Author Topic: Ken Russell on DVD...and not on DVD.  (Read 21146 times)

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Offline regal26

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Ken Russell on DVD...and not on DVD.
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2009, 03:58:51 PM »
There is still a large gap in Ken Russell's work on DVD for both sides of the Atlantic. For those people with all-region players one can have a far
more complete collection, but that still doesn't alter the fact that many of his best films remain unissued on disc (in any region). With blu-ray creeping in on the DVD market, who knows if SD discs will continue the rate of release.

I had some time this morning (it's snowing here...), so I thought I'd put up a list of what is and isn't available.


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Those which remain unissued in any DVD format: (I don't include bootlegs)

French Dressing (unavailable)
The Music Lovers (available on VHS and laserdisc)
The Devils (out of print VHS) There is a DVD, but it's a poor quality dupe print from a fly-by-night company
The Boyfriend (available on VHS and laserdisc)
Savage Messiah (out of print VHS)
Lisztomania (out of print VHS and laserdisc), I've been able to get a DVD copy from the laserdisc and it is in widescreen.
Whore (out of print VHS)
Mindbender (unavailable)

Almost all of Russell's television work post-1970, including Dance of the Seven Veils.


************************************************************************************************************
Now the good news on what is available. If anybody knows if there's stuff I've left out, please post a reply.


Billion Dollar Brain (region 1 and 2)
Women in Love (region 1 and 2)
Mahler (the region 1 is out of print and fetching high prices on ebay and amazon.com. The region 2 is a better print, but still lacks remastering of any kind)
Tommy (region 1 and 2)
Valentino (region 2)
Altered States (region 1 and 2)
Crimes of Passion (region 1 and 2)
Gothic (region 1 and 2, the region 2 is widescreen and a better print)
Aria (segment: region 1 and 2)
Lair of the White Worm (region 1 and 2)
Salome's Last Dance (the region 1 is long out of print and is one of the most expensive DVD's on the market. I saw one going for 300$ US!)
The Rainbow (region 2 and 4, poor quality print)
Fall of the Louse of Usher (region 1 and 2)
Trapped Ashes (segment: region 1)

Television work

Elgar / Song of Summer (BFI editions, region 2)
Ken Russell at the BBC (Elgar, Always on Sunday, Isadora, Debussy Film, Dante's Inferno Song of Summer) Why this is only in region 1 is strange.
Prisoner of Honor (region 1)
Dogboys (region 1)
In Search of the English Folk Song (region 1)
Faust (?) Not sure about this one...
Holst's the Planets (?) (I though I saw a disc available for this, but I'm not sure).

I didn't include any online films because I have no idea how those will be distributed other then downloading and streaming.

That's all, I think. Let's hope this list can be changed a bit in the future.