Arrow Films

[Ribs]

If I'm interpreting it right the colors carry no meaning beyond denoting percentiles; red is in bottom 1/3, orange the middle 1/3, green in top 1/3. So Nikkatsu has 70% remaining whereas Fassbinder has maybe 15%.

[AK]

Glad to see Yoshida selling that well. The Fassbinder is selling even better, it seems, which is impressive as it's priced higher.

I still haven't bought the Rivette set and although I'm happy it sells, I'm even happier there's still stock left, since I'm planning on collecting some Arrow Shop points during the spring to use on dear Jacques, probably closer to summer. Perhaps after their eventual sale they'll release some numbers as to how the Kobayashi and Taviani are faring in preorders.

Edit: Oops, so Fassbinder is limited to 1,000 copies, not 3,000 as I assumed. But impressive, nevertheless.

[rapta]

Saw this newsletter earlier. Glad to see Audition SB is OOP, as I have that one. However, I was massively late to the party on Argento in general (I only just decided to give him a try by ordering Tenebrae in the HMV offer) and skipped out on Deep Red - if it was still in print right now, I might have actually bought a copy (now I'll just wait for the standard edition

Despite the apparently low stock levels, it actually looks like the sales of Yoshida and Battles have slowed down since the end of 2015 - Yoshida in particular has been at around 80% for the past 2 or 3 stock updates, so the last few hundred may take a while to get sold. If the price happens to drop - so they can shift the last copies a bit quicker - I may snap one up, but the Kobayashi is currently a major priority so it would depend on price (£55 is still too high for me). Ditto Battles and Rivette.

As for Nikkatsu Diamond Guys - I wonder if the second volume will have a preview trailer for a third volume or not? If it doesn't, I think it's safe to assume there won't be a third set.

[swo17]

Volume 2 was planned from the beginning. Whether or not there is a Volume 3 will depend on sales of the first two. I wouldn't rule it out just based on the absence of a trailer from Volume 2.

[rockysds]

Looks like the next Handmade titles coming from Arrow will be A Private Function and Nuns on the Run, though possibly dvd-only.

[rapta]

Looks like the next Handmade titles coming from Arrow will be A Private Function and Nuns on the Run, though possibly dvd-only.

A shame if they're DVD only...also, I was hoping for The Missionary next but I guess these will go down well?

[antnield]

Looks like the next Handmade titles coming from Arrow will be A Private Function and Nuns on the Run, though possibly dvd-only.

DVD-only Arrow Films releases.

[antnield]

The Creeping Garden will be joining the Arrow Academy range later in the year.

[L.A.]

Klaus Kinski's Paganini, any chance this coming out from you guys? Just a thought.

[tenia]

I didn't like Death Walks on High Heels; it's a jerky pastiche of several popular Italian genres that feels like three different movies haphazardly put together. The characters are all total assholes, too.

I just watched that and can second this.
It's a weird patchwork not very well put together, and in the end, I'm not sure what it's supposed to be : a giallo ? a simple investigation story ? there's also this weird light humor which seemed totally out of place, especially with the 2 policemen.

[effigy105]

Is there any chance of seeing some Ermanno Olmi on Blu-Ray?

I admit, I'm clueless on the state of materials and rights for his films, so perhaps there are very real barriers. Arrow have Tree of Wooden Clogs on DVD already while Il Posto is likely tied up by Mr. Bongo, who have a DVD. Still, I'd love to see more of his work and re-watch the little I have seen in better quality. I Fidanzati is exquisite and not available in the UK at all.

[MichaelB]

Whether something's out on DVD is no guarantee that a BD will be viable, and the challenge here is that the UK market just isn't big enough for it to be financially realistic to do an in-house restoration. So this is a very opportunistic business: the Taviani collection, for instance, was snapped up as soon as Cohen revealed that they were working on it!

Put it like this: at least two people on the Arrow Academy team are big Olmi fans (and Rosi, and Petri), and we're constantly looking out for possibilities.

[effigy105]

Put it like this: at least two people on the Arrow Academy team are big Olmi fans (and Rosi, and Petri), and we're constantly looking out for possibilities.

That's fair enough. I appreciate the insight. Hopefully the possibilities arise

[criterion10]

Are Ken Russell's later works (Gothic, Lair of the White Worm, Salome's Last Dance and Whore) all with Lionsgate in both the U.S. and U.K.? Wondering if it would be feasible for Arrow to release any further titles by the director (is Lionsgate still reluctant to license out?).

[Ashirg]

Gothic was released by MGM in UK.

[MichaelB]

Gothic isn't on the cards, I'm afraid.

[kekid]

How about "Women in Love"? Has this been restored?

[criterion10]

How about "Women in Love"? Has this been restored?

I thought the BFI did carry out some restoration last year in the UK, although I could be wrong. Nevertheless, Criterion was rumored to have the rights to both this and The Music Lovers (both are MGM titles).

[kekid]

How about "Women in Love"? Has this been restored?

I thought the BFI did carry out some restoration last year in the UK, although I could be wrong. Nevertheless, Criterion was rumored to have the rights to both this and The Music Lovers (both are MGM titles).

Criterion releasing these films would be great. Adding a completely uncut version of the Devils would be fantastic. It is sad that due to the politics of rights key films remain unavailable while second-tier films get released.

[bugsy_pal]

Gothic and White Worm would be nice to see on bluray - I would buy them in a flash. I have both the US and UK DVD versions, and they are both pretty poor - and they differ in the opening scene, for some reason. Perhaps there are other differences too.

There is a 720p 'rip' of White Worm on the internets, which looks quite good.

[MichaelB]

Adding a completely uncut version of the Devils would be fantastic.

It would be, but you'd need a time machine. The "completely uncut version" hasn't existed since John Trevelyan first viewed it in early 1971 and advised Russell what compromises might be needed in order to get the film past the BBFC in as complete a form as possible. This is why the "rape of Christ" footage survives, but the material that was subsequently removed at the behest of the BBFC and Warner Bros is believed to have been destroyed back then.

So the best you can hope for is the 2004 semi-restoration, which basically consists of the British theatrical cut with the "rape of Christ" and a couple of other deleted scenes put back in. But that only exists on SD video at the moment because Russell's restoration budget was close to nothing - and while Warner Bros has sanctioned a small number of UK screenings, there's no sign of them unbending any further.

(Arrow certainly won't be releasing it, whatever happens.)

[swo17]

[theflirtydozen]

From facebook:

Arrow Video goes digital!
Now is your chance to watch all of your favourite Arrow titles in glorious HD on the go! We’ve teamed up with iTunes and Amazon.co.uk to offer a whole host of our titles for digital download and rental including a few OOP titles such as Hell Comes to Frogtown, Hellgate and Stray Cat Rock so if you missed out on the Blu-rays you can now enjoy these titles in High definition!
To celebrate our digital launch, all films are currently on sale at £5.99 until May 16th. Don’t miss it!

iTunes Link; Amazon Link

[ALLCAPSAREBASTARDS]

It's not looking likely that we will see a Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Vol 3, is it?

I really liked Vol 1...

[Ribs]

Don't count it out yet - being 40% sold out after less than four months isn't bad at all. It may not be enough for more but if it continues at a good pace it should probably at least break even for Arrow soon.

That's not taking into account that, at least from my perspective, the first set is considerably more attractive than the second set with regards to the titles included.