Hammer Studios on Blu-ray in 2019

Last year (2018) Warner Archive brought us Hammer titles Dracula A.D. 1972, 1958's Horror of Dracula and 1973's The Satanic Rites of Dracula to Blu-ray but this year nothing except the Hammer-esque The Fearless Vampire Killers directed by Roman Polanski. Shout! Factory took the 'bull by the horns' or rather 'the vampire by the throat' this past year with 18 Hammer Studios Blu-ray editions loaded with commentaries and supplements. Thankfully 2019 also had the wildly popular Indicator Hammer Volume Four: Faces of Fear Region FREE Blu-ray boxset with Taste of Fear , The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll , The Revenge of Frankenstein , and The Damned .

"Quatermass 2, Quatermass and the Pit, The Abominable Snowman, A Nigel Kneale trifecta, with older commentaries (featuring the scriptwriter and the directors) and new ones, as well as archival extras and several new ones. Probably the definitive editions for these titles." - Luc Pomerleau The Abominable Snowman (Val Guest, 1957) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (Seth Holt, Michael Carreras, 1971) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Devil Rides Out (Terence Fisher, 1968) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde (Roy Ward Baker, 1971) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

F ear in the Night (Jimmy Sangster, 1972) Shout! Factory (ALT-BEAVER REVIEW)

Frankenstein Created Woman (Terence Fisher, 1967) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Horror of Frankenstein (Jimmy Sangster, 1970) Shout! Factory (ALT-BEAVER REVIEW)

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (Roy Ward Baker, 1974) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW) - "Rumor has it Shout Factory held up release of this title so they could obtain both cuts of the feature. Delighted to finally have this oft-overlooked Hammer oddity in my collection (though I'll still hold onto my Anchor Bay DVD for nostalgia's sake). Tough to choose only one flick from Scream Factory's warmly received Hammer releases, but this is a shining example of what they are able to do and do well." - Todd Killinger

Lust for a Vampire (Jimmy Sangster, 1971) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Plague of the Zombies (John Gilling, 1966) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

Quatermass 2 (Val Guest, 1957) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

Quatermass and the Pit (Roy Ward Baker, 1967) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Reptile (John Gilling, 1966) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Revenge of Frankenstein (Terence Fisher, 1958) R0 UK Indicator (Powerhouse Films)

Scars of Dracula (Roy Ward Baker, 1970) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

Straight on Till Morning (Peter Collinson, 1972) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

Taste of Fear (aka Scream of Fear) (Seth Holt, 1961) R0 UK Indicator (Powerhouse Films) (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Damned (aka These Are the Damned) (Joseph Losey, 1962) R0 UK Indicator (Powerhouse Films) (BEAVER REVIEW)

To the Devil... a Daughter (Peter Sykes, 1976) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (Terence Fisher, 1960) R0 UK Indicator (Powerhouse Films) (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Vengeance of She (Cliff Owen, 1968) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Witches (Cyril Frankel, 1966) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

TV We don't usually venture to the the many Dr. Who sets, Game of Thrones, Japanese Anime, Animated Superhero (Batman, Teen Titans etc.), The Handmaid's Tale etc. etc. but our niche, who tend to have a nostalgic view on things, and are beginning to appreciate vintage (and some modern) TV on Blu-ray , in the form of complete broadcast series, Mini-series and the occasional 'Made-for-TV' Movie. In late 2018 we reviewed these vintage Television series: ( CLICK COVERS For REVIEWS ) And in 2019 we had more original 'TV' to cover or explore here are a few of the Blu-ray editions mentioned in our poll:

"Scooby-Doo Where Are You! (Warner Brothers) - A complete nostalgia vote, this is a wonderful 50th birthday Scooby Snack all gussied up on blu-ray and delivered in an amazing 3-D haunted house. Maybe not the most exhaustive extras one might want, but they do those meddling kids proud." - Todd Killinger "Personally, I was blown away by Chernobyl, Fawlty Towers had me in tears I was laughing so hard, Jonny Quest was pure joy to revisit with my sons, and I'm a big Jesse Stone fans and it was very pleasing to see three of those neo-noirs in HD. We, obviously, can't forget the elephant in the room - Network's Monty Python's Flying Circus: The Complete Series Blu-ray set . " - Gary Tooze

