June 2013
Essential Yamanaka and Clouzot
OUT NOW:
The debut feature from the mordant master of French suspense, Henri-Georges Clouzot, the creator of such classics as Les Diaboliques and The Wages of Fear, hits Blu-ray and DVD: The Murderer Lives at 21 [L’Assassin habite… au 21]. Starring luminaries of both ’40s pre- and post-war French cinema in the persons of the elegantly wry Pierre Fresnay (Le Corbeau) and Suzy Delair (Quai des Orfèvres), this heady dose of comic noir is an intoxicating entry in the cinema of night and London-like fog… Our edition sports a gorgeous new 1080p transfer of the film (on the Blu-ray; progressive transfer on the DVD) of Gaumont’s new restoration; a new and exclusive video interview with French film scholar Ginette Vincendeau about Clouzot and his debut; and a 28-PAGE BOOKLET containing an essay about the film by scholar Judith Mayne; an extract about Occupation cinema from scholar Christopher Lloyd’s book about Clouzot; newly translated interview extracts about the making of the film by Clouzot, source author Stanislas-André Steeman, and actress Suzy Delair; a short testimonial by Jean Cocteau; and rare imagery.
Also available now, on DVD only: a long-anticipated two-disc edition whose title tells you all you need to know: The Complete (Existing) Films of Sadao Yamanaka. Years back, we released Yamanaka’s final film and perhaps greatest masterpiece, Humanity and Paper Balloons, in a standalone edition. Here, we revisit Humanity and Paper Balloons, pairing it alongside the other two brilliant features that mark the only surviving complete works from the 27-film oeuvre of the director considered by many to be the equal of Mizoguchi and Ozu, whose life was cut tragically short at age 29. Our edition compiles progressive transfers of Yamanaka’s three features: The Obscure Story of Tange Sazen: The Million Ryô Pot, Kôchiyama Sôshun, and Humanity Paper Balloons, along with the two surviving short fragments of Yamanaka’s lost films Genta of the Shore: The Longsword of Dakine and The White-Hooded Thief, and a special extended scene for Tange Sazen not included in the original feature. We also present a new and exclusive video piece with critic and scholar Tony Rayns discussing the work and life of Yamanaka, alongside a 44-PAGE BOOKLET containing writing by Yamanaka, Shinji Aoyama, and Kimitoshi Satô, alongside a newly revised essay on Yamanaka by Tony Rayns, and rare archival imagery.
New releases :
- Tabu: A Story of the South Seas June 2013
- The Naked Island June 2013
- Kuroneko June 2013
- The Murderer Lives at 21 May 2013
- The Murderer Lives at 21 May 2013
