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[Michael Blanton]

RUSSELLMANIA!


For anyone in NYC, the Film Society of Lincoln Center will be presenting RUSSELLMANIA!, July 30 to August 5, with Ken Russell in person each evening!

http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/kenrussell.html

The 111 minute version of THE DEVILS on July 30th.

http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/kenrussell/thedevils.html

[Mark GW]

There a few films that I will foam at the mouth for and this is one of them.  Must get that Spanish DVD.

[Mark GW]

I have been reliably informed that the DVD should be out in Spain today.  Has anyone in Spain been able to get hold of a copy yet?

[medway garage]

I REALLY hope I'm wrong but I have my doubts that this Spanish DVD will be complete.Apparentely Warner Bros refused permission to the
 Lincoln Center,NY to screen the restored version, at a recent screening at the Fantasia Film Festival this happened ;

http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/...=7686&start=75

quote; 'Just to give you an idea of how difficult Warner Bros. is making it to see this film.At the Fantasia Film Festival currently happening in Montreal, the organizers presented a lifetime achievement award to Ken Russell along with a screening of "The Devils." Prior to the screening, one of the organizers recounted how the screening almost didn't happen. The original plan by the organizers was to import a 35mm print from France, but Warner Bros. said they wouldn't allow it and that any print screened had to be from Canada. Unfortunately, the only print in Canada is incredibly damaged and nearly faded to red. The organizers then asked Warner Bros. if they could have a print from the U.S. shipped. WB again said no, and that the print shown had to be the "Canadian theatrical version" (which is the same as the US, but WB insisted they were different). Finally, after begging and have others call on their behalf, WB finally agreed to send a video master to screen --- but not of the restored version, it was the theatrical cut.So yeah, don't hold your breath for this appear uncut on DVD anytime soon.'


Over on dvd maniacs.net I've been posting about the situation regarding this film, Don May JR is addiment that the reason for the hold up is 'a legal issue',he says he has a contact at Warner US,' who just happens to be "Director of Operations" [was the snarky reply I recieved] ,however Mark Kermode says differently

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermo...cross_the.html

I know the clip is from 2008,BUT bear in mind the DVD was originally listed as forthcoming with an extensive list of extras via various UK e-vendors in 2004,so I believe this could well be a mcguffin to silence Warners critics,doesn't mean Don's friend is wrong,but may have been misled by someone higher up.Apparentely at the 2004 NFT screening there was a Warner 'UK' rep in addendance who was very possitive about a forthcoming UK DVD release,so what has happened in the intervening years to stop this release ? Is it possible that the UK restored cut was prepared without the permission of the 'suits' in the US,Warner UK were happy to release the film in the UK, but maybe got slapped down by the US arm of Warner,who knows for sure until Warner US actually bother to answer their critics.

If anyone would like to follow the thread on dvdmaniacs here's the link;

http://www.avmaniacs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45864&page=10

[medway garage]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It would be nice If we could get a timeline of the various events that have happend over the last 10 years,If any of you can help with dates or other notable events please feel free to contribute;

-'Hell On Earth' documentary screened [ch 4 UK] 2002
http://www.film4.com/features/article/footnotes-to-apos-hell-on-earth-apos

-Ken Russell records commentary for the upcoming UK DVD release [sometime in 2003]

-'The Devils' restored [?] UK and US [?] Dvd announced [Release date July 2003] listed as a preorder on UK etailer sites such as Play.com.Listed extras included a commentary w/Russell and a longer cut of the 'Hell On Earth' doc

This info from Mark GW at lovelockandload.net;
'I seem to remember that Play had a Special Edition DVD with a commentary and the HELL ON EARTH documentary up for pre-order not long after it was shown on Channel 4. This discussion about it in the DVD Times forums at the time confirms it was on pre-order during 2003 with a scheduled release for July that year:
http://forums.thedigitalfix.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=201663

-'The Devils' restored video restoration screened at NFT,London Nov 2004.[Ken Russell and Mark Kermode in attendance]

-DVD Release cancelled [Can anyone supply a date]

-Angel Digital bootleg DVD released [sometime in 2005]

-Restored version premiered at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film in March 2006.

