Olive Films

[htdm]

The woman I spoke with on the phone at Olive tuesday last said that Skidoo wasn't to ship until the first week of July.

[Matt]

How did you get it so soon? My copies aren't shipping until the first Monday of next month.

I'm as surprised as you. I pre-ordered them from DVD Planet early last week because they had the best price and they shipped the same day.

[knives]

What a strange little company to wait a year for released titles and send out same day the unreleased ones. Glad for you though, I'm really curious to see the has to be a trainwreck Despair for myself.

[Matt]

As with all of Fassbinder's late films, the production design and cinematogaphy are exquisite, so there's at least that to appreciate.

[knives]

Hell even Katzelmacher has some pretty interesting art designs going on with it's minimalism so I'm sure even bad Fassbinder looks exquisite. That said I am just really curious what the meeting of such three desperately different extreme personalities will make. Even if the movie is as bad as can be it will have to be an interesting sort of bad and worse comes to worse that's a lovely cover to show off to people.

[misterlime]

COMING SOON FROM OLIVE FILMS - MOST OF THESE WILL BE REMASTERED IN HD - SOME WILL BE RELEASED ON DVD & BD - ALL ON DVD

- Colossus of New York (1958) Directed by Eugene Lourie - Starring John Baragrey and Otto Kruger
- Face to Face (1976) Directed by Ingmar Bergman - Starring Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson
- Twilight’s Last Gleaming (NEWLY RESTORED IN HD) (1977) Directed by Robert Aldrich – Starring Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Joseph Cotten, Charles Durning, Melvyn Douglas, Burt Young, Paul Winfield
- Fedora (1978) (NEWLY RESTORED IN HD) Directed by Billy Wilder – Starring William Holden, Marthe Keller, Jose Ferrer, Henry Fonda, Michael York
- Visions of Eight (1973) Documentary About the 1972 Olympics – Directed by Milos Forman, Kon Ichikawa, Claude Lelouch, Arthur Penn, John Schlesinger and three others
- The Hellstrom Chronicles (1971) Academy Award Winning Documentary – Directed by Walon Green, Ed Spiegel
- Casablanca (1983 TV Series) (Complete 5 Episodes) Starring David Soul, Hector Elizondo, Ray Liotta and Scatman Crothers
- The Atomic City (1952) Directed by Jerry Hopper – Starring Gene Barry and Lee Aaker
- Man on the Roof (1977) Directed by Bo Widerberg – Martin Beck crime drama
- The Adalen Riots (1969) Directed by Bo Widerberg – Oscar Nominee For Best Foreign Film
- Elvira Madigan (1967) Directed by Bo Widerberg
- Raven’s End (1963) Directed by Bo Widerberg
- The Brain (Le Cerveau) (1969) Directed by Gérard Oury – Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, David Niven, Eli Wallach and Bouvril
- Greed in the Sun (100,000 dollars au soleil) (1965) Directed by Henri Verneuil – Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier and Gert Frobe
- Taxi For Tobruk (Un taxi pour Tobrouk) (1961) Directed by Denys de La Patellière – Starring Lino Ventura, Hardy Kruger and Charles Aznavour
- Crooks in Clover (Les tontons flingueurs AKA Monsieur Gangster) (1963) Directed by Georges Lautner – Starring Lino Ventura and Bernard Blier
- The Great Spy Chase (Les barbouzes) (1964) Directed by Georges Lautner – Starring Lino Ventura and Bernard Blier
- Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (1973) (Restored) Directed by Samuel Fuller
- The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers (Les plus belles escroqueries du monde) (1963) Directed by Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, Roman Polanski, Hiromichi Horikawa, Ugo Gregoretti Starring Catherine Deneuve, Michele Marcier, Anna Karina, Jean Seberg
- Police (1985) Directed by Maurice Pialat – Starring Gerard Depardieu, Sophie Marceau
- History of Cinema (Histoire(s) du cinema) (2000) 8 Part Documentary by Jean-Luc Godard
- Four Later Films by Jean-Luc Godard (Comment ça va, Ici et ailleurs, Numéro deux and Keep Your Right Up! “Soigne ta droite”)
- Ophelia (1962) Directed by Claude Chabrol – Starring Alida Valli
- Carmen (1984) Directed by Francesco Rosi – Starring Placido Domingo, Julia Migenes
- Don Giovanni (1979) Directed by Joseph Losey
- The Devil Probably (1977) Directed by Robert Bresson
- J’Accuse (1938) Directed by Abel Gance
- The Stationmaster’s Wife (Uncut Version) (RESTORED) (1977) Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Late Bloomers (2011) Directed by Julia Gavras – Starring William Hurt, Isabella Rossellini and Joanna Lumley
- Nothing Personal (2009) Directed by Urszula Antoniak – Starring Stephen Rea and Lotte Verbeek
- Mammuth (2010) Directed by Gustave de Kervern and Benoit Delepine - Starring Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani
- Love Exposure (2008) Directed by Shion Sono
- Womb (2010) Directed by Benedek Fliegauf – Starring Eva Green, Matt Smith, Lesley Manville
- The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner (2008) Directed by Stephan Komandarev
- Amer (2009) Gialo Horror Film Directed by Helene Catter and Bruno Forzani

