CineSavant Column
Hello!
Some fast notices and links today: Kino Lorber has laid out its release calendar for the rest of the year, and it’s got some great items. In addition to two versions of Nathan Juran’s Jack the Giant Killer on June 12, we’ll be getting Fritz Lang’s The Woman in the Window (June 19), TV’s The Martian Chronicles on June 26, two cuts of Selznick’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (July 10), and the not-seen-for-a-long-time Douglas-Lancaster noir I Walk Alone (July 24).
At the other end of the summer Kino will continue with both the TV and theatrical versions of the apocalyptic The Day After (August 7), Sangaree in 3D (September 18), both cuts of Michael Powell’s Jennifer Jones picture Gone to Earth / The Wild Heart (September 25), and The Farmer’s Daughter, The Night Stalker, The Night Strangler and The Spiral Staircase all September 25. It doesn’t stop: October 16 brings us the cult TV movie Trilogy of Terror, November 6 the previously MIA Ray Milland thriller Lisbon, and November 13 the second season of the Sci-fi series The Outer Limits.
Bob Furmanek informally announced another 3D release from Kino, Jivaro, but it has no date as yet so I’m thinking it’s for 2019.
Meanwhile, The Warner Archive Collection just announced a Blu-ray of both versions of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, the CinemaScope one we know, plus the 1:77 ‘insurance’ version that I have to say plays extremely well on home video, maybe better than the C’Scope. They looked good on DVD and ought to be a knockout on Blu — even in screwy Ansco color.
Gary Teetzel tips us off to a touted 4Kk restoration of the Brit ‘how I won the war’ epic The Dam Busters; the U.K article isn’t too swift but it comes with a pretty good copy of the trailer. Love the movie, even if that music gets old fast.
Joe Dante circulated this Vimeo link to a trailer mashup, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Max Fury Road. It says it’s three years old but I was impressed with the quality of the cutting.
Finally, for years I’ve been receiving informed tip-offs and research bulletins from a valued European contact, Stefan Andersson. With all the huzzarah circulating about the new Fistful of Dollars disc from Kino, I asked Stefan if I could just print his whole rundown on previous versions and the way the title is being discussed on other pages. You just need to know that Stefan uses ‘FOD’ for the film title, and ‘resto’ for restoration. A bunch of links connect to entries on the Home Theater Forum; other connections are a bit involved but I found them rewarding.
From May 16, 2018:
“Hi Glenn! I just read your review of the Kino Fistful of Dollars (FOD).
In a thread about the Kino FOD on Home Theater Forum I found a really interesting Italian docu about the 2007 FOD resto done by Ripley’s Home Video. It’s unsubtitled, but has no narration, only intertitles with technical descriptions (‘notte Americana’) and before/after restoration examples of audio and video: The Home Theater Forum.
Go to post 29 for the resto video, 17 mins. Posted on Vimeo originally: Ripley’s restoration featurette — use the full screen option. It’s a good link – see screen right for some interesting videos, by Jordan Krug, about differences between various prints of Leone films.
More on that HTF thread up above:
See post 23 for images of back cover, Blu case, for German and Italian (Ripley’s edition) Blus of FOD.
Post 33: two live links to texts in English and Italian — Ripleys and L’Immagine Ritrovata/Cineteca di Bologna explaining their restos. The second link, to the newspaper Corriere della Sera, is marked ‘not safe’ in my web browser, and the page looks odd. The text about FOD is fully readable.
Post 36 says the German Blu uses the Ripley resto.
Post 49: live link to an Italian-language video of outtakes from FOD, including what seems to be an alternate opening with The Man stealing the poncho by a riverside. This video is from the 2014 resto by L’Immagine Ritrovata/Cineteca di Bologna.
For the record, here is info about Torsten Kaiser’s 2005 resto of FOD, For a Few Dollars More and the two My Name Is Nobody films: TLE Films. See clickable links, page bottom. This is old info by now, but the technical details are interesting and educational.
Screencaps comparisons, FOD – MGM Blu, German Blu, Italian Blu
FOD on Italian Amazon (compare image of back cover with post 23 in the HTF thread)
FOD on German Amazon. This is the Blu with the restored FOD, I think (not sure).
For screenshots of front and back cover (compare post 23 in the HTF thread), go here (in German).
FOD seems also to be available in a two-film Blu set with For a Few Dollars More, though I’m not sure this edition contains the 2007 resto of FOD.
I haven’t personally seen any of these FOD discs, and so cannot vouch for quality or region compatibility. Nor am I certain that my research is 100% complete and accurate. But I wanted to keep you posted about the various options out there. Best, Stefan”
Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson