Arrow Academy has announced its Martch batch of Blu-ray releases. Amongst them are André De Toth's
Ramrod, Robert Altman's
Images, and Stephen Chiodo's
Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
One of the classic Westerns of its era, Ramrod stars Veronica Lake as Connie Dickson, a headstrong cowgirl who's plans to marry a sheep rancher are thwarted when a powerful local cattle baron, Frank Ivey (Preston Foster), and her own father (Charles Ruggles), force her fiancé to flee town.
Refusing to kowtow to these powerful men, Connie inherits her ex-fiancés land and determines to run the ranch with the help of her new ramrod, reformed alcoholic Dave Nash (Joel McCrea). But Dave's diplomatic attempts to resolve the dispute fall upon deaf ears and a bloody turf war on the open range ensues.
With Ramrod, Andre DeToth (a Hungarian-American director who has earned praise from Tarantino and Scorsese) skilfully creates a dangerous world of greed, lies and murder whilst garnering superb performances from McCrea and Lake, two of the biggest Hollywood stars of the 1940s.
Ramrod
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation transferred from original film elements
- Uncompressed Mono 1.0 PCM audio soundtrack
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary by film scholar Adrian Martin
- Andre DeToth in Conversation with Patrick Francis, far-reaching audio-only interview conducted by the documentary filmmaker
- Newly-filmed appreciation by expert on American genre films, Peter Stanfield
- Andre DeToth Interviewed at the National Film Theatre, a career-spanning archival interview from 1994, conducted by writer and broadcaster Kevin Jackson
- Gallery of original promotional images
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips
- First pressing only: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Adrian Danks, contemporary reviews and production stories
STREET DATE: MARCH 5.
A Pistol for Ringo & The Return of Ringo: Two Films by Duccio Tessari
The original Ringo films introduced another iconic hero to the spaghetti western; a clean-cut sharp shooter who was markedly different to Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name.
In A Pistol For Ringo, the eponymous hero, played by Giuliano Gemma ( Day of Anger), infiltrates a ranch of Mexican bandits to save a beautiful hostage (Nieves Navarro). In The Return Of Ringo, the gunslinger, now a veteran of war, disguises himself as a Mexican in order to take revenge on outlaws who have stolen his property and taken his wife.
Hugely successful upon their original release, thanks in part to the skilled direction of Duccio Tessari ( The Bloodstained Butterfly), the Ringo films proved influential on the Italian western, spawning numerous unofficial sequels, due to their gripping set-pieces and unforgettable musical scoring by Ennio Morricone. Arrow Video is proud to present both films in sumptuous new restorations that truly brings their stylish cinematography to life.
- Brand new 2K restorations of both films from the original negative
- Original Italian and English soundtracks
- Uncompressed Mono 1.0 PCM audio
- Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
- Audio commentaries for both films by Spaghetti Western experts C. Courtney Joyner and Henry Parke
- They Called Him Ringo – An archival featurette with star Giuliano Gemma
- A Western Greek Tragedy – An archival featurette with Lorella de Luca and camera operator Sergio D'Offizi
- Original trailers
- Gallery of original promotional images
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
- First pressing only: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the films by Howard Hughes and a newly-translated interview with Duccio Tessari
U.S. STREET DATE: MARCH 20.
UK STREET DATE: MARCH 19.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
- Brand new restoration from a 4K scan of the original camera negative
- Newly remastered stereo 2.0 and 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio options
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Archive audio commentary with the Chiodo Brothers
- Let the Show Begin! Anatomy of a Killer Theme Song – An all-new interview with the original members of the American punk band, The Dickies
- The Chiodos Walk Among Us: Adventures in Super 8 Filmmaking – All-new documentary highlighting the making of the Chiodo Brothers childhood films, from the giant monster epics made in their basement to their experiments in college
- New HD transfers of the complete collection of the Chiodo Brothers 8mm and Super 8 films, including Land of Terror, Free Inside, Beast from the Egg, and more!
- Tales of Tobacco – An interview with star Grant Cramer
- Debbie's Big Night – An interview with star Suzanne Snyder
- Bringing Life to These Things – A tour of Chiodo Bros. Productions
- The Making of Killer Klowns – Archive production featurette
- Visual Effects with Gene Warren Jr. – Archive interview with co-writer/producer Charles Chiodo and visual effects supervisor Gene Warren Jr.
- Kreating Klowns – Archive interview with Charles Chiodo and creature fabricator Dwight Roberts
- Komposing Klowns – Archive interview with composer John Massari
- Klown Auditions
- Deleted Scenes with filmmaker's audio commentary
- Bloopers
- Image Galleries
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sara Deck
U.S. STREET DATE: MARCH 27.
UK STREET DATE: MARCH 26.
Images
The early seventies were a period of remarkable activity for Robert Altman, producing masterpiece after masterpiece. At the time he came to make Images, MASH and McCabe & Mrs. Miller were behind him, with The Long Goodbye, California Split and Nashville still to come.
