Arrow Films

[Der Spieler]

Hoping to make firm up details on Bicycle Thieves soon...

On another note here's a review for Deep Red which I don't think has been posted yet.

I'm guessing Criterion will want to release BT in the near future on blu and will press for a locked disc on your part?

Also, will you address the reported pixelation issues and unsynched subs on your DEEP RED disc? Any plans about correcting this?

[TonyleStephanois]

Also, will you address the reported pixelation issues and unsynched subs on your DEEP RED disc? Any plans about correcting this?

The pixelation issues and unsynched subs on DEEP RED are something of a mystery, in all our checks they are fine, even now and many people are reporting that these issues are not present in their copies, suffice to say we are looing into it.

[Der Spieler]

Thank you!

[L.A.]

Nico Mastorakis’ Island of Death in March

[TonyleStephanois]

Beaver on Vamp

[TonyleStephanois]

Some info on our forthcoming releases, the first in the Arrow Academy range.



Bicycle Thieves
28th March 2011

Heralded as the greatest film ever made on release, winning an Oscar in 1949 and topping the Sight & Sound film poll in 1952, De Sica’s seminal work of Italian neorealism has had an impact on cinema worldwide from release to the present day, with filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray and Ken Loach claiming the film as a direct influence on their own.

Bicycle Thieves tells the story of Antonio, a long unemployed man who finally finds employment putting up cinema posters for which he needs a bicycle. His wife pawns all the family linen to redeem the already pawned bicycle and for Antonio salvation has come, until the bicycle is stolen. Antonio and his son take to the streets in a desperate search. Bicycle Thieves is as much about the position of Italians in post-War, post-Fascist Italy as the relationship between father and son, told through the labyrinth of the cinematic city with De Sica’s arresting visual poetry. Defining neorealism, a small period of filmmaking that focused on simple, humanist stories, Bicycle Thieves was one of the most captivating and moving.

Arrow Academy presents Vittorio De Sica’s masterpiece on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.

Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Robert Gordon, Italian cinema expert and author of Bicycle Thieves (BFI Film Classics)
- ‘Cesare Zavattini’ a feature length documentary by director Carlo Lizzani on the great screenwriter, novelist, critic, long time De Sica collaborator and founder of Italian neorealism
- ‘Timeless Cinema’, a documentary portrait of director, actor and screenwriter Vittorio De Sica
- Original Trailer
- Booklet including brand new writing on the film and a reprint of Cesare Zavattini’s ‘Some Ideas on the Cinema’, illustrated with original Lobby Cards and stills
- Artwork presentation packaging including original posters and a newly commissioned artwork cover



Les diaboliques
18th April 2011

After the success of The Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur) Henri-Georges Clouzot cemented his reputation with his masterpiece, Les diaboliques.

Based on a novel by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac (who also wrote the novel on which Hitchcock’s Vertigo is based), Les diaboliques tells the story of a sadistic headmaster (Paul Meurisse) who brutalises his wife and mistress (Véra Clouzot and Simone Signoret) and their plot to murder him. Superbly edited with nail-biting suspense, the two women murder the headmaster and dump the body in the swimming pool, but when the pool is drained no corpse is found. An unsettling and beautifully-paced study of betrayal, mistrust and guilt, Les diaboliques is atmospherically shot in black and white, its murky tones hauntingly echo the moral ambiguity of its principals.

An acknowledged influence on Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick among others, Les diaboliques is presented on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.

Special Features:
- Brand new High Definition transfer of the film from a new restoration of the original negative
- Audio commentary by Susan Hayward, author of Les diaboliques (Cine-file French Film Guides)
- Filmed interview with Ginette Vincendeau, French cinema scholar, critic and author
- Original Trailer
- Brand new writing on the film by author and critic Brad Stevens and a re-printed interview with Clouzot by Paul Schrader illustrated with stills and rare original set drawings by Léon Barsacq.
- Artwork presentation packaging including original posters and a newly commissioned artwork cover

[eerik]

Any idea if BT will be region-free?

Bicycle Thieves = region B locked
Les diaboliques = region ABC

Taken from Arrow Films website.

[What A Disgrace]

I will most likely be purchasing The Bicycle Thieves from you, as opposed to Criterion, since I already have their DVD, and you have unique special features.

Now, the elephant in the room. Any chance for Rififi in this line?

[antnield]

Fantastic Factory Presents

Overview: A BLOODY FEAST OF ZOMBIES, DEMONS, SPIDERS & WEREWOLVES!