( CLICK For REVIEW / PURCHASE LINK ) The new 4K UHD format requires both a 4K TV and 4K UHD Player. Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are incompatible with existing Blu-ray players, although the 4K UHD Players are backwards compatible (The Oppo Digital UDP-203 will play 4K UHD Blu-ray , Blu-ray , Blu-ray 3D, DVD, DVD-Audio, SACD, and CD.) The format currently supports three disc capacities, each with their own data rate: 50 GB with 82 Mbit/s, 66 GB with 108 Mbit/s, and 100 GB with 128 Mbit/s. There is content available from Sony, Lionsgate, Warner Bros. 20th Century Fox, Paramount Home Media Distribution, and Walt Disney Studios. It destroys streaming in terms of quality, this format is Region FREE playable worldwide plus more broadcast is going the 4K route - notably for live sports. This is different from 4K restored Blu-ray transfers which are becoming more common from Criterion, Arrow and others. As stated above, DVDBeaver has purchased a OLED65 LG TV with Dolby Vision + HDR (increasing the color depth to 10-bit per color) plus a versatile Oppo Digital UDP-203 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player . But we have not reviewed any UHD titles to date. Predictably this format is superior to Blu-ray (3,840 x 2,160 resolution) and has initially gravitated to releasing popular, modern, action and visually dynamic film in this disc format (see the majority below). We hope to see some Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), South Pacific (1958), Ben-Hur (1959), West Side Story (1961), Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Cleopatra (1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), My Fair Lady (1964), The Sound of Music (1965,) Airport (1970), and Patton (1970) in this format in the near future. Coming in 2020: The 4K UHD - the format is continuing with improved support and our Poll had more selections compared to last year and we have reviewed (with screen captures!) Suspiria , Pan's Labyrinth , The Wizard of Oz , The Shining , Batman Returns , Don't Look Now , The Man Who Killed Killed and then The Bigfoot , Bram Stoker's Dracula , Lucy , They Live , Shutter Island , The Matrix , Alien , Toy Story , A Few Good Men , 2001: A Space Odyssey , Schindler's List , The Neon Demon , Dawn of the Dead , Saving Private Ryan , The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , The Big Lebowski , and I Am Legend . The TOP 10 vote-getters for 2019: First Place is Lionsgate's Apocalypse Now - Final Cut 40th Anniversary [4K UHD] (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979) . A never-before-seen and newly restored cut of Francis Ford Coppola’s spectacular cinematic masterpiece in a way which the director believes “looks better than it has ever looked and sounds better than it has ever sounded”. Apocalypse Now follows Army Captain Willard (Martin Sheen,) a troubled man sent on a dangerous and mesmerizing odyssey into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade American colonel named Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has succumbed to the horrors of war and barricaded himself in a remote outpost. Second Place is Synapse's Suspiria [4K UHD] (Dario Argento, 1977) Synapse Films . Jessica Harper stars in this frightening tale of a young student who uncovers dark and horrific secrets within the walls of a famous German dance academy. What spirals out from that simple premise is one of the most powerful and hallucinatory nightmares ever captured on celluloid! Dario Argento's SUSPIRIA comes to home video from Synapse Films in an exclusive new 4K restoration from the original uncut, uncensored 35mm Italian camera negative, with the original theatrical 4.0 English surround sound mix. Third Place is Warner's The Shining [4K UHD] (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) Region Free Warner. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) becomes winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado, hoping to cure his writer's block. He settles in along with his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and his son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), who is plagued by psychic premonitions. As Jack's writing goes nowhere and Danny's visions become more disturbing, Jack discovers the hotel's dark secrets and begins to unravel into a homicidal maniac hell-bent on terrorizing his family. In Fourth Place is Fox’s Alien . "In space, no one can hear you scream." A close encounter of the third kind becomes a Jaws-style nightmare when an alien invades a spacecraft in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror classic. On the way home from a mission for the Company, the Nostromo's crew is woken up from hibernation by the ship's Mother computer to answer a distress signal from a nearby planet. Capt. Dallas's (Tom Skerritt) rescue team discovers a bizarre pod field, but things get even stranger when a face-hugging creature bursts out of a pod and attaches itself to Kane (John Hurt). . Fifth Place is Studio Canal's Nic Roeg's Don't Look Now. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie give career-best performances as John and Laura Baxter, an art restorer and his wife struggling to recover from the trauma of their daughter’s accidental drowning. To assuage their grief, the young British couple travel to wintry Venice, on a working holiday to restore a church. Once there, they get involved with two otherworldly sisters, Heather and Wendy (Hilary Mason and Clelia Matania), one of whom is a blind medium who insists she can get them in touch with their late daughter and warns them of danger. A truly original work that blends psychological thriller with a disturbing sense of the macabre, Don’t Look Now also offers a profound and poignant mediation on love and loss. Making evocative use of its disquieting, out-of-season setting, an emerging generation of directors (not least Steven Soderbergh) have cited the ﬁlm as an inﬂuence, ensuring that its reputation as a modern classic continues to grow. "This is what we need physical media for. Leaps and bounds over the other editions! Now where is the Man Who Fell to Earth" - Peter Yacavone "Don't Look Now is such a deep film experience that you can get something new out of each time you view it. It's parental bereavement issues, mystery and horror elements and so underplayed at time that it keeps