BFI Releasing Michael Powell's Bluebeard's Castle

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Press release!

BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE
A film by Michael Powell
Adapted from Béla Bartok’s opera

Released on BFI Blu-ray on 27 November, available on iTunes and Amazon Prime from 1 December and on BFI Player Subscription from 4 December 2023

Discover a lost masterpiece from acclaimed director Michael Powell (The Red Shoes, Peeping Tom) with this stunning adaptation of Béla Bartok’s expressionist opera. Unavailable for many years, BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE (Herzog Blaubarts Burg) has been painstakingly restored by the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation, in association with The Ashbrittle Film Foundation, and is presented here – on its 60th anniversary – in both its original broadcast format and its revised 1978 edition, featuring selected English subtitles added by Powell. Its Blu-ray release is part of the major BFI season, CINEMA UNBOUND: THE CREATIVE WORLDS OF POWELL AND PRESSBURGER, launched on 16 October and running until 31 December 2023.

Starring Norman Foster, the American operatic bass-baritone as the murderous Bluebeard and Ana Raquel Satre as his doomed wife Judith, this boldly original production was made for West German television in 1963. It combines outstanding performances with spectacular production designs (by the award-winning, long term Archers collaborator Hein Heckroth) symbolising Bluebeard’s tortured soul, as Powell concocts a daring and inventive interpretation of a haunting work, equal to the creative innovation of Powell and Pressburger’s iconic The Tales of Hoffmann (1951).

Special features
• Newly restored by the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation in association with The Ashbrittle Film Foundation, and presented in High Definition. Restoration funding provided by the BFI National Archive and the Louis B. Mayer Foundation and The Film Foundation
• Optional audio track of the English translation, commissioned by Michael Powell and sung by Norman Foster and Ana Raquel Satre
• Newly recorded interview with film scholar Ian Christie (2023, 21 mins)
• Picture Business: Michael Powell at Dartmouth (1980, 16 mins): a short documentary depicting Powell’s time as artist in residence at Dartmouth College
• Image gallery of production designs by Hein Heckroth
• ***First pressing only*** Illustrated booklet with an essay by Ian Christie; ‘Bluebeard’s Castle: A Prologue’ – extracts from Million-Dollar Movie by Michael Powell; Bertrand Tavernier on Bluebeard’s Castle; biographies of Hein Heckroth, Norman Foster and Ana Raquel Satre by Lillian Crawford; notes on the special features and credits

Product details
RRP: £19.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1501 / PG
West Germany / 1963 + 1978 / colour / 63 minutes / German language with optional English subtitles + German language with burnt in subtitles / original aspect ratio 1.37:1 (theatrical presentation) / BD50: 1080p, 24fps, LPCM 1.0 mono audio (96kHz/24-bit)

WHERE TO BUY
Pre-order from the BFI Shop
https://shop.bfi.org.uk/pre-order-bl...e-blu-ray.html

[Randy G Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Randy G]

This could be amazing.

[agent999 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close agent999]

This is eye candy of the highest order. A beautiful transfer, it has lighting and in-camera effects that would make Mario Bava weep. I may not know much about opera, but this was great for a two-hander. If you've ever seen, and were impressed by, Powell's Black Narcissus, I think you'll get a kick out of this one. Now I just want someone to put out a Blu of A Canterbury Tale, a bizzare but charming confection shot around villages in my neck of the woods.