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BFI to Release BBC's Ghost Stories On DVD

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  • BFI to Release BBC's Ghost Stories On DVD

    From their website:
    The BFI is to make the complete series of the BBC's classic Ghost Stories finally available on DVD this year.

    These much-loved tales terrified BBC TV audiences at Christmas throughout the 1970s. Most of the instalments were directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark and based on M.R. James's celebrated supernatural stories.

    With only three of the twelve BBC Ghost Stories previously released on DVD (by the BFI in 2002), the films in this brilliant series have been high on many film and TV fans' 'most wanted' DVD lists.

    The films are a key influence on recent British ghost and horror films, including The Woman in Black, and have inspired many screenwriters and filmmakers including Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen, Sherlock).

    The first two volumes will be released in August 2012 in celebration of the 150th anniversary of M.R. James's birth. Two more volumes will follow in September, while the fifth and final volume, as well as a complete Ghost Stories for Christmas box set, will follow in October.

    Volume One includes two versions of the chilling Whistle And I'll Come To You: Jonathan Miller's 1968 adaptation, starring Michael Hordern, and the 2010 re-imagining, starring John Hurt.

    Volume Two includes The Stalls of Barchester (1971), starring Robin Hardy, and A Warning to the Curious (1972), starring Peter Vaughan, as well as Christopher Lee's Ghost Stories for Christmas: The Stalls of Barchester (2000).

    Other DVD and Dual Format Edition (DVD and Blu-ray discs together) releases from the BFI between July and September include:

    The Children's Film Foundation, Volume 1: London Tales (DVD) - the first in a new series of releases of the fondly-remembered films from the archives of the Children's Film Foundation, includes John Krish's The Salvage Gang.

    The British Transport Films Collection, Volume 10: London on the Move (DVD) - this welcome return for the popular BTF Collection turns its attention on the trams, buses and tube trains of London.

    Wonderful London (DVD) - a unique collection of fascinating historical films shot in 1920s London.

    The Soviet Influence: Battleship Potemkin/Drifters (Dual Format Edition) - two masterpieces - Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 classic, and John Grierson's ground-breaking 1929 documentary - are paired in order to examine the influence that Soviet cinema had on the British filmmakers of the 1930s.

    Cria Cuervos (Dual Format Edition) - Carlos Saura's 1976 masterpiece of Spanish cinema, released for the first time on DVD and Blu-ray.
    Pathé Colour Stencil: The Fairy Films (DVD) - a collection of rare French fairytale and fantasy shorts from the birth of cinema, with newly-commissioned scores from composers including Chris Watson, Philip Jeck and Fennesz.

    A Woman Under The Influence (Dual Format Edition) - John Cassavetes's hard-hitting masterpiece, with breathtaking performances from Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk, finally gets its Blu-ray world premiere.

    The Lacey Rituals: the films of Bruce Lacey (and friends) (DVD) - an extraordinary collection of films from British counter-culture hero and artist Bruce Lacey, including Richard Lester's The Running, Jumping & Standing Still Film.

    So yeah, there's some more Cassavettes tucked away in that news blurb too. So far this has been a super fucking dope year for Blu-ray.
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  • #2
    First two are up for preorder, August 20th:

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    • #3
      Kewl!!
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      • #4
        Where are you getting the info about dvd/blu ray combo? I have only seen info and pre orders for dvd editions of the xmas gost stories

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        • #5
          I screwed up. Read DVD/Blu-ray combo for the releases mentioned later and misinterpreted it.
          Rock! Shock! Pop!

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          • #6
            BFI did say bds were a possibility once they knew what materials were available to them. I assume these DVD preorders pretty ends that possibility however.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by bgart13 View Post
              BFI did say bds were a possibility once they knew what materials were available to them. I assume these DVD preorders pretty ends that possibility however.
              Not neccesarliy I have seen other ones show up on dvd first for pre-order then the artwork changed to dual-format for a same release date, BFI likes to release early artwork mock-ups as well. I was kind of hoping they released them in a box-set instead of individualy.

