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It's a guy wearing a hat

Top Hat (1935)?

Yup, that's it. They've colourised it and distorted the shape of the hat, but I see that that completely failed to throw you off the scent.

Can't fool me! I'd recognize Fred Astaire anywhere.

Given what Wong Kar-Wai's up to, we thought we'd jump on the revisionist bandwagon by releasing a colourised Top Hat with a totally different plot, actors and indeed title.

With the participation of Mark Sandrich's ghost — a completely different filmmaker now, with a new vision.

Pavel wrote: Thu Dec 03, 2020 11:05 am Can someone post the newsletter clue, it's not showing up for me? (Not that I'll have any idea where it's from, but still.)

The picture was apparently for Mad Dog Morgan (Philippe Mora, 1976) starring none other than Dennis Hopper and David Gulpilil.

They must have licensed it from Screenbound, so I'm wondering if they might license more Australian films such as Breaker Morant (Bruce Beresford, 1980), Manganinnie (John Honey, 1980), The Quest (Brian Trenchard-Smith, 1986), Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds (Alex Proyas, 1987), or The Interview (Craig Monahan, 1998).

Interesting new title for Top Hat Redux

rapta wrote: Thu Dec 03, 2020 11:04 pm

Pavel wrote: Thu Dec 03, 2020 11:05 am Can someone post the newsletter clue, it's not showing up for me? (Not that I'll have any idea where it's from, but still.)

The picture was apparently for Mad Dog Morgan (Philippe Mora, 1976) starring none other than Dennis Hopper and David Gulpilil.

They must have licensed it from Screenbound, so I'm wondering if they might license more Australian films such as Breaker Morant (Bruce Beresford, 1980), Manganinnie (John Honey, 1980), The Quest (Brian Trenchard-Smith, 1986), Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds (Alex Proyas, 1987), or The Interview (Craig Monahan, 1998).

You are making me salivate at the thought of some more underrated Aussie cinema! Man of Flowers (or ANY Paul Cox)? Last Days of Chez Nous
? (like Light Sleeper, Fine Line distributed that in the States).

It's kinda sad to think those two films are considered "underrated" outside Australia, but in 2020, most local cinema's fallen through the cracks it seems. Lots of people in Australia seem perfectly happy with local TV shows, but when it comes to cinema there's a weird aversion unless it's a comedy that leans on local stereotypes like The Castle or Muriel's Wedding. Oh, and Mad Max of course.

rapta wrote: Thu Dec 03, 2020 11:04 pmThey must have licensed it from Screenbound, so I'm wondering if they might license more Australian films such as Breaker Morant (Bruce Beresford, 1980), Manganinnie (John Honey, 1980), The Quest (Brian Trenchard-Smith, 1986), Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds (Alex Proyas, 1987), or The Interview (Craig Monahan, 1998).

I know they do good work but there are already perfectly fine BD editions of Breaker Morant (Criterion), The Quest (as 'Frog Dreaming' (Kino & Umbrella) & Spirits of the Air (Umbrella). Of course the same's true for Mad Dog Morgan, but I'm happy I never got around to buying the local release for that one. Hopefully they're able to at the least, port over all of those extras.

Most of Paul Cox's films are available through https://www.artfilms.com.au/item/paul-c ... collection.

The prices are prohibitive and I suspect they may be DVD-Rs. Sadly, Inside Looking Out (1977) is not available as it is in need of major restoration. I have no idea if the films have been restored or not but I suspect not.

They’re replicated discs so far as I know, and I imagine they’re all from existing masters. It’s more of an archival collection with schools & libraries in mind than a restoration/preservation effort. Still, I’ve been tempted more than once to contact them about whether the Private License cost is actually meant to be on a par with Universities.

An ad in the new issue of Sight & Sound shows covers for the following unannounced titles:

Corruption (1968)
The Chalk Garden
The Brute (1977)

MichaelB wrote: Fri Jan 08, 2021 1:55 pm There will still be some region-free releases going forward - in fact, I believe this is true of half of April's slate

Apologies if this has been touched on already, but is Indicator on a new schedule for announcements? I noticed Dec was on the first Thursday of the month per usual, and before that was the third week of Oct, so not sure if this is a six week rotation or just whatever Thursday winds up working for them each month. I understand if you can't comment on that, but it's always nice to have an expected timetable to look forward to, if so

It varies in my experience - I'm not involved in any way with setting the date, but I think the attitude is that if everything's ready to announce on the first Thursday, they go ahead, but if there's a question mark over one or more titles they delay a week. I don't know for certain if there'll be an announcement next week, but the April titles seem pretty much locked down now, so I'd say it's more likely than otherwise. But I can't stress enough that the only privileged information I have is that I know what these titles are (I've been subtitling them all this week, in fact) - other than that, I know as little as you do.

Thanks Michael, I know that you aren't privileged to all insider happenings, but that's helpful information about the pulse you have on their current attitude for announcements

I may be wrong, but I expect part of the reason it's different is that during the few months without releases due to COVID related stuff, Indicator shifted from announcing 2 months ahead to three months ahead (presumably meaning that more can go wrong, as 8 weeks out it's hard to believe the discs are not locked and preparing for distribution, meaning there is less room at that point for a sudden delay, so the announcements appear more consistent). It's possible I've made up this timeframe in my head though.

MichaelB wrote: Fri Jan 08, 2021 1:55 pmThere will still be some region-free releases going forward - in fact, I believe this is true of half of April's slate

Quick! Only a week to speculate which films these could be based on licensor! Maybe a ByNWR release? Film4?

April releases announced:
The Chalk Garden
Fatherland
Carla's Song
Irreversible

Newsletter clues. Top left corner is definitely the poster for "She Done Him Wrong".

Wow, She Done Him Wrong is very good news! The one on the top right is apparently The Shadow of the Cat, presumably in the next Hammer box set. Bottom left could be a noir?

Bottom left is apparently Sternberg's Thunderbolt (1929)

And bottom right is The People Next Door (1970). That was quick!

Pavel wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 10:45 am Bottom left is apparently Sternberg's Thunderbolt (1929)

Great! That's one Kino announcement that I won't have to import.

Hopefully Indicator give some consideration to getting Von Sternberg's debut, The Salvation Hunters, as an extra. It was restored a number of years ago by UCLA Film & Television Archive and released on DVD by Edition Filmmuseum but it would be great to get it on Blu.

I will look out for Thunderbolt and drop Scorpion's upcoming release of The People Next Door from my wishlist to make room for Indicator's!

I wonder what the theme of the sixth Hammer box will be. This might be a stretch, but could it be "animals?" I'm not well-versed in Hammer's filmography, but I do know they produced The Abominable Snowman, which also features a killer animal/beast.