you at a very high level of suspense. As the extras can testify Roeg's 'language of color' is brilliant and unique - remaining an integral part of the narrative. The 4K UHD image is out-of-this-world and there are new highly valuable extras. It couldn't happen to a more relevant film. Home theater aficionados are truly living in the best of times." - Gary Tooze In Sixth Place is Warner's The Wizard of Oz . The fantasy/musical plot needs no preface, but - Dorothy (Garland) is a schoolgirl living in Kansas with family and her little dog, Toto. One afternoon, a twister sucks up Dorothy's house and she and Toto are dropped beyond the rainbow into Munchkinland. With a pair of magical red slippers and some advice from Glinda the Good Witch (Billie Burke), Dorothy, Toto and three new friends--the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), Tin Man (Jack Haley), and Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr)--follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, where they must ask the all-powerful Wizard of Oz (Frank Morgan) to get Dorothy and Toto back home. The Wicked Witch (Margaret Hamilton), however, is determined to get her hands on the slippers, and sends out her flying monkeys to capture the group of new friends... . "What can you say? - an absolute must-own and every few years, or 1/2 decade, I revisit and remember the film's brilliance. Our culture would be weaker without The Wizard of Oz and this is, quite handily, the best home theatre presentation of all time. It's hypnotic - once you start you can't stop. Our highest recommendation!" - Gary Tooze Seven Place is Studio Canal's They Live . NOTE : It was released in late 2018 but our review was not till the summer of 2019, confusing many voters. Our bad. It still got the seventh most votes so we decided to leave it since I love it so much. Set in an oppressive Reagan-era Los Angeles, a place in the midst of a financial depression, John Nada is a drifter in search of work. Landing a job on a construction site and a place to stay in a homeless shanty town, Nada stumbles upon an underground group and a pair of magical sunglasses that allow him to see the truth – that aliens are among us and control us through radio waves and subliminal advertising. Looking through the sunglasses, we see a startling depiction a drab grey world filled with creepy looking aliens and embossed with sloganeering (‘Obey’, ‘Conform’, ‘Marry and Reproduce’). "This is my most rewatched John Carpenter film - myself and my two sons love the passive alien invasion angle, and the noble drifter, perfectly played by Rowdy Roddy Piper - who's "Nada" is reluctantly exposed to the conspiracy. Carpenter's, prescient, deeper themes continue to seem even more contemporary. The 4K package is a winner - a huge advancement in a/v and all the previous extras plus a new 3/4 hour documentary. If you appreciate this film - the Studio Canal 4K UHD is, by far, the best presentation and contains the most extras." - Gary Tooze In Eighth Place is Warner's Batman Returns. In this first sequel to 1989's Batman, the Caped Crusader (Michael Keaton) is up against the Penguin (Danny DeVito), the hideously deformed scion of a wealthy Gotham City family. The Penguin plots with evil businessman Max Schreck (Christopher Walken) to become mayor and then turn Gotham into a cathedral of crime. Upon overhearing these plans, Schreck's mousy secretary Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer) is tossed from a high-rise window by her boss. Rescued by a covey of kittens, Selena transforms into the leather-clad Catwoman. In this guise, she teams with the Penguin and Schreck to divvy up their ill-gotten gains and help discredit Batman-but she also has her own scores to settle. "Batman Returns is such a visual and character-driven film. Of the early Batmans' - it remains my favorite - mostly, I think, because of the eclectic villains - even Walken is superb - and, let's not forget, Burton's 'decor' (adore the Wayne Mansion) plus the obvious with the ultimately alluring Miss Pfeiffer as an unforgettable Catwoman / Selina Kyle. Great dialogue here too - fun and 'superhero'-serious at the same time. I was very pleased to view it in the 4K UHD presentation. I still love the score and frequent eye-candy. If you enjoy Batman Returns - this is the digital version to watch it with." - Gary Tooze Ninth Place is Lionsgate's The Witch. In 1630 New England, panic and despair envelops a farmer (Ralph Ineson), his wife (Kate Dickie) and four of their children when youngest son Samuel suddenly vanishes. The family blames Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), the oldest daughter who was watching the boy at the time of his disappearance. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, twin siblings Mercy (Ellie Grainger) and Jonas (Lucas Dawson) suspect Thomasin of witchcraft, testing the clan's faith, loyalty and love to one another. "I'm glad the film got attention - many did not like The Witch - and others, like myself, loved it. I have bought this on the strength of the poll voting and look forward to watching it in 4K UHD. I was especially keen on the dialogue" - Gary In Tenth Place is Vinegar Syndrome's Tammy and the T-Rex. Tammy is a popular high school cheerleader whose new boyfriend, Michael, might be the love of her life. But Tammy’s jealous ex, Billy, won’t stand for anyone coming between him and ‘his’ girl, so he and his friends kidnap Michael, leaving him to be mauled by a lion in a local wildlife reserve. Comatose and at death’s door, Michael’s body is stolen from the hospital by mad scientist Dr. Wachenstein, who extracts his brain and implants it into a giant robotic T-Rex. Horrified by his predicament and new dinosaur body, he escapes from the doctor’s lab and begins brutally killing his former bullies. Meanwhile Tammy and her best friend Byron start searching for a suitable human corpse in which to re-transplant Michael's brain... . "Well, more than a dozen people voted for this, Vinegar Syndrome's first foray into 4K UHD. It was released on their site in 2019 but doesn't come to Amazon till January 2020. We have a copy and will review!" - Gary OUR BANNER CONTEST : No one got them all but one individual were close with only 4 incorrect - (kudos to the winner David Gillman and second place to Jeff Heinrich and Connie M.) TOP ROW (left to right):

