THE FURY - UK Special Edition Blu-Ray

[AndyDursin]

Wonder if this will be the same transfer as TT's...certainly more extras though, making it worthwhile for region free owners!

Special Features:
-Brand new digital transfer of the film from the original camera negative
-Original uncompressed mono 2.0 PCM audio
-Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
-Blood on the Lens: An interview with Cinematographer Richard H. Kline
-Spinning Tales: Fiona Lewis on starring in The Fury
-The Fury Revisited – An interview with Sam Irvin, intern on The Fury, author of the film’s shooting diary and then correspondent for Cinefantastique magazine
-Original archive interviews from the 1978 promotional tour, featuring Brian De Palma, producer Frank Yablans and stars Carrie Snodgress and Amy Irving
-“Double Negative” [20 mins] – A short film tribute to De Palma by Sam Irvin, starring William Finley
-Gallery of behind-the-scenes production images
-Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw
-Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Chris Dumas, author of Un-American Psycho: Brian De Palma and the Political Invisible, as well as a re-print of a contemporary interview with De Palma, illustrated with original stills and posters, with more to be announced!



http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/index.php?t ... 8ca42f3f03

[Monterey Jack]

WANT. I desperately need a region-free player...

[AndyDursin]

This is now $50 w/free shipping at Sears and KMart:

http://www.sears.com/seiki-blu-ray-8482 ... ockType=G1

[Paul MacLean]

Why is it that US / Region A customers are often denied these releases with spiffy extras? I know in the DVD days, "special editions" used to get released in Region 2 first and then show-up here a year or so later, but I can't see an obscure title like The Fury ever getting another release on these shores.

[AndyDursin]

It's usually the other way around, believe it or not, as there are plenty of Special Editions in the US that aren't available overseas. In this case, Fox licenses the movie out to whoever wants it internationally. Arrow Video does excellent work in England, much the same way Shout Factory does here, so they went to great expense it seems to produce all-new extras for THE FURY. Whether or not that's a good decision for them financially -- only they'll know, but their discs are only produced for the UK market.

Twilight Time doesn't do that kind of thing, so their FURY US Blu-Ray only has an isolated score track.

I wonder if the Arrow transfer won't be superior...will be interesting to see.

One thing's for sure -- the BD market is becoming more like laserdisc and less like DVD. You have to do some homework to find releases (or the best ones) these days, especially when it comes to catalog content.

[John Johnson]

I remember in the early days of DVDs, the UK releases used to have up to 20 different European languages to accomodate the Region 2 territories. By the time that was done, there little extras added. You were lucky if you got an original trailer. Now of course, things have changed.

[AndyDursin]

My copy came in from Amazon UK today and it's impressive -- a far superior transfer to the older master Twilight Time worked from -- with markedly higher detail and fresher colors. Arrow's version is exclusively derived from the original negative and it shows -- plus you also get a number of terrific extras, most of which I haven't touched yet.

Definitely recommend this one for fans -- another Arrow bullseye, much like their LIFEFORCE (superior package to the Shout version IMO), LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN and TIME BANDITS discs!

[sprocket]

Just goes to show people shouldn't be too obsessive about these 'Limited Editions'.

I like ARROW releases, but I'm not sure I would choose a superior region B release over a region A release. Then, again ...

[AndyDursin]

LOL, nobody should be too obsessed over limited editions these days the way things are going. There's nothing "wrong" with the TT transfer, but the difference between the two releases is what you'd expect between a 10-year old master and a brand new rendering from the original negative. It is a marked improvement.

[AndyDursin]

Had the urge to check this out again, and Arrow's disc, while a decade old now, holds up well. Certainly better than the Twilight Time disc which is also OOP and commands top dollar (Arrow's is OOP also but doesn't run quite as high).

This movie is entertaining but John Williams' score for this movie is just awesome. The whole sequence where Amy Irving breaks out from the clinic -- that track is phenomenal. Changing moods and themes effortlessly and really elevating the movie onto a whole other level. I mean, coming off STAR WARS, same year as JAWS 2 and SUPERMAN -- this is peak Williams in one of his most incredible periods of scoring movies, and it outclasses the movie as a whole in the end.

