on video. Since there's nothing graphic in that cut that isn't also in the US cut, passed more recently as a 15 (the cuts were for length, not for violence), there's very little doubt that had Indicator wanted to lower the overall cert to a 15, they'd have been able to do so... but it would have cost them a resubmission fee, and how many 15-18-year-olds would be that interested? (In the event, it sold out startlingly quickly, suggesting that the answer was "very very few.")

The other risk is that the film might even get a more restrictive classification - the BBFC has liberalised in many respects, but not in others; they're tougher on instructional depictions of drug-taking and explicitly misogynist abuse. For instance, a single utterance of the word "cunt" would always garner a 15 certificate minimum, but the BBFC now distinguishes between non-gendered and gendered forms - Withnail & I's immortal "Monty, you terrible cunt!" remains a 15, whereas if the target is a woman and the context is an unambiguously misogynist one, an 18 is more likely, whereas it might have got a 15 before. Nil By Mouth might well have got an 18 exclusively for its distressingly graphic domestic violence scene, but the language guaranteed one.

Calvin wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 4:31 pm
They have done!

This is actually an interesting scenario as I'm pretty sure that the BFI aren't required to re-submit it for home video release but they have done so for theatrical. So can they still release it as U on home video even though it has been re-rated PG for cinema?

It appears that the BFI have resubmitted Watership Down for home viewing and, just like the cinema reissue, have been given a PG certificate, at least according to the BBFC site. Maybe the BFI had to resubmit it. Maybe it was a format thing (blu-ray/UHD rather than the old DVD).

Watership Down delayed until February 2023.