The Shining, Secret Ceremony, Robocop, All About Eve, Suspiria ('77), 'Monty Python's Flying Circus', Wizard of Oz, Blonde Venus, Man Without a Star, Jezebel, In Fabric, The Story of Temple Drake, Notorious, Fragment of an Empire, Last Year at Marienbad, Gone to Earth, Klute, Cruising, L'Argent, Quartermass and the Pit, This Island Earth, The Leopard Man, A Blonde in Love, Gone to Earth, Bob le Flambeur, The Circus, Bob le Flambeur, All the Colors of Giallo.

( CLICK to ENLARGE )



BOTTOM ROW (left to right) :



Gaslight, La vie de Jésus, They Live, Silent Partner, Bend of the River, Boom!, Eyes of Laura Mars, The Heiress, Fantômas, Diamonds of the Night, Alphaville, This Island Earth , Eyes of Laura Mars , Romance, Easy Rider, The Body Snatcher, Holy Mountain, Detour, Irma la Douce, Phantom Lady, Der Hund von Baskerville, My Name is Julia Ross, La Verité, The Strange Door, Notorious, These are the Damned, Billy the Kid vs. Dracula, Rider on the Rain.

Thanks to all who participated!

Best Cover Designs :

Another year for impressive artistic covers whether from new inventive artists or replicas of vintage posters! Arrow, Criterion, Kino, Masters of Cinema, Indicator and a few other labels getting a fair share of votes. So many inventive covers, often chosen from extensive, artistic, old poster designs. Many are collectable in their own right. ( Mostly in alphabetical order! - each received 4 or more votes!)

NOTE : Notice the subtlety of Lionsgate's Apocalypse Now cover with the reflection being Kurtz!

On SD DVD. Briefly, we only had a few DVDs selected this year but the format is far from dead. I am watching more DVDs than in previous years as I am always finding new films I want to expose myself to... that aren't yet, and may never be, on Blu-ray . This is what I recently watched (not from 2019) ( CLICK for more information ) I have a pile of them on my desk to review and am hoping to cover some in 2020!

Notable Rants and Praise

Overwhelming kudos to Tim Lucas, Lee Gambin, Kat Ellinger, Samm Deighan, the tri-fecta of Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson, constant accolades for Toby Roan, Imogen Sara Smith, Michael Brooke, Richard Harland Smith, Troy Howarth, Alex Cox, Eddie Muller, Alan K. Rode, Julie Kirgo, Laura Mayne, Adrian Martin, Tony Rayns, Ted Newsom, Constantine Nasr, David Kalat, C. Courtney Joyner, David Del Valle, Stephen Thrower etc. etc. surface for their excellent commentaries and/or analysis. Thank you ALL! NOTE: Quite a few are also members of DVDBeaver's Facebook group! Come join us!

"Condemn Paramount for its short-sighted lack of interest in their own artistry and heritage. Paramount continues to decline to release Blu-rays if a DVD has already previously produced. They aren't even interested in licensing Blu-rays out to other boutique labels. Hopefully, the recent trickle of horror films from Shout and the recurring rumors will signal a change in this customer-unfriendly policy.



Still unable to fathom why so many cinema classics have yet to be released on Blu-ray:

Bringing Up Baby

Lady Eve

War of the Worlds

The Alamo

Freaks

Adam's Rib

Gunga Din

Stray Dog

Drunken Angel, etc.. etc. etc." - Gary Slatus

***

"Favourite package- Koker Trilogy for the clever way the individual digipacks fit into one other- the 3rd holds the 2nd which holds the 1st- just as 'Through the Olive Trees.' reflects on 'And Life Goes On' which in turn is a reflection on the locale and cast who appears in 'Where Is the Friend's House' However I also have a gripe about it- the usual one of Criterion outer boxes still being made of thin boards. Could they send someone to Arrow Academy or Eureka to learn how they make sturdy outer boxes? Even the BFI have got in the act for god's sake!" - Billy Bang

***

"FAVORITE Commentary of 2019: Richard Harland Smith - Alice Sweet Alice



The Italian Job 50th edition did not have a new remaster of the film." - Moshe Black

***

Commentaries: "So many quality offerings it is impossible to pick only one. I will single out some especially notable regular contributors: Adrian Martin, Imogen Sara Smith, Jonathan Rigby, Kat Ellinger, and the team of Kim Newman/Stephen Jones." - Luc Pomerleau

***

"It’s absolutely amazing how many great releases have come out in the midst of the (fakely proclaimed) death of physical media. Hollywood hasn’t killed it yet.



-Are we really all just going to live in a world where THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND is never going to receive a physical disc release? SERIOUSLY? Come on Netflix- make a deal with somebody. It cant hurt them one iota.

-I’m still waiting for Film Detective to release their long-intended BD of CAPTAIN KIDD (1945). I really hope someone will take note of this and add their voice.

-CRITERION, meanwhile, had a great year of releases, with less bite-rate pinching, but I worry about their obsession with their streaming channel, their determination to revisit titles already available in excellent BD transfers, and the unavailability of so many of their holdings on BLU-RAY. Criterion, it’s time to give us the (formerly on DVD) holdings of KUROSAWA, KOBAYASHI and SAM FULLER- not to mention RODAN and the rest of the TOHO brood." - Peter Yacavone

***

"I think this was a great year for Criterion, Arrow, and Shout/Factory. I shouldn't forget Kino, especially with their releases of Alphaville, Last Year at Marienbad, Dogtooth, and Hitchcock: British International Pictures Collection." - David Hollingsworth

***

"Once again, I must complain when English subtitles and/or closed captions are not included. This makes those of us with hearing issues unable to enjoy such new releases. I'm talking to you, Network in the UK and Warner Archive in the US!



