THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS – Blu-ray
One of the most influential political films in history, The Battle of Algiers, by Gillo Pontecorvo (Kapò), vividly re-creates a key year in the tumultuous Algerian struggle for independence from the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, children shoot soldiers at point-blank range, women plant bombs in cafés, and French soldiers resort to torture to break the will of the insurgents. Shot on the streets of Algiers in documentary style, the film is a case study in modern warfare, with its terrorist attacks and the brutal techniques used to combat them. Pontecorvo’s tour de force has astonishing relevance today.
1965 • 121 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • In French and Arabic with English subtitles • 1.85:1 aspect ratio
TWO-DISC BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• High-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Marcello Gatti, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Gillo Pontecorvo: The Dictatorship of Truth, a documentary narrated by literary critic Edward Said
• Marxist Poetry: The Making of “The Battle of Algiers,” a documentary featuring interviews with Pontecorvo, Gatti, composer Ennio Morricone, and others
• Interviews with Spike Lee, Mira Nair, Julian Schnabel, Steven Soderbergh, and Oliver Stone on the film’s influence, style, and importance
• Remembering History, a documentary reconstructing the Algerian experience of the battle for independence
• “États d’armes,” a documentary excerpt featuring senior French military officers recalling the use of torture and execution to combat the Algerian rebellion
• “The Battle of Algiers”: A Case Study, a video piece featuring U.S. counterterrorism experts
• Gillo Pontecorvo’s Return to Algiers, a documentary in which the filmmaker revisits the country after three decades of independence
• Production gallery
• Theatrical and rerelease trailers
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Peter Matthews, excerpts from Algeria’s National Liberation Front leader Saadi Yacef’s original account of his arrest, excerpts from the film’s screenplay, a reprinted interview with cowriter Franco Solinas, and biographical sketches of key figures in the French-Algerian War
TITLE: The Battle of Algiers (2-DISC BLU-RAY EDITION)
SRP: $49.95
STREET: 8/9/11
IF…
If…., directed by Lindsay Anderson (This Sporting Life), is a daringly chaotic vision of British society, set in a boarding school in late-sixties England. Before Kubrick made his mischief iconic in A Clockwork Orange, Malcolm McDowell made a hell of an impression as the insouciant Mick Travis, who, along with his school chums, trumps authority at every turn, finally emerging as a violent savior against the vicious games of one-upmanship played by both students and masters. Mixing color and black and white as audaciously as it mixes fantasy and reality, If…. remains one of cinema’s most unforgettable rebel yells.
1969 • 112 minutes • Color/Black & White • Monaural • 1.66:1 aspect ratio
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• Restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček and assistant editor Ian Rakoff, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary featuring film critic and historian David Robinson and actor Malcolm McDowell
• Episode of the Scottish TV series Cast and Crew from 2003, featuring interviews with McDowell, Ondříček, Rakoff, director’s assistant Stephen Frears, producer Michael Medwin, and screenwriter David Sherwin
• Video interview with actor Graham Crowden
• Thursday’s Children (1954), an Academy Award–winning documentary about a school for deaf children, by director Lindsay Anderson and Guy Brenton and narrated by actor Richard Burton
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic David Ehrenstein as well as reprinted pieces by Sherwin and Anderson
TITLE: If…. (BLU-RAY EDITION)
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 8/30/11
CUL-DE-SAC – Blu-ray & DVD
Roman Polanski (Repulsion) orchestrates a mental ménage à trois in this slyly absurd tale of paranoia from the director’s golden 1960s period. Donald Pleasance (Halloween) and Françoise Dorléac (The Soft Skin) star as a withdrawn couple whose isolated house is infiltrated by a rude, burly American gangster on the run, played by Lionel Stander (Unfaithfully Yours). The three engage in a game of shifting identities and sexual and emotional humiliations. Cul-de-sac is an evocative, claustrophobic, and morbidly funny tale of the modern world in chaos.
1966 • 112 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • 1.66:1 aspect ratio
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New digital restoration, approved by director Roman Polanski, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Two Gangsters and an Island, a 2003 short documentary about the making of Cul-de-sac, featuring interviews with Polanski, producer Gene Gutowski, and cinematographer Gil Taylor
• Interview with Polanski from 1967
• Theatrical trailers
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic David Thompson
TITLE: Cul-de-sac (BLU-RAY EDITION)
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 8/16/11
TITLE: Cul-de-sac (DVD EDITION)
SRP: $29.95
STREET: 8/16/11
ORPHEUS – Blu-ray & DVD
This 1950 update of the Orphic myth by Jean Cocteau (Beauty and the Beast) depicts a famous poet (Jean Marais) scorned by the Left Bank youth, and his love for both his wife Eurydice (Marie Déa) and a mysterious princess (Maria Casarès). Seeking inspiration, the poet follows the princess from the world of the living to the land of the dead through Cocteau’s famous mirrored portal. Orpheus represents the legendary Cocteau at the height of his abilities for peerless visual poetry and dreamlike storytelling.