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              • #8
                They are releasing a complete boxset at the end of october, after all the individual volumes have been released. I only purchased my australian boxset two days before this was announced, talk about unlucky.Either way, its about time these were all made available, they are really cherished by UK genre fans

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                • #9
                  Why were you unlucky in buying the Aussie boxset? Wasn't it the complete series?
                  2019: The only blog to survive the nuclear holocaust

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                  • #10
                    I think he means that generally speaking the BFI sets will be superior. And likey cheaper.

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                    • #11
                      It'll be nice to see the non-James Ghost Stories for Christmas again; IIRC 'Stigma' and 'The Ice House' have only circulated in low-quality VHS boots, and as far as I can recall, whilst the James stories and 'The Signalman' have been repeated several times since the 1970s, neither 'The Ice House' nor 'Stigma' has been repeated on British television since their original broadcasts
                      'You know, I'd almost forgotten what your eyes looked like. Still the same. Pissholes in the snow'

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Jack J View Post
                        Why were you unlucky in buying the Aussie boxset? Wasn't it the complete series?
                        Yeah like ben said,it will likely be superior,and the aussie box is missing 'the signalman' 'stigma' 'the ice house' and one of the chris lee narrated episodes. Its more a collection of mr.james bbc ghost story adaptions rather than a complete set.

                        Also being english I would like to support the bfi as much as I possibly can,they are on a serious roll at the minute, br's of andy milligans 'nightbirds' ian merricks 'black panther', 'the devils' and now this, great stuff

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                        • #13
                          I only purchased my australian boxset two days before this was announced, talk about unlucky
                          Same! I'm still waiting for my Australian set to arrive. Oh well.

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                          • #14
                            An update from the BFI on the Ghost Stories releases came in this morning...

                            BBC TV's acclaimed Ghost Stories finally come to DVD in five individual volumes and a box set from the BFI.

                            First releases Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968 & 2010 versions) and The Stalls of Barchester & A Warning to the Curious on 20 August 2012.

                            The BFI will make all twelve of the classic BBC films from A Ghost Story for Christmas series available on DVD this year, with the first two volumes - each containing a double bill of chilling tales - released on 20 August.

                            The first release features Jonathan Miller's Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968), with Sir Michael Hordern, paired with the 2010 adaptation of the same chilling tale, starring John Hurt and directed by Andy de Emmony. Released alongside it is a pairing of The Stalls of Barchester (1971), starring Robert Hardy and receiving its DVD premiere, and A Warning to the Curious (1972), with Peter Vaughan, both directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark. Each set comes with numerous special features and illustrated booklets, full details on page two.

                            As a Christmas treat during the 1970s, the BBC screened adaptations of the classic ghost stories of MR James, the Cambridge academic and author of some of the most spine-tingling tales in the English language. Most of the instalments, which were broadcast to terrified viewers in the dead of winter, were directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, who has been interviewed for new introductions on these BFI releases.

                            With only three of the twelve tales previously released on DVD (by the BFI in 2002, and long since deleted), the films in this brilliant series have been high on many film and TV fans' 'most wanted' DVD lists. With a subtlety and style all of their own, they have been a major influence on recent British horror films, such as The Woman in Black, and have inspired screenwriters and filmmakers such as Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen, Sherlock).

                            The release of the first two Ghost Stories volumes is timed to mark the 150th anniversary of MR James' birth on 1 August 1862.
                            Two more volumes, the first containing Lost Hearts, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas and The Ash Tree, and the second containing The Signalman (Andrew Davies' adaptation of the Charles Dickens story) Stigma (written by Clive Exton) and The Ice House (written by John Bowen), will follow in September, while the fifth and final volume, containing the more recent instalments View from a Hill and Number 13, as well as a complete Ghost Stories for Christmas box set, will be released in October.

