reaky wrote: Thu Jan 12, 2023 5:27 pm
It’d be smashing if Indicator could branch out into Argentinian film too, and release the Film Noir Foundation restorations Flicker Alley have put out. Arrow Academy used to have a relationship with FA, but that may have bitten the dust.
This would be great, in fact I'd fully support this whoever decided it was a worthwhile idea. You could actually see Eureka or Radiance considering it, if Indicator or Arrow weren't interested, but I'd be surprised since Noir has clearly sold so well for those labels (Indicator especially).
I think it makes perfect sense. Noir has done really, really well for Indicator and I could see the Argentine Noirs (which have been very well received, admittedly I haven't gotten to any of them yet) being a smash for Indicator too, for a different audience of course.
the British titles are something I come to Indicator for. I know last year at one point they caught some flack early in the year when it seemed like every title announced was a British title but that subsided pretty quick. my preferred lanes for Indicator are British obscurities and classic/studio Hollywood, both things I feel they really nail. the horror/cult stuff may not be my taste but I admire that A. they put everything into them and B. they seem to have a more specialized area than the countless horror focused labels (especially with Hammer). that said, I really appreciate seeing Indicator take on new areas of expertise with the Mexican films and welcome anything else they go for too - they're a label I'm far more willing to take a risk with than others. even if I don't love the film, their editions are blown out enough and put together with such care I keep them on my shelf. still have yet to outright hate any Indicator release I've seen so far..
Since Indicator is looking at doing more Mexican cinema, and have had some success with Fernando de Fuente’s The Phantom of the Monastery, I am hoping they will consider his Revolution Trilogy, which was restored and released by Filmoteca de la UNAM on DVD in 2010 on the 100th Anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, but has been very hard to come by since.
there's of course the Mexican Bunuels, and El Esqueleto de la señora Morales (which yes, I know already has an English BD...but as we saw, Indicator just topped 4 previously released discs in one fell swoop yesterday), the latter of which I can especially see something they put out
Not quite of the vintage of Mexican film that Indicator's showing interest in so far, but I'd also suggest Jaime Humberto Hermosillo's Dona Herlinda and Her Son, an off-beat romcom in the Rohmerian line, released in 1985 and restored in 2019, which has the easy, if misleading, hook of having been produced by Guillermo del Toro.
ryannichols7 wrote: Fri Jan 13, 2023 5:19 pmthe British titles are something I come to Indicator for. I know last year at one point they caught some flack early in the year when it seemed like every title announced was a British title but that subsided pretty quick.
That's because there was a very specific Covid-related reason for that! As I said above, the 2020-22 schedules had to be rejigged for unavoidable logistical reasons, and because the British films generally relied far more on original restorations/newly-shot on-camera extras, they were more likely to end up at the end, which is of course what happened. But things are now hopefully back to normal.
A fundamental problem with release schedules is that in most cases the licensing clock will be ticking, and sometimes it's just better to get them out there and maximise their time in the marketplace, even if it's not according to the schedule that was originally drawn up. This is why the suspense over The Revenge of Frankenstein back in 2018/19 was so tortuous - we had to keep absolutely silent about it, because while we knew that Sony was working on a 4K restoration we didn't want this to become public knowledge because of the faint but nonetheless genuine possibility that we might have to fall back on their notorious late-90s master if we got too close to the end of the original licensing term without the restoration being completed in time. Fortunately, Sony delivered (and spectacularly so!).
I'd love to work on Prospero's Books - The Pillow Book was the toughest production gig I've had on an Indicator project prior to the Michael J. Murphy box, but I'm really proud of the end result.
But it's not on Powerhouse's radar, and I don't know what the current rights and materials situation is.
It would be an interesting technical challenge, though, what with the original being effectively a 1035i analogue video work. It looked pretty fuzzy both times I saw it in 35mm, which I daresay was unavoidable - although I suspect part of that's down to a 35mm release print being a few generations removed from the original, so it's presumably possible to eke more information out of it.
I think Prospero's Books is with Film4; I'd hoped that an Indicator release would follow shortly after The Pillow Book but alas. Mondo Digital have reviewed a Japanese Blu-Ray so it looks like a decent master is in existence.
It'll be interesting to see what Mexican films Indicator releases next. Macario would probably be top of my wish list
Calvin wrote: Sat Jan 14, 2023 12:49 am
I think Prospero's Books is with Film4; I'd hoped that an Indicator release would follow shortly after The Pillow Book but alas. Mondo Digital have reviewed a Japanese Blu-Ray so it looks like a decent master is in existence.
It'll be interesting to see what Mexican films Indicator releases next. Macario would probably be top of my wish list
I’d love some Arturo Ripstein. Deep Crimson has a restoration
Calvin wrote: Sat Jan 14, 2023 12:49 am
It'll be interesting to see what Mexican films Indicator releases next. Macario would probably be top of my wish list
I've got my fingers crossed for a deluxe Ahí viene Martín Corona/El Enamorado double pack. The world needs more Pedro Infante.
The latest Indicator Cast reveals they have around 20 Rollin films, which would be more than enough to cover everything a label would realistically release from his oeuvre. So fingers crossed for a beautiful UHD of Zombie Lake, which I thought was hilarously good crap.
