criterionforum.org

Many thanks for the information. Ordered.

£109.99 at Amazon.uk now.

Which means, after shipping and removal of the VAT, about £95 or around $140 or so.

Its a damn steal.

Is there a list yet of exactly what is on the blu ray vs. the dvd? I'm doubting I'll be able to get my TV to play the blu ray. I'm curious what I'll miss.

The 23 surviving BBC pieces (listed earlier in this thread) are duplicated on both the BD and DVD editions.

A supplementary DVD with the seven Associated-Rediffusion Half-Hour Stories is exclusive to the Blu-ray edition.

MichaelB wrote:The 23 surviving BBC pieces (listed earlier in this thread) are duplicated on both the BD and DVD editions.

A supplementary DVD with the seven Associated-Rediffusion Half-Hour Stories is exclusive to the Blu-ray edition.

Latest is: the supplementary DVD in the Blu-ray set will have 6x HHS episodes. GEORGE'S ROOM has been promoted to BD. Also, GEORGE'S ROOM is being included in the VOL1: DISSENT DVD set. Yip yip!

Presumably because it's the only colour episode?

Mostly because it's the only one with extant materials that would really benefit from an HD scan. I've seen a lo-res proxy of the HD scan and it looks gorgeous, really looking forward to seeing the final encode.

I've been cleared to reveal that – thanks to a new interview with Geraldine Moffatt (it's two 't's) – it appears TWO versions of GEORGE'S ROOM were shot. One b&w and one with a new colour camera. The b&w version is the one that was broadcast, and no longer exists in any form (apparently it was wiped shortly after broadcast). The colour version was made either as a test or for some kind of international festival, to showcase Rediffusion's work. It appears to be a quirk of fate that the colour version still exists (the last half of which was only found at the end of last year). There's more ace detail about this in the boxset, so I won't spoil it!

One wonders whether, because there were two versions, the b&w was junked in the belief that it was an inferior dupe of the colour version...

It's pretty certain though that all the Clarke HHS episodes were shot b&w, and this 'two version / colour' anomaly with GEORGE'S ROOM was a one-off. So this colour version has, apparently, never been transmitted or screened publicly!

How fascinating. Of course, in the early days of TV (although more the 1940s/50s than the 60s) doing things twice over wasn't considered at all unusual - a repeat was, more often than not, a literal repeat performance, with the actors going through the motions a second time.

If I remember rightly, the colour version was indeed made specifically for a festival showcase, although until just now I wasn't aware that there was a previous black-and-white version.

In anticipation of this release, I recently purchased the "Tales Out of School" blu and was knocked out by Clarke's "Made in Britain" episode. The long takes brought a real immediacy and tension to it. Is this a hallmark of Clarke? (I know "Elephant" is celebrated for it.)

If anyone has cold feet about this purchase (the BBC box set, that is), if "Made in Britain" is anything to go by ... don't hesitate. Also can't wait to view the rest of the TOoS episodes.

Finally, is there much ... anything ... of this sort of TV drama being made in Britain these days? There's certainly social tension and the Tories' pressure on the fundamentals of a welfare state to feed it.

bdsweeney wrote:In anticipation of this release, I recently purchased the "Tales Out of School" blu and was knocked out by Clarke's "Made in Britain" episode. The long takes brought a real immediacy and tension to it. Is this a hallmark of Clarke? (I know "Elephant" is celebrated for it.)

In a word, yes - not all of Clarke's work is like that, of course (if nothing else, the BFI box will firmly re-establish his astonishing range), but you're very unlikely to be disappointed. Even before he discovered the Steadicam in the early 1980s he was a master at ratcheting up tension in confined spaces, something that dates back to the very first Half-Hour Stories.

Does anyone know whether the extra features are going to be the same on the DVD and BluRay sets or whether some are BluRay exclusives?

In answer to whether anything similar to Alan Clarke's work is made for British TV these days, I think the answer is probably not. Social commentary on TV tends to be hidden in genre programmes while social realism has pretty much migrated to cinema, where it is alive and well (e.g. Clio Barnard, Andrea Arnold), although of course with fewer viewers.

I believe the only exclusive to the Blu-ray box is the bonus DVD with six of the Half-Hour Stories.

And I pretty much agree with your second paragraph - there's been a massive shift in how one-off TV films (they haven't been "plays" for decades) are commissioned and shown, and it's very hard to see how a latterday Clarke would even get his foot in the door today. But he certainly casts a long shadow over post-1990 British cinema (all three former Clarke actors-turned-directors cheerfully acknowledged his influence on i.d, Nil By Mouth and The War Zone), and I completely agree with you about Arnold and Barnard - and the latter quoted from Clarke directly in her feature debut The Arbor.

Yup, as far as I can see (the discs are being put together at the moment) it's looking like ALL of the on-disc extras from the Blu-rays will be carried over to the corresponding DVD sets. The only differences being the Blu-ray set comes with a DVD with six Half Hour Stories, and a 200-page book, as opposed to the DVD sets' 100-page books. The Blu book will additionally feature new writing about the six HHS plays that are not contained in either DVD set (only GEORGE'S ROOM will make it to the VOL 1: DISSENT DVD box).

