The British Film Institute has announced that it will add various new titles to its Blu-ray catalog this Spring. Amongst them are Jack Clayton's
Room at the Top, Richard Lester's
How I Won the War, and Clive Donner's
The Guest a.k.a.
The Caretaker.
Room at the Top
Synopsis: In post-war industrial Yorkshire, social climbing Joe Lampton (Laurence Harvey) aims to woo the boss's daughter as he attempts to reach the top of his profession. But when his working class background hampers his efforts, Joe seeks solace with the unhappily married Alice (Simone Signoret) – an affair that will have dire consequences.
A mature treatment of sexuality and class, Jack Clayton's Room at the Top is a landmark of the British New Wave. Winner of two Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Signoret and Best Adapted Screenplay, this kitchen sink classic is available on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK to mark the film's 60th anniversary.
STREET DATE: MAY 20.
The Caretaker
Synopsis: Whilst renovating his dilapidated home, Aston (Robert Shaw) invites an irritable and devious vagrant (Donald Pleasance) to stay. But, when his ill-tempered brother Mick (Alan Bates) returns, an ominous yet darkly comic power struggle between the trio commences.
A play that changed the face of modern theatre and made Harold Pinter's name, The Caretaker remains one of Pinter's most famous works. Featuring original production cast members Pleasance and Bates and sensitively directed by Clive Donner (Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush) and shot by Nicolas Roeg, this study of shared illusion, tragic dispossession and the fraternal bond of unspoken love, combines mesmerising performances and the magic of Pinter's dialogue into a spellbinding film.
STREET DATE: APRIL 15.
How I Won the War
Synopsis: Hapless British commander Lieutenant Goodbody (Michael Crawford) enthusiastically leads his troops on a series of debacles on the battlefields of World War Two – including the calamitous installation of a cricket pitch behind enemy lines...
Featuring John Lennon in his only non-musical screen performance, How I Won the War is a biting satire not just on war, but also the concept of the war movie. A surreal farce fantastically brought to life by Richard Lester's stylised direction, it remains a unique and innovative cult comedy, which is presented here on Blu-ray for the very first time in the UK.
STREET DATE: MAY 20.
Caravaggio
Synopsis: Hugely significant to Derek Jarman, his biopic of the Italian Baroque painter with whom he strongly identified was developed over many years.
Ultimately shot on 35mm film, it looks incredible: the tableaux and sets project rich, painterly depth, brightness and colour. Sean Bean and Tilda Swinton deliver fine performances as the model and partner caught up in a complex – and fatally doomed – love triangle with the famous artist. Caravaggio struggles to reconcile the demands of authority (in the form of his church patrons) with his own artistic and sexual needs – a tension then very close to Jarman's heart.
Available here in High Definition for the first time outside of 2018's Jarman Vol.1 (1972-1986), Caravaggio is arguably the director's most popular film.
STREET DATE: JUNE 17.
Heat and Dust
Anne (Julie Christie), a young historical researcher, inherits letters written by her great aunt Olivia (Greta Scacchi) and becomes obsessed with their revelations of her past in colonial India. Flitting between the present-day and the 1920s, the film examines their parallel journeys of self-discovery and the eternal, seductive allures of the country.
Adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from her Booker Prize-winning novel, and winner of Best Screenplay at the 1983 BAFTAs, Heat and Dust is a sensual and evocative Merchant Ivory classic.
Now beautifully restored in 4K and available on Blu-ray for the first time, the set also features Autobiography of a Princess, Merchant Ivory's fictional study of Imperial India starring James Mason and Madhur Jaffrey.
STREET DATE: APRIL 15.
Shakespeare Wallah
Synopsis: A company of nomadic actors travel across India performing Shakespeare, during the early days of post-colonial rule. When young troupe member Lizzie (Felicity Kendal) falls in love with a local playboy Sanju (Shashi Kapoor), the pair must overcome cultural differences and the scheming of fierce Indian film actress - and rival for Sanju's affections - Manjula (Madhur Jaffrey).
Plaintive and haunting, Shakespeare Wallah was Merchant Ivory's first international success. Shot by Satyajit Ray's cameraman, Subrata Mitra - and scored by Ray himself - the film is a delicate love story that sets the tone for so many of the partnership's future collaborations.