1950 • 95 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • In French with English subtitles • 1.33:1 aspect ratio
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary by French film scholar James Williams
• Jean Cocteau: Autobiography of an Unknown, a 1984 feature-length documentary
• Video piece from 2008 featuring assistant director Claude Pinoteau on the special effects in the film
• 40 Minutes with Jean Cocteau, an interview with the director from 1957
• In Search of Jazz, a 1956 interview with Cocteau on the use of jazz in the film
• La villa Santo-Sospir, a 16 mm color Cocteau film from 1951
• Gallery of images by French film portrait photographer Roger Corbeau
• Raw newsreel footage of the Saint-Cyr military academy ruins, a location used in the film
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by author Mark Polizzotti, selected Cocteau writings on the film, and an essay on La villa Santo-Sospir by Williams
TITLE: Orpheus (BLU-RAY EDITION)
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 8/30/11
TITLE: Orpheus (2-DVD EDITION)
SRP: $29.95
STREET: 8/30/11
THE KILLING – Blu-ray & DVD
Stanley Kubrick’s account of an ambitious racetrack robbery is one of Hollywood’s tautest, twistiest noirs. Aided by a radically time-shuffling narrative, razor-sharp dialogue from pulp novelist Jim Thompson, and a phenomenal cast of character actors, including Sterling Hayden (Dr. Strangelove), Coleen Gray (Red River), Timothy Carey (Paths of Glory), and Elisha Cook Jr. (The Maltese Falcon), The Killing is both a jaunty thriller and a cold-blooded punch to the gut. And with its precise tracking shots and gratifying sense of irony, it’s Kubrick to the core.
1956 • 85 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • 1.66:1 aspect ratio
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• New video interview with producer James B. Harris
• Excerpts of interviews with actor Sterling Hayden from the French television series Cinéma cinémas
• New video interview with film scholar Robert Polito about writer Jim Thompson and his work on The Killing
• Restored transfer of Stanley Kubrick’s 1955 noir feature Killer’s Kiss
• New video appreciation of Killer’s Kiss with film critic Geoffrey O’Brien
• Theatrical trailers
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film historian Haden Guest and a reprinted interview with Marie Windsor on The Killing
TITLE: The Killing (BLU-RAY EDITION)
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 8/16/11
TITLE: The Killing (2-DVD EDITION)
SRP: $29.95
STREET: 8/16/11
SECRET SUNSHINE – Blu-ray & DVD
A master of intensely emotional human dramas, director Lee Chang-dong (Poetry) is a leading light of contemporary Korean cinema, and his place on the international stage was cemented by this stirring and unpredictable work examining grief and deliverance. An effortless mix of light and uncompromising darkness, Secret Sunshine (Miryang) stars Cannes best actress winner Jeon Do-yeon (The Housemaid) as a widowed piano teacher who moves with her young son from Seoul to her late husband’s provincial hometown for a fresh start. Quietly expressive, supple filmmaking and sublime, subtle performances distinguish this remarkable portrayal of the search for grace amid tragedy.
2007 • 142 minutes • Color • 5.1 surround • In Korean with English subtitles • 2.35:1 aspect ratio
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Lee Chang-dong and cinematographer Cho Yong-kyu, with DTS-HD Master Audio on the
Blu-ray edition
• New interview with Lee
• On the Set of “Secret Sunshine,” a video piece featuring interviews with actors Jeon Do-yeon and Song Kang-ho, as well as behind-the-scenes footage
• U.S. theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Dennis Lim
TITLE: Secret Sunshine (BLU-RAY EDITION)
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 8/23/11
TITLE: Secret Sunshine (DVD EDITION)
SRP: $29.95
STREET: 8/23/11
THE COMPLETE JEAN VIGO – Blu-ray & DVD
Even among cinema’s greatest legends, Jean Vigo stands alone. The son of a notorious anarchist, Vigo had a brief but brilliant career making poetic, lightly surrealist films before his life was cut tragically short by tuberculosis at age twenty-nine. Like the daring early works of his contemporaries Jean Cocteau and Luis Buñuel, Vigo’s films refused to play by the rules. This set includes all of Vigo’s titles: À propos de Nice, an absurdist, rhythmic slice of life from the bustling coastal city of the title; Taris, an inventive short portrait of a swimming champion; Zéro de conduite, a radical, delightful tale of boarding-school rebellion that has influenced countless filmmakers; and, of course, L’Atalante, widely regarded as one of cinema’s finest achievements, about newlyweds beginning their life together on a canal barge. These are the endlessly witty, visually adventurous works of a pivotal film artist.
