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Posted: **Wed Oct 08, 2014 3:48 pm**

It’s the engagement party for brilliant young Dr Henry Jekyll (Udo Kier) and his fiancée, the beautiful Fanny Osbourne (Marina Pierro), attended by various pillars of Victorian society, including the astonishing Patrick Magee in one of his final roles. But when people are found raped and murdered outside and ultimately inside the house, it becomes clear that a madman has broken in to disrupt the festivities – but who is he? And why does Dr Jekyll keep sneaking off to his laboratory?

We know the answer, of course, but Walerian Borowczyk’s visually stunning adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s much-filmed tale is crammed with wildly imaginative and outrageously perverse touches characteristic of the man who scandalised audiences with Immoral Tales and The Beast, not least the explicitly sexualised nature of Mr Hyde’s primal urges.

CONTENTS

Brand new 2K restoration, scanned from the original camera negative and supervised by cinematographer Noël Véry
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the film, released on both formats for the first time anywhere in the world
English and French soundtracks in LPCM 1.0
Optional English and English SDH subtitles
Introduction by critic and long-term Borowczyk fan Michael Brooke
Audio commentary featuring archival interviews with Walerian Borowczyk, Udo Kier, Marina Pierro and producer Robert Kuperberg
New interviews with cinematographer Noël Véry, editor Khadicha Bariha, assistant Michael Levy and filmmaker Noël Simsolo, moderated by Daniel Bird
Brand new interviews with Udo Kier and Marina Pierro
Himorogi (2012), a short film by Marina and Alessio Pierro, made in homage to Borowczyk
Interview with artist and filmmaker Alessio Pierro
Phantasmagoria of the Interior, a video essay on Borowczyk’s Dr Jekyll Adrian Martin and Cristina Álvarez López
Eyes That Listen, a featurette on Borowczyk’s collaborations with electro-acoustic composer Bernard Parmegiani
Happy Toy (1979), a short film by Borowczyk inspired by Charles-Émile Reynaud’s praxinoscope
Interview with Sarah Mallinson, former assistant to Borowczyk and fellow animator Peter Foldes
Returning to Méliès: Borowczyk and Early Cinema, a featurette by Daniel Bird
Theatrical trailer with optional commentary by editor Khadicha Bariha
Reversible sleeve with artwork based on Borowczyk’s own poster design
Illustrated booklet with new writing on the film by Daniel Bird and archive pieces by Walerian Borowczyk and André Pieyre de Mandiargues

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Yes, it's happening - Walerian Borowczyk's last truly great film, the legendary Robert Louis Stevenson adaptation that's about as close to a perfect definition of a film maudit as I can think of, is finally getting the full Arrow treatment.

Although it's been unavailable outside rare festival screenings for decades and never previously released on DVD (VHS-sourced bootlegs aside), never mind Blu-ray, we've managed to get our hands on the original camera negative (which had been sitting in a French lab vault minding its business while the film got entangled in a complicated rights mire), and it'll be getting the full James White restoration treatment - of necessity, since there are no video masters in existence that are even remotely suitable for Arrow's purposes.

That's all I can confirm for now, except to say that it'll be an absolutely stacked special edition - Daniel Bird is already working hard on the extras, virtually all of which are being created specifically for this release. And it'll be coming out in both the UK and North America.

Oh, and for the first time ever, it's being released under Borowczyk's original title - he lost a battle with producers who preferred to call it by the teasing but essentially nonsensical Docteur Jekyll et les femmes, and while it's had umpteen titles since then, nobody ever saw fit to restore the director's first choice. I daresay it was considered less marketably lurid than Bloodbath of Dr Jekyll, Bloodlust or The Experiment.

Posted: **Wed Oct 08, 2014 4:13 pm**

I pitched $25 to the campaign. Capslock-in-real-life excited, here.

Posted: **Wed Oct 08, 2014 5:49 pm**

Can you run through the process of how the rights were obtained? I believe it's always been a bit of a nightmare for this film.

Posted: **Wed Oct 08, 2014 5:54 pm**

MichaelB wrote:In a nutshell, a lot of badgering and arm-twisting, for which Daniel Bird and Francesco Simeoni must take all the credit. Even as recently as a few months ago, I never believed this would actually happen, and the contract was only signed yesterday.

Posted: **Wed Oct 08, 2014 7:24 pm**

Amazing news. I have to say, when Arrow claimed a few days ago that they had more Borowczyk planned, there was a part of me that really felt they might be able to get the rights to this one now, especially considering the positive coverage of their recent Boro box set. (I would have love to have been a fly on the wall during the negotiation process!) Glad I held off on watching that horrible, sub-VHS transfer on YouTube.

The question now is, which Borowczyk film will Arrow try to release next?

Posted: **Wed Oct 08, 2014 7:38 pm**

WooHoo!

Posted: **Thu Oct 09, 2014 2:06 am**

I should have asked both of these questions in my initial post...

Out of curiosity, are there other Borowczyk titles in similar rights entanglements as this one was? Also, chronologically speaking, is everything after Dr. Jekyll pretty disposable and not worth releasing?

Posted: **Thu Oct 09, 2014 6:14 am**

Love Rites was a partial return to form, but both The Art of Love and Emmanuelle 5 are pretty wretched. Arrow doesn't have plans for any of them.

Posted: **Thu Oct 09, 2014 9:25 am**

So does the announcement of this as, I assume, an individual title, mean that future Borowczyk titles will receive individual releases over a second boxset?

Posted: **Thu Oct 09, 2014 10:05 am**

Would La Marge fall into the Arrow Academy bracket if released? Must admit I'm a little disappointed The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne won't be on the Academy label, though I realise the subject matter deems it to be in the Arrow Video remit. It's purely for the design & overall presentation really.

