Radiance Films Announces December Releases
HomeRadiance Films Announces December Releases
Posted September 6, 2023 09:45 PM by Webmaster
Radiance Films has announced its December batch of Blu-ray releases. They are: Black God, White Devil (1964), Elegant Beast (1962), The Facts of Murder (1959), and World Noir Vol. 1 (1957-1959).
World Noir Vol. 1
Description: Though widely considered an American filmmaking style, film noir was first applied by French critics to the visual and thematic darkness of the flood of American films in the post-War period. Those films, often by European emigré filmmakers, were influenced by European filmmaking modes, notably French poetic realism and Weimar cinema. The American noirs that flourished in the 1940s and 1950s in turn influenced cinema around the world again. This ongoing box set series attempts to capture the trails of the noir influence across the globe, from the pre-War period to the emergence of neo-noir, expanding our understanding and availability of this rich filmmaking tradition.
In this first collection, World Noir Vol 1 focuses on the 1950s with three films exhibiting noir traits while still evoking their home genre trends and quirks. From 1957, in Koreyoshi Kurahara's I Am Waiting a failed boxer and a waitress with a dark past run afoul of an underworld syndicate that seeks to exploit the woman to its own ends. With dreams of escaping to Brazil, he agrees to help. But neither the past nor the future turns out to be exactly what it seems. A foundational film from the pioneering studio of post-war Japanese noir Nikkatsu, I Am Waiting was directed by a master of the genre and stars Yujiro Ishihara and Mie Kitahara, the on-screen and real-life couple that ruled Japanese popular cinema of the 1950s.
In Edouard Molinaro's 1959 Witness in the City, a wealthy industrialist murders his lover, throwing her from a train to look like suicide. Her husband, Ancelin (Lino Ventura, The Valachi Papers) seeks revenge but his endeavours leave a witness putting him in a cat-and-mouse game, thrillingly shot on the streets of Paris. An adaptation of the novel by celebrated writers Boileau and Narcejac (Vertigo, Les diaboliques) Molinaro wrings every ounce of tension from the narrative, focusing on evocative shadows and Parisian nightlife shot by Henri Decae (Le Samourai).
Finally, in Pietro Germi's The Facts of Murder, Inspector Ingravallo has been called to a Roman apartment building to investigate a robbery. Once there he questions the tenants but soon realises something is amiss. As the investigation progresses a simple robbery leads to a murder case… Directed by and starring Germi (The Railroad Man) as the growling Inspector, The Facts of Murder was loosely adapted from celebrated author Carlo Emilio Gadda's novel and is shot with inky shadows reminiscent of film noir, while the mystery element prefigures the giallo. Featuring a cast of wonderful supporting actors including Claudia Cardinale (The Day of the Owl) and Claudio Gora (Il sorpasso), the film won multiple awards at Italian institutions including the Golden Globe for Best Film.
BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION BOX SET SPECIAL FEATURES:
Black God, White Devil
Description: One of the most acclaimed and influential Brazilian films ever made, Black God, White Devil (Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol) tells the story of Manoel, a young cowherd who murders a wealthy ranch owner and flees to the drought-ridden hinterlands of northern Brazil with his wife Rosa. Now outlawed, they join a religious cult headed by the mystic self-proclaimed saint Sabastião, who condones acts of violence. The couple are plunged into a moral dilemma between embracing religious fanaticism and a life of brutality amongst rural peasant bandits. Meanwhile, the authorities hire a gunman known as Antonio Das Mortes to track them down.