Keep up the great work, Gary. I hope several others increased their Patreon donations and that this might help your website a wee bit to survive." - David T. Steere Jr.

***

"FAVORITE LABEL: Arrow wins this narrowly for me. However, this is really a great time for Boutique labels putting out obscure gems with beautiful transfers and restoration work. I feel indebted to many labels, both literally and figuratively. I limited my top ten releases to one per label to show the field of great labels doing the lord's work.



FAVORITE Commentary of 2019 (or commentaries): Really enjoyed Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan's excellent commentary work on Arrow's Blood Hunger: The Films of Jose Larraz boxset, ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK and Ellinger alone on THE FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY ABOVE SUSPICION and the trailers compilation ALL THE COLORS OF GIALLO. Tim Lucas' track for LOST HIGHWAY didn't make the blu-ray but it was still a very interesting listen. Troy Howarth's commentary work on the recent releases of Lucio Fulci have helped my appreciation of the films, specifically CONQUEST and MURDER ROCK." - Jason Overbeck

***

Favorite DVD of the Year: Microhabitat (Contents Panda) - A touching and beautifully done film about a young woman facing the challenges of life under economic hardship." - Gregory Elich

***

"We are spoiled by the great work of the boutique labels such as Arrow, Indicator, Masters of Cinema and many others."

"Criterion UK had a stunning release slate this year, but it is frustrating that releases are announced then cancelled due to censor edits or clashes with other labels. Surely, better to have done these territory checks before any announcements are made?"



FAVORITE Commentary of 2019 (or commentaries): Cruising (Arrow Video) - Commentary by William Friedkin and Mark Kermode - William J Leitch

***

"Huge kudos to indies Le chat qui fume, Kino Lorber, Synapse, and Vinegar Syndrome for adopting the 4K UHD format! Which just makes it all the more aggravating that Criterion and Arrow remain 1080p-bound holdouts. I used to look to Criterion as the gold standard in home video - no longer." -Jordan C. Johnson

***

"FAVORITE COMMENTARY: John Waters (Criterion) - Yes, they are port-overs from previous releases, but Mr. Waters *never* disappoints and his commentary on "Female Troubles" and "Polyester" are not to be missed. You feel like you're sitting in Mr. Water's rumpus room hearing him reminisce about home movies (which, of course, we are).



This is my OCD talking, but I have to say my rant and praise go hand-in-hand. These labels are all creating beautiful packaging for their releases, however, they are so often very fragile (O-rings, I'm looking at you) that they rarely survive the rigors of the amazons and Walmarts of the world. I guess my request is that companies either do away with the fancy slipcases, or make them more durable (Vinegar Syndrome excels at this). The whole point of such frills is to make the release attractive on the shelf, but as (sadly) so few titles are made available in brick & mortar stores in this day and age, I fail to see the point. (And yes, I know that content should be the thing, but I like my collection to look as lovely on my shelf as they do on my flatscreen—First World Problems at their best!) " - Todd Killinger

***

LABEL OF THE YEAR: Kino / BLU-RAY ESSAY OF THE YEAR: A.L. Kennedy, 1984 / BLU-RAY COVER ART OF THE YEAR: Cinema Guild, Gebo and the Shadow.

"This year was like no other for classical and modernist films finding blu-ray releases. It's not improbable to say 2019, by itself, offers a considerably well-rounded film education! Criterion largely fell back upon sure bets and standard bearers, while Kino, for example, brought numerous nervier works to the light of day. The year was so bountiful that it may prove to be the high-water mark of transporting cinema's past into the present. For blu-ray releases, several of the most demanding and rewarding filmmakers of the modernist period, including Miklós Jancsó (with only two films on blu-ray to his name, one incorrectly cropped!), Manoel de Oliveira (two films) and Nagisa Oshima (four films) remain woefully under-represented." - Peter Henne

***

"Favorite Commentaries of 2019: Dr Adrian Martin for his erudite commentary on The Big Clock. Tom Weaver, David Schecter and Dr. Robert J. Kiss share production minutiae as the melodramatic excesses of The Strange Door unfold on screen."



Best DVD: La Morte Che Assolve / The Absolving Death (Carlo Alberto Lolli, 1918) MicLab Fondazione Cineteca Italiana – A 2k restoration of the only surviving film of the great silent era diva Elettra Raggio (1887-1973).



Shame on Universal for palming off Arrow Academy with a poor master for their release of Phantom Lady. Also shame on Arrow Academy for doing little about it and thinking no one would care or notice. This noir deserves a better upgrade. Go in the proverbial corner both and write a thousand times: “This is a real mess. We apologize and will replace with a full 4k restoration and re-release immediately.”

Why did Shout! Factory advertise a trailer on the sleeve of their release The Body Snatchers? Unless it’s an Easter egg it cannot be found on disc! Slipshod or what?

Bravo Les Documents Cinematographiques. Founded by Jean Painlevé in 1930 this French company has released several features on DVD. Veille D’Armes (1935) and La Route Impériale (1935) both directed by Marcel L’Herbier. All their releases carry English subs not only on the main feature itself, but on all supplementary material as well. Trailers, interviews etc. This is unheard of as far as the rest of French digital releases are concerned.