Now newly restored in 2K, it remains a beguiling and multi-layered cinematic landmark.
STREET DATE: APRIL 15.
The Best of the British Transport Films
Synopsis: Presenting the Best of British Transport Films (BTF) – newly remastered in stunning High Definition for the very first time to celebrate its 70th anniversary.
A descendant of the British sponsored documentary tradition, British Transport Films was established in 1949 to focus a spotlight on transport as a nationalised undertaking, to create an appetite for travel and to entice the public to use the network. Over a period of more than 35 years, BTF produced an unrivalled documemtary film legacy for generations of film and transport enthusiasts.
This new Blu-ray compilation gathers together 21 films representing the cream of the celebrated BTF collection. All have been newly digitally remastered to 2K by the BFI National Archive, except for Geoffrey Jones' legendary film Rail (1967) which is presented in its glorious coat of technicolor with a stunning new 4K restoration.
Remastered films include:
Farmer Moving South (1952, 17 mins)
Train Time (1952, 28 mins)
This is York (1953, 20 mins)
Elizabethan Express (1954, 20 mins)
Snowdrift at Bleath Gill (1955, 10 mins)
Any Man's Kingdom (1956, 20 mins)
Fully Fitted Freight (1957, 21 mins)
Every Valley (1957, 20 mins)
A Future on the Rail (1957, 10 mins)
Between the Tides (1958, 22 mins)
A Letter for Wales (1960, 25 mins)
They Take the High Road (1960, 25 mins)
Blue Pullman (1960, 25 mins)
Terminus (1961, 20 mins)
The Third Sam (1962, 10 mins)
Rail (1967, 13 mins)
Railways For Ever! (1970, 7 mins)
The Scene from Melbury House (1972, 15 mins)
Wires Over the Border (1974, 18 mins)
Locomotion (1975, 15 mins)
Overture One Two Five (1978, 7 mins)
STREET DATE: MAY 20.
Blue Black Permanent
Synopsis: This haunting and magical film moves between Edinburgh and Orkney as it tells of a woman's attempts to come to terms with her mother's death through her childhood memories. Filled with flashbacks and dream sequences, it's also a film about islanders' relationship with the ever-present sea.
Margaret Tait's only feature-length film, from her own screenplay, was produced by the BFI in 1992 and was the first Scottish feature film directed by a woman. Now newly remastered in 2K and available on DVD and Blu-ray for the very first time.
STREET DATE: JUNE 17.
Early Women Filmmakers 1911-1940
Synopsis: More women worked in film during its first two decades than at any time since. Unfortunately, many early women filmmakers have been largely written out of film history, their contributions undervalued. This necessary and timely collection highlights the work of 14 of early cinema's most innovative and influential women directors, re-writing and celebrating their rightful place in film history.
International in scope, this groundbreaking collection features over 10 hours of material, comprised of 25 films spanning 1911-1940, including many rare titles not widely available until now.
Directors include Mabel Normand, Alice Guy Blanché, Lois Weber, Dorothy Davenport, Germaine Dulac, Olga Preobrazhenskaya, Dorothy Arzner and Mary Ellen Bute. These women were technically and stylistically innovative, pushing the boundaries of narrative, aesthetics, and genre. Going back to the beginning of cinema, this collection makes visible the tremendous directorial contributions women made.
CONTENT
Disc 1:
Falling Leaves (1912, 14 mins)
Making an American Citizen (1912, 14 mins)
The Girl in the Armchair (1912, 13 mins)
Greater Love Hath No Man (1911, 12 mins)
Algie, the Miner (1912, 10 mins)
Matrimony's Speed Limit (1913, 13 mins)
Ocean Waif (1916, 29 mins)
Disc 2:
Suspense (1913, 10 mins)
Discontent (1916, 25 mins)
The Blot (1921, 94 mins)
Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914, 12 mins)
Disc 3:
The Woman Condemned (1934, 64 mins)
La Cigarette (1919, 50 mins)
La Souriante Mme. Beudet (1922, 43 mins)
Disc 4:
Le Village du Peche (1927, 88 mins)
Le Roi des Aulnes (1929, 45 mins)
Dance, Girl, Dance (1940, 4 mins)
Parabola (1937, 9 mins)