Films of Faith Collections

[Lino]

Here's the announcement:

Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD debut of 3 Oscar® nominated films on 4th April 2006. Warner Home Video will present the DVD debut of three new Oscar® nominated films from the massive Warner library of classic titles. Featuring three tales of spiritual discovery which celebrate lives of purpose and inspiration, The Nun's Story, The Shoes of the Fisherman and The Miracle of Our Lady Fatima will all be released in time for the Easter holiday season. Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch, Anthony Quinn, Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud are among the top stars of the films; bonus features include the vintage featurette The Shoes of the Fisherman and theatrical trailers. Each title is available individually for $19.97 SRP as well as in a boxed giftset as the Films of Faith Collection, selling for $29.98 SRP.

Follow this link for more details.

[Gordon]

The Miracle of Our Lady Fatima on DVD? Wow, I never thought we'd see that one before so many other would-be big-selling catalogue titles from Warner. It was one of the first Warnercolor films, so it will be interesting to see the transfer. Fine score by Max Steiner.

The Nun's Story has been begged for by fans for years, so that will be one less title on the lists. More Zinneman on DVD is always a good thing.

The Shoes of the Fisherman is pretty boring, I feel.

But... why didn't Warner use this opportunity to release an uncut, 2.35:1 anamorphic SE of The Devils?! WAKE UP!

HAIL SATAN! HAIL SATAN!

[Lino]

The Miracle of Our Lady Fatima on DVD? Wow, I never thought we'd see that one before so many other would-be big-selling catalogue titles from Warner.

But... why didn't Warner use this opportunity to release an uncut, 2.35:1 anamorphic SE of The Devils?! WAKE UP!

I'm with you on this one, brother! But seeing that April is Easter month (hence the conveniently titled Films of Faith Collection ) I guess that it would have been considered a sacrilege to release such a film in that period of the year...

So let lent and fasting pass and maybe May will give us that rumoured Russell box to please our pagan hearts!

[porquenegar]

Hmm, The Shoes of a Fisherman was previously announced to be coming at the end of 2005 in time for the Christmas holiday.

My aunt keeps asking me about this one.

[Gordon]

What about Irving Rapper's 1941 film, One Foot in Heaven, starring Fredric March, which charts the life of a minister who moves to various parishes with his family throughout his life and was nominated for Best Picture. It is a very moving story with perhaps March's best performance and it is an effective counterpart to Bresson and Bergman's sombre, angst-ridden studies in Faith. The VHS has been OOP for years now and I haven't seen it in the TV listings for a long time.

[Lino]

Cover art here. The boxset art would be ok if they would have left the DVD covers off from it (I told you Warner loves to do this sort of thing on the spines but now the disease is starting to spread to the front too...).

[Gordon]

Those are some of the worst covers I have ever seen. These covers could be used in an argument against using original poster art. Look at how beautiful Audrey's face is on the front of the box - use that image, Warner! Geez. #-o That could be you next avatar, Annie.

That Shoes of the Fisherman cover is horrendous.

The Fatima cover is okay, but why do the kids look anxious in what is a "touching story"? Because it isn't a touching story; it's one of the great unintentionally disturbing films ever made!

[Lino]

The Fatima cover is okay, but why do the kids look anxious in what is a "touching story"? Because it isn't a touching story; it's one of the great unintentionally disturbing films ever made!

Can you expand that? I live in Portugal as most of you know and have visited Fatima a number of times (one of the holiest places I've ever stepped on) and my mother is actually a great devotee of this particular Our Lady. I have never seen this movie before (only caught glimpses of it once on TV) but now I am really curious to know more.

BTW, they used the original German poster art for The Nun's Story (this one I have seen and it is a very serious movie indeed and one of Audrey's many great performances on screen).

[tryavna]

Bit of a shame that Warner passed up the opportunity to get Michael Anderson to do a commentary for his Shoes of the Fisherman. Of course, maybe Anderson didn't want to -- as I believe he had to step in at the last moment. (Which could explain why this particular movie lacks any passion or sense of urgency, despite its subject matter.) But Anderson is one of the lesser-known but still quite interesting directors who ought to be used as a major resource -- he worked with Gary Cooper, James Cagney, Alec Guinness ... well, and everyone who appears in Around the World in 80 Days for that matter.

By the way, I'm not really a fan of this movie, but I'd rent it just for Anderson's commentary.

[Gordon]

I find the general atmosphere of The Miracle of Our Lady Fatima to be foreboding and unsettling. The idea of supernatural entities visiting the Earth - visiting children - always causes a swirling eye-closing sensation in me. One of the most haunting moments in all of Cinema for me, is In Peter Weir's, The Last Wave, when the little girl claims to have seen Jesus and pink angels and then says that she loves Jesus. I am not a firm believer in God or Jesus, but there are most certainly forces in the Universe - or outwith Space and Time - that seem to impinge on everyday Reality sporadically and it is all the more unsettling when barely-literate peasant children report encounters with female 'spirits' of immense energy. The story of the Lady of Fatima is one of the most persuasive reports in the pantheon of unexplained phenomena - more so than any UFO sighting, I feel. It isn't a story to be taken lightly and folly to dismiss it. These types of reports are what interest me, when it comes to Religion, ie. actual reports from people who have nothing to gain and hail from a non-cynical culture. Ayahausca trips from Shaman in the Amazon and exert a similar pull towards an initially disturbing, yet a strangely, ultimately enlightening Truth.

Most movies are meaningless diversions from the Real World. Not enough films delve into the Pool of Mystery: Herzog's Every Man for Himself and God Against All; Maya Deren's At Land; Dusan Makavejev's W.R: Mysteries of the Organism; Picnic at Hanging Rock, etc are rare moments in Cinema of great entertainment and thought-provoking journeys into the mysteries than surround us and are within us. The recent film version of The Mothman Prophecies, although it deviates from the book, is a probably the best example of a mainstream film tackling the unknown in a satisfactory and entertaining manner.

The best stories are always true - or purportedly true - stories that are presented in a transfixing, entertaining and philosophical style; this goes for all mediums, not just Cinema. The Miracle of Our Lady Fatima doesn't quite reach the peaks, but it is still a fascinating and effective presentation of a truly amazing event.

Thanks for reading!

[RevKarl]

...But... why didn't Warner use this opportunity to release an uncut, 2.35:1 anamorphic SE of The Devils?! WAKE UP!
HAIL SATAN! HAIL SATAN!

I just wished it..and similar unreleased films...had been part of Warner's upcoming Controversial Classics 2 box set, rather than the "deluxe reissues" it is composed of.

[Lino]

Beaver reviews the set and doesn't help himself and individually reviews the Audrey film (one can't really blame him, can one?)

[Lino]

The Bits are reporting a second volume of The Films Of Faith Collection for 4/17 containing Hometown Legend, Pay It Forward and A Walk to Remember.

[Matt]

Pay It Forward

And believers everywhere just vomited into their laps.

[toiletduck!]

A Walk to Remember

You missed a spot, Matt.

-Toilet Dcuk

[Matt]

Oh yeah, the Mandy Moore cancer movie. When I first looked at the list I thought it was the Alfonso Arau movie with Keanu Reeves... whatsit... A Walk in the Clouds. Both make about as much sense to include in a "Films of Faith" collection.

[Lino]