For a brief - well, very brief - period, I wrote a regular column for Close-Up Film, rounding up all the latest DVD releases that may be of interest to the reader. I was guilty of mostly covering the ones that interested me.
Welcome to the first of Close-Up Film’s DVD round-ups in which we’ll be alerting you to the latest juicy items becoming available on DVD over the coming months. We’ll be concentrating on Region 2 discs, but we know that many of our readers buy films from abroad that are not available here and so we’ll also be cherry-picking our favourite items from the Region 1 and Region 4 markets.
Here is our selection of the best releases coming up over the next couple of months.
The Last King of Scotland (Rel: 15th May, 19.99, 123 mins, making-of doc, commentary, deleted scenes)/ General Idi Amin Dada (Autoportrait) (Rel: 14th May, 15.99, 90 mins, 28-page booklet)
Early 2007 has proved a rich period for offbeat and challenging political films. None more so than Kevin Macdonald’s Last King of Scotland which earned Forest Whitaker an Oscar for his portrayal of the charismatic, if unstable and downright dangerous, Ugandan leader Idi Amin. The film views him through the eyes of his Scottish doctor (James McAvoy), but for a more direct portrait, readers might like to check out the documentary General Idi Amin Dada (Autoportrait) released by the excellent Masters of Cinema (MOC) label. Apparently made with the support of the man himself, it reveals the full extent of his egomania. Helmed by acclaimed director Barbet Schroeder, it also features footage of another colourful character, Fidel Castro.
Black Book (Rel: 30th April, 19.99, 145 mins, making-of doc)
Paul Verhoeven’s return to filmmaking in his native Holland has been both a critical and commercial success – if a little controversial. Black Book is something of a slap in the face for more sobre examinations of WWII (Schindler’s List?), Verhoeven shaping its story of compromise and betrayal in the form of a racy, erotic pot-boiler.
The director’s pre-Hollywood work is now widely available on DVD – check out particularly Soldier of Orange (rel: 30th April, 12.99, 147 mins) which also deals with the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands and the appalling decisions it forced on the country’s citizens.
Babel (Rel: 21st May, 22.99, 143 mins, 2 disc set: 90-min making-of video diary by director)
By contrast, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Oscar-nominated kaleidoscope of modern life across three continents feels trite and contrived, a two-and-a-half hour soap opera tarted up as meaningful social comment. One comes away with the feeling that any three stories could have been jammed together in the hope that the audience would come up with connections between them, in each case connoting the bleedin’ obvious. Still, it stars Brad Pitt, and Cate Blanchett moans melodramatically throughout.
Different kinds of politics, different kinds of realism. Paul Andrew Williams’ London To Brighton comes from the rough-and-ready, shouting-and-swearing school of British social realism with its story of two girls on the run from a vicious pimp. At first glance, Rafi Pitts’ Iranian film It’s Winter couldn’t seem more different. But its tale of a couple finding love amongst the harsh economic strife and unemployment in Tehran has far more in common with Ken Loach than it does with the work of Pitt’s more metaphysical compatriots, Makhmalbaf and Kiarostami. Neither film is inspired, but at least they tackle environments and lives that other filmmakers wouldn’t dare go near.
Into Great Silence (Rel: 28th May, 22.99, 164 mins, 2 disc set: Making-of doc, 3 hours (!) of additional scenes, stills, sounds, and documents galleries)
Talking of environments, there can be none more alien to that of the modern world than the Carthusian monastery captured in Philip Groning’s documentary. Made over a period of many years (the director first asked to film there way back in 1984), the film offers a stunning, meditative portrait of a spiritual life seemingly at odds with every principle of the consumerist society around it. As is the film at odds with every criteria for modern entertainment – it’s slow, unforced, and almost silent (in terms of speech). A challenge at the cinema, perhaps, but perfect for DVD where it can be dipped into at one’s leisure.
Funny Ha Ha (Rel: Already available, 15.99, 85 mins, portrait gallery)
Andrew Bujalski is the new name in American independent cinema. This film, and its follow-up Mutual Appreciation, have been winning plaudits across the Pond for some time now. Shooting on an ultra-low budget, Bujalski crafts naturalistic, affectionate portraits of young New Yorkers, the accent being on conversation and relationships (what else?). Some acclaim him as a new Woody Allen, others as a young Cassavetes. And if that’s not an indication of how much a young filmmaker can upend his critics, I don’t know what is.
