Sullivan's Travels

[HJackson]

I suspect the problem was neatly summed up by Gregory above - comparatively few people see the point of buying Blu-ray only editions of "old movies", especially if much cheaper DVD editions are available. And in the case of Sullivan's Travels...

Do we have any indication of how the Masters of Cinema releases of Universal titles (Touch of Evil, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, etc.) did against similar competition? If the problem really is down to the existence of cheaper alternatives, I wonder if Arrow Academy will start dabbling in Hollywood titles that haven't already been exploited in the marketplace by the studios - stuff like Remember the Night (which almost became an MoC) or Little Man, What Now? MoC released a few studio titles like this (Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, Ruggles of Red Gap), so I wonder if they saw any financial advantage to mining the studio catalogues in that manner. From their recent dealings with Paramount, it seems they've been leaning towards titles that don't have domestic UK releases (five out of eight if I'm counting properly).

I bought the blu of this and was impressed - as I always am these days - by the quality of Arrow's product, although like many in this thread Sullivan's Travels isn't my Sturges film of choice. It would be a real tragedy if the DVD market made it unfeasible for world-leading British labels to handle these sorts of films though - forget Sturges, think of all the Sternberg and Sirk we could be losing out on!

[Drucker]

According to this list, Touch of Evil is one of the best selling MOC titles there have been.

[swo17]

The really annoying thing is that Arrow didn't put a foot wrong - their marketing was spot on

I beg to differ--I've yet to see one clickbait link anywhere on the internet inviting me to enjoy the shower pix Veronica Lake doesn't want me to see!

[The Narrator Returns]

1 Message Picture You Thought Was A Good Idea That Was Actually Quite Unnecessary

[matrixschmatrix]

I just actually got the disc, and having watched it- wow, it's hard to see how Criterion would better it. I particularly enjoyed the Kevin Jackson interview; he's not someone I'm familiar with, but he reminds me a bit of Christopher Frayling, with an easygoing, conversational style that nonetheless commands a lot of very germane information. I wish he'd done an entire commentary, but what we get is excellent, and I thought the cutaways to the film were well done (though I wish that it could have shown the relevant clip of 8 1/2.) The only real complaint I have is a silly one- I was driving myself to distraction the whole time the camera was on Jackson, trying to read the titles of the books behind him, which steadfastly refused to come into focus.

[MichaelB]

I particularly enjoyed the Kevin Jackson interview; he's not someone I'm familiar with, but he reminds me a bit of Christopher Frayling, with an easygoing, conversational style that nonetheless commands a lot of very germane information. I wish he'd done an entire commentary, but what we get is excellent, and I thought the cutaways to the film were well done (though I wish that it could have shown the relevant clip of 8 1/2.)

There was never any chance of a Kevin Jackson commentary - for starters, we had one already, courtesy of Terry Jones, and the Kevin Jackson piece was put together so quickly (initially as a replacement for the big Sturges doc, when I thought I'd lost it) that it wasn't a realistic option.

But my colleagues at Arrow immediately spotted that he'd be a natural commentator (he's a very experienced broadcaster), and duly snapped him up for Withnail & I - for which he was admirably qualified, as he wrote the BFI Modern Classic book on it. And the delivery is pretty much as you describe above.

[MichaelB]

Blu-ray.com.

[gcgiles1dollarbin]

After literally thirty years of watching this film in various formats, I only notice a few days ago on this edition that

SpoilerShow

there's a man hanging from a tree as Girl and Sullivan walk beside the river,

and only then because I listen to Terry Jones's commentary. Unbelievable.

What an excellent edition of this film, Michael! I'm curious who speaks the narrative on the marvelous Preston Sturges stock company extra; that voice is hauntingly familiar, but I couldn't find a credit.

[antnield]

What an excellent edition of this film, Michael! I'm curious who speaks the narrative on the marvelous Preston Sturges stock company extra; that voice is hauntingly familiar, but I couldn't find a credit.

That's Michael himself on voice-over duties.

[gcgiles1dollarbin]

Ah, thank you! Unless I've heard him elsewhere, I don't know why that voice sounded so familiar. Either way, great stuff.

[MichaelB]

You'll also have heard me on The Killers, The Firemen's Ball, Hard to Be a God, Closely Observed Trains and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne - but I don't always credit myself.

This is particularly true if the piece is a complete one-man show, as it just looks silly giving myself writing/producing/editing/camera/sound/presenting credits, even if they'd be entirely accurate. I usually just settle for "produced and edited by".

[gcgiles1dollarbin]

I guess I heard you on The Killers, then. I have worked with insecure musicians who need to see a paragraph of credits honoring everything from a hand clap to a one-word lyric edit of a definite article, and, as you say, it ends up looking ridiculous. So I get the short-and-sweet impulse. Thanks for the response (and the great production overall!).

[Feego]

For what it's worth, the hanging man is also noted on the group commentary included on the Criterion disc. I'm surprised there has never been a Wizard of Oz type urban legend spawned by this image.