Network DVD

[swo17]

Oh, and speaking of Parajanov, I should mention The Eve of Ivan Kupala (USSR, 1968) which isn’t by him but struck me as pretty close stylistically to Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, and quite good!

Well that would probably be because its director, Yuri Ilyenko, shot the Parajanov before making several wonderful films of his own. You seem to have already stumbled upon my favorite one, though I prefer to use the alternative title St. John's Eve

[bad future]

Thanks a lot for the recommendations! I haven’t seen any but I’ve added them to the list, and it looks like they shouldn’t be too hard to find despite some of them possibly being more obscure than anything I mentioned, if only by letterboxd metrics.

swo17, thanks for pointing out the connection I’d missed! I have one more Yuri Ilyenko film on my list, 1980’s A Story of the Forest: Mavka (aka The Forest Song?)

And yeah, I would love if there was an appropriate thread to move this to, if fantasy/fairytales/folklore isn’t too broad a topic.

[L.A.]

The landmark Edgar Wallace adaptation, The Dark Eyes of London, arrives with a new commentary from Kim Newman and Stephen Jones terrifically presented in a limited-edition Blu-ray…

Mondo Digital.

[L.A.]

Joan Collin’s 70s exploitation horror, The Monster

Mondo Digital.

[L.A.]

Hammer’s The House Across the Lake coming to Blu-ray

[L.A.]

Hammer’s The House Across the Lake coming to Blu-ray

Beaver.

[Calvin]

There are reports on social media that Network are no more. I've not seen anything in the way of official confirmation yet but their website is out of operation, so it might be worth picking up any releases you want before it's too late.

[dustybooks]

Thank you for this tip. I was mostly up to date on their releases but I was able to grab Animal Farm, which somehow slipped through the cracks despite being a favorite, from Amazon UK along with a couple of other things. I wonder where this will leave all the ITV stuff.

[JSC]

I think I'll wait to see what's up. All the rumors seem to stem from one single tweet. Also, it seems strange that they
would just suspend their website (as well as delete their wikipedia page) without so much as an announcement or
anything. They also had a major release announced for June 12, so it must have been something pretty catastrophic
to suddenly shut down.

[MichaelB]

It's completely genuine, I'm afraid - and my sources are numerous industry insiders who've talked directly with Network staff.

What I'm not clear about yet is whether it's gone into liquidation (in which case that's that) or receivership - in the latter case there's a possibility that they might be able to restructure things enough to keep going. But the sudden shuttering of their various online outlets doesn't bode well at all.

It's a cataclysmic blow for physical media in the UK - not because there aren't plenty of other labels still standing but because what Network did was utterly unique, and I can't see anyone picking up their baton to anywhere close to the same extent. Especially not in a niche market that's still shrinking.

[swo17]

In the Twitter thread linked to above, the TV producer who started the discussion says further down that they've gone into liquidation

[therewillbeblus]

As someone who owns none, what are some unique-to-Network titles I should search for, and where are the best places to look for them?

[swo17]

You do actually own The Owl Service!

At Rarewaves you can get all of these on Blu-ray. I either already own or just ordered all of them:

Moulin Rouge (Dupont)
Master of None: Seasons 1-2 (only $5.99 each!)
The Ghoul (Karloff film)
Victim (Dearden)
All Night Long (Dearden)
Young and Innocent (Hitchcock)
Sabotage (Hitchcock)
Halas & Batchelor Short Film Collection
Animal Farm
The Man with the Golden Arm
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Red Balloon/White Mane
7-63 Up
The Shout (Skolimowski)
The Thief of Bagdad
Monthy Python's Flying Circus
Hell Drivers
Secret People
Oh Rosalinda
Seance on a Wet Afternoon
Green for Danger

[brundlefly]

Are they the only ones who put Skolimowski's The Shout and John Krish's Unearthly Stranger out on blu?

[swo17]

Yes, although The Shout is presently on the Criterion Channel with a Criterion logo

[dustybooks]

Network also has The Prisoner (the Patrick McGoohan series) which I believe has already been deleted in the U.S. for many years.

[soundchaser]

If you can get their release of Steven Moffat’s excellent debut sitcom Press Gang, please do. Probably the most intelligent show (ostensibly) made for children ever.

[EddieLarkin]

If you're a Quatermass fan, Network were the only option for the 4th TV serial (from 1979, AKA The Quatermass Conclusion) on Blu-ray. It's cheap on Rarewaves.

[Peacock]

Jesus. I’ve put off so many of these Network blu-rays for so long as I’m always hoping someone in the US will take a stab at them. But looks like I better clean up. Thanks for the tip off Calvin and Michael.

Sad day for home video for the reasons Michael states.

[JSC]

Their blu-ray of The Man Who Finally Died has a great extra: a tv play called A Fear of Strangers,
which is essentially a two person chamber piece set in a police station with Stanley Baker and Earl Cameron.
The main feature is a pretty solid mystery and has some great actors in it: Stanley Baker, Peter Cushing,
Mai Zetterling, Alfred Burke, and Eric Portman.

[therewillbeblus]

Woah, thanks everyone - and I also have The Prisoner from them (it's a shame to think this incredible series may become obsolete on physical media since the US has been OOP...)

[therewillbeblus]

Monthy Python's Flying Circus

How are you going about ordering this (unless you have it already)? I see two versions of series 1 at different prices (which is optimal?), and the third series missing when buying separately, but no full series option from Network

[swo17]

Full series at Rarewaves

[therewillbeblus]

Full series at Rarewaves

Thanks I was thrown off by Spirit as the label listed and didn't look at the actual pic!

[Finch]

That's very sad news. I had more discs from them than I realised (Tom at the Farm, Neruda, The Shout, Seance on a Wet Afternoon). I went to rarewaves and got Robbery (Stanley Baker, directed by Peter Yates) as I like heist movies a lot. I have free credits at orbit. Is Hands of the Ripper worth getting if I liked Captain Clegg, Taste of Fear and The Devil Rides Out best of all the Hammers I've seen?