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Hawks and Sparrows



One of the handful of films that found Pier Paolo Pasolini sustaining a merrier mode of cultural assault, Hawks and Sparrows [Uccellacci e uccellini] features Italy’s popular comic actor Totò (known to cinephiles as the star of Roberto Rossellini’s Dov’è la liberta…?) and Pasolini regular Ninetto Davoli in a picaresque fable that lampoons politics, religion, and the legacy of neorealism.

A crow gifted with the power of speech accompanies wandering duo Totò and Ninetto on a trail that leads to their roles as Franciscan friars who preach to the literal “hawks and sparrows”, before returning in time to gaze upon slum-dwellers, Danteist dentists, itinerant actor-hippies, and, ultimately, the state of the modern world.

Featuring a score by the legendary Ennio Morricone, Pasolini’s anarchic comedy remains a time-capsule of the giddy tensions torqued by the dawn of the late Sixties. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Hawks and Sparrows in a special DVD edition from a new HD master.

SPECIAL DVD EDITION

• New high-definition transfer in the film’s original aspect ratio
• Original Italian theatrical trailer
• Newly translated optional English subtitles
• 28-PAGE BOOKLET featuring a new essay on the film by critic and scholar Pasquale Iannone; a 1969 interview by Oswald Stack with the director about the film; a new English translation by Iannone of a 1974 interview with Pasolini discussing the film’s star Totò; and rare archival imagery.


Pigsty



Decades on from its release, and featuring an all-star cast that includes Jean-Pierre Léaud, Anne Wiazemsky, Franco Citti, Pierre Clémenti, and Marco Ferreri, Pigsty [Porcile] remains one of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s most controversial and wilfully provocative works – a deranged parody of cinema as revolutionary act.

It comprises parallel stories: (1) Clémenti and Citti as cannibalistic savages who rampage a world outside of any distinct time or place, and who push against the boundaries of human morality; (2) Godard-regulars Léaud and Wiazemsky as a romantically engaged couple in a contemporary Germany painted as a morass of industrialisation, fascist impulse, and bestial instincts.

Rivalled only by the director’s Salò in its obsession with the politics of bourgeois degradation, Pigsty continues to challenge and enlarge the notions of what makes for “a political film” and what is meant by “a Pasolini film”. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the nightmarish Pigsty in a special DVD edition from a new HD master.

SPECIAL DVD EDITION

• New high-definition transfer in the film’s original aspect ratio
• Original Italian theatrical trailer
• Newly translated optional English
• 20-PAGE BOOKLET featuring a new essay on the film by critic and scholar Pasquale Iannone; a 1969 note on the film by Pasolini circulated at the Venice première; an extract from a 1969 interview by Gian Piero Brunetta with Pasolini; and rare archival imagery.

DVD only? Pass.

Glad I didn't unload my Tartan set now

domino harvey wrote:Glad I didn't unload my Tartan set now

What's the reason behind that? The additional shorts?

The shorts should be a reason to stick with the Tartans. "Le mura di Sana'a " is available elsewhere, but "Appunti per un film sull'India" is a great film which is only on the Tartan set in an English-friendly version, and with 33 minutes it's even pretty substantial lengthwise. Really strange that MoC apparently don't include it on the "Oedipus Rex" disc where it would fit best perhaps. And as far as SD transfers go, the Tartan set was pretty good, too.

Of course for those of us who never had the opportunity to pick up the Tartan set this is still a pretty reasonable deal. Would have loved to see the shorts though.

Darn, wish I hadn't sold the Tartan set now due to the loss of Appunti per un film sull'India

Tommaso wrote:The shorts should be a reason to stick with the Tartans. "Le mura di Sana'a " is available elsewhere, but "Appunti per un film sull'India" is a great film which is only on the Tartan set in an English-friendly version, and with 33 minutes it's even pretty substantial lengthwise. Really strange that MoC apparently don't include it on the "Oedipus Rex" disc where it would fit best perhaps. And as far as SD transfers go, the Tartan set was pretty good, too.

Yeah, Le mura di Sana'a is on the Raro US dvd of La rabbia, which is a great overall package - and on the Raro Italy DVD of Medea. It'd be really good to see Appunti per un film sull'India turn up on one of these releases.

Really hoping these aren't the final specs for Pasolinis and there is some stuff to be added.

Interesting article just posted on Rosenbaum's site about the language difficulties on Porcile. http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?cat=9url

That's an interesting review, as many of the problems Rosenbaum identifies with the film seem to me deliberate strategies and strengths. It's a film that makes a conscious split between showing (the ancient story) and telling (the modern story), so the way language is used in the film is absolutely central. The film wouldn't have the same dialectical tension if the major actions in the modern story happened on screen: that's the arena in which horrific actions are deferred, sanitized and neutralized by language, and we're supposed to be put in mind of ALL of the horrors that modern capitalism keeps off-screen, not just the ones that immediately impinge on this particular set of characters. The whiff of slaughterhouses and concentration camps couldn't be made much clearer.

It's a bold scheme for Pasolini to adopt, and you can take issue with the way it's executed, but it's always seemed crystal clear to me why he makes these odd decisions with this particular film, and I think they really deliver in terms of presenting a clear and provocative thesis.

Are the transfers of these films, and Uccellacci e uccellini in particular, from new restorations and transfers in the last year or two, or is this new as in not seen in Britain before? I'm just wondering if it's going to look better than the current Italian offering?

Booklet details added to first post.

Beaver on Hawks and Sparrows and Pigsty

As much as like the MoC series, I can't really see the point of an upgrade unless it was bluray.

I didn't have the Tartan so I've kept Porcile pre-ordered and I'm going to go for the Italian Uccellacci e uccellini instead, which has some nice extras.

TMDaines wrote:... I'm going to go for the Italian Uccellacci e uccellini instead, which has some nice extras.

Does it have English subs? I'm interested too.

Nope.

Is there any place (english or italian) that has all of the magazine articles Pasolini wrote in prepping Hawks and Sparrows?

When these were relegated to DVD only, the inferiority of the masters was blamed, so I wonder if these are new transfers. Either way, releasing them as a twofer is definitely the right way to go. This now just leaves the strangely absent Mamma Roma as the only Pasolini feature to not receive a Blu-ray release.

Will upgrade at some point, depending on how many this is limited to and whether I can shift my copy of Hawks & Sparrows (which I should've kept sealed really). I had an inkling these two might get upgraded, but I thought they'd be part of a box set and wasn't sure they'd upgrade them to Blu-ray. Be interested to hear if they're new transfers.

Great news! Dare I hope for some shorts to be added, such as the two other Totò/Davoli pairings La terra vista dalla luna and Che cosa sono le nuvole?

Hawks and Sparrows & Pigsty.....Beaver

Quite surprised that with only 1500 copies this hasn't, seemingly, come close to being sold out yet. It's incredible value for money and are both absolutely wonderful.

Is Mamma Roma the only Pasolini full length we don't have yet in the UK? I picked up the BFI boxset for £25 which is practically giving it away for such marquee releases of such landmar works.

Davy Gallagher wrote:Quite surprised that with only 1500 copies this hasn't, seemingly, come close to being sold out yet. It's incredible value for money and are both absolutely wonderful.

I'm not the tiniest bit surprised. By any yardstick this is a seriously niche release, which is why Eureka was so hesitant to do it - and they'd have been privy to the DVD sales figures, of course.

Is Mamma Roma the only Pasolini full length we don't have yet in the UK?

I think so - that's the only one not represented by Eureka or the BFI. (Mr Bongo had it last, and may still have the UK rights.)