[peerpee]

Oof... would have loved to see a Criterion Blu-ray of THE DEVIL, PROBABLY (Bresson).

[knives]

Let's see if Criterion can release any of the other Bresson's they have first. I'm really curious who this Bo Widerberg fellow is who is getting so many films released. Actually that whole list is rather interesting, though I doubt they'll do anything to make the increase of cost over your Police worth it. Anyone else can give an opinion on some of the obscurities that might have been mentioned up there?

[domino harvey]

Blu-ray of Swindlers, omg, for Polanski's segment alone that is gonna be a demo disc. And there's not even a decent boot of Ophilia, so that and the Godard essay films are a godsend as well

[Murdoch]

It's fantastic that all these are getting released since Olive's transfers have largely been top-notch, but it is disappointing that we won't be able to look forward to any supplements, unless Olive starts doing them.

[knives]

Well Matt did say one of the Fassbinders had a documentary so supplements might become more reoccurring with their releases. I'm sure the Godard's at least will get something even if it's just a duplicate of the French stuff. By the way between what's mentioned here and what's in the Loinsgate set is there anything missing of the French boxset? I'm glad to here that Swindlers is a good one because those anthology movies are worse than Russian roulette. Ditto the hooray on the Chabrol. It's either him or Rohmer of my favorite of the Cahiers fellows. Have you heard about Visions of Eight or The Brain. Just by name and talent they seem interesting.

[SpiderBaby]

I wonder how long it will be before those Godards and Chabrol.

[peerpee]

The Fassbinders and all the other Bavaria Films stuff (TWILIGHT'S, FEDORA, DEAD PIGEON, etc) will almost certainly be great quality, and the documentaries on those are by Robert "Criterion/Carlotta" Fischer. It's all the same source as DEEP END.

Nuts also that the Bergman was caught in Olive's butterfly net. Great low hanging fruit from Gaumont, and a fierce number of acquisitions!

[Jeff]

Those new HD transfers of Twilight's Last Gleaming and Fedora were licensed directly from Bavaria, as were the Fassbender films. I'd imagine that if Bavaria is in possession of (or has created) any supplemental content, it will turn up on these discs.

[Perkins Cobb]

If Olive gets all of these out before physical media craters, I'll eat my hat, but it's sure a well-curated lot to look forward to. Rare Chabrol, Widerberg ... swoon.

[perkizitore]

Although Olive stopped charging my card i still have discount in their store, so i was thinking of buying their 4 upcoming blu-rays plus the two Fassbinders and Rope of Sand. Do you think that Sands of Kalahari and Breaking Glass on blu-ray will be worth the money?

[Ashirg]

So far they announced only The Atomic City for August 30.

[zedz]

I'm really curious who this Bo Widerberg fellow is who is getting so many films released.

A reputable Swedish director whose international reputation has probably been sullied over the last couple of decades following the declining critical fortunes of his biggest hit, Elvira Madigan, which was a genuine arthouse phenomenon in its day but before long (and probably unfairly) became a by-word for 'overly tasteful fluff': period setting, swooningly gorgeous cinematography, designer tragedy, lashings of Mozart. The Lelouch effect all over again?

