Culloden / The War Game

[antnield]

March 2016.

The final release for the quarter is a Dual Format Edition double-bill of Peter Watkins’ Culloden (1964) and The War Game (1965). These award-winning drama-documentaries are both featured in the BFI’s list of ‘100 Greatest British Television Programmes’, and The War Game also won the Academy Award for best documentary feature in 1966.

[rapta]

Glad to see them pair a couple together...more Watkins on Blu-ray is a treat. Was hoping for some, but though we would just get Ken Russell (instead we get both)!

Along with Bande a part and Farewell My Concubine, this is likely the only other 'day-one' purchase for me (of these new announcements).

[swo17]

Special features per Amazon:

• Culloden commentary by Dr John Cook
• The War Game commentary by Patrick Murphy
• Interview with editor Mike Bradsell (2015)
• Illustrated booklet with essays and full credits

Other details TBC

[colinr0380]

It might be worthwhile noting that whilst the original 2003 released BFI DVDs of Culloden and The War Game also featured the early shorts by Peter Watkins, The Diary of an Unknown Soldier and The Forgotten Faces, they both turned up on Blu-ray a while ago on the BFI release of Privilege.

Features from the previous DVDs yet to be announced include the 'Filming "Culloden" on location' colour footage that was taken by an extra on the set (running 7 minutes 45 seconds). It is a silent piece that runs with commentary by Dr John Cook over it. And following on from the commentary on The War Game, Patrick Murphy provided an extra feature (running just under 19 minutes) that runs like a select scene commentary and provided further details of the controversy of its BBC screening. Hopefully those extras will get announced for these new releases in due course!

[Orlac]

Suggest the BFI includes A Short Vision (1956) (avaliable on their Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkhNED3-mnI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) as a supplement to The War Game!

[swo17]

[rapta]

Yeah was skimming through my Amazon orders and saw that. I like it!

[criterionsnob]

Didn't the BBC refuse to air The War Game for 20 years? Funny that their logo is now all over it.

[MichaelB]

Full specs announced:

Culloden
The War Game
Peter Watkins’ controversial BBC productions

These startling and controversial films by Peter Watkins, first broadcast on BBC TV, have been newly remastered to High Definition and will be released on Blu-ray for the first time on 28 March 2016, presented together in a Dual Format Edition (contains Blu-ray and DVD discs). An array of special features includes a new interview by film editor Michael Bradsell, who worked with Peter Watkins at the BBC, audio commentaries for both films and short films about each one.

Hailed as a breakthrough when it was first broadcast in 1964, Culloden – which brilliantly reconstructs the famous battle of 1746 – stunned viewers by approaching its historical subject matter in the style of contemporary TV news coverage.

Watkins’ The War Game, about a limited nuclear attack on Kent, blended fact and fiction to create a disturbing vision of the personal and public consequences of such an attack. Banned from TV screens for twenty years, it was through its cinema release in 1966 – and its Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1967 – that it gained a loyal and vociferous following.

Special features
• Newly remastered and presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
• Michael Bradsell Interview (2015, 21 mins): the film editor talks about working with Peter Watkins at the BBC
• John Cook audio commentary on Culloden (2002)
• Culloden on Location (Donald Fairservice, 1964, 8 mins): colour footage of the cast and crew during the filming of Culloden, with a 2002 commentary by John Cook
• Patrick Murphy audio commentary on The War Game (2002)
• The War Game: The Controversy (2002, 19 mins): Patrick Murphy charts the production history, banning and eventual distribution of The War Game
• The War Game book: on-screen gallery of the complete 1967 book, published to accompany the film
• Illustrated booklet with new essays by John Cook, David Archibald and William Fowler, and full film credits

Product details
RRP: £19.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1246 / Cert 12
UK / 1964 + 1965 / black and white / English language, with optional hard-of-hearing subtitles / 69 mins + 46 mins / original aspect ratio 1.33:1 // BD50: 1080/50i, LPCM 2.0 mono audio (48kHz/16-bit) / DVD9: PAL, 25fps, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio (320kbps)

As with the Ken Russell and Alan Clarke releases, the BFI has mastered these at 1080i50 in order to preserve the original 25fps framerate - so these discs may not play on US machines even if they're region-free.

