Studiocanal To release Joseph Losey's The Servant,Accident, Entertaining Mr Sloane

restorations and theatrical re-releases of British classics. March 22 will see a beautifully restored release of Joseph Losey's THE SERVANT for its 50th anniversary. Scripted by Harold Pinter (their first collaboration) and starring Dirk Bogarde and James Fox, it will be screening at selected London cinemas.

A disturbing tale of seduction, sexual and social tension and psychological control, THE SERVANT is a stunning dissection of two men, the wealthy young playboy Tony (James Fox) and his new manservant, Barrett (Dirk Bogarde), and the shifting power dynamic in their initially cosy but progressively more fraught relationship. Winner of three BAFTA awards, it is still recognised as one of the best portraits of British class warfare ever committed to screen.

April 8 will see the Home Entertainment release, on DVD, and as the latest Studiocanal Collection Blu-ray - its first ever blu-ray release. Newly created extras include award winning director Richard Ayoade interviewing James Fox, a new interview with Stephen Wooley, a leading fan of the film and new featurettes. The SCC blu-ray will come in the usual exclusive packaging with newly created booklet

Also April 8, STUDIOCANAL will be releasing the second Losey/Pinter collaboration - ACCIDENT, in a new restoration completed by the BFI and also as a blu-ray premiere. New featurettes with film critics and experts have also been created for the extras.

Rounding out the week's releases will be our DVD release of ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE, the film version of Joe Orton's black comedy starring Harry Andrews and Beryl reed, focusing on the brother and sister pairing who become involved and increasingly infatuated with the sexy young amoral drifter with a mysterious past. The DVD features a new extra of Joe Orton;s last ever chat show appearance, recorded a few months before his tragic death.

8 APRIL THE SERVANT – 50th Anniversary DVD, Studiocanal Collection Blu-Ray& EST

Tony (James Fox), a wealthy young Londoner, hires Hugo Barrett (Dirk Bogarde) as his manservant. Initially, Barrett appears to take easily to his new job, and he and Tony form a quiet bond, retaining their social roles. Relationships begin shifting, however, and they change with the introduction of Susan (Wendy Craig), Tony's girlfriend, who seems to be suspicious of Barrett and to loathe all he represents. Barrett brings Vera (Sarah Miles), whom he presents as his sister, into Tony's household as a maidservant, but it emerges that Vera is actually Barrett's lover. Through Barrett's and Vera's games and machinations, they reverse roles with Tony and Susan; Tony becomes more and more dissipated, sinking further into what he perceives as their level, as the "master" and the "servant" exchange roles

DVD extras: James Fox interviewed by Richard Ayoade / Interview with Wendy Craig / Interview with Sarah Miles / Audio interview with Douglas Slocombe (Director of photography) / Harold Pinter Tempo interview / Joseph Losey talks about The Servant / Stills gallery / Trailer

Blu-ray extras: As above plus Interview with Stephen Wooley (fan of the film) /Harry Burton (Pinter expert) on Harold Pinter / Joseph Losey and Adolfas Mekas at the New York film festival / John Coldstream (Bogarde biographer) on Dirk Bogarde

Buy The Servant On: DVD / Blu-ray

8 APRIL ACCIDENT- DVD, Blu-Ray & EST

The second of director Joseph Losey’s collaborations with playwright Harold Pinter, The Accident is a taut, dark, brilliantly acted dissection of the emotional lives of the English intelligentsia. Dirk Bogarde stars as Stephen, an Oxford Philosophy lecturer, contentedly married to Rosalind but silently resentful of his colleague Charley, whose star is rising as a TV pundit. Among Stephen's students is the casually charming young aristocrat William (Michael York) who has his eye on another of Stephen's charges, Austrian princess Anna (Jacqueline Sassard). Motivated by a dangerous mixture of admiration and envy, Stephen facilitates a meeting between William and Anna. But Stephen's gently magnanimous demeanour conceals a rising tide of anxiety, self-centredness and sexual desperation. Over the course of one drink-drenched summer afternoon in the rolling English countryside, Stephen and Charley's unspoken impulses - charged up by the seductive presence of Anna - break the veneer of English civility

Extras: Talking About Accident documentary featuring an interview with Harry Pinter / · Joseph Losey and Harold Pinter discuss Accident (1957) / Dirk Bogarde biographer John Coldstream discussing Dirk Bogarde – NEW / Harry Pinter expert Harry Burton discussing Harold Pinter – NEW / Interview with feminist author and academic Melanie Williams – NEW / Interview with film critic Tim Robey – NEW

