Arrow Academy hatches THE SERPENT'S EGG (review)

When Ingmar Bergman ran into tax problems in his native Sweden, he headed west and ended up in Germany where Dino De Laurentiis gave him the money to make the film he wanted, and this big-budgeted tale of 1920s Berlin follows American acrobat Abel as he investigates the mysterious suicide of his brother which might be related to a series of bizarre deaths.  Liv Ullmann and Gert Froebe also star.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy (US/UK) Region A/B Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

THE SERPENT'S EGG Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by actor David Carradine
• "Bergman's Egg" appreciation by author Barry Foreshaw
• "Away From Home" archival featurette with actors Liv Ullmann and David Carradine
• "German Expressionism" archival interview with author Marc Gervais
• Image Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring two artwork choices
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: an illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by author Geoffrey Macnab.

Arrow Academy is invited to GOSFORD PARK (review)

The guests of  weekend shooting party have a date with murder in GOSFORD PARK, Robert Altman's take on the British murder mystery featuring a top-tier cast including Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Clive Owen, James Wilby, Charles Dance, Helen Mirren, Eileen Atkins, Emily Watson, Jeremy Northam, and more.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy (US) Region A/B Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

GOSFORD PARK Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary with director Robert Altman, production designer Stephen Altman, and producer David Levy
• Audio Commentary with screenwriter Julian Fellowes
• Audio Commentary with critics David Thompson and Geoff Andrew
• "Executive Service" interview with executive producer Jane Barclay
• "Acting Upper Class" interview with actor Natasha Wightman
• "The Making of Gosford Park"
• "The Authenticity of Gosford Park"
• Cast and Filmmakers Q&A Session
• 15 Deleted Scenes (with optional commentary)
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin.
• Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Sheila O’Malley and an archive interview with Robert Altman (first pressing only) 

Arrow Academy peers into IMAGES (review)

Susannah York's mind splits in Robert Altman's IMAGES.  A children's book author starts experiencing vivid and violent hallucinations and is whisked by her husband to the countryside, but even there she is not safe from both the living and the dead.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy (US) Region A/B Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

IMAGES Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by Diabolique Magazine's Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan
• Selected Scenes Commentary by Robert Altman
• "Imagining Images" interview with Robert Altman
• Interview with actress Cathryn Harrison
• An appreciation by musician and author Stephen Thrower
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: an illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Carmen Gray and an extract from Altman on Altman

Arrow Academy seeks THE WITCHES (review)

Dino De Laurentiis hired a roster of famous Italian directors and an all-star cast for this anthology film showcasing the talents of his wife Silvana Mangano, the former Miss Rome.  She plays a glamorous actress, a flighty socialite, a Sicilian belle, a deaf-mute, and a bored housewife to nerdy Clint Eastwood in five stories by Luchino Visconti, Mauro Bolognini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Franco Rossi, and Vittorio de Sica.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

THE WITCHES Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Tim Lucas
• Alternate English-dubbed Version with English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono audio and optional English SDH subtitles
• Reversible Cover featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Pasquale Iannone and Kat Ellinger

Arrow Academy presents THE ERIC ROHMER COLLECTION (Review)

This boxed set from Arrow Academy combines the six entries to Eric Rohmer's Moral Tales cycle follow-up Comedies and Proverbs as well as the two historical adaptsions THE MARQUISE OF O and PERCEVAL.  In THE MARQUISE OF O, a widow becomes an outcast when she cannot explain the circumstances in which she mysteriously became pregnant.  In PERCEVAL, the young Welsh knight endures various trials on his way to becoming a knight and learning the meaning behind The Grail.  In THE AVIATOR'S WIFE, a young man follows his girlfriend's other lover hoping to catch him with another woman but may find a better suited mate of his own on the journey.  In THE GREEN RAY, a young woman's vacation companion cancels on her at the last moment, inavertently putting her on the search for Mr. Right on a series of mini-vacations.  In PAULINE AT THE BEACH, Pauline spends the last two weeks of vacation with her newly-divorced aunt, both of whom find new opportunties at true love.  In A GOOD MARRIAGE, a young woman decides that she will get married even though she does not know who her husband will be.  In FULL MOON IN PARIS, a woman tries to keep an apartment in Paris and one in the suburbs with her boyfriend as she tries to find a balance between the fun-loving and mature halves of her life.  In MY GIRLFRIEND'S BOYFRIEND, two young women form a friendship and pursue men who seem better suited to the other.  In FOUR ADVENTURES OF REINETTE AND MIRABELLE, a city girl and a country girl move in together to attend university and find their personalities clashing even as their attitudes influence one another's actions on a series of adventures.  Finally, in THE TREE, THE MAYOR, AND THE MEDIATHEQUE, a politicial attempts to build a utopian community in the countryside and finds opposition to his good if increasingly suspect intentions.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy (UK) Region B Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

THE ERIC ROHMER COLLECTION Blu-ray specs:

• Ten films on nine discs
• "The Marquise of O"
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• German LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Archival Interview with actor Bruno Ganz
• "Nestor Almendros: Director of Photography" TV special 
• Theatical Trailer
• "Perceval"
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• French LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• "Cine Regards: Perceval" TV special
• "Cine Regards: Eric Rohmer" TV special
• "The Aviator's Wife"
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• French LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• "Éric Rohmer on The Aviator's Wife"
• "Changing Landscapes" short film
• Theatrical Trailer
• "The Green Ray"
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• French LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• "Éric Rohmer on The Green Ray"
• "Richard Aoyade on The Green Ray"
• Archival interview with actress Marie Rivière
• Theatrical Trailer
• "Pauline at the Beach"
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• French LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• "Éric Rohmer on Pauline at the Beach"
• Archival interview with actress Arielle Dombasile
• Theatrical Trailer
• "Full Moon in Paris"
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• French LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles 
• Audio Interview with Éric Rohmer
• "Éric Rohmer on Full Moon in Paris"
• Archival Interview with actress Pascale Ogier
• "Effraction: Tchéky Karyo" television documentary
• Theatrical Trailer
• "A Good Marriage"
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• French LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• "Éric Rohmer on A Good Marriage"
• Archival Interview with actor André Dussollier
• Theatrical Trailer
• "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend"
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• French LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• On-Set Interview
• Theatrical Trailer
• "The Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle"
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• French LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Archival Interview with actress Joëlle Miquel (5:05)
• "The Tree, The Mayor and the Mediatheque"
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• French LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Newly commissioned artwork by Matt Griffin
• Limited edition 124-page book containing new writing on the film by Jonathan Romney, Geoff Andrew, Philip Lopate, Geoffrey Macnab, David Jenkins, Tara Judah, Sophie Monks Kaufman, Justine Smith, Andy Miller and Brad Stevens

Arrow Academy unveils THE TAISHO TRILOGY (review)

After a long fallow period resulting from his termination by Nikkatsu Studios and his successful lawsuit against the company, Seijun Suzuki returned to the screen with THE TAISHO TRILOGY.  In ZIGEUNERWEISEN, a teacher of German at a military academy finds his bourgeosie marriage splintered by encounters with a lecherous former colleague, a geisha, and other mysterious women (and ghosts).  In KAGERO-ZA, a man comes to believe his soul has become erotically entangled with a woman he has just met and delves into the mysteries surrounding the two wives of a colleague (one of whom might be a madwom and the other might be a ghost).  In YUMEJI (shot ten years after the first two films), a womanizing poet and painter becomes involved with a young window and comes to believe that he is being haunted by her murdered husband and under threat by his killer.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy (US/UK) Region A/B Blu-ray/Region 1,2 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

THE TAISHO TRILOGY Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Three films on three BD50 Blu-rays and three dual-layer DVD
• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 fullscreen (Zigeunerweisen and Kagero-Za) and 1.66:1 widescreen (Yumeji)
• Japanese LPCM 1.0 mono
• DVD: 
• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen (Zigeunerweisen and Kagero-Za) and 16:9 anamorphic 1.66:1 widescreen (Yumeji)
• Optional English subtitles
• Introductions to all three films by Tony Rayns
• "The Taisho Trilogy" featurette with Tony Rayns
• Interview with director Seijun Suzuki
• The Making of YUMEJI featurette
• Trailers for all three Films
• FIRST PRESSING-ONLY: Booklet with writing by Jasper Sharp and others

Arrow Academy declares PROPERTY IS NO LONGER A THEFT (review)

A wealthy butcher is bedeviled by a very peculiar kind of Marxist in Elio Petri's wickedly funny capitalist satire PROPERTY IS NO LONGER A THEFT.  Ugo Tognazzi, Flavio Bucci, and Daria Nicolodi star.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy (US) Region A/B Blu-ray/Region 1/2 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

PROPERTY IS NO LONGER A THEFT Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• Italian LPCM 1.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• Italian Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Interview with actor Flavio Bucci
• Interview with producer Claudio Mancini
• Interview with make-up artist Pierantonio Mecacci
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: an illustrated collector’s booklet containing new writing on the film by Camilla Zamboni

Arrow Academy nabs L'ASSASSINO (review)

Overnight, Marcello Mastroianni becomes the "Ladykiller of Rome" when his sugar mama is murdered and he is the only suspect; however, there are others who have reasons to see him in prison.  The directorial debut of Elio Petri.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy (US) Region A/B Blu-ray/Region 1/2 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

L'ASSASSINO Blu-ray/DVD combo specs: 

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• Italian LPCM 1.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• Italian Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• "Elio Petri and L'ASSASSINO" (9:41), an introduction by Italian cinema expert Pasquale Iannone
• "Tonino Guerra: A Poet in the Movies" TV documentary
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw
• Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Elio Petri expert Camilla Zamboni and a selection of contemporary reviews

Arrow Academy shines a SPOTLIGHT ON A MURDERER (review)

Jean-Louis Trintignant stars in SPOTLIGHT ON A MURDERER, Georges Franju's idiosyncratic take on the old dark house mystery film as the heirs to a fortune fall victim to murder in a medieval Brittany castle.  Pierre Brasseur, Marianne Koch, Dany Saval, Philippe Leroy, Jean Babilee, and Georges Rollin star.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Video USA (US) Region ALL Blu-ray/Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

SPOTLIGHT ON A MURDERER Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• French LPCM 1.0 mono
• DVD: 
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.37:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Vintage TV featurette on the making of the film featuring interviews with director Georges Franju and actors Jean-Louis Trintignant, Marianne Koch, Dany Saval, Pascal Audret, and Pierre Brasseur (30 mins)
• Theatrical Trailer

Arrow Academy's THE JACQUES RIVETTE COLLECTION: DUELLE/NOROIT/MERRY-GO-ROUND (review)

THE JACQUES RIVETTE COLLECTION collects three of Rivette's transitional and wildy-experimental films.  In DUELLE, a hotel porter, her neerdowell brother, and his lover become entangled in a supernaturally-tinged mystery involving two bewitching women.  Juliet Berto and Bulle Ogier star.  In NOROIT, Morag swears revenge against the pirates who murdered her brother and infiltrates the castle of pirate queen Giulia.  Geraldine Chaplin and Kika Markham star.  In MERRY-GO-ROUND, a French woman urgently summons her American boyfriend and her sister to France for help and they become involved in a delirious mystery of faked deaths and stolen cash.  Maria Schneider and Joe Dallesandro star.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

THE JACQUES RIVETTE COLLECTION Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Duelle (1976):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• French LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• "Remembering DUELLE" inteview with actresses Bulle Ogier and Hermine Karagheuz
• Noroît (1976):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• French/English LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles for the French dialogue
• Merry-Go-Round (1981):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• English/French LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles for the French dialogue
• "Scenes from a Parallel Life: Jacques Rivette Remembers" archive interview with the director
• "Rosenbaum on Rivette" interview with critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
• Exclusive perfect-bound book containing new writing on the films by Mary M. Wiles, Brad Stevens, Ginette Vincendeau and Nick Pinkerton
• Reversible sleeves with original and newly commissioned artwork by Ignatius Fitzpatrick
• Limited to 3000 copies

Also available in the UK from Arrow with the addition of Region B Blu-rays and Region 2 NTSC DVDs of the films OUT 1 and OUT: SPECTRE:

All-region Blu-rays and Region 0 NTSC DVDs of OUT 1 and OUT: SPECTRE are available separately from Kino Lorber:

Arrow Academy tells the STORY OF SIN (review)

After making a name for himself internationally as an aesthete of erotica, Walerian Borowczyk returned to Poland to make STORY OF SIN, a period melodrama in which good girl Ewa falls in lust with a married anthropologist and into spiritual ruin in economically depressed Warsaw.  Although more mainstream than his other works, the film nevertheless explores some of the recurring themes of Borowczyk's erotic ouevre.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy (US) Region ALL Blu-ray/DVD combo (DVD Drive-in)

