Privilege (Peter Watkins, 1967)

[pemmican]

Peter Watkins PRIVILEGE is going to play on May 20th as part of the Big Smash festival (http://www.bigsmash.com/) in Vancouver -- Kier-la Janisse, former woman behind Cinemuerte, has organized the festival in absentia from the Alamo Drafthouse in Texas! She's my new superhero. She got the print straight from Universal -- apparently it was struck about five years ago for festival purposes, but has not yet been made available for DVD release, even tho' Oliver Groom has expressed interest). I'm excited, and I'm going regardless, but I thought I'd post this here in case a) anyone has seen it and wanted to comment and/or b) in case anyone from outlying areas didn't know about the event. (Hell, I'd drive for a day to see this film, if I drove). Seldom do I get THIS excited about a film screening...

A. (alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.com)

[stroszeck]

With the recent release by New Yorker of EDVARD MUNCH, perhaps we are inching closer to seeing the WAR GAME finally arriving on R1 DVD?

[Gordon]

The War Game and Culloden are next on Project X's production schedule, I believe. Their DVD of The Gladiators is brilliant - order now!

Cinesite digitally restored Privilege in 1999 for some reason. Watkins seems a little perplexed as to why Universal has yet to release a DVD. I would prefer it to be licensed to Anchor Bay or even Criterion, with lots of extras. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

[pemmican]

I just put up my interview with Groom, if anyone wants more background on his relationship with Watkins or his releases.

A.

[David Ehrenstein]

Great film. Not to be missed.

David Bowie wouldn't have happened without it.

More relevant now than ever what with the religious right.

[Gordon]

The War Game/Culloden on one disc? Not a bad idea, really, considering the running times.

Great to hear that The Freethinker is planned! A DVD set of The Journey would be a momentous event. Perhaps UNESCO could fund the DVD, with a percentage of the profits going to them. Eveningland and The 70's People have evaded me over the years, so I'd love to see them, especially the former, which sounds fascinating.

I'd also love to read the Proper In The Circumstances script. Potentially it sounds great and it was a damn shame that it was never made.

Thanks, pemmican; very much appreciated.

[pemmican]

You're welcome! (Groom seems like a pretty approachable fellow; he was most facilitating -- I think he takes pride in what he's doing, is happy to be releasing films that a) he believes in and b) no one has seen!).

A.

[Gregory]

Thanks for the interview.
It seems like Groom was covering all possible ground in the response about future releases. So why isn't La Commune mentioned?
Another question: are there going to be two separate releases (Project X and New Yorker) for The Gladiators? I'm thinking not since the Project X web site refers to the New Yorker release.

[pemmican]

The box for GLADIATORS has both the Project X and New Yorker logos on it -- tho' Project X dominates the packaging, New Yorker films, in the small print, is identified as the "exclusive US distributor." I don't know what to make of that -- a Canada/US thing?

I'm assuming LA COMMUNE isn't mentioned because the NFB still hold the rights to it and are still selling it on VHS -- maybe they want to be able to release it on DVD themselves, if Watkins star rises?

I don't know a lot about it, but the NFB seem like a strange institution. They actually have some reallly interesting films in their library, but you pretty much never see any of their stuff in rental shops or in commercial video stores -- RYAN was an exception, last year, here. Usually you pretty much have to order through them, if you want to see their stuff (or get it at a library, university, etc -- the government funding seems to place them at a remove from the marketplace). I wonder if they actually turn a profit -- they could do more to make their films available to the public.

A.

[Gregory]

I got my hopes up about La Commune because Norm Wilner from Morningstar reported on www.twitchfilm.net that it was coming as part of this series of releases. Groom followed up to make a few corrections but didn't say La Commune wasn't coming. But that was a year ago.
Interestingly, he also said:

Also, because THE WAR GAME is a mere 48 minutes, we need to put together an interesting package of extras since I'd rather not just take the simple route and pair it up with CULLODEN (70 mins).

Barring the possibility to include lots of extras to fill out the DVD of The War Game, I'm glad they decided to combine the two shorter films on one disc.