Le Quai des Brumes (Rel: 30th April, 17.99, 87 mins)/Le Jour Se Leve (Rel: 30th April, 17.99, 86 mins)/Quai des Orfevres (Rel: 30h April, 17.99, 102 mins)
The world of classic French cinema has – with the notable exceptions of Renoir and Vigo – been somewhat eclipsed in the annals of film history by the monumental impact of the Nouvelle Vague. So here’s a chance to catch up on some favourite titles from the old guard. Director Marcel Carne and scriptwriter Jacques Prevert were a winning team, both critically and commercially, in the pre-war years and their most popular titles, both starring Jean Gabin, are released this month. In Le Quai des Brumes (1938), Gabin is a fugitive deserter out to protect his girl, and in the following year’s Le Jour Se Leve, he plays another sympathetic character on the wrong side of the law, holed up in an attic reflecting on the mess that brought him into conflict with the police.
Flash-forward to 1947 and the work of a much more cynical, blackly-comic director, Henri-Georges Clouzot, and his account of the murder of a young singer. Not as well-known as his two triumphs of the 1950s, Les Diaboliques and The Wages of Fear, or his biting critique of Vichy France, Le Corbeau (all available on DVD), Quai des Orfevres is nevertheless notable for the intelligence of its scriptwriting and deceptively warm performances.
Jean Cocteau Collection (Rel: 30th April, 19.99, contains The Blood of a Poet and The Testament of Orpheus, 2 disc set: making-of doc and commentary for Blood of a Poet, trailers)
Another major figure of the pre-Nouvelle Vague days, Jean Cocteau, is a different story entirely. A genuinely unique artist, he didn’t fit comfortably into either the poetic realist school or the “cinema du qualité”. Instead, his films are rapturous, lyrical expressions of the artistic soul, dizzy with their own quicksilver imagery, as men fall through liquid mirrors and radios crackle with voices of the dead. This collection brings together the first and last of his Orphic trilogy (the package feels curiously handicapped without the second and most famous of the films, Orphée, already released by the BFI). The first, The Blood of a Poet (1930), is a mesmerising short that is clearly influenced by the Surrealists, but the last is a rather precious and mannered reflection on Cocteau’s own inner landscape, notable, however, for its bizarre cast of cameo players – all friends of Cocteau - including Charles Aznavour, Pablo Picasso and – gulp! – Yul Brynner. His finest film remains La Belle et la Bête, his version of the Beauty and the Beast story, also available on the BFI label.
Pier Paolo Pasolini (Volume 2) (Rel: 14th May, 39.99, contains Hawks and Sparrows, Oedipus Rex, and Pigsty, 3 disc set: comes with Pasolini’s novel Ragazzo)
Another major European director getting the collection treatment is Pier Paolo Pasolini. This second collection (the first, already available, includes his first film Accatone, the portmanteau film Rogopag, made with Godard, Rossellini and Gregoretti, and documentary Love Meetings) shows that Pasolini has never been given his due as a highly influential filmmaker. He seamlessly combines politically subversive material with a radically innovative approach to form that cross-pollinates Neo-Realism and a more Primitive, hieratic approach to imagery and narrative. Look out also for the BFI’s excellent series of Pasolini DVDs bringing together his last four controversial films, the “Trilogy of Life” – The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales, The Arabian Nights – and his dark revision of De Sade, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. Tartan have also released his beautiful life of Christ film, The Gospel According To St Matthew.
1900 (Rel: 30th April, 15.99, 326 mins, 2 disc set: making-of doc, anamorphic widescreen)
Pasolini’s contemporary, Bernard Bertolucci, sees his 1976 epic released this month, all 326 minutes of it, for the measly sum of 15.99. Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? A 2 disc set with “anamorphic widescreen”? Hmm, purists beware. But if it’s true, then revel in the days when filmmakers had ambition, when De Niro was still young, and when cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and composer Ennio Morricone would be working on the same film.
Fritz Lang Box Set (Rel: 23rd April, 49.99, contains Dr Mabuse, Metropolis, Spione, M, The Testament of Dr Mabuse, 8 disc set)/Classics of German Cinema Box Set (Rel: 21st May, 44.99, contains The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, The Golem, Asphalt, The Blue Angel and Munchhausen, 6 disc set)/Diary of a Lost Girl (Rel: 21st May, 15.99, 106 mins, progressive transfer, restored print, new score, booklet and photographs)
Lovers of silent and early sound German cinema are in for a treat this month with a veritable treasure chest of releases. The films collected together in the Fritz Lang and Classics of German Cinema box sets have all previously been released, but if you’ve not indulged before now, they represent a terrific bargain and many of the discs feature excellent print quality. Metropolis, Spione and M rank amongst Lang’s finest work, the latter being a contender for one of the best films ever made anywhere, in my view. The five films in the other set represent a potted history of the medium in Germany, with Caligari and The Blue Angel being especially significant.