Step into the Fantastic Factory for a festival of gory mayhem and blood-splattered horror. Four twisted tales of terror and carnage await you...

In Beyond Re-Animator, the evil Dr. Herbert West, a medical genius with an overwhelming drive to raise the dead, returns to what he knows best: science...and murder.

John Jaspers is driven to insanity in Faust and signs a pact with the devil in order to enact a horrible vengeance on the thugs who murdered his girlfriend. Transformed into a sickening beast, he stalks the night seeking only to maim and kill.

Alien spiders threaten the very existence of man in Arachnid, only a team of scientists and mercenaries stand in the way of eight-legged doom for humanity. Trapped on an island with a nest of hungry enemies, time is running out before the eggs were laid in every last one of them...

A traveller with a girl in every village leaves a trail of murder behind him but is he the killer or is there a beast stalking the night? Romasanta, based on a true life murder case, is a chilling tale of bloody romance, shadowy forests and Werewolves.

Dare you enter?

FANTASTIC FACTORY PRESENTS SPECIAL FEATURES
- 4 of Fantastic Factory’s biggest hits presented in this exclusive boxset
- 9 option reversible sleeves of original and newly commissioned artworks!
- 4 double-sided fold-out posters with newly commissioned artwork for each film
- Collector’s booklets for each film by author and critic Calum Waddell
- A host of extras for every film including interviews, commentaries, deleted scenes and more!

Beyond Re-Animator Special Features
- Audio commentary with director Brian Yuzna
- ‘All in the Head’ Brian Yuzna on the Re-Animator Chronicles (50 mins)
- Original Trailer
- Double-sided fold-out poster featuring new artwork
- Collector’s booklet featuring ‘World of Lovecraft’ and an Interview with star Jeffrey Combs by author and critic Calum Waddell as well as an extract from H.P. Lovecraft’s original story ‘Herbert West: Renimator’
- Reversible sleeve featuring brand new and original artwork

Faust: Love of the Damned Special Features
- Audio Commentary with director Brian Yuzna
- Director of the Damned: Brian Yuzna, Faust and the Fantastic Factory
- The Pain in Spain A History of Horror in Hot Weather with Angel Sala, director of the Sitges Film Festival
- Original Trailer
- Double-sided fold-out poster featuring new artwork
- Collector’s booklet ‘Brian Yuzna: Maestro of Mayhem’ by author and critic Calum Waddell
- Reversible sleeve featuring brand new and original artwork

Arachnid Special Features
- King of the Spiders – Brian Yuzna remembers Arachnid
- Creature Comforts: The Monster Mayhem of Steve Johnson
- Original Trailer
- Collector’s booklet ‘Spider Man’ and interview with director Jack Sholder by author and critic Calum Waddell

Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt Special Features
- Romasanta: Lycanthropes, Lunacy and the Last Days of The Fantastic Factory
- Making Romasanta: Interviews with director Paco Plaza, stars Julian Sands, Elsa Pataky and John Sharian.
- Interview with composer Mikel Salas
- Deleted Scenes with introduction and commentary by director Paco Plaza
- A featurette on the S/FX design in Romasanta
- Original Trailer
- Collector’s booklet ‘Sex, Sun and Sinful Celluloid’ by author and critic Calum Waddell

Beyond Re-Animator
Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Anamorphic
Audio- English Stereo & Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Running time 92 mins

Faust: Love of the Damned
Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Anamorphic
Audio English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Running time 97 mins

Arachnid
Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Anamorphic
Audio English Stereo & Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Running time 92 mins

Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt
Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Anamorphic
Audio English Stereo / Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Running time 94 mins

All features are presented in both English and Spanish and include English subtitles

Region 0

[Zazou dans le Metro]

I love the artwork on DIABOLIQUES, and am glad to see the excellent Hayward commentary carried over from the Arrow DVD.

Re your latest artwork style are they the actual old Academy Cinema posters or an hommage? Echo the sentiments on the Hayward commentary and the Vincendeau new intro which has it over the Criterion as a buy for me.

[TonyleStephanois]

They are an homage, if we find Academy posters that we can use we certainly will!

Glad you like the Vincendeau intro and the commentary inclusions. Vincendeau familiarised herself with Hayward's commentary prior to the shooting of her intro so there is no overlap between the two. We didn't one one special feature to just repeat another so we were careful about this. The intro, like most intros, should probably be watched after you've seen the film as there are some plot spoilers though this is made clear.

