Ken Russell on DVD

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MichaelB
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#201 Post by MichaelB » Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:02 am

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:The 70-year rule applies in all cases of individual authorship, so long as the copyright was still valid in 1998. The pre-1998 U.S. copyright term was the life of the author plus fifty years, so Strauss' works wouldn't have entered the public domain until 1999; the Bono Act extended the term to 2019, i.e. same as the EU.
Thanks for that. So the only possible way round this is for the Strauss estate to change its mind - but I have to say the chances of that make the proverbial cat in hell look like a dead cert for a miraculous rescue!

Incidentally, the Debussy estate raised a stink over The Debussy Film when it was first broadcast in 1965, but Debussy died in 1918, so his work has been out of copyright for decades.

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DiVicenzo
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#202 Post by DiVicenzo » Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:14 am

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:The 70-year rule applies in all cases of individual authorship, so long as the copyright was still valid in 1998. The pre-1998 U.S. copyright term was the life of the author plus fifty years, so Strauss' works wouldn't have entered the public domain until 1999; the Bono Act extended the term to 2019, i.e. same as the EU.
Bar Stewards!

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GaryC
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#203 Post by GaryC » Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:11 pm

Or to be precise, 1 January 2020, as under British law works go public domain at the end of the expiry year.

Ken Russell will be 92 then...

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MichaelB
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#204 Post by MichaelB » Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:32 pm

The only time I ever met him, I told him that I slipped a couple of clips from Dance of the Seven Veils into a talk I gave on his work at BFI Southbank last year.

Not too surprisingly, he was delighted.

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DiVicenzo
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#205 Post by DiVicenzo » Wed Sep 17, 2008 7:17 am

I asked Ken and even he is not sure if Seven Veils has been pulled...

How strange! On BBC 4 (TV) there was a trailer for a new Arts programme and there was a quick clip of 'The Dance of the Seven Veils'- the scene where Ken is conducting the orchestra above Strauss' bed...how very topical...the programme is called something like 'Art v Art'...can't remember exactly...

I have just emailed BBC America to see if they can give us a definitive answer about what is included on their DVD release - fingers crossed :D

Edit Here it is:
The Art Of Arts TV Sunday 28 September 2008, BBC4 – Three-part history of television arts programmes. Contributors include Sir David Attenborough, Joan Bakewell, Melvyn Bragg, Matt Collings, Andrew Graham-Dixon, Mike Hodges, Jonathan Miller, Jonathan Meades, Ken Russell, Brian Sewell and Alan Yentob
This is what I have just received from BBC America! Hallelujah!

sic friat crustulum

Barry
Thank you for your email. Ken Russell at the BBC is being released by BBC Home Video and includes the following:

Elgar (1962) - A partly dramatized account of the life of classical composer Sir Edward Elgar.
The Debussy Film (1965) - An impression of the music and life of the French composer Claude Debussy.
Always on Sunday (1965) - An interpretation of the life of French primitive painter Henri Douanier Rousseau.
Isadora: The Biggest Dancer in the World (1966) - A dramatized biography of the American dancer Isadora Duncan.
Dante's Inferno (1967) - A film showing the private life of the emotional poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Song of Summer (1968) - A biography of the last five years of Frederick Delius, the blind and paralyzed composer. Based on Eric Fenby's 1936 memoir.
Dance of the Seven Veils (1970) - A subjective impression of composer Richard Strauss's life.

For more information on this title please visit: http://www.bbcamericashop.com/video/ken ... 14696.html

Best Regards,
Corin

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Barmy
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#206 Post by Barmy » Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:51 am

Subjective? Hardly.

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MichaelB
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#207 Post by MichaelB » Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:04 pm

Barmy wrote:Subjective? Hardly.
Well, it's not exactly objective, is it?

Incidentally, I hate to be cynical, but has the BBC America press office actually seen the DVDs, or are they merely going from the original press release?

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DiVicenzo
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#208 Post by DiVicenzo » Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:11 pm

MichaelB wrote:Incidentally, I hate to be cynical, but has the BBC America press office actually seen the DVDs, or are they merely going from the original press release?
I am still not at ease even though we have this answer.
We can only wait and see I suppose... :?

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Colpeper
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Ken Russell at the BBC

#209 Post by Colpeper » Sat Sep 20, 2008 9:44 am

My copy arrived this morning and, sadly, I can confirm that there is no sign of Dance of the Seven Veils.

Perhaps someone should tell BBC America.

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MichaelB
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#210 Post by MichaelB » Sat Sep 20, 2008 9:47 am

No real surprise, but thanks for the confirmation.

It's not much of a substitute, I know, but I finally got round to publishing the text of last year's Ken Russell talk online - it's an overview of his entire BBC career from 1959-70.

(Ignore the rest of the site - it's still work in progress)

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DiVicenzo
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Re: Ken Russell at the BBC

#211 Post by DiVicenzo » Sat Sep 20, 2008 9:58 am

Colpeper wrote:My copy arrived this morning and, sadly, I can confirm that there is no sign of Dance of the Seven Veils.

Perhaps someone should tell BBC America.
I thought it was too good to be true...I have just emailed BBC America to tell them...after all they should know!....but as Michael says it's still worth having...