À propos de Nice • 1930 • 23 min • B&W • Silent • 1.33:1
Taris • 1931 • 9 min • B&W • Mono • In French with English subtitles • 1.19:1
Zéro de conduite • 1933 • 44 min • B&W • Mono • In French with English subtitles
L’Atalante • 1934 • 85 min • B&W • Mono • In French with English subtitles • 1.33:1
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New high-definition digital restorations of all of Jean Vigo’s films: À propos de Nice, Taris, Zéro de conduite, and L’Atalante, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentaries featuring Michael Temple, author of Jean Vigo
• Alternate shots from À propos de Nice, featuring footage Vigo cut from the film
• Animated tribute to Vigo by filmmaker Michel Gondry
• Ninety-minute 1964 episode of the French television series Cinéastes de notre temps on Vigo, directed by Jacques Rozier
• Conversation from 1968 between filmmakers François Truffaut and Eric Rohmer on L’Atalante
• Les voyages de “L’Atalante,” Bernard Eisenschitz’s 2001 documentary tracking the history of the film
• Video interview from 2007 with director Otar Iosseliani on Vigo
• New and improved English subtitle translations
• PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by film writers Michael Almereyda, Robert Polito, B. Kite, and Luc Sante
TITLE: The Complete Jean Vigo (BLU-RAY EDITION)
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 8/30/11
TITLE: The Complete Jean Vigo (2-DVD EDITION)
SRP: $29.95
STREET: 8/30/11
ECLIPSE SERIES 28: THE WARPED WORLD OF KOREYOSHI KURAHARA
Over the course of his varied career, Koreyoshi Kurahara made exacting noirs, jazzy juvenile delinquency pictures, and even nature films. His free-form approach to moviemaking was perfectly suited to the spirit of the 1960s; he was one of the biggest hit makers working at the razzle-dazzle, youth-oriented Nikkatsu studio during the radical Japanese New Wave. The five films collected here hail from that era, and encompass breathless teen escapades, cruel crime stories, a Mishima adaptation, and even a Hollywood-inspired romantic comedy.
FIVE-DVD BOX SET INCLUDES:
Intimidation
Koreyoshi Kurahara’s ingeniously plotted, pocket-sized noir concerns the intertwining fates of a desperate bank manager, blackmailed for book-cooking, and his resentful but timid underling, passed over for a promotion. Elegantly stripped-down and carefully paced, Intimidation (Aru kyouhaku) is a moody early film from one of the Japanese New Wave’s preeminent stylists.
1960 · 67 minutes · Black & White · Monaural · In Japanese with English subtitles · 2.20:1 aspect ratio
The Warped Ones
A juvenile delinquent gets out of the pen and immediately embarks on a rampage of misdirected anger, most of it unleashed on an unsuspecting young woman. Shot through with the same kind of bebop bravado that Godard was experimenting with half a world away, the anarchic descent into amoral madness that is The Warped Ones (Kyonetsu no kisetsu) sounded a lost generation’s cry for help and kicked off Japan’s cinematic sixties with a bang.
1960 · 75 minutes · Black & White · Monaural · In Japanese with English subtitles · 2.35:1 aspect ratio
I Hate But Love
Inspired by Preston Sturges’s Sullivan’s Travels, I Hate But Love (Nikui anchikusho) is a high-octane romantic comedy and road movie that follows a celebrity dissatisfied with his personal and professional life who impulsively leaves Tokyo to deliver a much-needed Jeep to a remote village. When his controlling girlfriend (also his career manager) follows, the two must reconcile while dodging reporters.
1962 · 105 minutes · Color · Monaural · In Japanese with English subtitles · 2.35:1 aspect ratio
Black Sun
You’ve probably never seen anything quite like this manic, oddball, anti–buddy picture about a young, jazz-obsessed Japanese drifter and a black American GI on the lam in Tokyo. The two outsiders become outlaws, and Kurahara depicts their growing bond as an increasingly absurd culture clash. Black Sun (Kuroi taiyo) features original music by American jazz drummer Max Roach.
1964 · 95 minutes · Black & White · Monaural · In Japanese with English subtitles · 2.25:1 aspect ratio
Thirst for Love
Kurahara adapted a novel by Yukio Mishima for Thirst for Love (Ai no kawaki), a tense psychological drama about a young woman who is widowed after marrying into a wealthy family, and becomes sexually involved with her father-in-law while harboring a destructive obsession with the family gardener. Kurahara’s atmospheric style is a perfect match for Mishima’s brooding sensuality.
1967 · 104 minutes · Black & White · Monaural · In Japanese with English subtitles · 2.45:1 aspect ratio
TITLE: Eclipse Series 28: The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara
SRP: $69.95
STREET: 8/23/11
