Limited O-Card Slipcase [2000 copies]
1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a restoration undertaken by the Cohen Film Collection from a first generation nitrate print
Score by Andrew Earle Simpson (presented in uncompressed LPCM stereo)
Brand new audio commentary with film historian and writer David Kalat
Brand new video essay by David Cairns
Complete alternate version of The Saphead, comprised entirely of variant takes and camera angles
A Pair of Sapheads – featurette comparing the two versions of the film
The Scribe (1966, dir. John Sebert) [29 mins] – In his last film role—produced to promote Construction site safety—Keaton plays a janitor who in his attempt to educate workers on safe practices, causes more accidents than he prevents
Previously unheard audio commentary on The Scribe with director John Sebert (recorded before his death in 2015) and writer / silent cinema aficionado Chris Seguin
Buster Keaton in conversation with Kevin Brownlow – a 2-hour audio interview with Keaton and film historian Kevin Brownlow from 1964
1958 Buster Keaton Interview [90 mins]
A collector’s booklet featuring new essays by journalist Philip Kemp and film writer Imogen Sara Smith, as well as an appreciation of The Saphead by film writer Eileen Whitfield
***All Extras Subject to Change***
As with the BFI's Atoll K, and for much the same reason, they've really pulled out all the stops to make sure that the extras are worth the purchase price on their own.
I suspect it worked better as the stage play that it originally was. It's perfectly amiable, but aside from a brief moment in a climactic Stock Exchange scrummage that makes at least fitful use of Keaton's extraordinary physical gifts, pretty much any halfway competent actor of a similar age could have played the title role equally well.
But the fact that the extras really do seem to be exceptionally good strongly suggests that Eureka is well aware of this. Put it like this: I'm buying it even though I already have The Saphead on Blu-ray and no particular enthusiasm for watching it again!