Genuinely excited and grateful for the chance to see this.

Posted: **Thu Oct 09, 2014 10:35 am**

olmo wrote:Would La Marge fall into the Arrow Academy bracket if released? Must admit I'm a little disappointed The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne won't be on the Academy label, though I realise the subject matter deems it to be in the Arrow Video remit. It's purely for the design & overall presentation really.

There was never any chance of this being an Academy release. Partly, as you acknowledge, for the subject matter - but mostly because Arrow Academy isn't launching in the US, and this title is forming a key plank of Arrow Video's campaign. (It certainly seems to be the one that's exciting people the most: pledges to the Indiegogo campaign shot up since it was announced yesterday.)

I would assume that with the possible exception of Story of Sin (assuming that's ever going to become available to us), all other post-'75 Borowczyk titles would be deemed to be more Arrow Video than Arrow Academy.

Although, that said, curatorial standards will remain identical to those displayed on the earlier Borowczyk releases, with the same people responsible for overseeing/creating both the disc and the booklet. Some exclusive interviews are already in the can, with others due to be filmed over the next few weeks, and not all the extras will be specifically Jekyll-related - there's some fascinating contextual stuff that's more relevant to this part of his career than it was to the 1959-75 period covered by the box set. (The box set, happily, is unlocking quite a few doors for the Jekyll project, by making it clear that this release will be very different from the previous luridly exploitative ones.)

Posted: **Thu Oct 09, 2014 11:19 am**

With the superb job on the Camera Obscura collection I can only imagine it would 'unlock doors', and the currency on which Arrow could exploit (in the nicest sense) Borowczyk's later catalogue perhaps.

It was a sound investment in more ways than one. Here's to more.

Posted: **Thu Oct 09, 2014 12:44 pm**

Great news. I'm very eager to revisit a film I haven't seen since it's initial release.

I hope Lulu is being considered.

Posted: **Wed Oct 22, 2014 4:34 pm**

Dear Michael,
This is good news, indeed. I heard that some of the former vhs tapes of Dr. Jekyll were cut. I guess, that this will be the Director´s Cut of the movie, right? Do you have any information about the missing scenes?

Posted: **Wed Oct 22, 2014 4:38 pm**

Nobody knows anything until the 35mm materials have been properly examined, which I daresay hasn't happened in decades.

But as far as I'm aware there's only ever been one Borowczyk-approved cut of the film (albeit without the title of his choice) - anything shorter will have been censored by someone (BBFC, distributors, etc.)

Posted: **Wed Oct 22, 2014 5:16 pm**

Many thanks, dear Michael. I just found an interesting section on imdb concerning the alternate versions of the movie and the missing scenes known so far:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082272/alt ... t_ql_trv_5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Posted: **Wed Oct 22, 2014 5:23 pm**

All I can say at this stage is that we're going back to the original camera negative. So if the material's in there, it'll be in the restoration. (But we do know what to look out for!).

Posted: **Mon Jan 05, 2015 9:35 pm**

Dear Michael,
Are there any news concerning the original camera negative and the restoration process of Dr. Jekyll?
Many thanks,
Ron

Posted: **Mon Jan 05, 2015 9:37 pm**

Everything's going entirely according to plan.

Posted: **Mon Jan 05, 2015 9:53 pm**

/jinx

Posted: **Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:30 am**

Don't worry - it's all well in hand, the 35mm materials have been examined, the extensive extras are at an advanced stage of development, and everything's bang on schedule. All the signs are that I'm going to be very, very proud to have my name on this release.

Although I'll be intrigued to see what the final version looks like in HD, because it seems that Borowczyk went to some fairly extreme lengths, including chemical treatment of certain portions of the camera negative, to create a highly diffused image. There's no question that this was deliberate, and that Arrow's restoration will reproduce the film exactly as he intended it to look (original cinematographer Noël Véry is coming to London next week to help us ensure that this is the case), but I suspect people like the numpty who gave Arrow's state-of-the-art restoration of White of the Eye just 3/10 for "picture quality" on the grounds that he didn't like the (intentionally) heavy grain and high contrast of the flashback scenes won't be too keen on this one either.

But I certainly will be - I can't wait to see a non-VHS-sourced version for the first time in thirty years.

Posted: **Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:15 pm**

Many thanks for the information, dear Michael. I'm sorry to bother you with hasty questions, but could you please tell us if the missing scenes of the VHS tapes are intact in the negative?

Posted: **Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:40 pm**

MichaelB wrote: Borowczyk went to some fairly extreme lengths, including chemical treatment of certain portions of the camera negative, to create a highly diffused image. There's no question that this was deliberate, and that Arrow's restoration will reproduce the film exactly as he intended it to look (original cinematographer Noël Véry is coming to London next week to help us ensure that this is the case),

That's all anyone can ask for!
I'm getting excited.

Posted: **Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:55 pm**

Ron wrote:Many thanks for the information, dear Michael. I'm sorry to bother you with hasty questions, but could you please tell us if the missing scenes of the VHS tapes are intact in the negative?

The scan hasn't had a complete run-through yet, but I'd be astonished and alarmed if it wasn't completely intact. You don't cut the original camera negative just to respect the wishes of a single-territory censor board in a different country from where the film was made!

As I said earlier, we know what to look out for (quite hard to miss in some cases...).

Koukol wrote:That's all anyone can ask for!
I'm getting excited.

So am I! And yes, the great thing about working directly from the negative and having the cinematographer involved is that this really will look as good and as accurate as it's possible to get while bearing in mind the differences between 35mm and 1080p as recording media. And if it isn't absolutely pin-sharp... well, it never was, and was never intended to be.

Posted: **Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:48 pm**

MichaelB wrote:Everything's going entirely according to plan.

Rare picture of Michael at the Arrow offices:

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