Independent distributors Shout Factory have detailed their upcoming Blu-ray release of director Ridley Scott's The Duellists (1977), starring Keith Carradine, Harvey Keitel and Albert Finney. The release will be available for purchase on January 29th.
Two officers in Napoleon's army violently confront each other in a series of duels. The duels begin as a reaction to a minor incident and escalate into a consuming passion that rules the lives of both men for a period of 30 years. Based on Joseph Conrad's story, The Duellists explores the themes of obsession, honor and violence. Awarded "Best Debut Film" at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival, this visually stunning film weaves a compelling story through to an unexpected conclusion.
Special Features:
Audio Commentary by director Ridley Scott
Duelling Directors: Ridley Scott and Kevin Reynolds Featurette
The Story of The Duellists – New interview with actor Keith Carradine
Well, I'm happy that most of the special features made to the release. Too bad the isolated score with the commentary didn't make it.
Here's a list of the special features that were available in the previous dvd:
Commentary by Director Ridley Scott
Commentary and Isolated Score by Howard Blake
Duelling Directors: Ridley Scott and Kevin Reynolds Featurette
"Boy And Bicycle" - Ridley Scott's First Short Film
Photo Galleries
Storyboards
Theatrical Trailer
This is the second thing that drives me nuts about buying Blu Rays ,not only do you have to rebuy stuff,but you have to keep old dvds ,because they always leave some of the extras off the new BR resume play is still number one Anyone who bought those James Bond titles knows what I am talking about
Special features offered on previous DVD release are NOT automatically transferred to Blu-ray because many times the rights for them are owned by different parties.
The fact that a certain feature was secured for a DVD release DOES NOT mean that said feature could be used for a Blu-ray release. The nature of the business.
It's still a GREAT film and I'm getting it! I don't need a second commentary nor Ridley's first film, and I'll be surprised if regardless of what this said there isn't the theatrical trailer
@Pro-Bassoonist: I think many of us understand the rights situation vis-a-vis DVD supplements inclusion/exclusion on BD, thanks. What your comments don't account for is the myriad number of times something that was on DVD does not show up on the BD either because of studio laziness or some other non-rights-related inscrutable reason. There are countless examples from, say, Fox wherein the copyright tag at the end of a featurette indicates that the piece is owned BY THE STUDIO yet it is not included on the BD. CAST AWAY immediately comes to mind.
I don't get why people complain of missing features from past DVDs (that they already own) on Blu-ray releases. If it bugs you to own both a DVD and the Blu, buy a double Blu-ray case, ditch the DVD sleeve and box and put it along the Blu release. It's not sorcery to do that, and you get the best of both worlds.