The Diary of a Lost Girl is the “other” Louise Brooks film made by Pabst (its predecessor being the monumental Pandora’s Box, of course). It gets the full Masters of Cinema treatment here with a new progressive transfer of a cleaned-up print. That means Louise Brooks will look as lovely as ever in sparkling black and white. Reason enough to buy, surely?
Also released:
The White Sheik (Rel: 30th April, 17.99, 85 mins, remastered print)
Fellini’s first film.
Fitzcarraldo/Burden of Dreams (Rel: 21st May, 19.99, 152 mins, 2 disc set: Werner Herzog commentary, stills gallery)
Herzog’s grand folly brought together with Les Blank’s legendary making-of documentary for the first time.
The Jodorowsky Collection (Rel: 14th May, 59.99, contains El Topo, The Holy Mountain, Fando and Lis, 6 disc set: 90-min doc, The Constellation Jodorowsky, CD soundtracks of El Topo and The Holy Mountain)
Following the hugely successful retrospective of his work at BFI Southbank, New Age mentor extraordinaire Jodorowsky sees his major films released on DVD this month. Whether they rank as visionary masterpieces or narcissistic acid trips is a point of contention, but there’s no debate about the thought put into this collection with both a feature documentary and two bonus CDs being added into the mix.
Seven Men From Now (Rel: 14th May, 9.99, 78 mins)/Track of the Cat (Rel: 14th May, 9.99, 98 mins)
Western fans will be delighted with the dual release of two rarities from the 1950s this month. Both are bare-bones releases but very cheap. Seven Men From Now (1956) is the first in the wonderful series of collaborations between director Budd Boetticher and veteran star Randolph Scott, where the villains are as sympathetic as the hero and the duel to the death becomes a “floating poker game” of wit versus moral codes. The film was recently restored so the DVD quality should be excellent.
Track of the Cat (1954) is a genuine curiosity. Starring Robert Mitchum and directed by William Wellman, it tells the story of a pioneer family caught in a remote, snow-bound farmstead apparently threatened by a rogue cougar. The storyline is original enough, but it soon becomes obvious that it’s in the service of a rather portentous allegory, played out like an earnest and rather stagey psychological thriller in the style of ‘50s TV drama. Still, no less a figure than Jonathan Rosenbaum selected it as one of his 100 favourite films and, hopefully, it will be presented in its original Scope ratio.
Forbidden Planet Special Edition (Rel: 18th June, 16.99, 94 mins, 2 disc set – extras to be announced)/Things To Come Special Edition (Rel: 7th May, 19.99, 113 mins, 2 disc set: most complete version available, use of stills to replace lost footage, 1975 interview with Ralph Richardson, booklet)
These are good time, too, for sci-fi fans, with two seminal titles being given the Special Edition treatment. It was the 50th anniversary of Forbidden Planet last year and Warners released two tie-in editions – the Special Edition, which has a new Scope transfer and featurettes – and an Ultimate Collector’s Edition, only available in the US, with a Robbie the Robot action figure thrown in for good measure. It’s the grandaddy of all sci-fi B-movies, the only one to actually deliver on the visual promise of its gorgeous poster, and its long-delayed release on these shores is cause for celebration.
Things To Come (1936) is a different matter – an incredibly stilted and rather portentous projection of humanity’s future, it proves that HG Wells was no screenwriter. The film has dated badly, not least because its prophecies of machine-made paradise have been undermined by the present-day’s environmental nightmares. But Wells’ intuition of a second world war was sound enough and the enormous sets still have the ability to inspire awe in the viewer. Furthermore, this new DVD represents the most complete version of this much-butchered movie to be seen in quite some time.
Bad Boy Bubby (Rel: 23rd April, 15.99, 112 mins, uncut version, headphone audio track, director and actor commentaries, interviews)
When Bad Boy Bubby was released in 1994, most critics were so horrified or sickened by it that the film was given a wide berth. But Australian director Rolf de Heer fought back, and with The Tracker and his most recent release Ten Canoes, has proved that he is a name to watch. Rather like Herzog’s The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974), the film follows the discovery of the outside world by a man-child who has suffered an appalling life-long internment, this time due to a deranged mother. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but it deserves wider appreciation.
