Indications of Incoming Indicator Entertainments

[swo17]

But if you ordered direct, you should probably still get it before Christmas

[Finch]

Except that I don't have enough other titles on my wishlist to make it worth the exorbitant shipping charges to the US. Appreciate the thought, swo, but this wasn't a film I desperately needed before Christmas. I just didn't feel like being made to wait for World Noir and Miami Vice for a whole month. It seems there is a supply chain issue going on for UK boutiques because Indicator weren't the only ones who've had to push dates back.

edit: realised your post wasn't necessarily directed at me.

[Finch]

BBFC home video cert for 1968's The Bat Woman, directed by René Cardona

[MichaelB]

Not a huge surprise, as it was trailed two years ago.

[MichaelB]

Powerhouse co-founders Sam Dunn and John Morrissey are interviewed at length in the new Indicator Cast podcast (no. 46, if you're following that link weeks hence), basically ranging over their 2023 output from Michael J. Murphy to Tod Slaughter, with a sneak preview of what's coming in 2024.

I particularly recommend the Jean Rollin discussion starting at 48:00, because it covers a fair amount of ground to do with the challenges of authoring UHD releases, packaging design issues, and why a lavish box set was originally planned but quickly scrapped after it became clear that it was a logistical and financial non-starter.

[Peacock]

Key takeaways from that superb podcast when I should have been working instead:


Announcements
- More website exclusives coming
- More Mexican stuff coming out in March/April that’ll be announced soon. Including ones which Guillermo Del Toro is a big fan of. More Mexican Macabre esq boxsets with even stronger titles. The Mexican titles released by Indicator have been big sellers in the US in particular. (Anyone got any idea of which films Del Toro has been a vocal fan of that fit the bill? I’ll edit this if I find out myself.)
- Announced that they have signed a deal with Sony with 60 movies to be released over the next 7 years; including more Hammer, more Noir, Joan Crawford films.
- Focus coming up is mainly classic Hollywood and American genre films. Nothing foreign language on the release schedule aside from the Mexican and Rollin sets. But maybe more foreign language stuff on the distant horizon if some deals come off.
- Another 4 or 5 Ozploitation films coming up. Current talks about other non-exploitation Australian films coming in the future.
- More Lubitschs and Mamoulians coming from the Universal deal they signed a while back (Anyone got any idea of which titles these will be? I’m guessing the ones Kino has put out that Indicator haven’t yet)
- More collaborative projects on strange films with Nicolas Winding Refn on the horizon, although not any stranger than the Ormond films (anyone hear anything publicly about Refn working on restoring anything?)
- More non-Rollin UHD titles coming in 2024


General
- The Michael J Murphy set was a tough one to put together (surprise!) but they are proud to showcase his work
- Proud to give the Todd Slaughter films a good quality release at last.
- Indicator like releasing sets which function as a relatively definitive overview of someone’s career.
- Studios are not very helpful with regards to signing UHD deals
- Despite studios and brick and mortar stores scaling back physical releases, Indicator find the boutique market healthy, they have sold at least as well as last year
- The Rollin films were intended to be put in one large set originally but 4K mastering took longer than expected and the wealth of extras etc meant it would never have been possible
- The Rollin titles have sold 80:20 in terms of UHD to Blu-Ray sales
- The Rollin sets come in thinner hard cases than other special Indicator LE’s due to considering how much shelf space they would use if you get them all.
- Film Noir titles have been very popular in terms of the classic Hollywood stuff.
- John Waters wasn’t aware of the Ormond films until recently and couldn’t believe he didn’t know about them.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

- More collaborative projects on strange films with Nicolas Winding Refn on the horizon, although not any stranger than the Ormond films (anyone hear anything publicly about Refn working on restoring anything?)

Well, there's a bunch of stuff in the byNWR collection, but I don't know if any of them are the sort of thing Indicator would jump at. I could see them releasing the byNWR restoration of Radley Metzger's Thérèse and Isabelle that premiered in last year's Venice Classics lineup.

[domino harvey]

Sounds like we're getting more Columbia Noir sets. Bring 'em on!

