BFI: The Pawnbroker and The River Prepped for Blu-ray
HomeBFI: The Pawnbroker and The River Prepped for Blu-ray
Posted May 3, 2021 06:33 PM by Webmaster
The British Film Institute will add two new titles to its Blu-ray catalog: Sidney Lumet's The Pawnbroker (1964) and Jean Renoir's The River (1951). The two releases will be available for purchase later this year.
The Pawnbroker
Synopsis: Sol Nazerman (Rod Steiger), a survivor of the Nazi death camps which took the lives of his wife and children is a man bereft of hope, instead taking refuge in misery and a bitter condemnation of humanity, while managing a Harlem pawnshop where he's subjected to an endless parade of prostitutes, pimps and thieves. Seemingly only caring about money, he is continually haunted by vivid flashbacks of the concentration camp.
Oscar-nominated for his performance, Steiger firmly established his credentials as an actor of international standing, wonderfully supported here by Geraldine Fitzgerald (Wuthering Heights) and Brock Peters (To Kill A Mockingbird).The film also boasts a score from then first-time film composer Quincy Jones.
STREET DATE: AUGUST 16.
The River
Synopsis: Jean Renoir's intoxicating first colour feature shot entirely on location in India is a lyrical adaptation of Rumer Godden's autobiographical coming-of-age tale of an adolescent girl living with her English family on the banks of West Bengal during the waning years of British colonial life.
Exquisitely shot in luminous Technicolor by Renoir's nephew Claude, The River is a visual tour de force and a glorious, meditative tribute to the sights and sounds of Indian culture.
Perhaps, Renoir's most symbolic and spiritual film, displaying great humanity and refreshing simplicity. The River received tremendous international acclaim and remains one of his most popular films.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
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The label has also detailed its upcoming Blu-ray release of Ewald André Dupont's Piccadilly (1929), starring Gilda Gray, Anna May Wong, Jameson Thomas, and Cyril Ritchard.
Description: Anna May Wong stars as Shosho, a scullery maid in a fashionable London nightclub whose sensuous tabletop dance catches the eye of suave club owner Valentine Wilmot. She rises to become the toast of London and the object of his erotic obsession – to the bitter jealousy of Mabel, his former lover and star dancer (played by Ziegfeld Follies star Gilda Gray).
Piccadilly has been beautifully restored by the BFI National Film & Television Archive, complete with amber and blue tinting copied from an original 1929 silent release print.
This stylish evocation of Jazz Age London, directed by the German émigré EA Dupont, boasts the dazzling cinematography of Werner Brandes and atmospheric sets by Alfred Junge – ranging from the opulent West End nightclub (actually filmed in Piccadilly's Caf de Paris) to seedy Limehouse. Charles Laughton has a cameo role, making one of his first screen appearances as a greedy nightclub diner.
Piccadilly was a star vehicle for Anna May Wong, the first Asian-American star and one of the first non-white actors to gain international celebrity. Best known for her role as Marlene Dietrich's sultry sidekick in Shanghai Express, Wong's career was stymied by racial stereotyping. Until recently all but forgotten, she now seems poised for rediscovery.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
The Pawnbroker
Synopsis: Sol Nazerman (Rod Steiger), a survivor of the Nazi death camps which took the lives of his wife and children is a man bereft of hope, instead taking refuge in misery and a bitter condemnation of humanity, while managing a Harlem pawnshop where he's subjected to an endless parade of prostitutes, pimps and thieves. Seemingly only caring about money, he is continually haunted by vivid flashbacks of the concentration camp.
Oscar-nominated for his performance, Steiger firmly established his credentials as an actor of international standing, wonderfully supported here by Geraldine Fitzgerald (Wuthering Heights) and Brock Peters (To Kill A Mockingbird).The film also boasts a score from then first-time film composer Quincy Jones.
STREET DATE: AUGUST 16.
The River
Synopsis: Jean Renoir's intoxicating first colour feature shot entirely on location in India is a lyrical adaptation of Rumer Godden's autobiographical coming-of-age tale of an adolescent girl living with her English family on the banks of West Bengal during the waning years of British colonial life.
Exquisitely shot in luminous Technicolor by Renoir's nephew Claude, The River is a visual tour de force and a glorious, meditative tribute to the sights and sounds of Indian culture.
Perhaps, Renoir's most symbolic and spiritual film, displaying great humanity and refreshing simplicity. The River received tremendous international acclaim and remains one of his most popular films.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- RESTORED BY THE ACADEMY FILM ARCHIVE, IN COOPERATION WITH THE BFI AND JANUS FILMS
- Introduction to The River by Indian filmmaker Kumar Shahani
- AND MORE...
***
The label has also detailed its upcoming Blu-ray release of Ewald André Dupont's Piccadilly (1929), starring Gilda Gray, Anna May Wong, Jameson Thomas, and Cyril Ritchard.
Description: Anna May Wong stars as Shosho, a scullery maid in a fashionable London nightclub whose sensuous tabletop dance catches the eye of suave club owner Valentine Wilmot. She rises to become the toast of London and the object of his erotic obsession – to the bitter jealousy of Mabel, his former lover and star dancer (played by Ziegfeld Follies star Gilda Gray).
Piccadilly has been beautifully restored by the BFI National Film & Television Archive, complete with amber and blue tinting copied from an original 1929 silent release print.
This stylish evocation of Jazz Age London, directed by the German émigré EA Dupont, boasts the dazzling cinematography of Werner Brandes and atmospheric sets by Alfred Junge – ranging from the opulent West End nightclub (actually filmed in Piccadilly's Caf de Paris) to seedy Limehouse. Charles Laughton has a cameo role, making one of his first screen appearances as a greedy nightclub diner.
Piccadilly was a star vehicle for Anna May Wong, the first Asian-American star and one of the first non-white actors to gain international celebrity. Best known for her role as Marlene Dietrich's sultry sidekick in Shanghai Express, Wong's career was stymied by racial stereotyping. Until recently all but forgotten, she now seems poised for rediscovery.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- NEW RESTORATION OF THE FILM BY THE BFI
- Talk of the Town (2021): an in-depth interview with film critic, author and filmmaker Jasper Sharp on the life and career of Anna May Wong
- Piccadilly: A Video Essay (2021): a newly recorded video essay by BFI curator and silent film expert Bryony Dixon
- Cosmopolitan London (1924, 10 mins)
- Neil Brand on composing for Piccadilly (2004, 20 mins): the acclaimed composer discusses his score for the film
- Prologue from the sound version of the film (5 mins)
- Newly commissioned sleeve art by David Downton
- First pressing only: Fully illustrated booklet with new writing on the film by BFI curator Bryony Dixon and an essay on the core by Neil Brand