- David Redfern

***

FAVORITE Commentary of 2019: Tie - David Jenkins on "The Young Girls of Rochefort" (BFI) (UK) (RB) and Jim Hemphill - "Betrayed" (BFI) (UK) (RB) Both are well researched, informative, excellent exclusive commentary tracks.



Favorite DVD of the Year:

TIE: Do Not Adjust Your Set - Collector's Edition - BFI (R2) / At Last the 1948 Show: The Complete Series - BFI (R2) These two television releases feature the Monty Python crew in their pre-Python days, along with the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Marty Feldman, "Captain Fantastic", memorable wacky skits, and characters that stand the test of time. Both releases feature all the surviving episodes with a huge amount of extras including audio only surviving portions, lengthy new interviews, and more.



Rants and Praises:

There are some honorable mentions to be made such as the 1920 German silent classic "Der Golem" (Eureka) (UK) (RB) and Milos Forman's underrated 1981 film "Ragtime" (Arte Editions) (France) (RB) receiving excellent treatment on Blu-ray - but those discs have been delayed by the post office and I have not received them personally yet, and I'm only going by other people's trusted reviews. Sony's release of "Poetic Justice" (1993) was a surprise, as they went a step further to include audition footage and deleted scenes for the first time ever, all being transferred in HD, plus a new interview with Singleton, which unfortunately became his last with his passing only a few months later. 88 Films as well as Eureka have been doing some excellent work releasing restored editions of Jackie Chan films and other Fortune Star properties, such as "The Protector" (1985) and "Crime Story" (1993) from 88 Films and "Three Films with Sammo Hung" and "Two Films by John Woo" from Eureka.



For some dishonorable mentions, "It's a Wonderful Life" may have received a 4K restoration and new release from Paramount on UHD and Blu-ray, but the release was a mess, with the US UHD release only including the baffling color version on the bonus Blu-ray and leaving off the previously released extras, and the international Paramount UHD/BD releases having the restored black and white version with none of the older extras, only containing the quick new featurettes. It seems like it is following the trend seen in Disney's line of "Signature Edition" releases, by reissuing films already on Blu-ray with new extras, and leaving behind the more significant older extras, and this year Disney continues that as well with many of their reissues. Besides presentation of the films themselves, the major labels were not at their best in 2019, and sadly the trend will most likely continue in that direction more for the future. - James-Masaki Ryan

***

"Favorite DVD of the Year: A Place To Call Home [Ltd Ed DVD] - Acorn - There are MOD Blu-ray editions of this wonderful Australian melodrama 6-season series, but I can't vouch for it. I can say that Acorn TV's 1080p streaming sports a great image but the audio suffers from PAL speedup which the DVD doesn't - Go figure." - Leonard Norwitz

***

"Praise to Arrow for finally announcing the Jodorowsky boxset for 2020, the accompanying cinema releases are also much welcomed. Rant that it's been a rumour for so long and that the cover art wasn't slightly more original!" -L H

***

FAVORITE Commentary of 2019 (or commentaries): Michael Brooke on SR's Diamonds of the Night!

***

"Great stuff still being put out by the major boutique labels including Arrow, Criterion, Eureka/MoC, Second Run, Second Sight, Indicator, and more, although the prospects for 2020 seem less hopeful at this point. Would like to see Arrow and others do some 4K UHD releases for their bigger titles." -Timothy Holm

***

The most disappointing commentary of the year was Nick Pinkerton's on KL's The Milky Way. Not only does he miss some facts and trivia that are either well-known or easily available through basic research, but he gets a bit lost in the picaresque trip woven by Buñuel and Carrière. He also relies too heavily on lengthy quotations from previous scholarship. Perhaps a general lack of empathy with the director's work in his final French phase, a culture and language Pinkerton may not be very familiar with.

***

"A weaker year in comparison to 2017 and 2018, apart from "Detour" no big and hugely-waited title released (e.g. "Othello" and "The Magnificent Ambersons" in 2017/8 or "Barry Lyndon") but a solid year of improvements of existing HD titles with a lot of masterpiece released in definitive releases.

Nick Wrigley, the best cover designer of all: his work of reshaping of original materials to fit the covers is stunning and inspirational. PRAISE! Warner: a lot done (with the Archive collection and the collaboration with Criterion and now Arrow) but a lot to be done: another year has passed without any "Greed", any "The Wind", any "The Devils" in HD. Italian labels: it's a hard life, but something is really moving. Koch Media Italy a few years ago entered in the collector box-set territory with excellent results; Eagle Pictures is the exclusive distributor of the Studiocanal library in the territory and entered in the 4k field; CG Entertainment just announced the HD distribution of Alberto Grimaldi's library (new 4K restoration of Bertolucci's "1900" and "Last Tango in Paris" or Fellini's "Ginger and Fred" and "Casanova" coming soon in 2020). ". - Alfredo Santoro

***

"FAVORITE Commentary of 2019: Too many to mention but if you see names like Tim Lucas, Lee Gambin, Kat Ellinger, Samm Deighan, Howard S. Berger, you know you're in good hands". - Colin Zavitz

"Some of my favorite films of 2019 received the 'barebones' release treatment and/or DVDBeaver did not review. I hope to recommend those titles at a future date. As always, working with Gary is an absolute pleasure and I look forward to many more years. Thank you to all our Patrons and supporters for keeping us afloat when things looked rough. Looking forward to next year's look back, if not just so I can say that "hindsight is 2020". - Colin Zavitz

***

FAVORITE Commentary of 2019 (or commentaries):

Amanda Reyes- DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK (Warner Archive)



I need to say a few words about info on the back covers. It sounds like a niche complaint, but the type is getting smaller and the organization is haphazard. I really hope companies think this through in the future



Arrow needs to come back to Beyond Fest. We miss you guys!