Buy Accident - DVD

8 APRIL ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE- DVD Only

A deliciously dark and humorous story about manipulation and repressed sexuality from controversial playwright Joe Orton. An attractive young charmer by the name of Mr. Sloane weasels his way into the lives of a middle-aged brother and sister, while trying to disguise the truth about his unpleasant past. Sexual tension drives the plot from the very beginning, when the lonely Kath (Beryl Reid) spots Mr. Sloane (Peter McEnery) in a cemetery and invites him to become a boarder. Despite the age difference, Sloane coyly plays along with her flirtations for his own benefit. Their fun seems over when Kath's brother Ed (Harry Andrews) shows up, but the prim and proper gentleman also takes a shine to Sloane, hiring him as his chauffeur and taking particular interest in the young man's tight leather uniform. Kath and Ed's elderly father, however, develops a strong hatred of Sloane, and accuses to him of being involved in an old, unsolved murder.

Buy Entertaining Mr Sloane - DVD

Extras: Eamonn Andrews talks with Joe Orton (Eamonn Andrews chat show episode) / trailer

Orson Welles The Trial Blu-Ray Review

★★★★1/2

Orson Welles’ The Trial was his penultimate feature length film. His last proved to be Falstaff : Chimes at Midnight but there are fragments of unfinished films such Don Quixote floating about.The Trial is a radical adaptation of Franz Kafka’s novel which itself was a radical novel, he changes the book’s already fragmented order up and changes the ending. Welles was offered the chance to make any film from a public domain source by the producer Alexander Salkindso and Welles eventually picked The Trial partly due his son’s insistence and after he re-read it. However he later found it wasn’t in public domain at that time (it now is) but the producer and Welles decided to continue with the project.

The plot is relatively simple Josef K. (played brilliantly by Anthony Perkins) is woken in his apartment by some police officers who arrest him for a crime he is accused of committing, however he is never told of his offence. This starts a increasing downward spiral for Josef K. and increasing surreal events.

Anthony Perkins gives a brilliant nervous wreck of a performance at Josef K. It also really shows his really underused acting talent that sadly few films showed Psycho and On The Beach are the only others that come to mind. The film has a extra level of surrealism by the fact Orson Welles dubbed a lot of characters himself (which he also did in some other films) and the blu-ray makes it a lot more obvious with some dubbing noticeably out of synch at times. Orson himself has a supporting role as a strange law advocate and it seems like Welles redubbed his lines in adr. It also stars French star Jeanne Moreau as Josef’s neighbour.

 The film’s cinematography and sets’ are best Welles did since Citizen Kane with the exception of THAT tracking shot in Touch of Evil and that’s saying something! The film was mostly shot in Croatia (not Kafka’s native Czech Republic) and a lot of the sets weren’t sets at all but strange surreal futuristic buildings in the city of Zagreb.

The film’s structure is fragmented which is partly due to the novel’s structure. The film’s pacing is slightly off which is annoying at times but the film’s quality overcomes this. However it could probably loose about 15 minutes off it’s running time. Overall it’s one of the most flawed masterpieces to be made, which was partly because it’s financial limitations. However Welles’ inventiveness makes a it’s one of his most fascinating films in a career of fascination. It also boosts a stunning performance from Anthony Perkins who deserved a lot more juicy parts in his career. It is also worth noting that Welles believed Josef was guilty but you can make your own mind u[.

Ian Schultz

Rating:PG
Blu Ray Release Date: 10th September 2012 (UK)
Directed by:Orson Welles
Cast:Anthony Perkins, Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli, Orson Welles

That Obscure Object of Desire Blu-Ray Review

★★★★★

That Obscure Object of Desire was Luis Buñuel’s last film in 1977 after a very long career. His career started in 1929 with the classic surrealistic short film Un Chien Andalou. That Obscure… was one of his most critically successful films where it got nominated for numerous awards including a Oscar noms for “Best Foreign Language Film” and “Best Adapted Screenplay”. It stars Fernando Rey who worked frequently with Buñuel during the 60s and 70s. It was also based on the novel “The Women and the Puppet” by Pierre Louÿs which has been adapted many times to film, That Obscure… was the 5^th and final to date.

It tells the story of a middle age wealthy French man Mathieu (Fernando Way) and meets Conchita (played by both Carole Bouquet AND Ángela Molina). They start a dysfunctional romance to say the least against the backdrop of terrorist bombings in France and Spain. The film starts with Mathieu getting on a train, Conchita is running towards the train and he pays a train worker to get a bucket of water and he dumps it on her and he believes their relationship is finished but she sneaks on.

