Indicator/Powerhouse Films: Love on the Dole and Requiem for a Village Coming Soon to the U.S.
HomeIndicator/Powerhouse Films: Love on the Dole and Requiem for a Village Coming Soon to the U.S.
Posted April 17, 2022 05:01 PM by Webmaster
Indicator/Powerhouse Films will release on Blu-ray David Gladwell's Requiem for a Village (1975) and John Baxter's Love on the Dole (1941). The two releases will be available for purchase on July 19.
Love on the Dole
Description: Adapted from the celebrated novel of the same name by Walter Greenwood, Love on the Dole was one of the most controversial British films of its time, having been banned from production by the British Board of Film Censors and labelled a 'very sordid story in very sordid surroundings'. It was eventually made in 1941 at a time when the Second World War had radically altered the country's social conditions and attitudes.
During the Depression in 1930s Salford in the North of England, young Harry Hardcastle (Geoffrey Hibbert, In Which We Serve) and his sister, Sally (Deborah Kerr, The Chalk Garden, The Innocents), fall victim to poverty and unemployment, and are forced to make difficult decisions to survive.
Making its US debut on Blu-ray, Love on the Dole is complemented by a selection of contextualizing archival extras, including the feature-length 1947 documentary A City Speaks, which is co-scripted by Greenwood.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Description: When an old man sees the dead rise from their graves in a rural English churchyard, the past and present are thrown together and a dialogue between the old and the new, tradition and progress, man and machine, is set in motion. Lyricism, violence and the uncanny collide to produce an extraordinary film of great power and potency.
Perhaps better known for work as the editor of Lindsay Anderson's If.... and O Lucky Man!, David Gladwell directs this visionary folk offering with an artist's eye. Exquisite slow-motion, no-holds-barred brutality, and weird alchemy are enriched by the astounding score from acclaimed composer David Fanshawe. Making its US Blu-ray debut, Requiem for a Village arrives complete with all-new director commentaries and a collection of Gladwell's short films which foreshadow many of the themes and techniques of his remarkable debut.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Love on the Dole
Description: Adapted from the celebrated novel of the same name by Walter Greenwood, Love on the Dole was one of the most controversial British films of its time, having been banned from production by the British Board of Film Censors and labelled a 'very sordid story in very sordid surroundings'. It was eventually made in 1941 at a time when the Second World War had radically altered the country's social conditions and attitudes.
During the Depression in 1930s Salford in the North of England, young Harry Hardcastle (Geoffrey Hibbert, In Which We Serve) and his sister, Sally (Deborah Kerr, The Chalk Garden, The Innocents), fall victim to poverty and unemployment, and are forced to make difficult decisions to survive.
Making its US debut on Blu-ray, Love on the Dole is complemented by a selection of contextualizing archival extras, including the feature-length 1947 documentary A City Speaks, which is co-scripted by Greenwood.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- High Definition remaster
- Original mono audio
- The BEHP Interview with Barbara K Emary (1988): archival audio recording, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, featuring Love on the Dole screenwriter and regular collaborator with John Baxter in conversation with Bob Allen and Bob Dunbar
- Island People (1940): documentary short, co-directed by Paul Rotha and Philip Leacock, taking a look at pre-war life in Britain from a French perspective
- A Call for Arms! (1940): short film, produced and directed by Brian Desmond Hurst, focusing on a pair of chorus girls who join the war effort
- Our Film (1942): short film, directed by Harold French and produced by a filmmaking co-operative, about the benefits of national unity during wartime
- A City Speaks (1947): feature-length documentary, produced and directed by Rotha, surveying the development of post-war Manchester, England. Co-written by Love on the Doleauthor Walter Greenwood
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Neil Sinyard, archival articles, new writing on A City Speaks and the short films, and film credits
Description: When an old man sees the dead rise from their graves in a rural English churchyard, the past and present are thrown together and a dialogue between the old and the new, tradition and progress, man and machine, is set in motion. Lyricism, violence and the uncanny collide to produce an extraordinary film of great power and potency.
Perhaps better known for work as the editor of Lindsay Anderson's If.... and O Lucky Man!, David Gladwell directs this visionary folk offering with an artist's eye. Exquisite slow-motion, no-holds-barred brutality, and weird alchemy are enriched by the astounding score from acclaimed composer David Fanshawe. Making its US Blu-ray debut, Requiem for a Village arrives complete with all-new director commentaries and a collection of Gladwell's short films which foreshadow many of the themes and techniques of his remarkable debut.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- High Definition remaster
- Original mono audio
- Audio commentary with writer-director David Gladwell and film historian Sam Dunn, focusing on Requiem for a Village (2022)
- Audio commentary with writer-director David Gladwell and film historian Sam Dunn, focusing on Gladwell's life and career (2022)
- A Summer Discord (1955): short, silent amateur film by Gladwell which pays homage to Jean Vigo
- Miss Thompson Goes Shopping(1958): short, lyrical film by Gladwell based on a poem by Martin Armstrong
- An Untitled Film (1964): experimental short film by Gladwell with electronic score by composer and choreographer Ernest Berk
- The Great Steam Fair (1964): documentary short, co-directed by Gladwell and Derrick Knight, focusing on the steam engines and traditional fairground rides at an event in Berkshire, England
- 28b Camden Street (1965): documentary short by Gladwell about a community of artists
- New Ways at Northgate(1969): Gladwell's ground-breaking documentary, exploring the 're-humanising' of disabled people
- Can Horses Sing? (1971): documentary short, directed by Elizabeth Sussex and edited by Gladwell, charting a day in the life of a village school in rural Scotland
- Can Horses Sing? audio commentary with film historian Thirza Wakefield (2022)
- Image gallery of Gladwell's paintings
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the feature and all six short films
- Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Ben Nicholson, archival articles, Adam Scovell on the short films, and film credits