It's 8 years this year since the BFI, Criterion, MoC, etc starting issuing Blu-rays. Now's the time to swap out your old DVD player for a Blu-ray player and get the Clarkey Blu set!

BBC Radio 3's Alan Clarke tribute is now available online - it starts at 17:15.

(Does that link work outside the UK?)

MichaelB wrote:BBC Radio 3's Alan Clarke tribute is now available online - it starts at 17:15.

(Does that link work outside the UK?)

OK in France

I think BBC radio links work anywhere - it's just TV that's UK-localised.

There can't be any rights complications with this stuff: it's just talking heads plus a few audio clips from things that the BBC owns outright (and even if they didn't, they might well qualify under "fair dealing", since they're clearly included solely for the purpose of instruction or review).

Live commentary sports events are also blocked You can follow the pundits and build -up OK but literally as soon as the ball is kicked it goes black and a droning voice tells you to go back to the mother country if you want to hear the Manchester derby.

Updated specs for the Blu box at Amazon:

DISSENT & DISRUPTION: ALAN CLARKE AT THE BBC (1969 -1989)

This long-overdue collection finally brings together all twenty-three of the surviving stand-alone BBC TV dramas that Alan Clarke directed between 1969 and 1989, including such neglected classics as To Encourage the Others, Horace, Penda's Fen, Diane, Contact, Christine and Elephant, and also includes the first ever presentation of Clarkes original Director's Cut of The Firm, assembled from his personal answer print, discovered in 2015.

Films
The Last Train through Harecastle Tunnel (1969)
Sovereign's Company (1970)
The Hallelujah Handshake (1970)
To Encourage the Others (1972)
Under the Age (1972)
Horace (1972)
The Love Girl and the Innocent (1973)
Penda's Fen (1974)
A Follower for Emily (1974)
Diane (1975)
Funny Farm (1975)
Scum (1977)
Nina (1978)
Danton's Death (1978)
Beloved Enemy (1981)
Psy-Warriors (1981)
Baal (1982)
Stars of the Roller State Disco (1984)
Contact (1985)
Christine (1987)
Road (1987)
The Firm: Director's Cut (1989, previously unreleased)
The Firm: Broadcast Version (1989)
Elephant (1989)
Bonus Disc (DVD only)
Shelter(1967) | The Gentleman Caller | Goodnight Albert (1968) | Stella (1968) | The Fifty-Seventh Saturday (1968) | Thief (1968, previously considered lost)

Special features:
George's Room (Rediffusion, 1967)
Alan Clarke at The Questor's Theatre (stills gallery)
Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light (Andy Kelleher, 2016, c.5 hours): new multi-part documentary
David Leland introduces To Encourage the Others (1991)
Diane audio commentary with Janine Duvitski and Richard Kelly (2016)
David Leland introduces Scum (1991)
Tonight: Scum discussion (1978, 11 mins)
Arena:'When is a play not a play?'(1978, 46 mins)
Scum audio commentary with David Threlfall, Margaret Matheson and Phil Daniels
Bukovsky (Alan Clarke, 1977, 50 mins)
Bukovsky Outtakes (1977, 50 mins)
Bukovsky audio commentary with Jehane Markham, Grenville Middleton and Sam Dunn
David Markham interviewed by Alan Clarke (audio-only, 20 mins)
Alan Clarke's letters to the Markhams (stills gallery, with readings by Jehane Markham)
David Leland introduces Contact (1991)
Contact audio commentary with Sean Chapman and Allan Bairstow (2016)
AFN Clarke on Contact (2016): writer of Contact discusses the making of the powerful television drama adaptation
David Leland introduces Road (1991)
Road audio commentary with Corin Campbell Hill and Stuart Walker (2016)
Open Air: Road discussion (1987, 26 mins)
The Firm: Director's Cut audio commentary with Gary Oldman
David Leland introduces The Firm
The Firm: Broadcast Version audio commentary with Lesley Manville, Phil Davis, David Rolinson and Dick Fiddy
Alan Clarke interview (1989): the director interviewed in LA
Elephant audio commentary with Danny Boyle
Open Air: Elephant discussion (1989, 21 mins)
200 - page book

Astounding! It looks like there's well over a day of special features alone!

peerpee wrote:Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light (Andy Kelleher, 2016, c.5 hours): new multi-part documentary

Wait, what's this I preordered?

zedz wrote:Astounding! It looks like there's well over a day of special features alone!

And those aren't even the final specs! They're adding new stuff right down to final signing-off deadline - I'm aware of at least three hefty new additions that were shot/recorded in the last few days.

swo17 wrote:Wait, what's this I preordered?

It's a terrific play/film about coming of age. That creature is a church gargoyle come to life in a dream sequence. It sits on the boy's chest and is based on a painting about sleep paralysis.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightmare" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;