Mathieu meets a group of people a midget, a friend of cousin, a mother and her daughter on the train. He tells them his’ story of their extremely complicated relationship.  The flashbacks consist of Mathieu trying to screw Conchita (who claims to be a Virgin) and failing miserably by escalating absurd reasons why they can’t have sex and the reasons and at one point she wears a pair of tightly laced canvas shorts to protect her groin region.

The film as always expected with Buñuel is a wonderfully twisted satire on the Bourgeoisie, Religion, Sex and Politics. It’s rip roaringly funny as places and one of the most astute films on the games women play on men. Fernando Ray is great even though his lines are actually dubbed by Michael Piccoli but his sense of being madly in love, frustration and despair is obvious despite this. Carole Bouquet and Ángela Molina are also great as Conchita, the beautiful but totally wicked girl of his dreams.

The film is also one of his least surreal films. However it’s got very subtle surrealist touches such as the randomness of a dwarf in Michael’s train cabin, the use of 2 actresses, a woman carrying a pig like a baby.

It’s a wonderfully twisted end of the career of one cinema’s true artists and originals. It may not be the best starting point for a new person to Buñuel (something like The Exterminating Angel would be more fitting). I think any man can relate to the Mathieu and it’s a true classic at this point. It has been recently reissued as part of the StudioCanal collection on Blu-Ray.

Ian Schultz

Rating:18
Re-release Blu-Ray: 10th September 2012 (UK)
Directed by:Luis Buñuel
Cast: Fernando Rey, Carole Bouquet, Julien Bertheau, 

Studio Canal Announces This Year's Titles For It's 'Studio Canal Collection'

StudioCanal have announced the films that will make up this year's 'StudioCanal Collection' the series that aims to revisit some of the most iconic films from Studiocanal's  back catalogue of over 5,000 titles.

For those of you who don't know, the StudioCanal Collection is a series of acclaimed and influential films on Blu-ray with unique special features and accompanying booklets, available in HD so as to present the best possible picture and sound quality. This year's classic films will be Orson Welles The Trial,Luis Buneul's  That Obscure Object of Desire and Marcel Carne's  Le Quai Des Brumes (Port Of Shadows).

THE TRIAL

Based on the influential Franz Kafka novel, THE TRIAL is a paranoid masterpiece directed by Orson Welles (Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil). Josef K (Anthony Perkins – Psycho) is arrested, but has no idea what crime he is accused of. In order to find out what offence he is meant to have committed, and to protest his innocence, Josef K must go through the machinations of the judicial system, but he soon finds himself trapped in a dehumanised nightmare.
  
Extras: 
Welles, Kafka and The Trial documentary
Welles, Architect of Light documentary
Tempo Profile: Orson Welles
Interview with Steven Berkoff (actor, playwright) - adaptations of Kakfa's The Trial andMetamorphosis
Deleted Scene
Trailer
Booklet on the movie written by Jonathan Rosenbaum, film critic and author of Discovering Orson Welles (2007), the editor of This Is Orson Welles  (1998) and consultant on the 1998 re-edit ofTouch Of Evil. 

THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE

Adapted from Pierre Louÿs' 1898 novel 'La Femme et le Pantin', THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE marked Buñuel's final film. Recounted in flashback to a group of railway travellers, the story wryly details the romantic perils of Mathieu (Buñuel favourite Fernando Rey), a wealthy middle-aged French sophisticate who falls desperately in love with his 19-year-old former chambermaid Conchita (Carole Bouquet). Thus begins a surreal game of sexual cat-and-mouse, with Mathieu obsessively attempting to win the girl's affections as she manipulates his carnal desires, each vying to gain absolute control of the other.

Extras: 
Arbitrary Desire (Interview with Jean-Claude Carrière)
Interview with Carlos Saura
Double Dames (Interview with Carole Bouquet and Angela Molina)
A portrait if Luis Buñuel (Interview with Pierre Lary and Edmond Richard)

QUAI DES BRUMES

Le QUAI DES BRUMES is Marcel Carné's controversial adaptation of the Pierre Mac Orlan novel of the same name, today regarded as one of the greatest French classical movies. Jean (Jean Gabin), a deserter, arrives in Le Havre and looks for a shelter before leaving the French territory. Housed in a shed on the harbour, at the end of the docks, he meets an eccentric painter (Michel Simon) and a mysterious and beautiful girls called Nelly (Michele Morgan)… From then on he will be trapped in a tragic destiny, in spite of his passion for Nelly and his will to live…

Extras: 
On The Port Of Shadows
Introduction to Quai Des Brumes by Ginette Vincendeau, Professor and Film Critic
Restoring Quai Des Brumes
Booklet on the movie written by Ginette Vincendeau, Professor and Film Critic.