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NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:Personally they can keep on dollying this one up till Christmas if it means even more on the slate.

I'm totally with you on this, but I then wish BFI would tell us a bit more as to why they are delaying this again.
I mean, I'm quite sure every label on Earth (or close enough) are doing their best so that every single release they do are "the very best possible", but what does it mean here ?

Has a revised date or reason for the indefinite delay been given from BFI?

Amazon now showing this for November 17th. No additional material indicated so it might have been a quality issue rather than extra material. Mind you it is just Amazon so let's hope BFI have come up with more goods.

I sent a mail to BFI about any additional material causing the extra delay but received no answer. I am assuming the specs are as is but does anyone know definitively?

Amazon now quoting March 23rd 2015! I hope that's an overly-generous delay that will be rectified, if not then BFI are going the route of Artificial Eye and not being very vocal about reasons for delays. If it is true that will be 14 months since official announcement and a third delay. Fingers crossed it still gets released this year rather than next (though I will obviously still keep my order...just been really looking forward to it).

So now it's March 2015. Maybe they're waiting for Michael B's booklet essay?

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:So now it's March 2015. Maybe they're waiting for Michael B's booklet essay?

Submitted back in June, if I remember rightly.

Just thought your considerable Arrow commitments might be a mitigating factor.
Joking apart, is it an elements issue do you know or is there more to come?

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:Just thought your considerable Arrow commitments might be a mitigating factor.
Joking apart, is it an elements issue do you know or is there more to come?

I think if I'd submitted a booklet essay five months late I'd have been replaced at least four-and-a-half months earlier!

I have absolutely no idea, I'm afraid - I'm completely out of this particular loop.

We now have a June 22 release date, according to Amazon.

At this rate, it might not even get here in time for Halloween.

The question remains - in time for Halloween of what year?

I have tweeted, e-mailed, semaphored and sent carrier pigeons to the BFI and never got a reply as to what's going on.
Lining up to be voted best non-Criterion in 2019

It's like their Rossellini, Planeta Bur and 1984 releases - constantly in limbo.

I posted about my frustration about the fourth delay of this on another forum and got a reply from another user:

I asked about this at a BFI Video talk at the BFI Reuben Library last month. The delay is apparently related to permission for one of the features. The BFI are very keen to include it but realise that eventually they may have to go ahead without. I believe the problem was getting any response at all from the owner rather than them holding out for any reason. Of course, things may have changed in the last month.

So no idea yet which extra it is they're stalling this for, but glad to hear it's gonna be the best release there is of this film. Just a shame they seem to have to delay it by 3 months every time. That said, this is the first delay they have made months before the release date - the past 3 delays have been set about 2-4 weeks before the supposed release date, but this one has been set 2 months before. Let's hope that means this is the release date proper - that said, don't hold your breath!

My guess is that if they haven't got it sorted by then, they should just release it without said extra. The best shorts added have already been confirmed and are ready to go...I'm not sure what this one they're waiting for is and whether or not it's worth it!

Any update on the release? It is, after all, dangerously close to its current release date!

The BFI has further updated specs, however, they still list a release of September of last year.

Special features
• Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
• Les Sang des bêtes (Georges Franju, 1948, 21 mins): a haunting and visually striking study of a Parisian abattoir
• Monsieur et Madame Curie (Georges Franju, 1953, 14 mins): a study of the life and work of the Curies, told through the words of Marie Curie
•La Première nuit (George Franju, 1958, 20 mins)
• Les Fleurs maladives de Georges Franju (Pierre-Henri Gibert, 2009, 50 mins):
• An overview of Georges Franju’s career told through interviews with his friends, colleagues and film historians
• For Her Eyes Only – an interview with Edith Scob (LP Hugo, 2014, 17 mins): the actress talks about her work with Georges Franju and their friendship.
• Audio commentary by film critic Tim Lucas of Video Watchdog
• Fully illustrated booklet featuring credits and essays from Kate Ince, Isabel Stevens, Raymond Durgnat (TBC) Kevin Jackson (TBC) and Michael Brooke

I sure hope this doesn't get delayed any further...I fear it might be scrapped in favour of other releases considering BFI have stepped up their game recently, and increased their output dramatically. The fact they haven't cancelled it after a year of announcing it is probably good news though - it will be worth the wait.

Pre-ordered this in January 2014 for a July 2014 release...then delayed to September 2014...then November 2014...March 2015...and finally June 2015. Almost a year since the original release date! From what I understand, it was a delay on one or more of the short films being included on the disc - either rights-related or quality-related, I'd imagine. A similar thing is happening with Rashomon, but I'd imagine that is due to the production of new extras rather than any short films.

EDIT: something strange going on...Amazon listing now saying August 24th release (further delay by 2 months, same week as Vivre Sa Vie), and also omits Le sang des bêtes from the description. I hope both the delay and omission of the short aren't true, as that will be very frustrating to hear! I assume the year-long delay was down to that extra, so would seem like wasted time if they were to just give up...

rapta wrote:EDIT: something strange going on...Amazon listing now saying August 24th release (further delay by 2 months, same week as Vivre Sa Vie), and also omits Le sang des bêtes from the description. I hope both the delay and omission of the short aren't true, as that will be very frustrating to hear! I assume the year-long delay was down to that extra, so would seem like wasted time if they were to just give up...

You can't pursue these things indefinitely, because the rights clock on the main feature will have been ticking throughout.

Similarly, Arrow could have spent a few more years trying to find 35mm materials for the original cut of Rabid Dogs, but after delaying the release for over a year they had to be pragmatic: money had already been spent, they'd already lost a year of their licensing deal, and it made more sense to just get the damn thing out there in a mixture of HD and SD than it did to just sit on it until something turned up.

It would be pretty disappointing if, after all this wait, Le sang des bêtes doesn't make it to the final package. I held off on the Criterion Blu because the BFI looked more complete but since that short film is among my favourites, if it falls off the slate the Criterion looks more appealing even with all the BFI's other extras.

Damn, and I sold my Criterion the other week!

BFI have officially announced this for August but it IS missing Blood of the Beasts. Have to be thankful for small mercies as everything else seems as was.
http://shop.bfi.org.uk/eyes-without-a-f ... Yqyw-2qqkr" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hopefully it'll turn up elsewhere. I'd hate to have to buy both the BFI and Criterion "just" to own Blood of the Beasts.

It would be nice to believe that someone somewhere would issue Thomas l'Imposteur and include Blood, but I would have thought that it must be a rights issue that has stymied BFI so the same would apply for any UK based editor. Also Thomas seems to have missed the boat with WW1 centenary tie-ins so that seems like a unlikely prospect, more's the pity.

It's certainly a rights issue - materials wouldn't have been a problem with this film, what with a lovely HD master being available off the shelf.

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:BFI have officially announced this for August but it IS missing Blood of the Beasts. Have to be thankful for small mercies as everything else seems as was.
http://shop.bfi.org.uk/eyes-without-a-f ... Yqyw-2qqkr" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Aww man, we're going to buy this at our library BECAUSE of Blood of the Beasts. Well we'll buy it anyway but our VHS is dying!

DVD Beaver says image basically identical to Criterion.