The Terence Davies Collection
Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:20 am
Full specs announced:
Based on the example set by the Jacques Tati Collection, I'm assuming this will consist of the original DVDs repackaged into slimline Amaray cases, with a single booklet duplicating the content of the originals, all contained in a cardboard sleeve - but I'll confirm for definite when I see a final production copy.Terence Davies Collection
Considered by many to be Britain's most gifted and remarkable filmmaker, Terence Davies' visually stunning, intensely personal films have impressed audiences the world over and seen him proclaimed by critics as one of contemporary cinema's true poets.
Collected together for the first time in one DVD set, along with extra features and a booklet of essays, are The Terence Davies Trilogy (1976-1983), Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), The Long Day Closes (1992) and Of Time and the City (2008).
The Terence Davies Trilogy
These three semi-autobiographical short films follow the journey of Robert Tucker, first seen as a hangdog child in Children, then as a hollow-eyed middle-aged man in Madonna and Child, and finally as a decrepit old man in Death and Transfiguration. Dreamlike and profoundly moving.
• Feature commentary by Terence Davies;
• Filmed interview with Terence Davies.
UK / 1976-1983 / b&w / English, optional hard-of-hearing subtitles / 94 mins / DVD-9 / Original aspect ratio 1.33:1.
Distant Voices, Still Lives
An impressionistic view of working-class life in 1940s and 1950s Liverpool that stars Freda Dowie and Pete Postlethwaite. Through a series of exquisite tableaux Davies creates a deeply affecting photo album of a troubled family wrestling with the complexity of love.
• Feature commentary by director Terence Davies;
• Filmed interview with Terence Davies;
• Filmed introduction with Art Director Miki van Zwanenberg;
• Original trailer.
UK / 1988 / col / English, optional hard-of-hearing subtitles / 80 mins / DVD-9 / Aspect ratio 1.78:1 (16 x 9 anamorphic).
The Long Day Closes
Bud's home is happy and safe, but his Catholic school is a harsh world where teachers administer lashings, and he is bullied and friendless. Once again Davies creates a dreamlike montage of memories, using gliding tracking shots and an artful layering of pop songs and religious music.
• Feature commentary with Terence Davies and Director of Photography Mick Coulter;
• On-set interview with production designer Christopher Hobbs;
• Previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage of Terence Davies directing.
UK / 1992 / col / English, optional hard-of-hearing subtitles / 85 mins / DVD-9 / Aspect ratio 1.85:1.
Of Time and the City
Davies revisits the city of his youth in this deeply personal BAFTA-nominated evocation of post-World War II Liverpool. Through the film's patchwork visual poetry, woven entirely from painstakingly researched archival footage, Davies explores an urban landscape that echoes his own troubled past to speak candidly of his childhood experiences.
• The making of Of Time and the City (2009) – in new interviews, Terence Davies and the film’s producers and archive producer discuss the making of the film and the inspirations behind it
• Listen to Britain (Humphrey Jennings, Stuart McAllister, 1942) the classic wartime documentary which helped inspire Of Time and the City, presented with a personal introduction by Terence Davies
• Q&A with Terence Davies at Cambridge Arts Picturehouse
• Original trailer
UK / 2008 / col, and b&w / English, optional hard-of-hearing subtitles / 74 mins / DVD-9 / Aspect ratio 1.77: 1 (16 x 9 anamorphic widescreen).
Release date: 16 November 2009
RRP: £39.99 / cat. no. BFIVD871 / cert 15