SWEET CHARITY
(Bob Fosse, 1969)
Release date: 24 August 2020
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK Blu-ray premiere)
The feature debut of the great Bob Fosse based on the Broadway hit, Sweet Charity is a musical re-imagining of Federico Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria, starring the wonderful Shirley MacLaine as a taxi dancer looking for love and escape in hippy-era New York.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
• 4K restoration of the 157-minute Roadshow version, complete with Overture, Entr’acte and Exit Music
• 4K restoration of the general release version, with the original and alternative endings
• Alternative 2.0 stereo, 4.0 stereo and 5.1 surround soundtrack options
• Audio commentary with film historians Lee Gambin, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Cara Mitchell (2020)
• The John Player Lecture with Shirley MacLaine (1971): archival audio recording of the celebrated actor in conversation at London’s National Film Theatre
• From Stage to Screen: A Director’s Dilemma (1969): original promotional film featuring interview material with Bob Fosse and rare behind-the-scenes footage
• The Art of Exaggeration (1969): original promotional film profiling the work of famed costume designer Edith Head
• Interview with Sonja Haney (2020): audio recording of the dance assistant in conversation with Lee Gambin
• Now and Then: Sammy Davis Jr (1968): archival interview featuring the actor and singer in conversation with broadcaster Bernard Braden
• Super 8 version: original cut-down home-cinema presentation
• Image gallery: publicity and promotional material
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive 80-page book with new essays by Pamela Hutchinson and Bill Rosenfield, Neil Simon on Sweet Charity, archival press coverage of the film’s release including an interview with Shirley MacLaine, extracts from the pressbook, Federico Fellini on Sweet Charity, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
• Limited edition exclusive double-sided poster
• UK premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited edition of 3,000 copies
#PHILTD181
BBFC cert: PG
REGION B
EAN: 5060697920376
A very classy package indeed - love the cover. I suspect this will sell out fairly quickly and am a bit surprised it doesn't have a slightly higher print run.
alacal2 wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 11:48 am
A very classy package indeed - love the cover. I suspect this will sell out fairly quickly and am a bit surprised it doesn't have a slightly higher print run.
Night of the Demon, Scum, The Beast Must Die and Force 10 From Navarone all had their print runs increased after the initial announcement, thanks to better than expected preorders.
Thus far, no Indicator limited edition has sold out prior to release date, and I think that Powerhouse is quite keen for this not to happen, so they'll be keeping an eye on how things play out.
If anyone ever asked me why Indicator is the best in the business, I'd probably point to their pre-empting "but does it fix this issue from the other release" questions with the first line of their feature list...
Sadly, our previously announced SWEET CHARITY specs have had to undergo a change. Owing to legal restrictions, we are unable to present the film in its complete ‘Roadshow’ version, with entr’acte and exit music. Instead, we will be presenting the film in its theatrical version, with options to view with either the overture or the alternative ending. As a result of this setback, both SWEET CHARITY and THE FU MANCHU CYCLE will now be released on 26 October.
That's quite a blow. Was looking forward to it since I'm aware of the issues with the Kino blu.
Owing to legal restrictions
This means we don't have the complete Roadshow presentation on disc anywhere, right? I fear these legal restrictions mean it's not gonna happen anytime soon either, is it?
davidholzmansdairy wrote: Thu Sep 17, 2020 12:57 pmThis means we don't have the complete Roadshow presentation on disc anywhere, right? I fear these legal restrictions mean it's not gonna happen anytime soon either, is it?
Sadly, it's a very safe assumption that it's not going to happen at all.
For the benefit of an ignoramus like me, is all the footage from the Roadshow version presented in one form or another across the three presentations? And if not, what specifically is missing?
davidholzmansdairy wrote: Thu Sep 17, 2020 12:57 pm
That's quite a blow. Was looking forward to it since I'm aware of the issues with the Kino blu.
Owing to legal restrictions
This means we don't have the complete Roadshow presentation on disc anywhere, right? I fear these legal restrictions mean it's not gonna happen anytime soon either, is it?
What are the issues with the Kino Blu-ray? Kino's website says it includes the Roadshow version--did that fall through in the end as well?
The full roadshow version consists of the Overture, part one of the feature, the Entr'acte, part two of the feature, and the end playout music - sadly (understatement), Universal wouldn't allow the last two pieces of music to be included.
But aside from the music, the film itself is exactly the same regardless of version, so there's no extra footage between the first two versions, and the alternative ending merely replaces the original one.
MichaelB wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 11:43 am
The full roadshow version consists of the Overture, part one of the feature, the Entr'acte, part two of the feature, and the end playout music - sadly (understatement), Universal wouldn't allow the last two pieces of music to be included.
Having just watched the film for the first time on TCM, the absence of an intermission (the Entr'acte) is quite noticeable as the elevator scene is clearly set-up to incorporate one. I'd say it's the cleverest placement of an intermission I've seen in a film in that the time the viewer spends purchasing a snack at the concession stand (or preparing a sandwich when viewing at home) is accounted for in the screen story. It actually feels like you're missing something watching the scene play all the way through without interruption.
Unfortunately, a last-minute manufacturing issue has caused a hold-up to the outer packaging of our two October titles – The Fu Manchu Cycle and Sweet Charity – and, as such, we are having to change the release date by a week to 2 November. We share your frustration in this, and will endeavour to send out direct pre-orders as soon as they arrive at the warehouse.
After the review of the Kino disc, they now again stick to the "it might be the same source than the French disc" non sense. Using the detective work of a board is a good thing but it shouldn't prevent doing one's own research too.
The three Universal masters that fuelled the multiple versions in Indicator's release were all created between October and December 2018. It's a very safe bet that the Kino release was from the same source, but the Elephant (i.e. French) BD came out in 2016, so they must have used something else.
I wasn't sure of the exact date Universal finalised the restoration, but visually, it's already different enough to be quite certain they're not sharing the same sources, and the Elephant disc has a quite typical aspect of older masters while the Kino and Indicator discs have a typical aspect of a newer 4K restoration.
But yeah, add the chronology to that and it's quite clear they can't be the same.