-Restored version screened at the University of Southampton April 25, 2007 [Ken Russell and Mark Kermode in attendance]

-"DVDActive.com announced on February 28, 2008 that The Devils would finally be released on DVD by Warner Home Video in the U.S. on May 20, 2008, in the uncut (111 minutes) version, but without additional material. However, a day later, a DVDActive forum post asserted that the release had been dropped from Warner's schedule."
US release thought to be fake [see both links bellow],although Don May JR's contact at Warner claims It to be genuine.Here's a link to what Tim Lucas had to say about this release 29th Feb 2008] ;
http://videowatchdog.blogspot.com/2008_02_24_archive.html

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/the-devils.html

***edit Looks like I might be wrong about this, If you look at the colour promotional still on the Wikipedia site,this scene DOES occur,It's Sister Jeanne's hallucination sequence imagining Grandier as Christ,thus explaining the Arabs and Romans in the background***
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devils_(film)







-Mark Kermode's video blog [Aug 2008] claims that Warner US has 'got cold feet' about this release and are preventing It from being released.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2008/08/opinion_the_devils_across_the.html

-Don May JR [Synapse Films] tries to licence the film for a US DVD release,but is told 'Warner doesn't sublicense their titles to outside companies and likes to keep everything "in house".' [This takes part sometime in 2008 according to Don's post]
http://www.avmaniacs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45864

-online petition is launched
http://www.petitiononline.com/Grandier/petition.html

-Roy Baird [associate producer] of the film passes away [26th April 2010]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/7773100/Roy-Baird.html

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0047919/

-Screened at the Fantasia Film Festival [July 2010] [Warner Bros very uncooperative]
Just to give you an idea of how difficult Warner Bros. is making it to see this film.At the Fantasia Film Festival currently happening in Montreal, the organizers presented a lifetime achievement award to Ken Russell along with a screening of "The Devils." Prior to the screening, one of the organizers recounted how the screening almost didn't happen. The original plan by the organizers was to import a 35mm print from France, but Warner Bros. said they wouldn't allow it and that any print screened had to be from Canada. Unfortunately, the only print in Canada is incredibly damaged and nearly faded to red. The organizers then asked Warner Bros. if they could have a print from the U.S. shipped. WB again said no, and that the print shown had to be the "Canadian theatrical version" (which is the same as the US, but WB insisted they were different). Finally, after begging and have others call on their behalf, WB finally agreed to send a video master to screen --- but not of the restored version, it was the theatrical cut.So yeah, don't hold your breath for this appear uncut on DVD anytime soon.
http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=294702

-'The Devils' available as an I-Tunes download [June 2010] [UK theatrical version NOT the restored version,but in It's 2.35:1 widescreen ratio for the first time,so this MUST have come from Warner Bros]
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2010/06/devils_on_my_ph.php

-'The Devils' taken down from I-Tunes in a matter of days

-Screening at Lincoln center,NY [30th July 2010] is attended by Ken Russell and Vanessa Redgrave [Warner Bros do not allow the advertised 111 min restored version to be screened,instead the US theatrical print Is shown]
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2010/07/slight_russsell.php

-Spanish DVD advertised by various Spanish etailers [July 2010] [details not confirmed]
available from these Spanish e-vendors;
http://www.starscafe.com/en/movie/the-devils-spanish.aspx
http://www.dvdgo.com/dvd-los-demonios-dvd/1772203/154275

[drmiaow]

Those are really interesting posts Medway - thank you.

[pricey]

Those are really interesting posts Medway - thank you.

I'll second that. Re-releasing this film would be profitable for Warner Bros no doubt (especially with Kermode's endorsement, which is on a par with his Exorcist obsession), so it's clear that they still think the film is incendiary, or at least thats how its coming across. Ironic that Spain (a country not exactly famed for it's apathy towards Catholicism) may be the first place to release the film on DVD.

[medway garage]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll try and keep this timeline as factual as possible.I've uncovered some sad news in the course of my research, an obituary for Roy Baird [associate producer],never heard about this at the time.I've removed the reference to Warner sublicensing their titles to other companies pending a bit more research, I seem to recall Warner Bros sublicensing the Directors Cut of Natural Born Killers, was that film not owned wholly by Warner, I know in the UK you could buy the cut theatrical version on dvd by Warner and the Directors Cut on a different label [VCI I believe],again It could well be a case that Warner doesn't own the directors cut.

I came across this little gem from iainfisher.com,details of some of the footage Mark Kermode never found! including one jaw dropping scene which could have been nearly as controversial as the 'rape of Christ' scene !

http://www.iainfisher.com/dis/index.php?topic=10538.0

[Mark GW]

'Hell On Earth' documentary screened [ch 4 UK] 2002

-'The Devils' restored video restoration screened at NFT,London Nov 2004.