                            Whistle and I'll Come to You (Jonathan Miller, 1968):

                            When a sceptical professor, played with eccentric intensity in a brilliant performance by Michael Hordern, finds an old whistle on a Norfolk beach he unleashes a horrifying monster from the depths of his psyche.

                            Jonathan Miller's (Beyond the Fringe, The Drinking Party, Alice in Wonderland) adaptation of MR James' terrifying tale, made for BBC's Omnibus series, uses the bleak Norfolk landscape, superbly photographed by Dick Bush, to instil a sense of isolation and unease.

                            Whistle and I'll Come to You (Andy de Emmony, 2010)

                            In this recent rendering of MR James's celebrated ghost story, the legendary John Hurt plays James Parkin, a lonely retiree who has left his wife in a nursing home. Troubled by this loss, he visits their old holiday haunt, but his discovery of a mysterious ring on the beach sparks a series of ghostly encounters and disturbing nightmares which refuse to disappear in the cold light of day.
                            Atmospheric and emotive, this modern adaptation brings a fascinating new interpretation to an endlessly creepy yarn.

                            Special features:
                            -Jonathan Miller and Christopher Frayling discuss Whistle and I'll Come to You (BBC, 2012, 3 mins)
                            -MR James' original story, 'Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad', read by Neil Brand (2001, 42 mins)
                            -Introduction to Whistle and I'll Come to You by horror writer Ramsey Campbell (2001, 16 mins)
                            -Ramsey Campbell reads his own MR James inspired story 'The Guide' (2001, 27 mins)

                            RRP £19.99 / Cat No: BFIV959 / Cert PG
                            UK / 1968 + 2010 / black and white & colour / English / 42 mins + 52 mins / DVD9 / Original aspect ratios 1.33:1 and 2:35.1 (16x9 anamorphic) | Dolby Digital mono audio 320kbps

                            The Stalls of Barchester (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1971):

                            Whilst cataloguing the collections of Barchester Cathedral library, Dr Black (Clive Swift) stumbles across an intriguing box of papers belonging to a former Archdeacon Haynes (Robert Hardy), which has remained under lock and key since the nineteenth century. In it he discovers a hidden history of blood guilt and macabre supernatural revenge.

                            With its superb cast and beautiful choral accompaniment by Norwich Cathedral choir, Lawrence Gordon Clark's (Harry's Game) evocative adaptation of MR James' short story sparked the BBC's popular Ghost Story for Christmas series of the 1970s.
                            A Warning to the Curious (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1972)

                            The second of Gordon Clark's MR James adaptations features Peter Vaughan (Straw Dogs, Our Friends in the North) as a doomed amateur archaeologist who pays a terrible price for his curiosity about an ancient Saxon legend.

                            John McGlashan's extraordinary photography imbues the wide open Norfolk coastline with an uneasy sense of dread in this chilling re-working of James' classic tale.

                            Special features:
                            -Introduction to The Stalls of Barchester by Lawrence Gordon Clark (2012, 10 mins)
                            -Introduction to A Warning to the Curious by Lawrence Gordon Clark (2012, 12 mins)
                            -Ghost Stories for Christmas with Christopher Lee - 'The Stalls of Barchester by MR James' (Eleanor Yule, 2000, 30 mins): Christopher Lee recreates MR James' famous soirees, at which the antiquary would read his tales of the supernatural to eager undergraduates.
                            -Ghost Stories for Christmas with Christopher Lee - 'A Warning to the Curious by MR James' (Eleanor Yule, 2000, 30 mins): Christopher Lee plays MR James in this dramatic reconstruction of one of the author's famous Christmas readings.

                            RRP £19.99 / Cat No: BFIV959 / Cert PG
                            UK / 1971 + 1972 / colour / English / 45 mins + 50 mins / DVD9 / Original aspect ratios 1.33:1 / Dolby Digital mono audio 320kbps
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                            • #15
                              And some cover art...

                              Click image for larger version

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                              Click image for larger version

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