The Joseph Losey Collection

[DocRobertPepper]

Released on 20/10/2008



Includes



The Go Between: Summer 1900: Queen Victoria's last and the summer Leo turns 13. He's the guest of Marcus, a wealthy classmate, at a grand home in rural Norfolk. Leo is befriended by Marian, Marcus's twenty-something sister, a beauty about to be engaged to Hugh, a viscount and good fellow. Marian buys Leo a forest-green suit, takes him on walks, and asks him to carry messages to and from their neighbor, Ted Burgess, a bit of a rake. Leo is soon dissembling, realizes he's betraying Hugh, but continues as the go-between nonetheless, asking adults naive questions about the attractions of men and women. Can an affair between neighbours stay secret for long? And how does innocence end?



The Servant: In this landmark drama of class struggle and moral decay, a pampered playboy (James Fox) acquires an elegant townhouse complete with a dedicated man servant (Dirk Bogarde). But when the young man's fiance (Wendy Craig) becomes suspicious of the servant's intentions, he and his 'sister' (Sarah Miles) thrust the household into a sinister game where seduction is corruption and power becomes the most shocking desire of all.



Accident: When an accident kills one of his student, and Oxford professor (Dirk Bogarde) recounts the circumstances of their meeting. But as these turbulent memories unfold, they reveal a series of shocking relationships betrayed by adultery, obsession and self-destruction in which nothing is what it seems and everything has its cost.



The Criminal: Stanley Baker (Hell Is A City, Zulu) stars as underworld kingpin Johnny Bannion, sprung from prison by his best friend Mike Carter to mastermind a daring racetrack heist. But when Johnny is sent back to jail shortly after hiding the stolen loot, he must survive and ordeal of brutality and betrayal at the hands of his fellow convicts and former accomplices in this gritty drama that was originally advertised as "The Toughest Film Ever Made In Britain!"



Eva: Welsh writer Tyvian Jones (Stanley Baker) seems to have it all, Sixties style -- an international best seller, an apartment in Rome, a gorgeous fiancée in Virna Lisi - but he's bitter anyway. He meets his existential match in ennui in the mod seductress Eve, played by Jeanne Moreau, who was never more cynical or iconic. Decked out in pointy pumps and heavy eyeliner, listening to Billie Holiday on scratchy LPs as she counts the lire and smokes endless packs of cigarettes in strangers' bedrooms, she is the epitome of frayed glamour. An emotional tyrant, Eve's casual maneuvering forces Baker to confront his past - and his weaknesses - as a man and an artist.



Mr. Klein: As Jews flee Paris, Mr. Klein exploits them, preying on their desperation by buying their valuables at a fraction of their worth... until he finds his name is shared by a Jewish member of the anti-Nazi resistance. Klein reports this to the authorities only find that he is uncontrollably sinking into the quicksand of mistaken identity.



The Sleeping Tiger: An intriguing psychological drama starring Dirk Bogarde as a petty crook who is sheltered by a psychiatrist planning to use him as a "guinea pig," until Bogarde seduces his wife.



The Big Night: After his adored father is savagely beaten by sports writer Al Judge, 17 year-old George goes on a mission of revenge. In a twisted coming of age tale George explores the seedy side of his town and in his inability to understand the savage attack gets more than he bargained for.

[batman]

What a great collection ... cheers Doc, I'll keep an eye open for that in the January sales.

[Allen Dace]

Eva is a particular rarity. There's an American DVD but its only been shown on British TV once on BBC2 in the late 1990s.

[batman]

You can get a Greek promo dvd of Eva via e-bay for about two quid. I bought one last year and the quality is pretty good. The film itself is very enjoyable.

[wideboy]

Optimum usually release titles in the correct format, so is it too much to hope that we may finally get The Go-Between in 1:85? Let's hope so, as this is an interesting set, well worth buying.

[AdrianTurner]

name='wideboy']Optimum usually release titles in the correct format, so is it too much to hope that we may finally get The Go-Between in 1:85? Let's hope so, as this is an interesting set, well worth buying.

Sorry, wideboy . . . many of us feel that Optimum can usually be relied upon to release titles in the wrong ratio and in pretty bog standard condition. I never buy anything from them, such as the disgraceful Far From the Madding Crowd. I'm sure The Go-Between in this new Losey collection will be the usual faded, cropped copy.

[moonfleet]

name='batman']You can get a Greek promo dvd of Eva via e-bay for about two quid. I bought one last year and the quality is pretty good. The film itself is very enjoyable.

There is a "Série Noire"/Canal Plus edition in France, with talks from Losey in bonus.....



Moon.

[Grey Wyler]

Mr Klein. Yippee. Not before time either.

[John Hodson]

name='AdrianTurner'] I'm sure The Go-Between in this new Losey collection will be the usual faded, cropped copy.

Can't remember where I read it, but it's claimed that this version of 'The Go-Between' is 'newly restored'.

[Dan Hunter]

name='John Hodson']Can't remember where I read it, but it's claimed that this version of 'The Go-Between' is 'newly restored'.