-Ken Russell records commentary for the UK DVD release [sometime in 2004,after the NFT screening]

-'The Devils' restored UK and US Dvd annouced [200?] and listed on UK etailer sites such as Play.com.Listed extras included a commentary w/Russell and a longer cut of the 'Hell On Earth' doc

-Release cancelled

I seem to remember that Play had a Special Edition DVD with a commentary and the HELL ON EARTH documentary up for pre-order not long after it was shown on Channel 4.  This discussion about it in the DVD Times forums at the time confirms it was on pre-order during 2003 with a scheduled release for July that year:

http://forums.thedigitalfix.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=201663

I seem to remember that the commentary was recorded BEFORE the NFT showing in Nov 2004, probably sometime in 2003 which would tie in with the then planned July 2003 DVD release.

To anyone who's interested, Mark Kermode's Sight and Sound article about the HELL ON EARTH documentary is online and can be found here:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/81/

[medway garage]

Mark thanks alot for the information,that fills in a few blanks, I couldn't quite place when the UK DVD was originally listed, so that's really helpful.Nearly 10 years jeez that's got to be some kind of record for a delayed DVD !
I'll update the info on here and Dvdmaniacs.net in the next few minutes.Cheers for the info !
One more thing I noticed after I updated the timeline;

-'The Devils' restored video restoration screened at NFT,London Nov 2004.[Ken Russell and Mark Kermode in attendance]

-DVD Release cancelled

Can anyone supply a date for the cancellation,I seem to recall It was on preorder for over 6 months, was It cancelled before the NFT screening or after ?

[Kevin Coed]

I seem to recall Warner Bros sublicensing the Directors Cut of Natural Born Killers, was that film not owned wholly by Warner, I know in the UK you could buy the cut theatrical version on dvd by Warner and the Directors Cut on a different label [VCI I believe]

The director's cut of NBK was released by Optimum in the UK. Initially when it was released in the US on video it was released by Vidmark - I believe there was something in Oliver Stone's contract that a director's cut was to be released but Warners gibbed out on it and Stone was allowed to take it elsewhere.

[medway garage]

I seem to recall Warner Bros sublicensing the Directors Cut of Natural Born Killers, was that film not owned wholly by Warner, I know in the UK you could buy the cut theatrical version on dvd by Warner and the Directors Cut on a different label [VCI I believe]

The director's cut of NBK was released by Optimum in the UK. Initially when it was released in the US on video it was released by Vidmark - I believe there was something in Oliver Stone's contract that a director's cut was to be released but Warners gibbed out on it and Stone was allowed to take it elsewhere.

Thanks Kevin, I went back and updated my post on Dvdmaniacs,forgot to do It on here though.Even the original US DC DVD was released by Lions Gate [not Warner],Warner had a problem with US X rated [NC17] material at the time,Eyes Wide Shut suffered from censorship on It's original US DVD release as well,to avoid that dreaded rating !

[Mark GW]

-'The Devils' restored [?] UK and US [?] Dvd announced [Release date July 2003] listed as a preorder on UK etailer sites such as Play.com.Listed extras included a commentary w/Russell and a longer cut of the 'Hell On Earth' doc

A longer cut of the documentary?  Are you sure about this?

[medway garage]

-'The Devils' restored [?] UK and US [?] Dvd announced [Release date July 2003] listed as a preorder on UK etailer sites such as Play.com.Listed extras included a commentary w/Russell and a longer cut of the 'Hell On Earth' doc

A longer cut of the documentary?  Are you sure about this?

If It wasn't listed that way on the Play.com listing,It may have been mentioned by Mark Kermode on the Film Four website,I'm 99.9% sure It was,It would also follow the pattern of other docs being extended for the DVD releases such as the 'Fear Of God' [Exorcist doc].
Now where Is that 'Man Trap;Making Straw Dogs' doc,hope that makes the UK Blu Ray,SD rerelease later this year.

[Mark GW]

If It wasn't listed that way on the Play.com listing,It may have been mentioned by Mark Kermode on the Film Four website,I'm 99.9% sure It was,It would also follow the pattern of other docs being extended for the DVD releases such as the 'Fear Of God' [Exorcist doc].
Now where Is that 'Man Trap;Making Straw Dogs' doc,hope that makes the UK Blu Ray,SD rerelease later this year.

Ah OK.  On the Straw Dogs documentary, I assumed this had been released on one of the other previous Straw Dogs DVD releases but apparently it has not.  Hopefully, it will make this new release, unlike his Blade Runner doc which got pulled from the Final Cut boxset.