Re: Lubitsch, I imagine Angel is all but guaranteed

[TechnicolorAcid]

Looking at Del Toro’s Twitter film recommendations list on Letterboxd, specifically Mexican films, and The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales along with Even the Wind is Scared seems like a good bet for an entry into another Mexican Macabre set. Also Uncle Silas seems like a good bet for an Indicator release since it’s a relatively obscure British film. Plus Bat Woman is pretty much confirmed too.

[ryannichols7]

the Sony deal is a very nice surprise, I know that relationship was a big question since we hadn't seen anything for awhile, but very glad Indicator are able to keep them in play.

the Lubitsch films held by Universal (via Paramount) not released by Indicator yet:

Monte Carlo
The Smiling Lieutenant
One Hour With You
Trouble in Paradise (would be something if Indicator ends up releasing this)
Design for Living (did Criterion put this out in the UK?)
Angel

this also basically confirms Mamoulian's City Streets since we know there's a good bit of Sylvia Sidney coming up too

also glad about the Mexican sets. dare we see Bunuel? I feel like 2024 will finally see releases of some of his long neglected titles, which Del Toro has hyped up on Twitter often. I'd really like to see Indicator to release The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales, a terrific film

[Peacock]

I did wonder about Bunuel as Del Toro is a big fan of Nazarin and Los Olvidados but I’m not sure if they fit the bill of genre Mexican cinema (and the likeliness of them releasing the latter film over Criterion or Kino is explored in other threads)

Great work guys in terms of finding Mexican horrors that Del Toro is a fan of, I was coming up dry. Nice work on the Lubitsch and Mamoulian titles too and mentioning the Columbia noirs.

In terms of Refn I was using a Letterboxd list as reference so missed a lot of the other titles on the website linked above. My mind was going towards a Rick Schmidt Trilogy set containing A Man, A Woman and a Killer (1975), 1988: The Remake (1977) and Emerald Cities (1983). The latter is one of byNWR’s most popular films. Another boxset potential could be Ears, Eyes and Throats - Restored Classic and Lost Punk Films 1976 to 1981 - (2019)

[What A Disgrace]

I bought Vinegar's Taboada over the last sale, I assume it'll be completely redundant before I watch it.

[Peacock]

I bought Vinegar's Taboada over the last sale, I assume it'll be completely redundant before I watch it.

I can’t see them touching those films personally. Because the Mexican titles have sold out in the US before the UK I’m sure they want to focus on titles they can release both sides of the Atlantic.

Mexican horrors I found in a season of Mexican films at TIFF that was curated by Del Toro:

- The Curse of the Doll People (1961)
- The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales (1960)
- My Son, the Hero (ok not a horror but a very dark Western) (1961)

[TechnicolorAcid]

I hope not because it’s a great release and I would rather have Indicator release the VCI Taboadas instead as they are both excellent.

[TechnicolorAcid]

I bought Vinegar's Taboada over the last sale, I assume it'll be completely redundant before I watch it.

I can’t see them touching those films personally. Because the Mexican titles have sold out in the US before the UK I’m sure they want to focus on titles they can release both sides of the Atlantic.

Mexican horrors I found in a season of Mexican films at TIFF that was curated by Del Toro:

- Poison for the Fairies (1986) (maybe a little too modern to fit in with the Mexican films so far released by Indicator)

This was included in the Vinegar Syndrome release.

[Peacock]

I bought Vinegar's Taboada over the last sale, I assume it'll be completely redundant before I watch it.

I can’t see them touching those films personally. Because the Mexican titles have sold out in the US before the UK I’m sure they want to focus on titles they can release both sides of the Atlantic.

Mexican horrors I found in a season of Mexican films at TIFF that was curated by Del Toro:

- Poison for the Fairies (1986) (maybe a little too modern to fit in with the Mexican films so far released by Indicator)

This was included in the Vinegar Syndrome release.

Oops! Corrected.

[rapta]

Lubitsch-wise, I'm surprised we haven't seen Trouble in Paradise, Design for Living or Angel yet, so props to Indicator if they manage to do any of those. Shame they didn't do a Lubitsch box set but perhaps they decided they'd sell better individually.

Joan Crawford was an interesting shout-out, and we can whittle it down to just a handful of titles as she didn't do a huge amount at Columbia Pictures (and mostly in the 1950s). Top of that list would be Autumn Leaves of course, but also in the running would be The Story of Esther Costello, Queen Bee, Harriet Craig, and the earlier 40's screwball comedy They All Kissed the Bride.