Shiver is absolutely the title I’d have chosen to kick off a Rollin line. Pity it’s not a box of all the titles, though - I guess all the masters aren’t available yet.
I'm going back to when I was a subscriber to the "Shivers" horror magazine during that time, when they were following Rollin intently, and got the impression that Two Orphan Vampires was Rollin's big return to those archetypal characters that feature in his earlier films (particularly Requiem For A Vampire). I seem to remember that he wrote a short novella of the tale before he made the film as well. Redemption video in the UK never released Two Orphan Vampires but did publish Rollin's book, in a first for that company.
Yeah, it is a return to those archetypes and I really appreciated this later entry for that. I recall that I watched a few of the early vampire films and then jumped ahead to this one. There's a melancholy that I really appreciated as I expected such a later entry from Rollin to be lacking his usual charms - something that Dracula's Fiancee ended up suffering in my eyes - but instead I loved Two Orphan Vampires. So much that it encouraged me to return to his earlier work specifically Iron Rose and Living Dead Girl which hooked me on Rollin. I'm very pleased these are the first two on the docket especially as I never bought a copy of Shiver and wanted to revisit it sooner than later. Glad to see that Indicator got the US rights so this should be interesting to see how a new audience here might take to them.
I want to plug the seriously wonderful listen that was the Indicator Cast that came out today, and thank Sam and John (who by the sounds of this interview, read this board as well as others) for participating in such a phenomenal interview. I usually don't like podcasts unless they're great interviews and this really was a top notch listen. I've said it many times before but I think Indicator do the best job of making stuff I know won't be appealing to me at all (like the Michael J. Murphy or Jean Rollin stuff) but man do they make it sound compelling. it's definitely really promising to hear them talk about the state of the label and the various directions it seems they'll be going in. that's one thing with Indicator I never have to worry about - I have lamented on here about other labels moving too far in one direction or the other. I think we collectively at the beginning of 2022 wondered what was going on about the more obscure British titles (a passion project for Sam) and if Indicator was heading too far in that direction. they answered back with a whole mixing bowl of titles and that seems to be how it's been since. they bring such a nice bout of variety that I know even if the horror/genre stuff isn't my thing, they will come around and announce a lineup like the March one. I just wonder if we'll see UHDs of non-genre titles, I know horror is what sells but in the interview they talk about how the upcoming UHDs are from Powerhouse restorations. curious what possibilities lie ahead, but those of us wishing for UHDs of the Sony/Universal titles may have to keep waiting (though if Dracula ends up being one, that's promising)
speculation wise, I believe it's clear they have deals with Paramount and MGM upcoming. Paramount is license-happy again after the brief spell where they cut down - this big slew of titles from Kino, slow trickle from Criterion, and now emerging bunch from Arrow (two months in a row they've announced US-only Paramount titles that are very Arrow Academy) seem to show me that moving forward they're going to be licensing more titles. I suspect Indicator will be jumping on this, and I personally would love to see a prospective Paramount Noir series - Imprint has been releasing a good chunk of big name directors (Wyler, Leisen) in their noir sets that I think would be perfect for Indicator to delve in on. and regarding MGM - I think all the speculation after the Amazon deal that the well would dry up continues to show it was all...well, speculation. Criterion, Arrow, Kino, and even Radiance (via Fun City) are licensing constantly from MGM. there's so many possibilities there that would obviously fit in with Powerhouse and I sort of really look forward to seeing if any of this transpires.
lastly, we all knew this was the case, but it warmed my heart when the duo talked about their love of boxsets and the desire to tell the story about a filmmaker or a period of time and that customers are way more willing to take a chance on purchasing something like this rather than a slew of individual releases. even further, they straight up dismissed "historical sales figures" as a metric by which they look at titles. a half-hearted treatment of a great movie that sold poorly should not mean that movie is kept out of the public realm - you just have to tell the story in a way that appeals to many. I may not think Otley, The Chalk Garden, or Georgy Girl (the latter my favorite of the three) were masterpieces, but the way Indicator curated each edition, they all happily sit on my shelf, able to tell a lovely story about each film. I wish every label would take their advice and creed here, but this is why I support their product as much as I do, and even wish I could more
I'd echo that Ryannichols. No inarticulate mumbling or padding and bags of genuine enthusiasm for physical media (whilst recognising some of the challenges around manufacturing etc). A couple of other teasers worth mentioning. There is more 'Nicholas Winding Refn Presents' on the near horizon including what sounds like a hefty boxset. Also, some Australian films.
yoloswegmaster wrote: Wed Feb 22, 2023 4:49 pm
New announcements are coming tomorrow, with 2 dual-region boxsets being announced.
Most likely the Rollin releases as they'll most likely not release every film in a big limited edition, what exactly will the sets include I'm not sure but I imagine we'll get at least one Rollin release. Thank you for reading.
If you ran a label with a pretty eclectic slate and consequently had a varied customer base with differing expectations, would you think it especially wise to devote two consecutive months to the same rather niche filmmaker?
Never in a million years would I ever have expected a Blu-ray release of If Footmen Tire You What Will Horses Do? The first set is FROM HOLLYWOOD TO HEAVEN: THE LOST AND SAVED FILMS OF THE ORMOND FAMILY.
The second announced set is MEXICO MACABRE: FOUR SINISTER TALES FROM THE ALAMEDA FILMS VAULT, 1959–1963.