[Stefan Andersson]

Widerberg´s Raven´s End is generally perceived as a high point in Sweden´s "nouvelle vague" (though Widerberg´s The Pram, 1962, looks even more "nouvelle vague"-ish visually); the story of a young man, growing up in relative poverty in the south of Sweden in the 1930s, and finally leaving his home, probably to study and/or be a writer or artist. He´s played by Thommy Berggren of Elvira Madigan fame. The stark B & W photography is memorable.

The Man on the Roof is based on one of the Martin Beck crime novels by Sjöwall & Wahlöö; gritty, realistic, subtle, occasionally very violent, a sort of Ken Loach meets Don Siegel film. Beloved comedian Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt gives a deeply serious, nuanced performance as Beck; about the same type of casting as Walter Matthau doing Beck in The Laughing Policeman (1973). Roy Andersson (A Swedish Love Story, Songs from the Second Floor) directed second unit (a helicopter crash and crowd scenes in central Stockholm).

The Adalen Riots concerns a true event in 1930s northern Sweden. Basically, a peaceful, orderly, trade union-friendly protest march (directed against factories hiring strike-breakers) ends in several unintended killings. The protesters were met by an army unit. The commander intended to contain and discipline the protesters, using machine gun fire, though not aimed directly at people. The loaded gun, carried around manually, in violation of standard procedure, was accidentally dropped and fired rounds of bullets, killing and wounding protesters and at least one bystander. This is what supposedly happened according to the Swedish Wikipedia page, though there are probably more nuances involved as to what happened, in what order, and as to cause, effect and individual and collective guilt. Several people, at various levels of society, where subsequently prosecuted, tried, convicted and/or acquitted. Subsequently, there was widespread agreement, in the Swedish parliament, against further use of military units to curb civilian protests/riots. This possibility was set down in law in 1864. The law was changed in 1969.

Famously, the shooting stopped when a trumpeter in the workers´ marching band blew the "cease fire" signal. Charges levelled against him, for "irregularly taking command of armed troops", were dropped before trial.

The film, on first release, divided critics chiefly because a serious/political/based on a true story-type screenplay, inviting an unadorned naturalistic shooting style, had been photographed quite a bit like Elvira Madigan, inspired by French Impressionist paintings. Anita Björk (Miss Julie, 1951) has a supporting part.

[zedz]

The commander intended to contain and discipline the protesters, using non-violent machine gun fire.

Now what could possibly go wrong with a brilliant strategy like that?

[TMDaines]

Beaver on Fassbinder's Ich will doch nur, daß ihr mich liebt

Fixed subtitles in 2011, such a shame.

[feckless boy]

Beaver on Fassbinder's Ich will doch nur, daß ihr mich liebt

Fixed subtitles in 2011, such a shame.

I agree with you, but airing those kind of opinions might get veteran-poster MichaelB started. And you don't want that, believe me...

[Gregory]

... Fixed subtitles in 2011, such a shame.

I agree with you, but airing those kind of opinions might get veteran-poster MichaelB started. And you don't want that, believe me...

After considering Michael's position in the linked thread, I have to say I don't think it makes much sense to take a release-by-release or language-by-language approach in deciding whether to be opposed to or indifferent to a policy of using burned-in or forced subs. Of course, if a label is forced to do this on a given release as a stipulation of a licensing agreement, that's another matter, but Olive seems to be doing this on every non-English release. As a general policy, I believe it's a bad idea and they need to hear from as many people as possible of the probably small number who likely care about something like this enough to email them about it. I plan to do just that, to politely ask why they're doing this. I probably would not completely avoid an otherwise good release just because of this, but I don't see any real need for it considering that virtually every label (at least that I know of) releasing new transfers, rather than porting things from analogue sources, is able to offer removable subs as a minimal technical standard (except, again, due to contractual reasons for a particular release).

[Psicosis]

Does anyone know when Olive plans to release the 1938 version of J'Accuse?

[Ashirg]

Titles for August 30 keep piling up. Recently announced:
Bizet's Carmen (1984) on DVD and Blu-ray\
Me Too aka Yo, también (2009)