Kino's Russian Ark, Nosferatu & The Trial, plus unofficial Man of Steel/James Dean dates

Wednesday, 10 July 2013 13:47

Kino's Russian Ark, Nosferatu & The Trial, plus unofficial Man of Steel/James Dean dates

by Bill Hunt

All right, we’ve got still more good news for you guys today…

First up, our friends at Kino Lorber tell us they’re hard at work on some great new Blu-ray and DVD titles for release through the end of this year, including a deluxe version of F.W. Murnau’s original Nosferatu (1922), as well as Orson Welles’ The Trial (1962) and Alexander Sokurov’s groundbreaking Russian Ark (2002)! For you New York-area readers, Russian Ark will also re-open theatrically on 9/6 as an exclusive engagement at the Film Forum in NYC prior to the BD/DVD release. For those of you who haven’t seen it, Russian Ark features one of the longest continuous shots in film history, was (at least at the time) the longest film ever created in single take, and was shot with some 2000 actors and 3 live orchestras using 33 rooms of The Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. It’s pretty amazing. In any case, all three titles are very welcome additions to the Blu-ray format.

Also today, if there are any Criterion fans in the house (and who isn’t a fan of The Criterion Collection?), Barnes & Noble is running their regular 50% off Criterion titles sale again through July 29th. So now’s a great time to stock up and fill missing spots in your Criterion BD and DVD libraries.

Meanwhile today, Shout! Factory has set Taylor Hackford’s The Idolmaker for release on Blu-ray on 8/27.

Breaking Glass Pictures and Yellow Rick Road Productions have set the award-winning Rick Springfield rockumentary An Affair of the Heart for Blu-ray and DVD release on 7/16 (SRP $29.99 and $24.99).

And in less official news, Amazon.fr has inadvertently revealed 10/23 as the street date for Warner’s Man of Steel on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD in France. They also posted images of what may be the packaging for a numbered Limited Edition Blu-ray 3D Combo box set, though there’s no way to know is this is final until Warner officially announces the title…

If 10/23 is accurate, and the domestic date tracks closely with it, you can probably look for the title to hit U.S. shelves on 10/22. Anyway, keep in mind that nothing is official until WHV confirms it.

Here’s one other Amazon.fr title leak you might find interesting: WHV also has a 4-disc James Dean Blu-ray box set on the way later this year (French street date is 10/2) that will include Giant, East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, along with presumably a documentary/bonus disc. Watch for an official U.S. announcement in the weeks ahead. Here’s the picture Amazon.fr has up of that…

Meanwhile, here’s a look at official cover artwork for Kino’s Bay of Blood and Five Dolls for an August Moon on BD (both 9/3), as well as Drawing Flies on DVD (9/10)…

Bay of Blood (Blu-ray Disc)

And be sure to check back tomorrow for final details of our Digital Bits presents Blu-ray Producers 2013 panel down at Comic-Con in San Diego next week.

Finally today, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge someone who will always be our dear friend and a Bits family member: Today marks the one year anniversary of the passing of Barrie Maxwell. As I was writing today’s post I found myself thinking how much the news of the Blu-ray release of Nosferatu and the James Dean films would have pleased him. Our thoughts and warm wishes go out to his wife Sue, his son Terry and all of his many family and friends on what’s sure to be a difficult day. Miss you, Barrie.

Stay tuned...

- Bill Hunt

Published in My Two Cents

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Kino's Russian Ark, Nosferatu & The Trial, plus unofficial Man of Steel/James Dean dates

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