A bit disappointed it's not remastered like I hoped, but hey, at least their BD still looks more than rock solid from the screencaps I've seen (haven't actually seen the film yet but blind preordering the LE 4K was a no brainer for me), and is of course a Fidelity in Motion encode!
Harry, a drifter (Don Johnson, Miami Vice) rolls into town and talks his way into a job at a car dealership where he becomes caught between two beautiful women, the boss’s conniving wife Dolly (Virginia Madsen, Candyman) and Gloria (Jennifer Connelly, Requiem for a Dream) a naive young accountant whose life is complicated by blackmail. When Harry plans to rob the local bank, he becomes enmeshed in a lethal web of lust, greed and extortion, whose only escape is murder. Adapted from Hell Hath No Fury by Charles Williams, The Hot Spot is a dusty, sweaty modern noir that updates the pulp formula of twists and turns with an intensity to match director Dennis Hopper’s earlier film roles. Directed by Hopper (Easy Rider, Out of the Blue) with verve, the stellar cast are supported by William Sadler (The Shawshank Redemption), Charles Martin Smith (The Untouchables) and Jack Nance (Eraserhead) accompanied by a brilliant soundtrack featuring Miles Davis, John Lee Hooker, Taj Mahal and original music by Jack Nitzsche.
BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES
Region AB
A television executive’s nine mistresses conspire with his wife to have him killed. When Miwako, one of the mistresses, tells him of the plot, he decides to fake his own death in front of them all. The women panic and deny that they were ever serious about the murder, while Miwako even takes her own life in remorse. But when they find out the man is still alive, they put their original plan back into action. Given complete creative freedom, Kon Ichikawa made this dark satire, one of the undiscovered gems of Japan’s cinematic Golden Age. Featuring a stunning cast of Daiei studio divas and striking monochrome photography by Setsuo Kobayashi (Blind Beast), this is a merciless dissection of social relations and gender roles in affluent post-war Japan.
BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES
Region AB
Arguably the two most significant and dominant trends in post-war cinema developed on opposing sides of the globe, and opposing sides of the war - America oversaw the birth of film noir, with its hardboiled detectives and femme fatales, and then Italy developed its hugely influential brand of neorealism, with its emphasis on working class struggles, socio-political commentary, and documentary-like aesthetic. While on the surface the two disciplines seemed wildly different in approach, they also had surprising amount in common, sharing a focus on the lowest strata of society, a commitment to depicting its characters in stark and unglamorous ways, and a moral ambiguity to the storytelling that would occasionally tip over into cynical pessimism, reflecting the despair of the post-war period. These two cinematic languages would influence and bleed into one another throughout the 1940s and 50s, and presented here are three Italian neorealist films that clearly derive inspiration and themes from their US noir counterparts.
THE BANDIT
Returning from war, Ernesto (Amedeo Nazzari, Nights of Cabiria) comes home without a family to welcome him. A chance encounter with a gangster's moll, Lydia (Anna Magnani, Rome, Open City) catapults him to a life of crime. Redolent of American gangster pictures of the 1930s and bathed in chiaroscuro lighting, like many Italian genre films, Alberto Lattuada's The Bandit is a genre hybrid, at once noirish but infused with realism that brings to the fore the desperation of the post-War period. Newly restored, Radiance Films is proud to present this seminal film on any digital format for the first time outside of Italy.
AGAINST THE LAW
A middle class man laundering money for the mob to make ends meet witnesses a murder during a currency exchange. Fingered as the murderer by police, he and his girlfriend attempt to clear his name. A Hitchcockian wrong man thriller in a crime framework, Pietro Germi’s scenario echoes the American noir, with a screenplay co-authored by the former head of Rome’s flying squad, Against the Law was noted for its realism on release where it was a hit with audiences and critics. Starring a charming Marcello Mastroianni in his first leading role, Flavio Calzavara’s under-seen gem is now restored in 4K and released for the first time on any format outside of Italy.
FOUR WAYS OUT
A gang of four ordinary men steal two cases stuffed with money from a football ground. They split up to evade capture but misplaced allegiances and nerves threaten their freedom. A Hollywood-style noir by Pietro Germi (The Facts of Murder), Four Ways Out (also known as The City Defends Itself) features the classic tropes of the genre, femme fatales, desperate men and a cityscape that threatens to swallow up its characters. Awarded Best Italian Film at the Venice Film Festival and newly restored in 4K, it is presented on home video for the first time outside of Italy.
BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION BOX SET SPECIAL FEATURES:
THE BANDIT
AGAINST THE LAW
FOUR WAYS OUT
Region B
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osborne on UHD ( unlikely ? ) would be quite the knockout punch !!!!
Fran S. Was the executive producer for the Arrow release in 2015 .
Even more excited now!!!!
A happily married businessman (Ugo Tognazzi, Weak Spot) succumbs to the advances of one of his less square, more open-minded female friends. His eyes now open to the rampant adultery among his high-society acquaintances, he is amazed at the ease with which they lie to their loved ones. Soon, he begins to suspect his loving wife (Claudia Cardinale, Girl with a Suitcase) of infidelity – even as she guesses nothing of his own extramarital affair. Antonio Pietrangeli’s luscious adaptation of Fernand Crommelynck’s tale of obsession and delusion skewers the changing mores and tenacious prejudices of 1960s Italian society with style. As the troubled husband’s paranoia takes him ever further away from reality, his fantasies come to life in sumptuous dream sequences, each one a dashing tribute to the radiant charm of Claudia Cardinale.
BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES
Region AB
Chasm Films is a label dedicated to curating a catalogue of under-seen, under-appreciated and underground contemporary world genre cinema.
During the Spanish Civil War, a circus clown is recruited to the Republican cause and forced to massacre dozens of Nationalist troops with only a machete. Decades later, his traumatised son Javier (Carlos Areces) becomes a clown himself, albeit a “sad” clown fuelled by the tragedy he has seen. He performs opposite the arrogant “happy” clown Sergio (Antonio de la Torre) and finds himself falling in love with Sergio’s partner, the beautiful acrobat Natalia (Carolina Bang). Soon, sad clown and happy clown are locked in a love triangle that spirals into spectacular violence. Written and directed by Álex de la Iglesia (The Day of the Beast), The Last Circus is a landmark in Spanish genre cinema – a blackly comic horror show that revels in the shocking, the transgressive and the absurd.
BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES
Region B
I missed out on their LE Blu-Ray but I won't miss out on this!!!!!
Are the special features on the Region B blu rays only, or do they also appear on the 4k discs?
Despite still having the US license, MVD have shown zero interest in upgrading it to 4K, and as shown by the 4K releases of AT CLOSE RANGE (Cinématographe; coincidentally also an MGM title) and DRIVE (1997) (88 Films US), other labels have had success in licensing the 4K rights for MVD BDs still in print. Therefore, it could easily fit into the whole UK/US dual territory description.
Seemingly sold quite well for Radiance despite it being sourced from the same ancient MGM studio master as the MVD and Shout BDs.
Bruno is almost always quite responsive in a reasonably quick fashion to my emails—which says a lot given how often I've emailed over title suggestions generally—so in our recent back and forth when he reached out to me yesterday to confirm THE HOT SPOT 4K will include a remastered BD after all, the last email he sent me was saying he "can tease that our currently planned UHD Upgrades also include titles that will utilise new 4K masters not previously on their Blu-ray releases" but can't promise all of them will have remastered BDs like THE HOT SPOT will in the end due to "a variety of factors." And despite personally not being all too fond of MIAMI BLUES having just watched it last week, I decided to put in the good word for those fond of the film given how clearly aged the current MGM studio master is, while obviously mentioning I know he cannot confirm nor deny whether or not a 4K upgrade is in the cards to begin with. Sure enough, nearly 24 hours later, Bruno still has yet to respond to my most recent reply at all. Make of that whatever you will! ;)