Forgotten Silver -- Three more Hammer Horrors -- Millennium season 1 -- Audition re-release -- Shall We Dansu? update -- The Name of the Rose update

Forgotten Silver re-release from Anchor Bay [2 May 2004]

There will be a good many of you out there who have never heard of Forgotten Silver, a documentary look at the legendary New Zealand film-maker Colin MacKenzie, the full extent of whose genius and ambition was only revealed when a collection of old film cans and documents promted two film enthusiasts to uncover the full story of a man who was decades ahead of his time. You will have heard of the director, though - Peter Jackson, who after an unhappy experience with Hollywood on The Frighteners and before embarking on the epic adventure that was to be Lord of the Rings, returned to his homeland to shoot and appear in this low-budget investigative work that was to change how the world viewed the history of New Zealand cinema. Except, of course, that it's all a spectacularly well-told lie, a cinematic practical joke that still manages to fool the unwary (I showed it to an entire class of students in the early stages of studying documentary and they all fell for it), but to those with a bit of film knowledge the clues come early and get increasingly ludicrous as the film progresses (a steam powered movie camera and the film emulsion made from eggs are two of my personal favourites). It's an absolute scream, and the work of a man who clearly loves what he does, the fakery extending to archive photos and film stock, colour movie tests, even old abandoned locations for MacKenzie's epic version of Salome. Previously available (but hard to track down) on a First Run Feature DVD with a director's commentary, interviews with the participants, FX tests and unseen footage, the disk is now deleted and changing hands for $100 a pop. Well that should change in October, when Anchor Bay USA release a new special edition of the film on region 1, which will feature a new anamorphic widescreen transfer and, we are promised, "other bonus features." We can but hope the commentary from the previous release is one of these. More details will be posted when the official announcement is made.

Three more Hammer Horrors region 2 in June [24 April 2004]

Hammer's sizeable collection of horror films is becoming increasingly well represented on DVD, and in June we will be treated to three more. The 1968 Dracula Has Risen From the Grave is now seen as the start of the decline of the Hammer Dracula series and was the first not to be directed by the great Terence Fisher, though cinematographer Freedie Francis, moving into the director's chair, still creates some striking imagery, and it has a great death for the Count. The 1969 Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, on the other hand, is one of the stronger entries into Hammer's Frankenstein series, if only because of the decision to have Peter Cushing play the Baron not as a misunderstood and obsessed genuius, but a ruthless, heartless bastard. It also features, in a small role, a touching performance by Freddie Jones as a sad and regretful creature. The 1970 Taste the Blood of Dracula looks great, but was one of the films that ultimately prompted Christopher Lee to abandon the role, as he was just being asked to walk on, stare at someone, say a line and then drop out of the story again. Once again, though, it still has its moments. All three films will have anamorphioc 1.85:1 transfers, mono sound and a trailer, and will be available from 16 June.

Millennium series 1 in July [24 April 2004]

As The X-Files was starting to get a little repetative and the Cigarette Smoking Man was revelaed to be the biggest empty threat on TV, series creator Christ Carter took a side step and started a new and actually darker series, Millennium. Featuring Lance Henrikson - hardly your typical leading man - as tormented investigator and profiler Frank Black, the series quickly gathered a small but devoted fan base (we were there), but did not achieve the X-Files type success that the studio was hoping for. As a result, the formula was severely rejigged in season 2, but what made the series so compelling was lost, and there was a return to the original formula in series 3, before the whole thing was cancelled. Series 1 remains the best of the lot, with a couple of the episodes - notably the brilliantly dark and exciting 522666 - ranking alongside the best X-Files ones. The six disk set will feature all 22 episodes from season 1, 1.33:1 transfers with surround sound, a Chris Carter commentary on the pilot (not sure this is a great thing - Carter's commentary on the X-Files: The Movie disk is pretty dull stuff), commentaries on two other episodes by the programme makers, three featurettes, including one on the frankly wanky opening titles, and TV spots for all of the episodes. Release date is set for 20 July for region 1, with a rumour that a region 2 release may happen simultaneously.

Audition re-release from Tartan in June [24 April 2004]

Miike Takashi's brilliantly disturbing study of either male sexual paranoia or female sexual anger, depending on your particular reading, has been announced for a re-release by Tartan under its Asia Extreme label, apparently remastered in a new anamorphic print with 5.1 and DTS soundtracks. Now if ever there was a Tartan disk that needed remastering then this is it. The original release was a complete mess, with a dark, fuzzy picture and a grubby soundtrack that has a linear audio-style hiss all of the way through it. Tartan have been shaping up somewhat recently, and hopes are thus high for this one, though there is already a rather good German region 2 disk available, with a clean anamorphic with a 5.1 soundtrack and is subtitled in English as well as German. Hopefully Tartan's disk will equal or even top that - certainly the print shown on Channel 4 was of the sort of quality we'd expect.

Update: Shall We Dansu? release date slips [24 April 2004]

I knew it was too good to be true. Having been slated for a March release on region 2, Masayuku Suo's glorious 1996 romantic comedy (and that's a word I rare use to describe anything from this particular genre) is now facing at July release at the earliest, at least on region 2. This could, of course, be related to the upcoming remake (groan), which is due for a cinema release in the USA on August 6, which would tie in about right.

Update: The Name of the Rose specs confirmed [24 April 2004]

Confirmation has arrived of the specs for the new release of Jean-Jacques Annaud's 1986 adaptation of Umberto Eco's ecclesiastical detective story, The Name of the Rose. Our original story on this (click here to read) looked at the possibility that an upcoming region 2 special edition might be superior to the announced region 1. Well it looks as if the region 1 will also be a special edition with the same features, so its a matter of taking your pick. Both will have a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, 5.1 sound, The Abbey of Crime: Umberto Eco's The name of the Rose documentary, a commentary by director Annaud, trailer and photo gallery. The region 1 disk is due out on 6 July, the region 2 on 30 August.