This might be a good time to announce that we have decided to go dual format on these releases. Bicycle Thieves will have a division of special features (the Cesare Zavattini doc on the BD and not on the DVD and the Timeless Cinema doc vice versa - on the DVD but not the BD) hopefully the benefits of this are two-fold, if you are DVD restricted this will be future proof for when you decide to upgrade and if you are region locked (Bicycle Thieves is Region B as has been mentioned) hopefully this means you can pick this up now without having to rush out and buy a region free player.

Les Diaboliques will be split evenly over the BD and DVD with each disc containing the same content.

As per the specs there is artwork presentation packaging so we will be unveiling those other poster options very soon (if you're familiar with our Arrow Video titles then you know how this works).

[Zazou dans le Metro]

They are an homage, if we find Academy posters that we can use we certainly will!
.

Well if you ever need an Academy '400 blows' there's one hanging on my wall.

[TonyleStephanois]

They are an homage, if we find Academy posters that we can use we certainly will!
.

Well if you ever need an Academy '400 blows' there's one hanging on my wall.

Would love to do some Truffaut but none forthcoming. We have a contact for Academy Cinema Posters, just hoping to get the chance to use some!

[perkizitore]

First review of Phenomena blu-ray
First review of The Beyond blu-ray
Review of The Vamp blu-ray

[antnield]

The Digital Fix on the Vamp Blu. I have misgivings about the film itself, but the extras package and presentation are superb. Wenk's '79 short Dracula Bites the Big Apple is wonderfully bizarre.

[TonyleStephanois]

From recent developments here's a little more news: the first releases in the Academy range will be Dual Format, here's the revised packshots.



We've also tidied up the details on the package and booklet, here are the specs:

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Brand new restored, high definition transfer of the film on Blu-ray (1080p) and DVD
- Newly translated and more complete optional English subtitles
- Feature length audio commentary by Italian Cinema expert Robert Gordon, author of BFI Modern Classics 'Bicycle Thieves'
- ‘Cesare Zavattini’ a feature length documentary by director Carlo Lizzani on the great screenwriter, novelist, critic, long time De Sica collaborator and founder of Italian neorealism [Blu-ray only]
- ‘Timeless Cinema’, a documentary portrait of director, actor and screenwriter Vittorio De Sica
- Trailer
- 38 page booklet featuring a brand new essay on the film by writer and film historian Michael Brooke as well as screenwriter Cesare Zavattini’s essay 'Some Ideas on the Cinema', illustrated with original stills and Lobby Cards
- Artwork presentation packaging including three original posters and a newly commissioned artwork cover

LPCM mono audio on the Blu-ray, Dolby Digital mono audio on the DVD

Here are the poster options that will feature on the release:



There has been a snag in delivery of some material so this is now, unfortunately, looking like it might have a delay of a couple of weeks. Apologies for the delay.



Les Diaboliques will have all the same content on the BD and DVD, nothing has changed to the specs as before.

And more news on Rififi soon!

[TMDaines]

This looks an amazing package. I really hope after reading a few reviews that I'll have no qualms in selling off my Criterion DVD.

[eerik]

This looks an amazing package. I really hope after reading a few reviews that I'll have no qualms in selling off my Criterion DVD.

You can read a review of Italian Blu-ray release if you want to know how the recent restoration looks.

Italian Blu-ray of Bicycle Thieves (released last week) looks fantastic. Can't wait to get the Arrow release.

[L.A.]

Nico Mastorakis’ Island of Death in March

DVDBeaver

[antnield]

The Digital Fix on the Phenomena Blu.

[TonyleStephanois]

Triple bundle £18 (one week only, ends 10/03/11) House by the Cemetery, Sleepless, Macabre £18.

[eerik]

There has been a snag in delivery of some material so this is now, unfortunately, looking like it might have a delay of a couple of weeks. Apologies for the delay.

11th April seems to be the new date for Bicycle Thieves.

[Duncan Hopper]

A nice choice of sleeves.

[eerik]

Blu-ray for De Sica's "Miracle in Milan" is coming out in Italy on April 1. Any chance for Arrow Academy release?

[TonyleStephanois]

Obsession on blu-ray

Lovely. I thought it was DVD only.

Do Arrow put SDH on their releases? If so, they have a sale. If not, I'm buggered.

Obsession will have SDH.

Some upcoming releases that might interest forum members:

Rififi
The Killing
Wallander

EDIT:

Rififi poster options: