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Surprise! Eureka release their namesake in a Dual Format Edition...

March 21st

rapta wrote:Surprise! Eureka release their namesake in a Dual Format Edition...

March 21st

I'll be purchasing this. I already have the Australian blu ray but suspect it is an upscale. Also this is bound to have extras. One of very my favourite Roeg films.

I can certainly confirm that it has extras.

I'll be honest--I was a little disappointed to see this was the Roeg instead of the Aoyama (though of course those rights are with Artificial Eye). To be fair, I haven't actually seen this film, though I have heard the Jim O'Rourke album!

Unlike Bad Timing and Insignificance, this is a Nicolas Roeg film that suffers from the casting of Theresa Russell - she's simply not up to delivering what is demanded of the role.

It's the worst Roeg film I've seen and wasn't worth the $3 I spent on the DVD, much less a Blu-Ray!

For me it was his last masterpiece and a worthy successor to the previous five masterpieces.
I hope the new release fixes the glitch that was on the Optimum DVD. One of the shots during the discovery of the gold didn't have the required "golden glow".

First time round I thought it was 1/3 masterpiece and 2/3 misfire.

Second time round those proportions were reversed.

So fingers crossed for the third time.

But regardless of the proportions, I do agree that this is the last all-stops-out Roeg film - with the possible exception of the underrated Puffball, everything after that was decidedly conservative by the standards he set himself in the Seventies.

I'm with the 2/3 masterpiece 1/3 misfire people, specifically the courtroom scene spelling out everything that Roeg had conveyed visually for the last 90 minutes or so.

Alex Thomson's cinematography is stunning so I'm certainly looking forward to seeing that on Blu-ray. I saw it originally in 35mm and that was a hard thing to achieve: after a brief run (which I wasn't able to get to as it coincided with my sitting my A-levels) it was withdrawn for over a year and was then only available in one print. By the time I got to see it (at the Scala, in a double bill with my only 35mm viewing of Walkabout) it had become damaged, with a 2-minute chunk missing from the opening credits.

While I like Insignificance (which I saw in the cinema on day one, at the Odeon Haymarket) and Castaway definitely has its moments (saw it twice, in Southampton: first time in a preview before the Kate Bush song was added to the opening credits) some fire went out in Roeg.

I was at the World Premiere of EUREKA at the NFT Feb 13th 1983. I too was enthralled for the first 2/3 until the protracted Court Room scene. The film opened in London on 5th May 1983 but was soon suppressed by Warner Bros who even withdrew the rental VHS and wouldn't let the BFI show the film in a Roeg retrospective. I managed to get hold of the VHS copy back then so I saw the film countless times during that time. I hold an affection for it even though I recognise that Roeg was on the decline at the time. The last time I saw it was at the BFI Southbank with Roeg in attendance and although the print wasn't pristine I still found there was much to love and admire. I'm delighted MOC are releasing it in HD, although the announced extras seem a little disappointing. There was a Southbank documentary on Hackman shot during the making of Eureka that could have been included, plus there's enough material for discussion concerning it's distribution suppression that ought to have been added. Still, looking forward to it.

MagicHour wrote:There was a Southbank documentary on Hackman shot during the making of Eureka that could have been included,

I'd love the subtext of that comment to be that you knew how to persuade ITV's commercial arm to license individual South Bank Shows as BD/DVD extras - because I've just failed to do precisely that on a different project, and I've hit a brick wall. So as far as I'm concerned, it couldn't have been included, at least according to ITV's current licensing policy.

But I understand that not all the Eureka extras have been revealed yet.

The BFI were able to snag one for their Herzog set.

BFI, probably, has a bigger infrastructure than Eureka and Arrow. Though of course Michael could have been talking about his BFI days.

swo17 wrote:The BFI were able to snag one for their Herzog set.

I'm fully aware of that, which is why I thought it was worth a try. But there's been a change of licensing policy since that deal was struck, and it's currently impossible to get around.

MichaelB wrote:

MagicHour wrote:There was a Southbank documentary on Hackman shot during the making of Eureka that could have been included,

I'd love the subtext of that comment to be that you knew how to persuade ITV's commercial arm to license individual South Bank Shows as BD/DVD extras - because I've just failed to do precisely that on a different project, and I've hit a brick wall. So as far as I'm concerned, it couldn't have been included, at least according to ITV's current licensing policy.

But I understand that not all the Eureka extras have been revealed yet.

Ok, maybe it was just a suggestion/wishful thinking - not knocking people's efforts as I know alot of work goes on behind the scenes to source and shoot extras, which are much appreciated, and it is good news that the announced Extras may not be the last word.
I remember Roeg giving a Guardian Lecture at the Eureka Premiere, which was televised; I wonder if that has/could be sourced?

MichaelB wrote:I'm fully aware of that, which is why I thought it was worth a try. But there's been a change of licensing policy since that deal was struck, and it's currently impossible to get around.

It used to be that ITV and the BBC would licence things abroad (to Criterion, for example) for peanuts, while it was very costly for UK labels. I wonder whether that's still the case re: foreign licensing?

peerpee wrote:It used to be that ITV and the BBC would licence things abroad (to Criterion, for example) for peanuts, while it was very costly for UK labels. I wonder whether that's still the case re: foreign licensing?

I suspect that probably is the case. In fact, I'm under the impression that Criterion doesn't even have to deal with ITV when licensing South Bank Shows, although that may be erroneous rumour. But within the UK, they're definitely in charge.

What's doubly frustrating is that I contacted the producer/director of the edition concerned, who told me that he'd love to see his work get another airing for the first time in over three decades. But he had no influence either.

(Which reminded me of the situation with Pawel Pawlikowski, who's been wanting his early documentaries released on DVD for years now, but he has no sway over the BBC, which funded and broadcast them and therefore owns them outright. He even told one label "can't you just release them and say they're director-approved?", but it doesn't work like that.)

I always wondered whether it would be possible to start a label on the Isle of Man (not part of the UK) and licence things just for a Manx audience (wink wink).

MagicHour wrote: The film opened in London on 5th May 1983 but was soon suppressed by Warner Bros who even withdrew the rental VHS and wouldn't let the BFI show the film in a Roeg retrospective. I managed to get hold of the VHS copy back then so I saw the film countless times during that time.

UIP actually, the then UK distributor for MGM/UA. I remember phoning them up when trying to book the film for the University Film Society. Only one print because it "wasn't a very popular film" but we couldn't get it because it was solidly booked up. The same then-damaged print I saw at the Scala. (We eventually showed it in 16mm - a pristine print but as I'd seen the film in 35mm I could tell the difference.)

If I'm remembering rightly, there had been showings at the Scala before the one I went to, advertising it as "a rare solid gold Nicolas Roeg movie" without the title, given that the film was officially withdrawn at the time. "A timely and fruitful surprise" was a Warner Bros film that the Scala showed, and we all know about that one!

I saw it at the Scala, but I don't remember any sneaky advertising - in fact, I'm pretty sure I went to see it because it was Eureka.

MichaelB wrote:I saw it at the Scala, but I don't remember any sneaky advertising - in fact, I'm pretty sure I went to see it because it was Eureka.

That was the case when I saw it - I suspect it had been unwithdrawn by then.

When it was shown on BBC2's Film Club, it had an excellent introduction by Nigel Andrews (then the Financial Times' film critic), with contributions by Nicolas Roeg and Paul Mayersberg. I imagine that this wouldn't be available for licensing either, unfortunately. The introduction was fairly substantial, running for about 15 minutes. Nigel Andrews was definitely in the 100% masterpiece camp, specifically including the courtroom scene. Nicolas Roeg blamed the film's suppression on Thatcherism, in that it clashed with the prevailing view that the acquisition of wealth was all that was needed to bring you happiness. Quite a lot was made of the quotes from Citizen Kane.

AidanKing wrote:When it was shown on BBC2's Film Club, it had an excellent introduction by Nigel Andrews (then the Financial Times' film critic), with contributions by Nicolas Roeg and Paul Mayersberg. I imagine that this wouldn't be available for licensing either, unfortunately.

No - sadly, BBC stuff is a write-off. Not because it's not licensable but because their fees are wildly unrealistlc.

Nigel Andrews is still the FT critic, incidentally - I think he's practically the last man standing when it comes to the old guard (a good definition of which is "people who reviewed Eureka when it first opened"!)

Shame the BBC fees are so unrealistic as it was a very good introduction.

Thanks for the info on Nigel Andrews. I've always enjoyed his writing and suspect I may not have been aware he's still there because I thought the FT had completely disappeared behind a paywall, whereas it looks as if you can still access the most recent articles online.

The specs have been announced via their Facebook page:

The Special Features for our release of EUREKA can be confirmed as: New, restored high-definition presentation | Subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing | Audio recording of Q&A with Nicolas Roeg at the world premiere | Exclusive new interviews with producer Jeremy Thomas, writer Paul Mayersberg and editor Tony Lawson | Isolated music & effects track | Theatrical trailer | PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by Daniel Bird, a reprinted interview with Roeg, an excerpt from Roeg’s autobiography and Robert W. Service’s poem The Spell of the Yukon.