This audacious and fearless award-winning film, celebrated for its fusion of mysticism and folklore and its examination of aspects of religion, violence, and social injustice, was hugely influential in shaping the Cinema Novo movement and has inspired many filmmakers. Mawu Films is proud to present this milestone of Brazilian filmmaking in a brand new 4K restoration of the original 35mm materials preserved by the Cinemateca Brasileira.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Elegant Beast
In their humble two-room apartment, the Maeda family seem ever so self-effacing - but their modest façade hides another truth. Daughter Tomoko is the mistress of a bestselling author with well-lined pockets. Son Minoru embezzles funds with his lover Yukie (Ayako Wakao, Red Angel), who has her own hidden agenda. And father Tokizo (Yunosuke Ito, Ikiru, Lone Wolf and Cub) is a former military man who swears he will never return to the poverty he knew during the war, no matter what the cost. One after another, those affected by the Maedas' schemes show up on their doorstep. But these visitors all have their own duplicitous agendas. With each knock on the door, the gamesmanship reaches a whole new level. Elegant Beast was adapted by Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba, Naked Island) from his own stage play. Director Yuzo Kawashima, mentor of Shohei Imamura and a major influence on the Japanese New Wave, makes magnificent widescreen use of the single apartment setting to deliver a ferocious satire on Japan's post-war economic miracle. Special Features and Technical Specs:
UK STREET DATE: DECEMBER 18.
The Facts of Murder
Description: nspector Ingravallo has been called to a Roman apartment building to investigate a robbery. Once there he questions the tenants but soon realises something is amiss. As the investigation progresses a simple robbery leads to a murder case… Directed by and starring Petro Germi (The Railroad Man) as the growling Inspector, The Facts of Murder was loosely adapted from celebrated author Carlo Emilio Gadda's novel and is shot with inky shadows reminiscent of film noir, while the mystery element prefigures the giallo. Featuring a cast of wonderful supporting actors including Claudia Cardinale (The Day of the Owl) and Claudio Gora (Il sorpasso), the film won multiple awards at Italian institutions including the Golden Globe for Best Film.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
***
FROM RARO VIDEO:
Murder Obsession
Description: Michael Stanford (Stefano Patrizi, The Tough Ones) is on a break from shooting his latest horror film with his friends, visiting his mother (Anita Strindberg, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key) at their family estate. A series of heinous murders follow and Michael is the main suspect due to his revelation that he murdered his father as a child. Is Michael's past coming back to haunt him or is there another explanation? Italian genre legend Riccardo Freda's (The Horrible Dr. Hichcock) final film is a deliriously extravagant late-period giallo with the director's signature gothic flourishes, featuring a great supporting cast including Laura Gemser (Black Emmanuelle), John Richardson (Black Sunday) and Martine Brochard (Eyeball).
Special Features and Technical Specs:
World Noir Vol. 1
Description: Though widely considered an American filmmaking style, film noir was first applied by French critics to the visual and thematic darkness of the flood of American films in the post-War period. Those films, often by European emigré filmmakers, were influenced by European filmmaking modes, notably French poetic realism and Weimar cinema. The American noirs that flourished in the 1940s and 1950s in turn influenced cinema around the world again. This ongoing box set series attempts to capture the trails of the noir influence across the globe, from the pre-War period to the emergence of neo-noir, expanding our understanding and availability of this rich filmmaking tradition.
In this first collection, World Noir Vol 1 focuses on the 1950s with three films exhibiting noir traits while still evoking their home genre trends and quirks. From 1957, in Koreyoshi Kurahara's I Am Waiting a failed boxer and a waitress with a dark past run afoul of an underworld syndicate that seeks to exploit the woman to its own ends. With dreams of escaping to Brazil, he agrees to help. But neither the past nor the future turns out to be exactly what it seems. A foundational film from the pioneering studio of post-war Japanese noir Nikkatsu, I Am Waiting was directed by a master of the genre and stars Yujiro Ishihara and Mie Kitahara, the on-screen and real-life couple that ruled Japanese popular cinema of the 1950s.
In Edouard Molinaro's 1959 Witness in the City, a wealthy industrialist murders his lover, throwing her from a train to look like suicide. Her husband, Ancelin (Lino Ventura, The Valachi Papers) seeks revenge but his endeavours leave a witness putting him in a cat-and-mouse game, thrillingly shot on the streets of Paris. An adaptation of the novel by celebrated writers Boileau and Narcejac (Vertigo, Les diaboliques) Molinaro wrings every ounce of tension from the narrative, focusing on evocative shadows and Parisian nightlife shot by Henri Decae (Le Samourai).