[Big Ben]

As with the Ken Russell and Alan Clarke releases, the BFI has mastered these at 1080i50 in order to preserve the original 25fps framerate - so these discs may not play on US machines even if they're region-free.

Do you know if they'd play on a PC that plays all region discs?

[MichaelB]

Do you know if they'd play on a PC that plays all region discs?

How long is a piece of string? This depends entirely on the individual PC and the BD drive.

Basically, do you have hardware and software capable of handling 50Hz material?

[Big Ben]

Basically, do you have hardware and software capable of handling 50Hz material?

I would assume so. My monitor refreshes at both 50hz and 60hz.

Sorry for the stupid questions.

[MichaelB]

A good test disc would be the BFI's The Great White Silence, which is mostly 1080p/24 (including the main feature) but which has a couple of extras in 1080i50 (the Discovery Channel stuff).

[Big Ben]

Thanks! I'll be sure to test this out to see if it can be a workaround for others who can't use their regular players.

[Gregory]

There's a helpful but incomplete list of compatible players here.

[What A Disgrace]

Masters of Cinema's The World is 25fps, right?

[Werewolf by Night]

There's a helpful but incomplete list of compatible players here.

But please note that that list was last updated in 2013 and few of those players are still available on the market. There are updated models, of course, with different model numbers, but no helpful list like this one that collects them.

[swo17]

Masters of Cinema's The World is 25fps, right?

No, they initially thought of doing it that way but eventually abandoned the idea because of player compatibility concerns. See discussion starting here.

[What A Disgrace]

Great White Silence's supplements all play well for me, but I'm unneccessarily nervous anyway.

[peerpee]

Masters of Cinema's The World is 25fps, right?

No, they initially thought of doing it that way but eventually abandoned the idea because of player compatibility concerns. See discussion starting here.

The desire was to replicate the theatrical experience of THE WORLD. Although shot at 25fps digitally, all theatrical screenings were 24fps 35mm, so 'player compatibility' issues were a convenient advantage of pushing for a 24fps Blu-ray for that particular project.

[MichaelB]

Second Run had a similar dilemma with Horse Money but rationalised that because Cinema Guild were putting it out at 24fps in the US (they had little choice), they might as well go down the 25fps route.

But in both these cases you can justify slowing the film down, because the filmmakers would presumably have been aware of this possibility. But the Russell/Watkins/Clarke material was shot at 25fps for screening at 25fps, and so I think the BFI made the right call. I have no problem with slightly compromising an extra to maximise compatibility (and have done so many times, even on region-locked discs like The Long Goodbye and Sweet Smell of Success), but I'd baulk at a more major compromise of the main feature - especially if it's technically a UK-only release.

[peerpee]

Second Run had a similar dilemma with Horse Money but rationalised that because Cinema Guild were putting it out at 24fps in the US (they had little choice), they might as well go down the 25fps route.

Aye, it's a tough one. I saw HORSE MONEY theatrically from DCP, so that would have been 24fps wouldn't it? (I don't know whether DCPs can be 25fps)

But the Russell/Watkins/Clarke material was shot at 25fps for screening at 25fps, and so I think the BFI made the right call.

Undoubtedly!

[WorstFella]

Second Run had a similar dilemma with Horse Money but rationalised that because Cinema Guild were putting it out at 24fps in the US (they had little choice), they might as well go down the 25fps route.

Aye, it's a tough one. I saw HORSE MONEY theatrically from DCP, so that would have been 24fps wouldn't it? (I don't know whether DCPs can be 25fps)

DCPs can indeed be 25fps.

[rapta]

Beaver review is up...

[Lowry_Sam]

...came so close to selling the dvd, glad I didn't.