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Lino
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#213 Post by Lino » Mon Sep 22, 2008 8:37 pm

Blue Velvet wrote:The new Optimum release of Valentino is a nice looking print in its original aspect ratio (1.85:1). A bare bones release. Well worth picking up though.
Does it not even carry the trailer? It's advertised on the Optimum page for it...

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MichaelB
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#214 Post by MichaelB » Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:42 am

As far as I'm concerned, a release that only has the trailer is barebones.

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DiVicenzo
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Re: Ken Russell at the BBC

#216 Post by DiVicenzo » Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:28 am

DiVicenzo wrote:
Colpeper wrote:My copy arrived this morning and, sadly, I can confirm that there is no sign of Dance of the Seven Veils.

Perhaps someone should tell BBC America.
I thought it was too good to be true...I have just emailed BBC America to tell them...after all they should know!....but as Michael says it's still worth having...
My copy is on its way. And BBC America replied saying sorry for misleading us and the information has been corrected on their website. I haven't checked.

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colinr0380
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#217 Post by colinr0380 » Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:43 am

DiVicenzo wrote:
The Art Of Arts TV Sunday 28 September 2008, BBC4 – Three-part history of television arts programmes. Contributors include Sir David Attenborough, Joan Bakewell, Melvyn Bragg, Matt Collings, Andrew Graham-Dixon, Mike Hodges, Jonathan Miller, Jonathan Meades, Ken Russell, Brian Sewell and Alan Yentob
Have just received the listings magazine for next week and in addition to that documentary on BBC4 there are also five Monitor programmes showing before it on Sunday - Henry Moore At Home, Larkin and Betjeman, two film programmes where Huw Wheldon talks with Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock and last but not least Pop Goes The Easel by Russell.

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DiVicenzo
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#218 Post by DiVicenzo » Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:57 am

colinr0380 wrote:Have just received the listings magazine for next week and in addition to that documentary on BBC4 there are also five Monitor programmes showing before it on Sunday - Henry Moore At Home, Larkin and Betjeman, two film programmes where Huw Wheldon talks with Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock and last but not least Pop Goes The Easel by Russell.
Great! Thanks!

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MichaelB
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#219 Post by MichaelB » Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:08 am

Pop Goes the Easel has dated very badly (hardly surprisingly, given its subject!), but it must have had a seismic impact in 1962 - and Pauline Boty's nightmare would look like a parody of a Kubrick film (think The Shining meets Dr Strangelove, all Steadicamesque shots down sinister corridors and a bizarre megalomaniac in dark glasses and a wheelchair), were it not for the fact that Russell got there first.

In fact, there's a rumour that Kubrick saw Pop Goes the Easel on its original broadcast and was duly influenced - he was certainly living in Britain at the time, there were only two TV channels, and he was interested in contemporary art, so it's entirely credible.

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DiVicenzo
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#220 Post by DiVicenzo » Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:22 am

MichaelB wrote:Pop Goes the Easel has dated very badly (hardly surprisingly, given its subject!), but it must have had a seismic impact in 1962 - and Pauline Boty's nightmare would look like a parody of a Kubrick film
Yes, it's very 60's - it's hard to concentrate on it - but the nightmare sequence is superb! And, that poor woman died of cancer at 26, I believe.

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MichaelB
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#221 Post by MichaelB » Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:26 am

DiVicenzo wrote:And, that poor woman died of cancer at 26, I believe.
Slightly older, but not much - and just four years after the programme was broadcast. Which is why she's much less famous than the other three artists.

Even more tragically, her husband died when their daughter was only twelve, and the daughter herself didn't live till her thirtieth birthday.

Here's an appreciation, which also includes a brief bit about the Russell programme.

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Lino
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Re: Ken Russell on DVD

#222 Post by Lino » Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:12 pm

Well, well, well, could The Devils not be far behind? Digitalclassics in the UK is releasing Lisztomania in May. Interesting. Though, out of all the DVD outfits in the UK, Digitalclassics got the gig?

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DiVicenzo
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Re: Ken Russell on DVD

#223 Post by DiVicenzo » Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:26 pm

Lino wrote:Well, well, well, could The Devils not be far behind? Digitalclassics in the UK is releasing Lisztomania in May. Interesting. Though, out of all the DVD outfits in the UK, Digitalclassics got the gig?
Is this an official DVD release or a bootleg???

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MichaelB
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Re: Ken Russell on DVD

#224 Post by MichaelB » Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:32 pm

DiVicenzo wrote:
Lino wrote:Well, well, well, could The Devils not be far behind? Digitalclassics in the UK is releasing Lisztomania in May. Interesting. Though, out of all the DVD outfits in the UK, Digitalclassics got the gig?
Is this an official DVD release or a bootleg???
Highly unlikely to be a bootleg, I'd have thought - what kind of lunatic would announce an act of piracy several months in advance? Especially if one of the production companies is a Hollywood major?

But I'm intrigued that this isn't being distributed by Warner Bros, since I know for a fact that they don't sublicense their stuff as a general rule - in fact, to be completely title-specific, I know someone who recently tried to sublicense The Devils, but was rebuffed. So I'm guessing that one of the other production companies currently represents the UK rights to Lisztomania.

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Person
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Re: Ken Russell on DVD

#225 Post by Person » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:25 am

Digital Classics released The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer last year and I had always thunked that it was a Warner title. Maybe Warner UK is open to licensing - especially vintage oddball British films - yet Warner USA is not?

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