Lindsay Anderson’s If….starring Malcolm McDowellmakes its Blu-ray debut alongside The Complete Jean Vigo, a collection of all the films that Vigo, who died at 29 of tuberculosis, made during his brief career as a filmmaker.
If… (1968) Spine # 391
SYNOPSIS:Lindsay Anderson’s If….is a daringly anarchic vision of British society, set in a boarding school in late-sixties England. Before Kubrick made his mischief iconic in A Clockwork Orange,Malcolm McDowell made a hell of an impression as the insouciant Mick Travis, who, along with his school chums, trumps authority at every turn, finally emerging as a violent savior in the vicious games of one-upmanship played by both students and masters. Mixing color and black and white as audaciously as it mixes fantasy and reality, If….remains one of cinema’s most unforgettable rebel yells.
DISC FEATURES
- Restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček and assistant editor Ian Rakoff (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- Audio commentary featuring film critic and historian David Robinson and actor Malcolm McDowell
- Episode of the Scottish TV series Cast and Crewfrom 2003, featuring interviews with McDowell, Ondříček, Rakoff, director’s assistant Stephen Frears, producer Michael Medwin, and screenwriter David Sherwin
- Video interview with actor Graham Crowden
- Thursday’s Children(1954), an Academy Award–winning documentary about a school for deaf children, by director Lindsay Anderson and Guy Brenton and narrated by actor Richard Burton
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic David Ehrenstein as well as reprinted pieces by Sherwin and Anderson
The Complete Vigo (1930-34) Spine #578
SYNOPSIS:Even among cinema’s legends, Jean Vigo stands apart. The son of a notorious anarchist, Vigo had a brief but brilliant career making poetic, lightly surrealist films before his life was cut tragically short by tuberculosis at age twenty-nine. Like the daring early works of his contemporaries Jean Cocteau and Luis Buñuel, Vigo’s films refused to play by the rules. This set includes all of Vigo’s titles: À propos de Nice,an absurdist, rhythmic slice of life from the bustling coastal city; Taris,an inventive short portrait of a swimming champion; Zéro de conduite,a radical, delightful tale of boarding-school rebellion that has influenced countless filmmakers; and L’Atalante,widely regarded as one of cinema’s finest achievements, about newlyweds beginning their life together on a canal barge. These are the witty, visually adventurous works of a pivotal film artist.
DISC FEATURES
- New high-definition digital restorations of all four of Jean Vigo’s films (with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-ray edition)
- Audio commentaries featuring Michael Temple, author of Jean Vigo
- Score for À propos de Niceby Marc Perrone, from 2001
- Alternate edits from À propos de Nice,featuring footage cut by Vigo
- Episode of the French television series Cinéastes de notre tempsabout Vigo, from 1964
- Conversation from 1968 between filmmakers François Truffaut and Eric Rohmer on L’Atalante
- Animated tribute to Vigo by filmmaker Michel Gondry
- Les voyages de “L’Atalante,”film restorer and historian Bernard Eisenschitz’s 2001 documentary tracking the history of the film
- Video interview from 2001 with director Otar Iosseliani on Vigo
- New and improved English subtitle translations
PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critics Michael Almereyda, Robert Polito, B. Kite, and Luc Sante
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