STORY OF SIN Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Disc One (Blu-ray):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• Polish LPCM 1.0 mono
• Disc Two (DVD):
• 16:9 amamorphic 1.66:1 widescreen
• Polish Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio commentary with Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger
• Introduction by poster artist and illustrator Andrzej Klimowski
• "The First Sinner" interview with actress Grażyna Długołęcka
• "The Music Box" interview with film maker David Thompson
• "Stories of Sin: A Guide to Walerian Borowczyk" visual essay by Daniel Bird
• Short Films and Miscellaneous:
• "Once Upon a Time" (1957; with optional commentary by art historian Szymon Bojko and moderator Daniel Bird)
• "Dom (1958; with optional commentary by composer Włodzimierz Kotoński and moderator Daniel Bird)
• "The School" (1958; with optional commentary by Daniel Bird)
• "Miscellaneous: Newsreels and Documentary" visual essay
• "Street Art" (1957)
• "Tools of the Trade" featurette
• "Poster Girl" interview with poster artist Teresa Byszewska
• Theatrical Trailer
• 44-page booklet with writings by Andrzej Żuławski & Daniel Bird and an interview with Stanisław Różewicz by Daniel Bird.  Also a reprinted Polish interview with Borowczyk

Arrow Academy coronates LUDWIG (review)

Helmut Berger, Romy Schneider, Silvana Mangano, and Trevor Howard lead an international cast in Luchino Visconti's sprawling epic about the life of the mad king Ludwig II of Bavaria.  Suzanna Petrova, Umberto Orsini, Marc Porel, and Maurizio Bonuglia also star.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy (US) Region ALL Blu-ray/DVD combo (DVD Drive-in)

• Disc One and Two (Blu-ray):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• Italian and English LPCM 1.0 mono
• Disc Two and Three (DVD):
• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• Italian and English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles for the Italian track, English subtitles for the English track (including places where the track reverts to Italian), and English subtitles for the Italian portions of the English track
• "Helmut Berger: The Mad King" interview
  "Luchino Visconti" hour-long documentary by Carlo Lizzani
  "Producing Ludwig" interview with producer Deiter Geissler
  "Speaking with Suso Cecchi d'Amico" forty-eight minute TV special
  "Silvana Mangano: The Scent of a Primrose" TV special
  English Soundtrack Excerpts
  Theatrical Trailer
  Illustrated collector s booklet containing new writing by Peter Cowie

Arrow Academy takes in CINEMA PARADISO (review)

Arrow Academy breathes new life into Giuseppe Tornatore's Academy Award-winning, tear-jerking, coming of age story  CINEMA PARADISO in which an altar boy finds escape from his humdrum life in post-war Sicily through the magic of cinema.  Philippe Noiret stars.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy/Arrow Video USA (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

CINEMA PARADISO Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One:
• 124 minute Theatrical Cut
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• Italian LPCM 1.0 mono and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Optional English Subtitles 
• Audio Commentary by director Giuseppe Tornatore and academic Millicent Marcus
• "Dream of Sicily" documentary by Giuseppe Tornatore
• "The Bear and the Mouse" interviews with director Giuseppe Tornatore and actors Philippe Noiret and Salvatore Cascio
• "The Kissing Scene" featurette
• Theatrical Trailer
• Disc Two:
• 173 minute Director's Cut 
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• Italian LPCM 2.0 stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Optional English subtitles
• Director's Cut Trailer
• Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Italian cinema expert Pasquale Iannone, illustrated with original archive stills

Arrow Academy explores THE GARDEN OF THE FINZI CONTINI (review)

Out today on Region 0 PAL DVD in the UK is Arrow Academy's special edition DVD of Vittorio De Sica's Academy Award-winning* THE GARDEN OF THE FINZI CONTINI starring Lino Capolicchio (HOUSE WITH THE LAUGHING WINDOWS), Dominique Sanda (THE CONFORMIST), Fabio Testi (WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE?), Helmut Berger (SALON KITTY), and Romolo Valli (THE LEOPARD).  As war approaches, the Italian Jewish community in Ferrara, Italy try to ignore their diminishing rights and growing persecution, particularly the wealthy Finzi Contini family who rarely leave their idyllic estate.


*Best Foreign Film Winner, Nominated Best Screenplay

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy (UK) Region 0 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)


THE GARDEN OF THE FINZI CONTINI DVD specs:

• 1.85:1 anamorphic 16:9 widescreen transfer
• Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio
• Optional English Subtitles
• Interview with star Lino Capolicchio
• Interview with screenwriter Ugo Pirro
• Interview with composer Manuel De Sica
• Original Trailer
• Booklet featuring an essay by Italian cinema expert Christopher Wagstaff, translated comments by Manuel De Sica and Ugo Pirro, and a reprinted 1972 interview with Vittorio De Sica

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