Finally, in Pietro Germi's The Facts of Murder, Inspector Ingravallo has been called to a Roman apartment building to investigate a robbery. Once there he questions the tenants but soon realises something is amiss. As the investigation progresses a simple robbery leads to a murder case… Directed by and starring Germi (The Railroad Man) as the growling Inspector, The Facts of Murder was loosely adapted from celebrated author Carlo Emilio Gadda's novel and is shot with inky shadows reminiscent of film noir, while the mystery element prefigures the giallo. Featuring a cast of wonderful supporting actors including Claudia Cardinale (The Day of the Owl) and Claudio Gora (Il sorpasso), the film won multiple awards at Italian institutions including the Golden Globe for Best Film.
BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION BOX SET SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New 4K restoration of The Facts of Murder carried out by L'Immagine Ritrovata at the Cineteca di Bologna, presented on Blu-ray for the first time in the world
- 2K restoration of Witness in the City, on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK
- High Definition digital transfer of I Am Waiting, on Blu-ray for the first time in the world
- Original uncompressed mono PCM audio for all films
- Optional English subtitles for all films
- Newly designed artwork based on original posters
- Limited edition 80-page perfect bound booklet featuring new writing on the films by critics and experts including Barry Forshaw on noir represented outside the US, William Carroll on post-war occupation period in Japanese cinema, Hayley Scanlon on Japanese noir, Pasquale Iannone on the hybrid nature of Italian cinema, and Sam Wigley on 50s world noir from other countries
- Limited Edition of 3000 copies, presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases for each film and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
- Audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp
- Yujiro's Travel Diary - a documentary on star Yujiro Ishihara during location shooting in Europe (1959, 42 mins)
- The Yujiro Effect - a visual essay by Mark Schilling
- Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
- Introduction by critic Tony Rayns
- Interview with Philippe Durant, biographer of Lino Ventura, who speaks about the film and the iconic actor
- French noir - critic and author Ginette Vincendeau provides an overview of noir in France during the 1950s
- Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
- New interview with Pietro Germi expert Mario Sesti (2023)
- The Man With the Cigar in His Mouth - a documentary about Pietro Germi featuring interviews with his colleagues and collaborators including Mario Monicelli, Claudia Cardinale, Stefania Sandrelli, Giuseppe Tornatore among others (Mario Sesti, 1997, 41 mins)
- What's Black and Yellow All Over? All Shades of Italian Film Noir - visual essay by Paul A. J. Lewis on the presence of noir trends in Italian cinema and the evolution of the genre (2023)
- Trailer
- Newly translated
- English subtitles
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
Black God, White Devil
Description: One of the most acclaimed and influential Brazilian films ever made, Black God, White Devil (Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol) tells the story of Manoel, a young cowherd who murders a wealthy ranch owner and flees to the drought-ridden hinterlands of northern Brazil with his wife Rosa. Now outlawed, they join a religious cult headed by the mystic self-proclaimed saint Sabastião, who condones acts of violence. The couple are plunged into a moral dilemma between embracing religious fanaticism and a life of brutality amongst rural peasant bandits. Meanwhile, the authorities hire a gunman known as Antonio Das Mortes to track them down.
