British label Indicator/Powerhouse Films has announced that it will add a number of new titles to its Blu-ray catalog in June. Amongst them are James Bridges'
The China Syndrome, Albert Brooks'
Modern Romance, and Samuel Fuller's
The Crimson Kimono and
Underworld U.S.A.
Modern Romance
Synopsis: Neurotic, self-obsessed Robert Cole (Albert Brooks) is a successful film editor who splits up with his on-off girlfriend (Kathryn Harrold), only to try and win her back when he finds he can't live without her. Considered by many to be one of America's greatest comic talents, and sought out by filmmakers including Martin Scorsese, Judd Apatow, Steven Soderbergh and Nicolas Winding Refn, actor-writer-director Brooks created what is perhaps his most caustic and excruciatingly honest film in Modern Romance.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- High Definition remaster
- Original mono audio
- New audio commentary with critic and film historian Nick Pinkerton
- Original theatrical trailer
- Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Isabel Stevens, an overview of contemporary critical responses and historic articles on the film
- AND MORE...
STREET DATE: JUNE 18.
The China Syndrome
Synopsis: When a reporter and cameraman are assigned to cover the daily routine of a nuclear power plant, they witness and record an accident which could have wiped out the whole of Southern California, but their bosses refuse to broadcast the footage. Starring Jane Fonda (The Chase, Klute) Jack Lemmon (Some Like It Hot, Missing) and Michael Douglas (Basic Instinct, The Game), this daring and controversial thriller was nominated for four Academy Awards®, and proved to be horrifyingly prescient when the real-life Three Mile Island accident happened at a nuclear generator in Pennsylvania just 12 days after it was released in US cinemas.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- High Definition remaster
- Original mono audio
- Alternative 5.1 surround sound track
- A Fusion of Talent (1999, 28 mins): documentary about the making of the film, featuring interviews with cast and crew, including Jane Fonda, actor-producer Michael Douglas, executive producer Bruce Gilbert, and actor Jack Larson, partner of director James Bridges
- Creating a Controversy (1999, 30 mins): documentary about the controversy surrounding the film and the real-life events which occurred just after its release
- Deleted scenes
- Theatrical Trailer
- Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Neil Sinyard, an overview of contemporary critical responses and historic articles on the film
STREET DATE: JUNE 18.
Samuel Fuller at Columbia, 1937-1961
Synopsis: The daring and provocative films of maverick American filmmaker Samuel Fuller (1912-1997) were some of the most hard-hitting, outspoken, politically progressive and visually audacious of the Hollywood studio era. This seven-film Blu-ray box set brings together Fuller's entire output as a writer and director for Columbia Pictures: IT HAPPENED IN HOLLYWOOD (1937), a witty satire on the movie-making business, co-written by Fuller; ADVENTURE IN SAHARA (1938), a gripping thriller based on a Fuller story; POWER OF THE PRESS (1943), a daring drama about a corrupt newspaper publisher, based on a Fuller story; SHOCKPROOF (1949), a brooding film noir written by Fuller and directed by the great Douglas Sirk; SCANDAL SHEET, a tense drama about a compromised newspaper editor, based on Fuller's acclaimed novel The Dark Page; THE CRIMSON KIMONO (1959), Fuller's frank and unsentimental detective thriller which attacked the prejudice, ignorance and bigotry that Fuller saw all around him; and UNDERWORLD U.S.A. (1961), Fuller's unflinching depiction of the brutal world of organized crime.
This collectable four-disc box set also contains an array of new and archival extra features, limited edition booklets with newly commissioned essays, archival material, contemporary reviews, and full film credits, and is strictly limited to 6,000 numbered units.
BOX SET CONTENT AND SPECIAL FEATURES:
- High Definition remasters of all seven films
- Original mono audio
- Sam Fuller in Conversation with Henry Chapier (1989): archival recording from the French TV series Le divan d'Henry Chapier
- Sam Fuller Storyteller (2009): Christa and Samantha Fuller, Martin Scorsese, Wim Wenders, Tim Robbins and Curtis Hanson on the life and work of Sam Fuller
- Sam Fuller's Search for Truth (2009): celebrated actor and director Tim Robbins discusses Fuller's philosophy of cinema
- The Culture of 'The Crimson Kimono' (2009, 10 mins): filmmaker Curtis Hanson considers the impact of The Crimson Kimono
- Martin Scorsese on 'Underworld U.S.A' (2009, 6 mins): the renowned filmmaker discusses one of his favourite Fuller works
- Barry Forshaw on 'Underworld U.S.A.' (2018, tbc mins): an appreciation by the author of American Noir
- Original theatrical trailers
- Limited Edition exclusive booklets containing newly commissioned essays by Pamela Hutchinson and Lindsay Ann Hallam, archival interviews with director Sam Fuller, historic articles, a critical anthology, and full film credits
- World Blu-ray premieres of It Happened in Hollywood, Adventure in Sahara, Power of the Press, Shockproof and Scandal Sheet
- UK Blu-ray premieres of The Crimson Kimono and Underworld U.S.A.
- Limited Edition Box Set of 6,000 numbered copies
- AND MORE...
STREET DATE: JUNE 18.