Withnail and I

[domino harvey]

Read: fewer people are buying these than we anticipated

[What A Disgrace]

I plan on buying the non-personalized edition, but I have to say that it wouldn't come as a great surprise if this isn't selling quite like gangbusters. The price is outrageous (and on a personal note, you can't even use your reward points, which frustrates me to no end because this is exactly the kind of thing I keep saving them for).

[McCrutchy]

I plan on buying the non-personalized edition, but I have to say that it wouldn't come as a great surprise if this isn't selling quite like gangbusters. The price is outrageous (and on a personal note, you can't even use your reward points, which frustrates me to no end because this is exactly the kind of thing I keep saving them for).

It wouldn't surprise me, either. I cancelled my personalized edition because it would have been £64.99 shipped to the States, and when I saw that Amazon had the non-personalized for £54.99, with VAT removal Amazon became the far better deal. Base.com has this for £41.99 and Zavvi has it for £39.99, so Amazon's price will surely drop as well. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if I end of paying more like £35 shipped for this by release date, and paying almost double for a quote and a name on the box doesn't interest me. Not when there are so many other releases to buy.

I love Arrow, but the trick here, I think, was to keep the personalized and non-personalized book and box editions for themselves, and give everybody else a standard edition of the two films, either together or separately.

[EddieLarkin]

I'm quite happy with paying £40 for this. I spent £16 on The Burbs, and here you're getting two films that could easily support two separate releases, both getting new James White 2K transfers. That's £32 if they had done them separately, so an extra £8 for a massive coffee table book and collector's packaging is far from outrageous if you ask me.

[perkizitore]

I used a 10% off code to get this set for £36 delivered, but I can usually get Arrow pre-orders for around £12 each. So that means I am paying £12 for the book and the chance to see those films earlier than I could with their eventual individual releases. I also want to support Arrow, so they can release more stuff like their Boro set (I highly doubt they made even a portion of the money that they will make from Withnail & I).

[antnield]

A blog post on piecing together the 200-page Withnail book that'll form a major part of this release.

[McCrutchy]

Price has finally dropped, all the way to £39.63 as it happens, on Amazon, which means I'll now be paying only an astonishing £36.11 shipped, which is very close to a 50% savings off the personalized edition for those in the States.

In other words: a tremendous bargain. I can't thank Arrow enough for making this edition available to retailers.

[EddieLarkin]

Top marks for video at Blu-ray.com

Comparisons with the StudioCanal release, demonstrating the huge leap in quality:

Arrow, SC
Arrow, SC

[tenia]

Holy cow, the SC looks smooth as a baby's bum.

[MichaelB]

Blushots has uploaded lots of screengrabs of the new Withnail transfer.

...and, I see, from How To Get Ahead in Advertising as well.

[Jacob Marley]

Apparently this has been postponed until 3rd November.

[MichaelB]

CineOutsider:

It's unfortunate for Withnail & I that so many of us first encountered it on VHS or a TV screening, which conspired to convince us that this was one of the grubbier looking British films of the modern age. The early DVD releases did little to contradict this, and even Anchor Bay's 20th Anniversary Edition didn't exactly sparkle. This, we concluded, was how the film was meant to look. Rarely have I been so delighted to be wrong. This transfer ha been restored from a 2K scan of the original negative under the supervision of James White at Deluxe Digital. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches have been removed and the transfer was graded under the supervision of the film's director of photography Peter Hannan. The result is an absolute revelation.

Although I strongly disagree with him about the Kevin Jackson commentary, which I've listened to twice with genuine pleasure.

[Arrow]

Did this sell out? I don't see it listed anywhere.

[antnield]

Packaging pics.

[swo17]

Oh my, it's nearly two Phibes long!

[What A Disgrace]

I'm okay with "Phibes" being a unit of measure.

And eagerly anticipating the arrival of my set in a couple of weeks.

[Lazertron]

Received my sets yesterday - what a beauty. Now waiting for the weekend to also inspect its inner beauty (i.e. the film).

[swo17]

This is back in stock at Amazon UK (for now).

[Adam X]

Man, this thing's huge. Gonna have to wait a while before digging in, but I'd say the packaging is going to drive those strange folk of the 'only regular plastic cases, the thinner the better, will do' persuasion round the bend.
If that was intentional, then congratulations.