Sid and Nancy Special Edition (Rel: 14th May, 15.99, 108 mins, featurette, director’s commentary and exclusive interview, trailer)/Repo Man-Death Race 200-Duel (Rel: 7th May, 14.99, 3 disc set)
British director Alex Cox is something of a love-hate figure in the world of cult movie freaks. His biopic of the Sex Pistols’ Sid Vicious and girlfriend Nancy Spungen is generally held, though, to be his most successful work and benefits from great performances from Gary Oldman and, er, Courtney Love.
His other ‘80s classic Repo Man is being jammed together with two other offbeat road movies, the rather silly Death Race 2000 and the rather brilliant Spielberg TV movie, Duel, which comes with an enlightening interview with the director himself.
Insignificance (Rel: 7th May, 14.99, 104 mins, director and writer commentary, booklet)/Bad Timing (Rel: 7th May, 14.99, 117 mins, commentary and booklet)
Another British director who causes sharp divisions in opinion is Nicolas Roeg. Two of his mid-period films are released this month, both starring his wife and muse, Theresa Russell. The advent of Russell in Roeg’s life and films arguably led to a decline in his work, with the films increasingly tailored, it seems, to show more of her both in and out of her clothes. In Bad Timing (1980), she stars opposite Art Garfunkel and Denholm Elliott as a femme fatale drawn into a fatal relationship with an American lecturer, while in Insignificance (1985), she plays the great sex kitten herself, Marilyn Monroe, encountering Albert Einstein for a night of maths and foreplay. The former is a painfully earnest disquisition on love and obsession shot in Vienna, while the latter is an engaging if throwaway playlet whose chief amusement lies in how the actors impersonate such massive icons. However, Roeg fans will be pleased that his movies are getting more exposure just as he returns to the fray, with a new feature due to arrive later in 2007 after years in the wilderness.
The Masque of the Red Death (Rel: 30th April, 9.99, 85 mins)
The ghost of Nicolas Roeg hangs over this film as well, of course, because it was made during his time as a cinematographer, and the lush, baroque images he crafted for director Roger Corman count among his best work. This is the most vibrant and entertaining of Corman’s Poe movies (box set, please!) and benefits from the amusing pairing of Vincent Price and Jane Asher. Not perhaps as subtle in its unpicking of Poe’s themes as The Tomb of Ligeia and The Fall of The House of Usher, it nevertheless benefits from a glorious colour scheme, magnificent sets, and a mischievous taste for the macabre.
Circus of Horrors (Rel: 30th April, 9.99, 88 mins)/Night of the Eagle (Rel: 30th April, 9.99, 84 mins)
You could be forgiven for not having heard of Sidney Hayers. Even in the spit-and-sawdust world of British horror, he’s hardly a big name. But these two releases from the early ‘60s show he was a director of unusual flair and capable of the odd visionary touch. The Circus of Horrors is a lurid, nasty little tale, with Anton Diffring playing a deranged plastic surgeon in charge of…well, a circus which he starts to populate with the deformed victims of his evil experiments. Think Freaks meets Hammer Horror. It’s no classic but it’s directed with assurance and makes for an hour and a half of tawdry fun.
Night of the Eagle, however, is a neglected masterpiece, and takes its place alongside The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General (both available on DVD in much more attractive Special Edition packages) as a demonstration of bargain-basement horror made into poverty-chic art. Like Robert Wise’s The Haunting, it’s a British-made film pretending to be set in America, only starring Peter Wyngarde. Yes, he of the big moustache and hairy chest. But here, he’s rather good as a university professor who discovers his wife has become involved in witchcraft. As he tries to interfere, the forces of darkness gather against him, and the film becomes appropriately tighter and more claustrophobic as paranoia sets in. There’s a genuinely scary scene in a graveyard at night (when else?) and the ambition of the film belies its modest production. Check it out.
28 Days Later Limited Edition (Rel: 7th May, 12.99, 107 mins, 2 disc set: commentary track, making-of doc and preview of 28 Weeks Later)
We’re going 28 Weeks Later soon, with the release of the sequel to Danny Boyle’s terrific zombie movie, so what better time to release an extras-laden edition of the first pic? Representing a kick up the backside for British horror, 28 Days Later is a fast-paced, visceral shocker in which Cillian Murphy wakes up in a London devastated by the release of a genetically-engineered virus. Brilliantly edited and directed with Boyle’s customary in-yer-face flair, the movie loses something in the translation to the small screen, but is still worth picking up as a reminder of what Brit cinema can do with a bit of imagination and verve.
