On the Beach

[MichaelB]

27 July: ON THE BEACH on Blu-ray

Stanley Kramer’s ON THE BEACH (1959) is a haunting post-apocalyptic drama that imagines the final days of humanity after nuclear fallout reaches Australia. Released on Blu-ray, the film boasts a stellar Hollywood cast led by Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins, and is one of classic Hollywood's most deeply affecting films.

[Peacock]

I wonder how this will compare to the Kino?

[domino harvey]

The Imprint edition with copious exclusive extras would be the one to compare against

[TMDaines]

Already has/had a UK release from Signal One with a decent array of extras:

Audio commentary written by On the Beach expert Dr. Philip Davey, read by actor Douglas Hansell
Extras:"Making On the Beach" 1959 rare 8mm amateur footage (9:20)
Donna Anderson Interview (2015) (19:08)
Stanley Kramer's photo album (image gallery, optional descriptive text)
Original lobby cards (image gallery)
Original theatrical trailer (4:46)

[DeprongMori]

With the recent restorations and re-issues in the past few months of Testament, Threads, The War Game, On the Beach, etc., is someone trying to tell us something? (Am I forgetting any?)

[colinr0380]

Amusingly the extras on the Signal One disc 'tactfully' imply that Ava Gardner was not the most popular figure on the set, to the extent that a nuclear apocalypse may have come to be seen as rather a relief for the rest of the cast!

[What A Disgrace]

Already has/had a UK release from Signal One with a decent array of extras:

Audio commentary written by On the Beach expert Dr. Philip Davey, read by actor Douglas Hansell
Extras:"Making On the Beach" 1959 rare 8mm amateur footage (9:20)
Donna Anderson Interview (2015) (19:08)
Stanley Kramer's photo album (image gallery, optional descriptive text)
Original lobby cards (image gallery)
Original theatrical trailer (4:46)

The BFI release's extras seem to match those, plus more TBC and a booklet "featuring new essays by Christina Brennan and Barry Forshaw and a biography of Stanley Kramer by Jennifer Frost".

[MichaelB]

As a very, very minor but nonetheless delicious footnote, the legendary Bill Hunter (aka "that bald bloke who was in every Australian film ever made", as I announced his passing to my wife) made his screen debut in On the Beach as an uncredited swimming double for Gregory Peck, as Hunter had been a champion swimmer as a young man. Watching the stars going through their paces, he concluded that "any mug can do that", retrained as an actor, and the rest is history.