Here’s something cool: Shout! Factory is also releasing Sarik Andreasyan’s Russian superhero film, Guardians (2017), on Blu-ray and DVD on 9/5.
And Shout! has set Werner Herzog’s Queen of the Desert and Band Aid for Blu-ray release on 9/5.
Meanwhile, Scream Factory is releasing After Midnight on Blu-ray on 9/26, with A Quiet Place in the Country and The Devil’s Candy due on Blu-ray on 9/19.
Speaking of Scream, the label is celebrating its 5th anniversary today by kicking off a 50% off sale on all their titles brand-wide. Click here for the details.
Lionsgate has announced the Blu-ray and DVD release of The Dinner for 8/8. The film stars Richard Gere. Also coming that day to both formats from the studio is The Exception, starring Lily Hames and Christopher Plummer, as well as The Hunter’s Prayer, starring Sam Worthington.
And Kino Lorber has set The Legend of Hillbilly John (1972) for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 8/29 as part of their Studio Classics line-up. Kino has also updated the extras and fixes they’ve made to their upcoming Blu-ray release of Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly on 8/15. Here are the details, straight from their Facebook page...
“Coming August 15th on DVD and Blu-ray!
Note: We’re hoping to add one or two more extras
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (50th Anniversary Edition) – with reversible art
Special Features (Disc 1)
- 4K transfer of the Original “161 minute” Theatrical Cut
- New Audio Commentary by Film Historian Tim Lucas
- “Trailers From Hell” with Ernest Dickerson
- M.O.S. Deleted Scene of Blondie in the desert finding skeletons
- Newly Restored 2.0 Mono Audio
- Trailers for Sergio Leone Westerns
- Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
- English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Audio
- Animated Image Galleries
Special Features (Disc 2)
- 4K transfer of the “179 Minute” Extended Cut
- Newly Restored 2.0 Mono Audio
- Audio Commentary By Acclaimed Film Historian Richard Schickel
- Audio Commentary By Noted Cultural Historian Christopher Frayling
- Leone’s West: Making Of Documentary
- The Leone Style: On Sergio Leone Featurette
- The Man Who Lost The Civil War: Civil War Documentary
- Reconstruction The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
- II Maestro: Ennio Morricone and The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Featurette
- Deleted Scenes
- Original U.S. Theatrical Trailer
- Original French Theatrical Trailer
- English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Audio
- Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
with optional English subtitles
Besides the color correction (removing the yellowishness) we also made the following corrections and adjustments to create our 161 Minute cut of the Theatrical version:
- The “flip cut” transition/optical wipe from “Tuco talking to Blondie and taking a bite of his cigar to being hung” was restored to its original version
- The fadeout to black of the “gun shop owner with the sign in his mouth” scene is now a cut to exodus scene.
- The fadeout of the “Blondie passing out as Tuco is bringing him water” scene happens exactly 1 second later than how it was on old MGM DVD release of the Theatrical Cut.
- The dissolve from “night” scene to “coach arriving at the mission” scene now fades up from black
- The shot of the train leaving the station (with Tuco and Wallace on it) was supposedly longer in the US theatrical cut, before cutting directly to Tuco in the train and not dissolving out earlier to the early morning camp scene – Our 4K of the 161 minute cut matches the old MGM DVD of the theatrical cut exactly.
And finally today, we need to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of actor Adam West, who will forever be remembered as Batman by Generation X. He was 88, and you can read more here at The New York Times.
Here’s a little bit of new cover artwork for some of the titles mentioned above (click to pre-order each on Amazon, if available)...
Stay tuned...
- Bill Hunt