[Andre Jurieu]

Groom has mentioned to me that he is trying to put La Commune out on DVD, but he will have to wait awhile. I assumed it was because of some deals that have to be made with the NFB.

The New Yorker discs are the exact same as the Project X discs. Oliver just needed a US company for distribution in the US.

[zedz]

Don't forget that La Commune is available (along with Culloden, The War Game, Punishment Park and the early shorts) in the fine French Watkins box set. It's also available on its own, as far as I know.

[Gregory]

Thanks. Yes, the Doriane box set is a good one, but I'm planning to eventually give a few Watkins titles as a gift to someone who only has a R1 player. Plus, it would be good for Watkins' "rising star" for La Commune to be for sale in North America.

[Gordon]

I think he takes pride in what he's doing, is happy to be releasing films that a) he believes in and b) no one has seen!).

Indeed and not just Watkins - I see that Henning Carlson's, Sult is listed on the Project X site. A Danish DVD with subs has been available for a few years, but an NTSC release would be most welcome.

[pemmican]

Just posted Peter Watkins' self-interview on my blog re: Punishment Park, thought people might be interested. I've put this up in a couple of different Peter Watkins threads (but will stop now, so as not to seem a spammer!).

A.

[impossiblefunky]

Has anyone here seen THE SEVENTIES PEOPLE?

[Orphic Lycidas]

Has anyone here seen THE SEVENTIES PEOPLE?

I have seen "Seventies People." Unfortunately there are no English subtitles in the version I have so it's very difficult to really understand what is going on. The feel of the film is very 'sober.' Joseph Gomez, in his 1979 book "Peter Watkins" (Twayne Publishers), refers to it as Watkin's very best film after "Edvard Munch." It wouldn't surprise me if that were the case. Now that Project X/New Yorker has put out "Edvard Munch," "The 70s People" and "Evening Land" are the two titles I'm most looking forward to. I hope they actually happen someday.

[McCabe123]

I know it's been almost two months since you posted, but the "Seventies People" is available from superhappyfun.com with english subtlies. It is one of their password protected titles though. To get the password you have to join their Yahoo group.

[Orphic Lycidas]

I know it's been almost two months since you posted, but the "Seventies People" is available from superhappyfun.com with english subtlies. It is one of their password protected titles though. To get the password you have to join their Yahoo group.

Wow. I'm on it. Thanks.

[BrianInAtlanta]

I've been buying the Watkins DVD's, but I have particular interest in Privilege because of a side interest in The Who (I write liner notes and such) and the striking similarities between the plots of Privilege and Tommy has struck me as more than coincidental. For one thing, the film's star, Paul Jones, went on a tour of Australia and New Zealand with The Who in early 1968. Pete Townshend came back and that's when he started writing Tommy. I'm not saying, I'm just saying...

However, I am going by having seen the film only once 30 years ago and reading the descriptions. I do hope the DVD will be made available soon

[leo goldsmith]

Tommy and Privilege have a great deal in common. But the tone of the two films is obviously quite different, and Watkins's film (no surprise) is a much sharper satire. It also should be said that Privilege is actually the funnier film. Still, the Sally Simpson sequence from Tommy could well have appeared in either film, with only a slight difference in treatment.

Closer still is A Clockwork Orange, which visually borrows a lot from Privilege. The club sequence in Watkins's film is very similar to the record shop scene in Kubrick's film: shot the same, with a remarkably similar set.

Until Universal pulls their finger out and gets a DVD on shop shelves (I'm not holding my breath), I highly recommend anyone with even a passing interest in Watkins, 60's pop culture, or media studies to seek out a bootleg of Privilege. It's among Watkins's most accessible films, snarky, witty, visually arresting, well-acted, and flat-out, side-splittingly hilarious.

[Person]

Privilege is on You Tube in 14 parts.

A crazy, disturbing film. Criterion really ought to try and license it from Universal.

[Barmy]

Isn't that a copyright violation?

[Orphic Lycidas]

Isn't that a copyright violation?

So? -- What ever happened to the Project X series? Has that been discontinued or are they just taking their time putting out the next DVD? I thought "Evening Land" and "Freethinker" (both excellent films) were sure things.

[Person]

Isn't that a copyright violation?

Yes.