This audacious and fearless award-winning film, celebrated for its fusion of mysticism and folklore and its examination of aspects of religion, violence, and social injustice, was hugely influential in shaping the Cinema Novo movement and has inspired many filmmakers. Mawu Films is proud to present this milestone of Brazilian filmmaking in a brand new 4K restoration of the original 35mm materials preserved by the Cinemateca Brasileira.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- New 4K restoration from original 35mm materials preserved by the Cinemateca Brasileira
- Audio commentary by restoration supervisor Lino Meireles
- Video essay by Manuela Lazic and Alessandro Luchetti
- Glauber the Movie, Labyrinth of Brazil - a documentary on the filmmaker by Silvio Tendler featuring interviews with colleagues and collaborators (2003, 98 mins)
- Cinema Novo - an award-winning documentary by filmmaker and son of Glauber Rocha, Eryk Rocha on the Brazilian filmmaking movement, featuring interviews with noted figures including Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade and Rocha himself (2016, 90 mins)
- Optional English subtitles
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho and critic Rafa Sales Ross
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with limited edition booklet and reversible sleeve
Elegant Beast
In their humble two-room apartment, the Maeda family seem ever so self-effacing - but their modest façade hides another truth. Daughter Tomoko is the mistress of a bestselling author with well-lined pockets. Son Minoru embezzles funds with his lover Yukie (Ayako Wakao, Red Angel), who has her own hidden agenda. And father Tokizo (Yunosuke Ito, Ikiru, Lone Wolf and Cub) is a former military man who swears he will never return to the poverty he knew during the war, no matter what the cost. One after another, those affected by the Maedas' schemes show up on their doorstep. But these visitors all have their own duplicitous agendas. With each knock on the door, the gamesmanship reaches a whole new level. Elegant Beast was adapted by Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba, Naked Island) from his own stage play. Director Yuzo Kawashima, mentor of Shohei Imamura and a major influence on the Japanese New Wave, makes magnificent widescreen use of the single apartment setting to deliver a ferocious satire on Japan's post-war economic miracle. Special Features and Technical Specs:
- New 4K restoration
- Uncompressed mono PCM audio
- Interview with film critic Toshiaki Sato (2023)
- Appreciation by filmmaker Toshiaki Toyoda (2023)
- Visual essay by critic Tom Mes on post-war architecture in Japanese cinema (2023)
- Trailer
- New and improved English subtitles
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Midori Suiren and contemporary archival writing
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
UK STREET DATE: DECEMBER 18.
The Facts of Murder
Description: nspector Ingravallo has been called to a Roman apartment building to investigate a robbery. Once there he questions the tenants but soon realises something is amiss. As the investigation progresses a simple robbery leads to a murder case… Directed by and starring Petro Germi (The Railroad Man) as the growling Inspector, The Facts of Murder was loosely adapted from celebrated author Carlo Emilio Gadda's novel and is shot with inky shadows reminiscent of film noir, while the mystery element prefigures the giallo. Featuring a cast of wonderful supporting actors including Claudia Cardinale (The Day of the Owl) and Claudio Gora (Il sorpasso), the film won multiple awards at Italian institutions including the Golden Globe for Best Film.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- New 4K restoration of the film by L'Immagine Ritrovata at the Cineteca di Bologna, world premiere on High Definition
- Uncompressed mono PCM audio
- New interview with Pietro Germi expert Mario Sesti (2023)
- The Man With the Cigar in His Mouth - a documentary about Pietro Germi featuring interviews with his colleagues and collaborators including Mario Monicelli, Claudia Cardinale, Stefania Sandrelli, Giuseppe Tornatore among others (Mario Sesti, 1997, 41 mins)
- What's Black and Yellow All Over? All Shades of Italian Film Noir - visual essay by Paul A. J. Lewis on the presence of noir trends in Italian cinema and the evolution of the genre (2023)
- Newly translated English subtitles
- Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
- REGION-A/B "LOCKED"
***
FROM RARO VIDEO:
Murder Obsession
Description: Michael Stanford (Stefano Patrizi, The Tough Ones) is on a break from shooting his latest horror film with his friends, visiting his mother (Anita Strindberg, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key) at their family estate. A series of heinous murders follow and Michael is the main suspect due to his revelation that he murdered his father as a child. Is Michael's past coming back to haunt him or is there another explanation? Italian genre legend Riccardo Freda's (The Horrible Dr. Hichcock) final film is a deliriously extravagant late-period giallo with the director's signature gothic flourishes, featuring a great supporting cast including Laura Gemser (Black Emmanuelle), John Richardson (Black Sunday) and Martine Brochard (Eyeball).
- High Definition digital transfer from the original camera negative presented in two versions: the original uncut Italian edit with the original score and the shorter English version and electronic score
- Uncompressed mono PCM audio
- Audio commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
- Interview with make-up effects artist Sergio Stivaletti
- Interview with composer Claudio Simonetti
- Appreciation by filmmaker Gabriele Albanesi
- Deleted sceneReversible sleeve featuring artwork based on original posters
- New and improved English subtitle translation for Italian audio and English SDH for English audio
- Limited edition booklet with new writing by Mikel J. Koven, author of La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo
- Limited edition of 3000 copies
- REGION-FREE
