The Duellists and The Portrait of a Lady on Blu-ray in November
Posted August 10, 2012 04:10 PM by Webmaster
Shout Factory have revealed that they are planning to bring to Blu-ray Ridley Scott's The Duellists (1977), starring Keith Carradine, Harvey Keitel and Albert Finney, and Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady (1996), starring Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich and Barbara Hershey. Street date for the two releases is November 20th.
The Duellists
Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel star in this dramatic film about two officers in Napoleon's army who violently confront each other in a series of savage 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. This visually breathtaking film weaves a compelling story through to an unexpected outcome. It was awarded the Best Debut Film at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival.
The Portrait of a Lady
Nicole Kidman is Isabel Archer, a young woman of daring independence and equally fierce desires. But her headstrong innocence is no match for the manipulations of her duplicitous friend Madame Merle and a devious Gilbert Osmond. In 1996, The Portrait of a Lady won Pasinetti Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival.
The oop Duellists dvd has been on my Amazon wish list for three plus years but I could never convince myself to drop $35+ for it. Now there is very little chance that Paramount will port over the dvd extras to Shout. Can't win for losing.
@Akubrick1 - well, maybe people who don't care about extras will be dumping their Paramount DVDs when the new version comes out? You may be able to pick up a cheap used one and make your own 2-disc set.
"The Duellists" is a great movie but it's curious that Keitel - a marine - was fired from "Apocalypse Now" and cast in this.
Mr. White? More like Monsieur Blanc. Heh heh.
"The Portrait of a Lady" is such a triumph! (At least in my opinion.) Alas, it was both a critical and box office disaster, solidifying Nicole Kidman as boxoffice poison. Nonetheless, I was floored when I first saw this -- and have seen it several times subsequently -- and my emotional reaction to this character study is still high. I bought it on DVD a number of years ago, so I'm glad to hear it's coming out on Blu-ray. I definitely will pick it up if the transfer is flawless. "The Duellists" is a very fine film, as well. Beautifully photographed -- much like Campion's film -- but (to me) a bit cold and studied. Could be a winner, though, if the transfer's right....
Shout! Factory is on a real roll right now! I bought the "Walking Tall" trilogy in May, "The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea" in June, "Fear City" in July, and now "DeathWatch" with Harvey Keitel, Romy Schneider, Max von Sydow, and Harry Dean Stanton comes out this month. Next month, they start their new Scream Factory line, with lots of cool horror titles, and now these two (both of which I'll buy)! They are now what the old Anchor Bay used to be (Anchor Bay sucks, now).
The Duellists DVD, which I have, had a commentary, film trailer, short interview with Ridley Scott, and one of Scott's first short short films. Be curious to see if any of that is brought over. Even if not, I'm still upgrading.
Hopefully better transfers than "Sailor Who Fell...", which was hands down the worst transfer I have seen in a long time, and a complete rip off at $24.99...