I've checked the Optimum Press Release for the collection and here's the good news (unless you already bought The Go-Between I guess) -



"The Go Between (1970) – presented here having been restored to its former glory and 1.85:1 original, glorious full aspect ratio. "



Dan

MovieMail

[Colonel Blimp]

Once again a DVD company shows contempt for its customers - this time, by issuing an improved version of a film it has already released in poor quality (The Go-Between) and limiting that new version to a £50 box set.



I bought The Go-Between for £15.99 on the day of release because it's one of my favourite films and I simply couldn't wait to see it in glorious DVD-vision. Needless to say I was crushed when I actually got to see the crummy print they'd released (and NOT at 1.85:1 as the cover stated).



And no doubt the DVD companies will continue bleating and moaning about people downloading films from the internet for nothing ... THIS IS WHY THEY DO IT! (Well, and because there are some really tight old sods who won't buy anything, but this kind of thing doesn't help.)



Bah!



Blimp.

[Moor Larkin]

name='DocRobertPepper']Released on 20/10/2008



Includes



The Go Between:

The Servant:

Accident:

The Criminal:

Eva:

Mr. Klein:

The Sleeping Tiger:

The Big Night:

What happened to The Gypsy & The Gentleman?

[theuofc]

name='DocRobertPepper']Released on 20/10/2008



Includes





The Servant: In this landmark drama of class struggle and moral decay, a pampered playboy (James Fox) acquires an elegant townhouse complete with a dedicated man servant (Dirk Bogarde). But when the young man's fiance (Wendy Craig) becomes suspicious of the servant's intentions, he and his 'sister' (Sarah Miles) thrust the household into a sinister game where seduction is corruption and power becomes the most shocking desire of all.



Accident: When an accident kills one of his student, and Oxford professor (Dirk Bogarde) recounts the circumstances of their meeting. But as these turbulent memories unfold, they reveal a series of shocking relationships betrayed by adultery, obsession and self-destruction in which nothing is what it seems and everything has its cost.





The Sleeping Tiger: An intriguing psychological drama starring Dirk Bogarde as a petty crook who is sheltered by a psychiatrist planning to use him as a "guinea pig," until Bogarde seduces his wife.

Looks like a great set of titles. Optimum also included the above Bogarde films in the 'Bogarde Screen Icons' boxset.



Best,



Barbara

[Moor Larkin]

The Gypsy & The Gentleman: In this landmark drama of class struggle and moral decay, a pampered Lord of the Manor (Keith Michell) acquires an elegant gypsy lover (Melina Mercouri) complete with a dedicated stable boy (Patrick McGoohan). But when the young man's sister (June Laverick) becomes suspicious of the gypsy's intentions, she and her fiancee (Lyndon Brook) thrust the household into a sinister game where seduction is corruption and power becomes the most shocking desire of all.

[R-T-C Tim]

I've recently finished reviewing this entire set and it is a very good bunch of films, I think I'm going to have to explore Losey a little more.



Joseph Losey Collection reviewed

[wadsy]

I'm (pleasantly) surprised "The Big Night" is included, it was Losey's last



American film before the H.U.A.C. picked on him. A 17 year old John Barrymore Jr



stars in his 2nd or 3rd film & he's pretty good under Losey's guidance.



Apparently "United Artists" cut the film to pieces in Losey's absence.

[Lord Brett]

name='R-T-C Tim']I've recently finished reviewing this entire set and it is a very good bunch of films, I think I'm going to have to explore Losey a little more.



Joseph Losey Collection reviewed

Do you know if Eve is the longer version featured on the French release? The US/UK release was apparently heavily cut by the film's producers and Losey was outraged.

[julian_craster]

See:

Eva (1962) - DVD review at Mondo Esoterica

[R-T-C Tim]

name='Lord Brett']Do you know if Eve is the longer version featured on the French release? The US/UK release was apparently heavily cut by the film's producers and Losey was outraged.

I cannot find any confirmed details about the newer French release, do you know how long the print runs? The Optimum disc is 104 minutes, same as the older Studio Canal French release and the original theatrical length.



There is a slightly longer cut available on the US Kino disc, but apparently picture quality is very low and has burnt in Swedish (?) subs. It runs to 119 minutes - ie. about 10 minutes longer, allowing for PAL speedup correction. Despite Kino's promotional text, it is not believed to be the full length cut by any means which is rumoured to run up to 165 minutes.

[Lord Brett]

name='R-T-C Tim']I cannot find any confirmed details about the newer French release, do you know how long the print runs? The Optimum disc is 104 minutes, same as the older Studio Canal French release and the original theatrical length.



There is a slightly longer cut available on the US Kino disc, but apparently picture quality is very low and has burnt in Swedish (?) subs. It runs to 119 minutes - ie. about 10 minutes longer, allowing for PAL speedup correction. Despite Kino's promotional text, it is not believed to be the full length cut by any means which is rumoured to run up to 165 minutes.

I'll have to refer to my copy of Robert Shail's book on Stanley Baker when I get home, as that goes into the subject at some length. The bit about burnt in subtitles sounds familiar, though.