Rob Compton

I'll answer my own question [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif[/img] Yes it was!

rgds
Rob

DB7

It Happened Here book/dvd

Kevin Brownlow's own account of the making of one of the most original, unsettling and intelligent war films of all time...

Out of print and unobtainable for almost 35 years, UKA Press.com has just re-issued Kevin Brownlow's 1968 account of the making of the terrifying Orwellian fantasy of Nazi-occupied England It Happened Here

Amazingly the film was started by two boys aged 18 and 16 respectively, who set out with a borrowed 16mm camera and no budget and saw their dream through to completion and national distribution eight years later. But this was just the start of their problems. Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo had dared to think the unthinkable: that the British people under the right circumstances would be no more immune to infection by Fascism than any other national group. That the jackboot can be tailored to fit all. The result was national outrage and protests from Jewish organisations and other well-meaning people who failed to understand the irony of the film's apparently sympathetic treatment of Fascism or feared that others might. The story of the film's reception and of the attempts at repression even by its own distributors touch on every aspect of censorship and artistic freedom.

How It Happened Here is a book that will not only inform students of the nitty-gritty of film-making, how the industry really functions and how it treats mavericks, far more importantly it will inspire them and give them a vision of what it can mean to see a project through in this artform. We believe this to be one of the most valuable books that a teacher of film studies at any level could possibly hope to discover.

Author Kevin Brownlow has gone on to become one of the world's foremost film restorers, and has directed a further feature film with Andrew Mollo (Winstanley in 1975) as well as writing the definitive book on the early cinema The Parade's Gone By... and directing numerous documentaries on film history, the most recent being one on Garbo and one on Merian C Cooper for Turner Classic Movies. In 2004 he was given a special lifetime award by The American Society of Cinematographers for services to the cinema.

The re-issue of the book coincides with the immanent new British DVD of the film, from Film First, Packers House, West Street, Hereford, HR8 0BX (Phone 0870 264 9000). The VHS version is currently available: MovieMail

To order How It Happened Here contact UKA Press.com or Bluechrome Publishing or order through Amazon or any online bookstore or through any bookshop, including your University or College bookshop. Should you have any problems ordering please contact the UKA Press by e-mail.

How It Happened Here by Kevin Brownlow Published by UKA Press.com at £9.99 ISBN 1-904781-18-17 Published 15/7/05. (The book includes more than 100 black-and-white photographs)

JamesM

DD Video titles

"Our Girl Friday" (1954)

"Battle for V.1" (1958)

JamesM

According to the Network website, the new "Father Came Too!" DVD shall only sport a trailer as an extra. They are also re-releasing "Very Important Person" but without the audio commentary Leslie Phillips recorded for the Granada release, according to the website.

JamesM

Network are releasing Black Narcissus. Extras to be confirmed. It will use the restored High Definition transfer.

Steve Crook

"Restoration" might be over-stating it. It sounds more like a new print. I'll reserve judgement until I see what it's like.

Steve

Steve Crook

I don't think they've actually done any restoration, it's just a new print. They did say that they tried to correct the Blue out error. I'll reserve judgement until I've seen it.

One of the PaPAS email group saw something that said the extras would include all the Criterion stuff plus the Carlton documentary. We'll see.

Steve

smudge

This, from the PR strand of The Mausoleum Clubs forum....

"Completely digitally restored in HD - considerable cleanup and colour grading with the fade to black and not blue when the Mad Nun faints. Also has the Criterion doco on Jack Cardiff and Powell/Scorcese commentary, another doco on the making of Black Narcissus and a cool image gallery. It whips the Criterion one into a corner. Naked is a new transfer and has been cleaned up, as has Regan. "

SMUDGE

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif[/img]

Welcome to my house. Enter freely, and of your own will...

Billy Liar

That sounds fantastic, I'm so glad I held off buying the Criterion edition, although I'm still gonna plum for their release of The Red Shoes to go go with the sublime Carlton release.

Still no Tales of Hoffman though. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif[/img] I haven't seen this since I was a wee boy, and the video is very expensive to buy £40+ on ebay.


DB7 is It Happened Here DVD mail order only? I'm going to see this on the big screen in a few weeks, can't wait! The book sounds like an essential purchase. Cheers for the heads up fella.

Steve Crook

Until I told them, they weren't aware of any problem with the blue-out. It didn't seem strange to them. They said at first that all the material they had had it going to bright blue. When I pointed out the problems with that they said that they'd make it go as dark as possible.

As I said, I'll reserve judgement until I've seen it.

Steve

smudge

Was it that you told Network Steve ?

(Impressed) [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

SMUDGE

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif[/img]

Welcome to my house. Enter freely, and of your own will...

JamesM

Steve, who did you speak to about this? (I mean Carlton or Granada?)

JamesM

This restoration was done before Network were in the frame. It was the first film selected for Granada's 'high tech' digital restorations and made a natural title to offer to Network.

The documentary will be 'A Profile of Black Narcissus' filmed for Carlton Cinema. The other doc sounds like the one on the Criterion DVD. And will it have the Michael Powell audio commentary? It looks like no new materials are being produced for this release. In the absence of the Criterion audio commentary, they could have recorded a new one with Jack Cardiff, but they didn't.

I had started this as a separate thread as I thought it would have a more significant discussion.

JamesM

According to that post on Mausoleum, it does have the Powell/Scorcese commentary.

Steve Crook

Granada

Steve