StudioCanal: New Restorations of The Halfway House and The Holly and the Ivy Coming Soon to Blu-ray
HomeStudioCanal: New Restorations of The Halfway House and The Holly and the Ivy Coming Soon to Blu-ray
Posted October 18, 2019 04:52 PM by Webmaster
StudioCanal has announced that it will add two new titles to its Vintage Classics collection: George More O'Ferrall's The Holly and the Ivy (1952) and Basil Dearden and Alberto Cavalcanti's The Halfway House (1944).
The Holly and the Ivy
Studio description: Set amid the austere atmosphere of post war Britain, this touching story of a family gathering together at Christmas and facing up to their demons is one of the very best classic British Christmas movies.
On Christmas Eve, the Gregory family descend on a snow-covered rural Norfolk vicarage, the home of their recently widowed patriarch Martin (Ralph Richardson), the local Parson. This year though, family tensions and misunderstandings threaten to ruin the holiday, as his three children (Celia Johnson, Margaret Leighton and Denholm Elliot) battle with personal issues and are unable to confide in a father that they consider unapproachable, judgmental and out of touch. Martin must confront some familial and spiritual truths in order to affect a family reconciliation.
The Holly and the Ivy poignantly and perfectly captures an England on the cusp of dramatic social, economic and cultural change, and deftly examines the generational gap in a family at odds over matters of faith and what the future may hold.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
The Halfway House
Synopsis: From stalwart Ealing director Basil Dearden (The Blue Lamp, Pool of London) comes this enjoyable yet creepy wartime tale of a group of strangers driven to rake shelter at a remote Welsh inn during a storm. What they don't know is that the inn was bombed by a German plane a year ago and their hosts were killed in the blast.
Starring Mervyn Johns (A Christmas Carol) and real-life daughter Glynis Jones (Mary Poppins), The Halfway House was written by Anghus Mcphail (Whiskey Galore!, It Always Rains on Sunday), Diana Morgan (Went The Day Well?, Pink String and Sealing Wax) and T.E.B. Clarke (Passport to Pimlico, The Titfield Thunderbolt) from the stage play by Dennis Ogden.
STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 25.
The Holly and the Ivy
Studio description: Set amid the austere atmosphere of post war Britain, this touching story of a family gathering together at Christmas and facing up to their demons is one of the very best classic British Christmas movies.
On Christmas Eve, the Gregory family descend on a snow-covered rural Norfolk vicarage, the home of their recently widowed patriarch Martin (Ralph Richardson), the local Parson. This year though, family tensions and misunderstandings threaten to ruin the holiday, as his three children (Celia Johnson, Margaret Leighton and Denholm Elliot) battle with personal issues and are unable to confide in a father that they consider unapproachable, judgmental and out of touch. Martin must confront some familial and spiritual truths in order to affect a family reconciliation.
The Holly and the Ivy poignantly and perfectly captures an England on the cusp of dramatic social, economic and cultural change, and deftly examines the generational gap in a family at odds over matters of faith and what the future may hold.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- BRAND NEW RESTORATION
- NEW Interview with Melanie Williams, Reader in Film & Television Studies at the University of East Anglia
- NEW Interview with Professor Mark Connelly, author of Christmas: A Social History and Christmas at the Movies
- NEW Audio Commentary with Jeremy Arnold, the author of Turner Classic Movies' Christmas in the Movies
- Stills gallery
- Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature
The Halfway House
Synopsis: From stalwart Ealing director Basil Dearden (The Blue Lamp, Pool of London) comes this enjoyable yet creepy wartime tale of a group of strangers driven to rake shelter at a remote Welsh inn during a storm. What they don't know is that the inn was bombed by a German plane a year ago and their hosts were killed in the blast.
Starring Mervyn Johns (A Christmas Carol) and real-life daughter Glynis Jones (Mary Poppins), The Halfway House was written by Anghus Mcphail (Whiskey Galore!, It Always Rains on Sunday), Diana Morgan (Went The Day Well?, Pink String and Sealing Wax) and T.E.B. Clarke (Passport to Pimlico, The Titfield Thunderbolt) from the stage play by Dennis Ogden.
STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 25.