The interview on the Arrow disc with the then-young DePalma fan who was writing for Cinefantastique is very good, he recounts his time on the set and does a good job detailing the strengths/weaknesses of the picture. That ending really blows on this movie, and he rightly mentions it was a big disappointment for audiences at the time. Irving sits there as Douglas AND his son both die -- it's really lame and puts a sour taste on the entire film. Extremely downbeat. He mentions some viewers even laughed at it during some screenings because it was too much tragedy piled right on top of one another. And it's too bad, because with some tweaks, I think that could've been easily reworked and changed for the better.

As it is, it's a drag on the movie, no question -- but that's how it goes with a lot of DePalma movies, you often get some brilliant moments followed by inexplicably dopey ones. Until that point, despite its weird shifting tone, THE FURY is one of his better movies, and Irving is cute too.

[mkaroly]

Hans Zimmer would have written a better score...John Williams is overrated.



Your review here inspired me to listen to the score today at work. THE FURY gets lost in the shuffle of his more successful scores during that stretch, but totally agree with you on the music for the film. Peak Williams for sure!

[Paul MacLean]

Your review here inspired me to listen to the score today at work. THE FURY gets lost in the shuffle of his more successful scores during that stretch, but totally agree with you on the music for the film. Peak Williams for sure!

I'm also glad Williams elected to re-recorded The Fury while in London recording Superman. He adroitly arranged the film's cues into something more listenable, the LSO's performance is is more arresting than that of the LA "pickup" orchestra, and the acoustics of Air Lyndhurst Studios are considerably better than those of Fox's scoring stage.

Also -- perhaps most importantly -- he got rid of that kooky "theremin"-like synthesizer in "Gillian's Power"!

[AndyDursin]

Yes that synth is the most "70s sounding" synth in any Williams score,ever, I'd imagine!

I'm also glad he re-recorded that score in London. Why didn't he record it in London to begin with?

THE FURY was a pretty big budgeted movie for Fox, I would've thought they might've had rolled out the red carpet treatment for the music but it seems like they cut some corners...film was released in mono originally too.

[Paul MacLean]

Yes that synth is the most "70s sounding" synth in any Williams score,ever, I'd imagine!

I'm also glad he re-recorded that score in London. Why didn't he record it in London to begin with?

THE FURY was a pretty big budgeted movie for Fox, I would've thought they might've had rolled out the red carpet treatment for the music but it seems like they cut some corners...film was released in mono originally too.

I don't know the specifics, but there is apparently a binding agreement between most Hollywood studios and the American Federation of Musicians, which stipulates that the music must be recorded in the US if the film was primarily shot there.

It actually has always been cheaper to record in London than LA -- even when using world-class orchestras (the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, etc.).

Images, Fiddler on the Roof, Star Wars, Superman, Dracula, Raiders, Monsignor and Harry Potter were shot overseas so the studios were free to record the scores overseas.

But I get strong sense Williams prefers to record in LA, as the scores for Temple of Doom, Last Crusade, Empire of the Sun, Angela's Ashes, The Book Thief, etc. probably could have been recorded in London, but were done in the US. Unlike most Hollywood composers, Williams has acquired the clout (buttressed by Spielberg's clout) to record where he chooses (he was never forced to record in Budapest or Rome the way Goldsmith was in the 1980s for instance).

Williams went to London for the Star Wars prequels as George Lucas obviously wanted to carry on the tradition of using the LSO. Williams did Harry Potter in London because JK Rowling insisted all production to be based in the UK (though oddly, Williams did not enlist the LSO for Sorcerer's Stone or Prisoner of Azkaban, but William Ross did record Chamber of Secrets with the LSO).

The AFM's high re-use fees often induced studios / record companies to opt-out of releasing the LA session recordings on disc -- so, like The Fury, a number of other scores that were recorded in LA for the films, were re-recorded in London specifically for album release -- Petulia, Patton, F.I.S.T., Capricorn One, Masada and Brainstorm for instance.