The Monster Club (Rel: 22nd May, 9.99, 93 mins)
However, lest we forget just how terminally bad British horror movies can be, May sees the release of the last of producer Milton Subotsky’s portmanteau horror films (most were made for Amicus, this for ITC) in which Vincent Price tries to retain his dignity in a disco of monsters dancing to the worst rock music known to man – or beast. The three stories he introduces, though, are quite fun and directed (by Roy Ward Baker) with that peculiar movement between the pedestrian and the inspired which is characteristic of the series.
The Harder They Come (Rel: 14th May, 19.99, 110 mins, featurettes, intervies, CD soundtrack)
Seminal midnight movie from the ‘70s, notable for its celebrated reggae soundtrack. (It’s one of the movies recalled in the recent documentary Midnight Movies, which is now available in its own Special Edition, comprising the excellent book on which it’s based, by Jonathan Rosenbaum and Jim Hoberman, and full versions of Reefer Madness and Night of the Living Dead.)
George Formby Collection (Rel: 7th May, 39.99, contains No Limit, See Ice, It’s In The Air, Come on, George!, Let George Do It, Spare A Copper, Turned Out Nice Again, 4 disc set)
Yes, you, too, can be the proud owner of six films starring loveable ukulele-playing George Formby. Two of them – Let George Do It and Turned Out Nice Again – are directed by Oh, Mr Porter’s Marcel Varnel. Don’t reach for the cyanide just yet.
Soviet Propaganda Vol. 1 & 2 (Rel: 30th April, both 14.99, 2 disc sets with booklets)
Fascinating collection of Soviet propaganda that finally reveals how the West was portrayed by the various Communist regimes in Russia. Volume One is titled “American Imperialists and Fascist Barbarians”, Volume Two “Capitalist Sharks and Communist Dreams”.
King Lear (Rel: 21st May, 14.99, 160 mins)
Star-studded adaptation first presented by ITV in which Laurence Olivier plays the eponymous king with excellent support from Diana Rigg, John Hurt, Brian Cox and most notably Leo McKern as Gloucester and a young Robert Lindsay as Edmund.
The Jean Renoir Collection (Rel: 24th April, 29.99, contains La Fille de L’Eau, Nana, La Marseillaise, Sur Un Air de Charleston, La Petite Marchande d’Allumettes, Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier, Le Caporal Epingle, 3 disc set: documentary profile)
This extraordinary collection brings together most of Renoir’s early films with two of his later works, and the differences between both of these eras and his better-known work may surprise some of his admirers. La Petite Marchande d’Allumettes, particularly, shows a Renoir with an unexpected facility for lyric fantasy, while Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier is a revision of the Jekyll and Hyde story with a remarkable performance by Jean-Louis Barrault.
These Region 1 discs have been on release for some time, but Close-Up readers may be unaware that they’re available. All of these films are masterpieces and can be bought fairly cheaply in the UK from internet import specialists.
The Naked Spur (Released by Warners) – Anthony Mann’s best Western with James Stewart and one of the finest American films ever made. The transfer is not as sharp as it could have been, but to have it at all, after the others in the series have been available for such a long time, is reason enough to be cheerful.
Edvard Munch (Released by New Yorker) – Peter Watkins’ extraordinary documentary biopic of the Norwegian painter. This is Watkins’ preferred theatrical print running at 174 minutes – the longer TV version is also being released by New Yorker later this summer.
Yeelen (Released by Kino Video) – It’s rare enough to find African film on DVD but to find the film nominated by Jonathan Rosenbaum (again!) as the best African movie ever made is quite something. The imagery is breathtaking, the film unforgettable.
Goto, Isle of Love (Released by Cult Epics) – Walerian Borowcyzk’s first live-action feature is an eerie yet beautiful tale of obsessive love on an island stuck in the past after a disaster cuts it off from the rest of the world. Don’t be concerned if there appears to be some serious image-cropping on the disc – Borowcyzk consciously composed the frame so as to cut people’s heads or hands off at the side, adding to the disconcerting sense of a tapestry come to life where the whole picture cannot be seen. Comes with an animated short made with Chris Marker, Les Astronautes.
Tropical Malady (Released by Strand Releasing) – The best film of the decade so far? Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s ground-breaking fantasy is criminally unavailable in the UK, while this widescreen transfer has been supervised by the director himself. So make a beeline for it – its puzzling diptych structure, its casual juggling of everyday life and folkloric mystery, its movement from gay love to lycanthropic encounter all combine to produce an entirely new concept of cinema for the 21st century.