I imagine the Columbia Noir sets will continue with at least a couple more volumes, which is nice to hear as it seemed like Universal Noir had taken over from those, so now we'll probably get a mixture of two studios' output so a whole load more noir is never a bad thing.

It'll be curious to see which Hammer titles they've secured from Sony. There was talk of them getting The Ugly Duckling in the past, but there are also several other comedies such as I Only Arsked!, Don't Panic Chaps!, Watch It, Sailor! and A Weekend with Lulu (also Further Up the Creek, but since that's a sequel to Up the Creek which is with Warner Bros, maybe not). I've previously said that The Ugly Duckling might have been paired better with some StudioCanal titles such as The Anniversary and The Nanny - and maybe even Frankenstein Created Woman - but I guess that might be a long shot as SC often want to release titles themselves.

Excited for more Mexican discoveries. I do wonder if Indicator might do something like Macario one day , or another label will grab it since Indicator do seem preoccupied with more 'genre' affair (a colleague of mine who is Mexican told me it's his favourite film, and it happened to be shown at LFF this year, so there's a new restoration available). Del Toro is a fan, according to the LFF listing...

Also excited for more Aussie stuff, and hope it might stray into some more serious Aussie cinema by the likes of Peter Weir and Bruce Beresford (though I'm hoping the latter's Money Movers is one of the titles they've already licensed, as it's decidedly more of a thriller).

[Matt]

the Lubitsch films held by Universal (via Paramount) not released by Indicator yet:

Monte Carlo
The Smiling Lieutenant
One Hour With You
Trouble in Paradise (would be something if Indicator ends up releasing this)
Design for Living (did Criterion put this out in the UK? [No.])
Angel

Is The Love Parade not part of what’s available? It’s in Criterion’s “Lubitsch Musicals” Eclipse set. If Indicator manage to license it, the first five titles on your list, and the anthology film If I Had a Million, it would finally replicate Universal’s famed laserdisc set “The Lubitsch Touch” from 1997 and we might actually get some contextualizing extras on these films.

[domino harvey]

Speaking of, though there's some overlap with the Mae West box, I wonder if Indicator is going to do a Fields set

[TechnicolorAcid]

That would be lovely and it would be wonderful to get packed releases of Fields’ films, especially because even his most famous films have been released by Kino in nearly sparse packages with a commentary and the same documentary about Fields (I saw it on 3 titles but there’s maybe 4).

[Calvin]

Excited for more Mexican discoveries. I do wonder if Indicator might do something like Macario one day , or another label will grab it since Indicator do seem preoccupied with more 'genre' affair (a colleague of mine who is Mexican told me it's his favourite film, and it happened to be shown at LFF this year, so there's a new restoration available). Del Toro is a fan, according to the LFF listing...

Macario is a World Cinema Project restoration, so will presumably end up with Criterion when it all shakes out but you never know. I believe that there have been more Gavaldon restorations done though - a look at the retrospective that played the Academy Museum last year seems to confirm at least Night Falls, Soledad’s Shawl, In the Palm of Your Hand, White Rose, and The Kneeling Goddess, so that's more than enough for a box set even if Macario is already accounted for.

[Matt]

If they continue with horror-ish titles that were previously released on DVD but CasaNegra, you have:

The Man and the Monster (Baledón, 1959)
The Living Coffin (Méndez, 1959)
The Vampire (Méndez, 1957)
The Vampire’s Coffin (Méndez, 1958)

I expect they would want to mix it up a bit more and not have 3 films by the same director. The Living Coffin would be the one I’d drop as it’s not that great and it’s as much a western as a horror film (but maybe that’s a reason to include it?)

Chano Urueta’s El monstruo resucitado from 1953 would be a great addition if it’s available.

[Finch]

Originally Posted by Indicator
We are releasing a 1992 American thriller this year, as it happens, but not Unlawful Entry.

Bad Lieutenant would be an interesting choice but it might not be available to Indicator. I have no idea who the UK rights are with now.

EDIT: Actually, Single White Female is a Sony title, and from 1992.

[therewillbeblus]

That'd be a good one, so would The Crying Game or an improved transfer/master of Whispers in the Dark

[FrauBlucher]

Isn't The Crying Game a UK film?