Originally conceived in the mid-sixties, Images concerns a pregnant children's author (Susannah York, who won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival) whose husband (Rene Auberjonois) may or may not be having an affair. While holidaying in Ireland, her mental state becomes increasingly unstable resulting in paranoia, hallucinations and visions of a doppelgänger.
Scored by an Oscar-nominated John Williams, with "sounds" by Stomu Yamash'ta (The Man Who Fell to Earth), Images also boasts the remarkable cinematography of Vilmos Zsigmond (Close Encounters of the Third Kind).
- Brand-new 4K restoration from the original negative, produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release
- Original English mono audio (uncompressed LPCM) soundtracks
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Audio commentary by Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger
- Scene-select commentary by writer-director Robert Altman
- Interview with Robert Altman
- Brand new interview with actor Cathryn Harrison
- An appreciation by musician and author Stephen Thrower
- Theatrical trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil
- First pressing only: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Carmen Gray and an extract from Altman on Altman
U.S. STREET DATE: MARCH 20.
UK STREET DATE: MARCH 19.
Sacha Guitry: Four Films 1936-1938
Sacha Guitry has been referred to as the Gallic Noël Coward - a celebrated polymath who worked as a stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and as an acclaimed playwright. Four Films 1936-1938 brings together a quartet of 1930s features by Guitry, each based on his own, earlier works for the theatre.
The New Testament (Le Nouveau testament) follows a holier-than-though physician who is scuppered by his own hypocrisy. My Father Was Right (Mon père avait raison) tells of a man who, after being left by his wife for another man, raises his son to be wary of women. Let's Make a Dream… (Faisons un rêve...) is another story of mistrust, between husband, wife and their lovers. And the history of one of France's most famous streets is retold in Let's Go Up the Champs-Élysées (Remontons les Champs-Élysées), featuring multiple performances from Guitry himself.
This set presents some of Guitry's most enjoyable works for the first time on Blu-ray, with each film amply displaying the versatile talents of this unique performer and artist.
- Limited Edition Dual Format Collection [2000 copies]
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- Original French mono soundtracks on all films (uncompressed LPCM on Blu-ray)
- Optional English language subtitles
- Newly filmed introduction to the films of Sacha Guitry by French cinema expert and academic Ginette Vincendeau
- Selected scene commentaries by Ginette Vincendeau
- Four video essays on different Guitry themes by critic Philippe Durant
- Interviews about Guitry with writer and director Francis Veber, and filmmaker Pascal Thomas
- Let's Make a Dream… sound tests
- Let's Make a Dream… theatrical trailer
- Reversible sleeves featuring newly commissioned artwork by Scott Saslow for all films
- Limited edition 60-page book illustrated with original stills, featuring new writing by Craig Keller and Sabrina Marques; and credits for all films [Limited Edition Exclusive]
U.S. STREET DATE: MARCH 27.
UK STREET DATE: MARCH 26.
Flowers in the Attic
When her husband dies in a tragic accident, widow Corrine Dollanganger (Victoria Tennant, The Holcroft Covenant) takes her four children to the ancestral family home she fled before they were born. Locked away in the attic by their tyrannical grandmother (Academy Award® winner Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), it falls to older and sister brother Chris (Jeb Stuart Adams, The Goonies) and Cathy (Kristy Swanson, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) to care for their younger siblings. But with their mother growing increasingly distant and erratic and a mysterious sickness taking hold, will any of the Dollanganger children survive to escape the clutches of the house's cruel matriarch?
Originally published in 1979, VC Andrews' novel Flowers in the Attic was a smash hit, spawning four sequels and going on to sell over 40 million copies worldwide. With undercurrents of incest and child abuse and a haunting score by Christopher Young (Hellraiser), Flowers in the Attic is a dark and chilling Gothic suspense thriller in the classic tradition.
- Original lossless 2.0 stereo audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- New audio commentary by Kat Ellinger, author and editor-in-chief of Diabolique Magazine
- Home Sweet Home: Filming Flowers in the Attic, a new interview with cinematographer Frank Byers
- Fear & Wonder: Designing Flowers in the Attic, a new interview with production designer John Muto
- The Devil's Spawn: Playing Flowers in the Attic, a new interview with actor Jeb Stuart Adams
- Shattered Innocence: Composing Flowers in the Attic, a new interview with composer Christopher Young
- Production gallery of behind-the-scenes images, illustrations and storyboards
- The original, studio-vetoed ending
- Original theatrical trailer
- Two versions of the script: the unproduced Wes Craven draft, and the final shooting script, including original scenes and reshoots, as well as both endings (BD-ROM content)
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Haunt Love
- First pressing only: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Bryan Reesman
UK STREET DATE: MARCH 12.
*The label will also produce individual releases of
The Crazies,
The Crazies,
There's Always Vanilla,
Flowers in the Attic, and
Raising Cain.