Three Crowns of the Sailor (Released by Facets Video) – And finally, while we’re talking weird, there’s nothing to beat the oeuvre of Raul Ruiz, the Chilean-born, Paris-based auteur who has produced so many films that he must rank as the most prolific director of the post-war period. This is one of his most noted works – a strange riff on Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner with the otherworldly atmosphere of Welles’ Immortal Story. There’s really nothing else quite like it.
Welcome to another of Close-Up’s regular looks at what’s hot on the DVD market. This week, as well as looking at a multitude of great box sets and classic releases, we’ll also be making suggestions for the more adventurous DVD hunter, willing to dip their toes in the exotic worlds of Region 1 and Region 4 – there are some true gems out there, but you’ve just got to know where to look…
If… (Rel:23rd July, 15.99, 107 mins, commentary with Malcolm McDowell and David Robinson, doc Thursday’s Children, interview)
Lindsay Anderson is the great could-have-been of British cinema. An outstanding critic, he was one of the first and most forthright champions of figures like Humphrey Jennings and John Ford, but his own career as a filmmaker was more fraught. Happily, If… is his finest hour. A lacerating portrait of public-school life, it plays confidently with fantasy and brutal reality, creating some of the most potent images ever to come out of this country. Ken Russell might have been upset by its more outrageous moments, but I love the chaplain popping out of the drawer… If you don’t know what I’m talking about, mark this down on your shopping list.
This Land Is Mine (Rel: 2nd July, 12.99, 100 mins)
Now here’s a DVD that arrives without much fanfare and absolutely no extras. It’s directed by the great Jean Renoir, and yet, in contrast to the other works in his filmography, it’s rated as second-rate, even negligible. But I am here to tell you, with thunder in my voice, that this is not only one of his finest achievements, but one of the most remarkable films made during wartime, the most sympathetic and truest treatment of the Occupation, and a masterpiece of world cinema. Made in 1943, it stars Charles Laughton – in a performance that shatters the cosy artifice of American film at the time – as a mummy’s boy teacher who suddenly has to face up to the realities of the Nazi invasion of France. Almost by accident, he becomes a figure of the Resistance and challenges those who would collaborate. It’s a work of anti-Fascist propaganda, to be sure, but it demonstrates all the hallmarks of Renoir’s characteristic humanism – that “everyone has their reasons” – and this time in the mould of the classic Hollywood studio film – a form Renoir takes to with ease. Please buy it or rent it – like its lead actor, it desperately needs to be rescued from obscurity.
Sergei Eisenstein Volume One (Rel: 16th July, 29.99, contains Strike, Battleship Potemkin, October, all films with original scores, plus new scores for the first two)
This is a bumper month for silent film fans and the highlight is this first collection of work by the great Sergei Eisenstein (two other volumes follow, the second containing the historical epics Alexander Nevsky and Ivan The Terrible, the third his benighted Mexican work – where’s The General Line?). Now let’s face it, sitting down of an evening with some 1920s Soviet propaganda is not everybody’s cup of tea, but these are groundbreaking films cinematically speaking and to gather all three together into one bundle represents terrific value. And certain sequences – the gathering of the spies in Strike, the Odessa steps bit in Battleship Potemkin – retain a dramatic power that still thrills all these years later.
Haxan: Witchcraft Through The Ages (Rel: 23rd July, 19.99, 104 mins)
But if you want something more juicy from your silent cinema, then draw the curtains, light your black candles, gather the acolytes and stick on Haxan: Witchcraft Through The Ages, one of the strangest films ever made. It starts off as a rather portentous, routine documentary about the Black Arts replete with woodcuts and still photographs and then blossoms into a full-blooded re-enactment of the Sabbat, with ladies being lured to remote orgies, horned devils and all manner of lewd goings-on. Believe it or not, it was once rated as a major achievement in world cinema. All early signs indicate that Tartan will be using the Criterion print which is of excellent quality.
The Definitive Harold Lloyd (Rel: 9th July, 49.99, nine-disc set incl. all Lloyd’s features, 13 shorts, five talkies)
And no silent film collection would be complete without its clowns, getting their cars stuck in front of oncoming trains, hanging precariously off high buildings, battling some bully for their girl. For me, Harold Lloyd always came a definite third to Keaton and Chaplin, but his fresh-faced visage is still as recognisable and his stunts and precision-perfect set-pieces still impress with their sense of timing.