I really dug a bunch of Severin's releases (like VIY), but what is up with THE CHANGELING? Has the disc been fixed?



I love Second Run as a company. Lots of cool discs from movies that have been almost forgotten. Can they start a US / Canada office? Same thing with Third Window- you guys are the only ones putting out Sion Sono films and there's an audience in Region A for them.



African cinema is almost unknown in the US, almost non-existent outside major cities, and disc presence is even worse. A champion is needed.



The company reps that pop up on message boards- you guys are awesome. Keep it up. And the companies that send reps to conventions- you rule. I love seeing those guys.



Paramount (and now the Miramax library) really needs to get more of their catalog titles out to boutique labels. Some of their early efforts are encouraging, but I fear they could get easily discouraged.



The Vestron Line is sorely missed.



I am deeply concerned about titles from 20th Century Fox. I'd buy blu-rays of ANNE OF THE INDIES, A HATFUL OF RAIN, and SONS AND LOVERS if they appeared, but with Twilight Time in a state of ambiguity and Disney being "coy," we might be looking at a situation comparable to Paramount's.



I'm making my annual plea to get THE DEVILS on blu.



Criterion- This the 60th Anniversary of SPARTACUS. A new blu is overdue.



So, what's up with Olive? We're starting to worry.



I know this is a laundry list, but I actually like a lot of what's out there. If I didn't care, I wouldn't be complaining.

Gabriel Neeb

***

My 'coulda, woulda, shoulda' list of a few Blu-rays that, I think, deserved a little more love than our poll supplied them :

In the Heat of the Night [Blu-ray] (Norman Jewison, 1967) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Charly [Blu-ray] (Ralph Nelson, 1968) Kino (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Possessed [Blu-ray] (Luigi Bazzoni, Franco Rossellini, 1965) Arrow Video UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

Peppermint Soda [ Blu-ray ] (Diane Kurys, 1977) Cohen (BEAVER REVIEW)

La vérité [Blu-ray] (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Human Desire [Blu-ray] (Fritz Lang, 1954) RB UK Eureka (BEAVER REVIEW) - key Noir - Gloria Grahame and Glenn Ford - Gary

To Sleep with Anger [Blu-ray] (Charles Burnett, 1990) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Trapped [Blu-ray] (Richard Fleischer, 1949) Flicker Alley (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Kid Brother [Blu-ray] (Ted Wilde, 1927) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Far from Heaven [Blu-ray] (Todd Haynes, 2002) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

Jivaro 3D [Blu-ray 3D] (Edward Ludwig, 1954) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

River's Edge [ Blu-ray ] (Tim Hunter, 1986) RB DE Alive (BEAVER REVIEW)

Rider on the Rain [ Blu-ray ] (René Clément, 1970) Kino (BEAVER REVIEW) - Loved this to death - Gary

Diamonds of the Night [ Blu-ray ] (Jan Němec, 1964) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

A Face in the Crowd [Blu-ray] (Elia Kazan, 1957) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Lilith [Blu-ray] (Robert Rossen, 1964) RB UK Indicator (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Snake Pit [Blu-ray] (Anatole Litvak, 1948) RB UK Indicator (BEAVER REVIEW) - Shoulda been in the TOP 50 - Gary Fantomas 1960s Collection (Fantomas / Fantomas Unleashed / Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard) [Blu-ray] (André Hunebelle, 1964-1967) Kino (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Spanish Prisoner [Blu-ray] (David Mamet, 1997) Ammo Content (BEAVER REVIEW) - Not a great BD but this is my most rewatched film - Gary

All About Lily Chou-Chou [Blu-ray] (Shunji Iwai, 2001) Film Movement Classics (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Alligator People [Blu-ray] (Roy Del Ruth, 1959) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Nun (aka La religieuse) [Blu-ray] (Jacques Rivette, 1966) Kino (BEAVER REVIEW) The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada [Blu-ray] (Tommy Lee Jones, 2005) Sony (ALT-BEAVER REVIEW) - Haven't even see this particular BD but am a huge fans of this film and have all the Euro Blu-rays - Gary

Who? [Blu-ray] (Jack Gold, 1974) UK Indicator (BEAVER REVIEW) - Very weird, very cool - Gary

The Andromeda Strain [Blu-ray] (Robert Wise, 1971) UK Arrow Video (ALT-BEAVER REVIEW)

Death and the Maiden [Blu-ray] (Roman Polanski, 1994) RB DE Studio Canal (BEAVER REVIEW) - Probably my favorite Polanski after The Tennant (why ain't that on BD?) - Gary

