Independent distributors Olive Films have announced that they will add two new Signature Editions of classic films to their Blu-ray catalog: Orson Welles' Macbeth and Burt Kennedy's Hannie Caulder. The the releases will be available for purchase this November.
Macbeth
Something wicked this way comes in Orson Welles' cinematic retelling of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. Welles stars as the titular Macbeth—a doomed Scottish lord tragically undone by his own ambition. Welles' noir-tinged interpretation bubbles over with supernatural prophecy and murderous intrigue, effectively mixing the use of shadow and oblique camera angles to achieve anominous sense of a land in peril.
Beautifully shot by John L. Russell (Psycho) and starring Orson Welles (who also adapted, produced and directed), Jeanette Nolan (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance), Dan O'Herlihy (Robinson Crusoe), Roddy McDowall (How Green Was My Valley) and Alan Napier (TV's Batman), Macbethisan altogether unique interpretation of Shakespeare's Scottish play.
This special Olive Signature edition includes both the original 1948 107-minute cut, replete with affected highland accents, and the 1950 pared-down 85-minute re-release that removed most of the accented dialogue.
Special Features:
NEW High-Definition digital restoration
Includes 1948 and 1950 versions
Audio Commentary with Welles biographer Joseph McBride
"Welles and Shakespeare" - an interview with Welles expert, Professor Michael Anderegg
"Adapting Shakespeare on Film" - a conversation with directors Carlo Carlei (Romeo & Juliet) and Billy Morrissette (Scotland, PA)
Excerpt from We Work Again, a 1937 WPA documentary containing scenes from Welles' Federal Theatre Project production of Macbeth
"That Was Orson Welles" - an interview with Welles' close friend and co-author, Peter Bogdanovich
"Restoring Macbeth" - an interview with former UCLA Film & Television Archive Preservation Officer Bob Gitt
"Free Republic: The Story of Herbert J. Yates and Republic Pictures"
"The Two Macbeths" - an essay by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
Newly commissioned artwork
Optional English SDH subtitles
STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 15.
Hannie Caulder
Revenge is a loaded gun in director Burt Kennedy's (The Train Robbers) Hannie Caulder. Raquel Welch (One Million Years B.C.,100 Rifles, and Myra Breckinridge) smolders as Hannie, a widow sworn to avenge her own brutal rape and husband's murder at the hands of Emmett (Ernest Borgnine, The Wild Bunch), Frank (Jack Elam, Support Your Local Sheriff), and Rufus (Strother Martin, Cool Hand Luke), three of the most despicable scoundrels to have ever roamed the prairie. Eager for revenge, but lacking the gunfighter's know-how, Hannie soon discovers new confidence and skill when bounty hunter Thomas Luther Price (Robert Culp, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice) teaches her the way of the gun. In no time, Hannie is strapping on her six shooter and setting out toput a few notches on its handle. Co-starring the legendary Christopher Lee (Horror of Dracula), playing against type as a sympathetic gunsmith who befriends her, Hannie Caulder hits its target from ten paces.
Special Features:
NEW High-Definition digital restoration
Audio commentary by Western expert and director Alex Cox (Walker, Repo Man)
"Exploitation or Redemption?" - an examination of rape-revenge movies with film scholar Ben Sher
"A Very British Horror Studio" - interview with Sir Christopher Frayling on the history of Tigon Studios
Essay by film critic Miriam Bale
Newly commissioned artwork
Optional English SDH subtitles
STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 15.
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