Henri-Georges Clouzot Box Set (Rel: 25th Jun, 24.99, contains Le Corbeau, Quai des Orfevres, The Wages of Fear)
From the sunniest of filmmakers to the grimmest. Clouzot had no time for happy endings or humanist sentiment. He made comedies that were black as pitch and dramas that held out no hope for their protagonists. This collection brings together his vicious “poison pen” letter to Occupied France, Le Corbeau, his unusual film noir, Quai des Orfevres, and one of his best-known works, The Wages of Fear, which in the annals of suspense cinema must go down as one of the most nail-chewingly intense.
Le Silence de la Mer (Rel: 25th Jun, 19.99, 85 mins, intro by Ginette Vincendeau, 44-page booklet)
Jean-Pierre Melville was another French filmmaker with a harsh view of the universe, best exemplified by his series of uber-minimalist gangster pics. But his finest work was arguably done elsewhere, as anyone who saw his rereleased Resistance drama L’Armée des ombres (available from the BFI) last year can testify. I haven’t seen this, his first film, but it concerns the same era, and if it’s half as good as L’Armée, it should be well worth catching. It’s also a Masters of Cinema project, so expect a superb quality print and valuable supporting material.
L’Eclisse (Rel: 9th July, 17.99, 118 mins)
Michelangelo Antonioni’s masterpiece (among masterpieces) has long been available from Criterion in the US, but now it finally makes its way to these shores. No understanding of how film has developed since the 1960s is complete without Antonioni. He shattered all conceptions of narrative, of the filming of space and architecture and its relation to interior states of mind – in short, he created modern cinema. L’Eclisse is the third in his celebrated trilogy with Monica Vitti who, apart from having the most kissable lips in movie history, best embodied his conception of modern alienation. It’s also his finest film – a disquieting portrait of an affair going awry leading up to one of the most devastating – and beautifully crafted – endings of all time. L’Avventura (Criterion) and Cronaca di un Amore are also available from the States, while his later colour works Blow-Up and The Passenger are already on sale here (quite cheaply, too).
Nuri Bilge Ceylan: The Early Works (Already on release, 24.99, contains Kasaba, Clouds of May, plus behind-the-scenes and music videos)
This wonderful release brings together the first two films of one the new leading lights in world cinema, Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. His latest works, Uzak and Climates, have taken film festivals by storm and have marked him out, if anything, as a new Antonioni, further exploring the relationship of people and landscape, intimacy and alienation. Currently both available from Artifical Eye, they are now joined by Ceylan’s earlier work which has previously been hard to see in the UK. Both Kasaba and Clouds of May bear evidence of Ceylan’s emerging mastery of the medium, his gossamer-light treatment of internal conflict and exterior light, and his profitable use of non-professional actors, most intriguingly of himself and his own family.
The Andrei Tarkovsky Companion (Already on release, 24.99, contains Tempo di Viaggio, Moscow Elegy, One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich)
All credit to Artificial Eye for coming up with the ingenious idea of bringing these three documentaries on the great Russian filmmaker together in one package. Tempo di Viaggio could already be found on their edition of Nostalgia, of which it is a making-of film, while Moscow Elegy is now available separately, along with a whole host of documentaries by arguably Tarkovsky’s most devoted disciple, Aleksandr Sokurov. But put together with Chris Marker’s magisterial if slight 50-minute eulogy-cum-critique, they comprise a full examination of this most important director.
Jan Svankmajer: Complete Short Films 1964-1992 (Rel: 25th June, 29.99, 3-disc set incl. all Svankmajer’s short films plus film on which he worked as assistant and two profile documentaries)
The BFI must be patting themselves on the back over this release – the complete range of short films (including fantasia, music videos, satirical animation) by the extraordinary Svankmajer, all reproduced in stunning print quality with helpful subtitles. His ability to recreate the tactile nature of the physical universe with just image and sound has rarely been matched, and these are films whose overall sensual experience is something to revel in – or wince at. His shorts are arguably sharper than his features and I would particularly recommend his faithful and sensitive adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe, for whom Svankmajer has a peculiar affinity.
