Back
in July we brought news of Tartan's upcoming release
of Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece The
Seventh Seal as a 50th Anniversary Edition
on both DVD and Blu-ray disc. Since then the release
date has slipped a little, but with good reason in
the shape of some newly announced extra features.
We'll hand over to the Tartan press release for the
full details.
Rare
behind-the-scenes footage, from the set of Ingmar
Bergman's The Seventh Seal, will
be presented for the first time. Shot on 8mm during
the latter part of 1956, the silent footage offers
a unique insight into the legendary director's working
methods, and includes on-set rehearsals featuring
lead actors Max Von Sydow and Bibi Andersson, as
well as evidence of the camaraderie of the remainder
of his cast and crew. And, for this release, film
historian and Bergman expert Ian Christie has recorded
a commentary to accompany the footage, putting it
in context and shedding light on Bergman's cinematic
craft.
Bergman's
little-seen short from 1984, Karin's Face,
is also presented for the first time. This beautiful
and personal film is Bergman's touching tribute
to his mother, seen through the intimate photographic
portraits from a family album. With its sumptuous
black and white imagery and simple musical accompaniment, Karin's Face is a film that reveals
the director's warmly instinctive love of humanity,
and devotion to his mother. Tartan's premiere
presentation of this cinematic treasure has been
mastered directly from a newly-restored print and
is included on both released formats, presented
in full High Definition resolution on Tartan's Blu-ray
Edition.
Further
features on this 50th Anniversary Edition include
newly-improved subtitles, an original trailer, an
alternative English language feature audio option,
and full HD resolution for the presentation of the
film itself on Blu-ray Disc.
Both
the DVD and Blu-ray editions will be released on 3rd
December 2007. The DVD will be priced at £19.99,
while the Blu-ray edition, which will be packaged
with the DVD under Tartan's new 'Future Proff' banner,
with be priced at £29.99.