[effigy105]

A big shout-out to Arrow for building this thing solid. Mine arrived to Kentucky this week from Amazon.co.uk who appear to have jerry-rigged a cardboard box out of the dismembered remains of two other cardboard boxes. They then bunged in about the equivalent of three A4 sheets of brown paper to serve as "padding". The whole thing looked like the result of a primary-school art project gone horribly awry. It was all held together with nothing but a strip of packaging tape and the fevered prayers of an underpaid warehouse worker and was nearly open wide enough that the box-set could have just fallen out. And yet it somehow made it to my door with just a few very slightly squashed corners, the sort of damage I've seen in sets that came wrapped in all kinds of protection.

[manicsounds]

I got mine and realize the rating is 15.
The Anchor Bay DVD set I have is rated 18. Actually it says 15 on the steelbook and discs, but an 18 sticker is pasted on the steelbook. Presumably they misprinted the steelbook, and was just easier and more cost effective to put stickers on.

According to the BBFC, the movie itself is 15,
but "Withnail & I extras disc 2" is rated 18, so something on the bonus features raised it to 18? Don't know what it was exactly, but I guess something not ported to the Arrow set.

[neilist]

I got mine and realize the rating is 15.
The Anchor Bay DVD set I have is rated 18. Actually it says 15 on the steelbook and discs, but an 18 sticker is pasted on the steelbook. Presumably they misprinted the steelbook, and was just easier and more cost effective to put stickers on.

According to the BBFC, the movie itself is 15,
but "Withnail & I extras disc 2" is rated 18, so something on the bonus features raised it to 18? Don't know what it was exactly, but I guess something not ported to the Arrow set.

I think it's very likely to be the 'drinking game' featurette, which encouraged watching the film whilst matching the characters drink for drink...

[MichaelB]

Arrow has just announced two cut-down versions of the big box - both Blu-ray only, the first with Withnail & I and How to Get Ahead in Advertising, the second with just Withnail. There will not be a standalone release of Advertising, so if you want that on BD, the first package is your best option.

Full specs:

Withnail & I/How to Get Ahead in Advertising

Preorder here

Release Date: 9th February 2015
Format: Blu-ray
Starring: Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths, Ralph Brown, Michael Elphick
Directed by: Bruce Robinson

Synopsis:The finest cult film known to humanity!

Camden Town, the arse-end of the sixties. Two struggling, unemployed actors decide some respite is in order and so depart their miserable flat for a week in the Lake District – one that will involve rain, booze, minimal supplies, a randy bull and an even randier Uncle Monty.

Based on the real-life experiences of former actor turned writer/director Bruce Robinson, Withnail & I has become one of British cinema’s most fondly remembered comedies. A cult film in the truest sense that has also become a classic.

Perfectly cast – with career-defining roles for Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths and Ralph Brown – and crammed with irresistibly quotable dialogue, Withnail & I is a sheer delight, even on the umpteenth viewing.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
- New 2K restoration of Withnail & I from the original camera negative, supervised and approved by director of photography Peter Hannan
- Bruce Robinson’s follow-up feature, How to Get Ahead in Advertising, newly transferred from original film elements and approved by director of photography Peter Hannan
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) Presentation of both films
- Original uncompressed mono 1.0 PCM audio for both films
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Audio commentary by writer-director Bruce Robinson
- Audio commentary by critic and writer Kevin Jackson, author of the BFI Modern Classic on Withnail & I
- All four original ‘Withnail Weekend’ documentaries, first screened on Channel 4 in 1999, including The Peculiar Memories of Bruce Robinson, which looks at the director’s career, Withnail & Us, which focuses on the film’s making, and two shorter documentaries, I Demand to Have Some Booze and Withnail on the Pier
- Newly filmed interview with production designer Michael Pickwoad, who discusses his work on Withnail & I
- An appreciation of Withnail & I by Sam Bain, co-creator of Peep Show and Fresh Meat
- Theatrical trailers for both films
- Illustrated collector’s booklet containing new writing by Vic Pratt and Frank Collins, an Empire interview with Bruce Robinson, Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann and Ralph Brown and more.

Region: B
Rating: 15
Cat No: FCD1044
Duration: 104 mins
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: 1.0 Mono
Colour

The standalone Withnail package (pre-order here) is much the same, but without the second disc containing Advertising and with a smaller booklet.

[exidor]

Will there be (ever) a regular, normal looking Arrow edition of Withnail & I? I don't see such edition yet. May be I missed something.

Just the limited editions (four discs+hardback book) in either personalised or non-personalised form.

I know three months is a long time in DVD distribution but it might be better to not make claims like this unless you're absolutely sure.

[tenia]

In the present case, it's not as if it wasn't a certainty anyway these 2 brand new 2K restorations would be released outside 3000 expensive copies.

But still, Arrow could indeed have been honest upfront about it.