Jean-Paul Belmondo Collection (Rel: 25th Jun, 34.99, contains A Double Tour, A Bout de Souffle, Pierrot le Fou, Stavisky, Le Professionel, plus making-of doc on A Bout de Souffle)
Alain Delon Collection (Rel: 25th Jun, 34.99, contains Plein Soleil, L’Eclisse, Un Flic, Traitement de Choc, Flic Story, plus various interviews)
James Mason Collection (Rel: 23rd July, 29.99, contains The Man in Grey, The Bells Go Down, Odd Man Out, Five Fingers, The Man Between)
Dirk Bogarde Collection (Rel: 23rd July, 44.99, contains The Blue Lamp, The Sleeping Tiger, The Servant, King and Country, Accident, Hunted, The Spanish Gardener)
DVD labels just love these big collections of assorted odds-and-sods brought together under the umbrella of one leading lady or man, and these five releases are classic examples of the formula. Not one of them features an unbroken series of greats, but here and there are found some true gems, many previously unavailable on DVD. Take the Jean-Paul Belmondo collection – along with the predictable Godard films, you find A Double Tour, an intriguing early Chabrol mystery, notable for its unusual adherence to a morality purely based around beauty. And then there’s Stavisky – it’s rare enough to find Alain Resnais on disc, but this film is really obscure and it’s wonderful to see it finding the light of day.
Then there’s the Dirk Bogarde collection, stuffed to the gills, as it is, with Joseph Losey movies. Losey is the great forgotten director – hard to credit now that most critics in the ‘60s regarded him as a modern master, and even harder to credit that his favourite actor was cuddly matinee idol Dirk. But check out The Servant and Accident, the first two parts of Losey’s trilogy with Harold Pinter, which act as a searing expose of the British class system and filmmaking at its edgiest and most intense. There’s also two early works – King and Country and the very rare Sleeping Tiger – so this is a collection worth considering.
Alain Delon and James Mason fare less well with only one film apiece worth making time for – respectively, L’Eclisse and Odd Man Out. Where’s Melville’s Le Samourai or Mr Klein, again by Joseph Losey? And as for Mason, none of his truly great performances are represented – no Lolita, no Reckless Moment or Caught, no Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, no Bigger Than Life, not even 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. Sigh – us Mason fans will just have to wait for a better tribute to his genius.
As for Olivier, he’s not fit to tie Mason’s boots. But his Henry V is still worth catching – it’s both a great Shakespeare adaptation and a canny wartime flag-waver. And his TV King Lear remains underrated.
Earth – While Sergei Eisenstein enjoys the three-volume treatment, his contemporary Alexander Dovzhenko remains totally unrepresented on Region 2 DVD. However, his masterpiece Earth is now available in its fullest form from Image Entertainment in the US together with his first film Arsenal. Earth was often shown in this country in a Stalin-era cut print, removing a famous nude scene and images of Russian peasants urinating into a tractor radiator to get it working again. These scenes weren’t just interesting (!) in themselves, but their removal totally wrecked the whole structure of the film. So it’s great to have them reinstated and the film widely available again.
India Song – Marguerite Duras is known to many an A-Level French student for her novels including Moderato Cantabile. But shamefully, she’s less well-known as a filmmaker, despite being one of the greatest female exponents of the medium. This is partly due to the lack of availability of her movies. That’s why I’d like to take this opportunity to recommend a DVD only available in France (from her son’s company) and Japan (from cdjapan) that comes without English subtitles or any frills. But if you’re a French speaker, grab it. Because its beautiful, haunting portrait of a love affair in colonial India is an emotional and formal triumph. The only film quite like it is her own Nathalie Grainger which stars a young Gerard Depardieu and Jeanne Moreau. Message to all R2 DVD authoring houses – release them now!
Chimes at Midnight (Falstaff) – Orson Welles’ films have often fallen victim to the complicated rights issues surrounding his estate (though his last film, The Other Side of the Wind, may finally see release next year according to long-time friend Peter Bogdanovich). Welles’ magnificent adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays is one such case. But here’s a little secret - not in Spain where the film was shot and financed. You can get it on DVD from Spanish Internet sites. Spread the word.
Fantomas/Les Vampires/Judex – If you thought the old-style cliffhanger serial couldn’t be art, then you clearly haven’t seen the work of Louis Feuillade. Made in 1913, Fantomas set the pattern for gloriously anarchic adventures in which master criminals pitted their wits against doggedly determined detectives. The fun lies not only in their surreal genius but in watching a major filmmaker come to grips with the medium and realising its potential. Fantomas is now available from Artificial Eye in the UK, but French speakers should still make a beeline for the Gaumont edition, a marvellous coffret that, complete with original poster artwork and barking menu sequences, is a work of art in itself. Les Vampires and Judex are both available from the US and at reasonable prices.