The Silent Partner [Blu-ray] (Daryl Duke, 1978) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW) - Canucksploitation - looks like The Eaton's Centre! - Gary

Scum [Blu-ray] (Alan Clarke, 1979) Region Free UK Indicator (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Wild Heart [Blu-ray] (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, 1952) Kino (BEAVER REVIEW) - My fav Jen Jonres and its P+P - Gary

Peter Pan [Blu-ray] (Herbert Brenon, 1924) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

This Island Earth [Blu-ray] (Joseph M. Newman, 1955) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW) - My fav 50's sci-fi and finally in the best presentation - Gary

Attack of the Robots (aka Cartes sur table) [Blu-ray] (Jess Franco, 1966) Redemption (BEAVER REVIEW) - I actually liked a Jess Franco flic! - Gary

The Psychic [Blu-ray] (Lucio Fulci, 1977) Scorpion Releasing (BEAVER REVIEW)

1984 [Blu-ray] (Michael Radford, 1984) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW) - Shoulda been in the TOP 50 - Gary

Criss Cross [Blu-ray] (Robert Siodmak, 1949) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn [ Blu-ray ] (Elia Kazan, 1945) RB UK Eureka (BEAVER REVIEW) The Leopard Man [Blu-ray] (Jacques Tourneur, 1943) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW) - Master-poet of a director - Gary

L'Argent [Blu-ray] (Marcel L'Herbier, 1928) Flicker Alley (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Harder They Come [Blu-ray] (Perry Henzell, 1972) Shout! Factory (ALT-BEAVER REVIEW) - " A 4K restoration in the original 1.66:1 framing, including the long unreleased follow-up film "No Place Like Home", plus over 8 hours of extras, this 3 disc edition is the definition of a definitive release. " - James-Masaki Ryan

The Ear (aka Ucho) [Blu-ray] (Karel Kachyna, 1970) RB UK Second Run (BEAVER REVIEW)

Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice [Blu-ray] (Yasujirô Ozu, 1952) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW) - Shoulda been in the TOP 50 - Gary

The Leech Woman [Blu-ray] (Edward Dein, 1960) Shout! (BEAVER REVIEW)

Circus of Horrors [Blu-ray] (Sidney Hayers, 1960) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW) - Bizarre horror fun! - Gary

Mirage [Blu-ray] (Edward Dmytryk, 1965) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

Eyes of Laura Mars [Blu-ray] (Irvin Kershner, 1978) Region Free Indicator (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Letter [Blu-ray] (William Wyler, 1940) Warner Archive (BEAVER REVIEW) - Coulda been in the TOP 50 - Gary

Hercules in the Haunted World [Blu-ray] (Mario Bava, 1961) Kino (BEAVER REVIEW)

A Journey to the Beginning of Time [Blu-ray] (Karel Zeman, 1955) UK Second Run (BEAVER REVIEW) - " With releases of director Karel Zeman's Czech special effects masterpieces "Invention for Destruction" and "The Fabulous Baron Munchausen" on Blu-ray last year, Second Run follows them up with the director's 1955 film inspired by "Journey to the Center of the Earth". With two versions of the film and a good amount of extras to support the 4K restoration, it's a wondrous experience to behold more than 60 years later ." - James-Masaki Ryan

Fright [Blu-ray] (Peter Collinson, 1971) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW) - Ummm.. SUSAN GEORGE! Nu'ff said - Gary

When We Were Kings [Blu-ray] (Leon Gast, 1996) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW) Coulda been in the TOP 50 - Gary

Zoltan... Hound of Dracula (aka Dracula's Dog) [Blu-ray] (Albert Band, 1977) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW) - Let your hair down you snobs! - Gary

Days of Wine and Roses [Blu-ray] (Blake Edwards, 1962) Warner Archive (BEAVER REVIEW) - This film makes me weep! - Gary

Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory (aka Lycanthropus) [Blu-ray] (Paolo Heusch, 1961) Severin (BEAVER REVIEW) - Krimi-esque fun! - Gary Cold War [Blu-ray] (Pawel Pawlikowski, 2018) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW) - Can't believe this did not make TOP 10 - may be the best film I saw in 2019! - Gary

Fawlty Towers - The Complete Collection [Blu-ray] - RB UK BBC (BEAVER REVIEW) - This show makes me sob... in tears of laughter - Gary

Un Flic [Blu-ray] (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1972) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

Green for Danger [Blu-ray] (Sidney Gilliat, 1946) RB UK Network (BEAVER REVIEW) - Best 'Who-Dun-It' in its era and beyond - Gary

Upgrade [Blu-ray] (Leigh Whannell, 2018) RB UK Second Sight (BEAVER REVIEW) - Already given many deserved accolades - Gary

The Holly and the Ivy [Blu-ray] (George More O'Ferrall, 1952) Kino (BEAVER REVIEW)

Now, Voyager [Blu-ray] (Irving Rapper, 1942) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW) Coulda easily have been in the TOP 50 - many votes but fell short - Gary

Secret Ceremony [Blu-ray] (Joseph Losey, 1968) RB UK Indicator (BEAVER REVIEW) - Very weird, very cool - Gary

The Abominable Snowman [Blu-ray] (Val Guest, 1957) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW) - My favorite New Hammer of 2019 - Gary

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