Non-Criterion Boutique Home Video Discussion (Kino, Warner Archive, Arrow, Indicator, Vinegar Syndrome, Code Red, etc.)

Oh man, lots of good stuff on that Arrow sale. Maybe I should burn more of that stimulus money...

The extras on Second Run discs aren't bad, by and large!

um, easily a dozen things in the arrow sale that would sit unwatched in front of the tv for years before i got around to them.

plugged the gaps in my Yakuza Papers collection
Daisies was removed from my basket at checkout :(

For those who aren't in the know: if you see an Arrow box set that tickles your fancy, buy it and buy it quick. They seem to almost all wind up as limited editions whether that's the stated intent or not (although some do eventually get rereleased minus the frills).

And I mean limited. There's at least two that immediately come to mind which were released in the latter half of 2020 and are already OOP.

Wasn't going to bother with Arrow sale but HGL, Phantasm and Vincent Price/Poe box sets at half price yes please.

I'm still suffering from last month's Network sale where they offered 40% of everything and I ended up dropping a couple of hundred quid.

Daisies was removed from my basket at checkout :(

Valerie and her Week of Wonders for me.

since they've not been mentioned here yet, just wanna give a shout out to milestone films, who've done a beautiful job restoring and releasing dvds of films by shirley clarke, charles burnett, kathleen collins, lotte reininger, evgeni bauer and many others

I tried the first Yakuza Papers and couldn't keep up at all - so many different dudes shooting up different places to keep track of.

Good news for poliziotteschi fans (so I guess aldo and me) - Arrow are releasing a box set for the genre.

Bad news - I've never heard of any of the films in it and there's no Di Leo, Castellari, Martino, Lenzi or Damiani to be seen amongst them.

https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/years-of-lead-five-classic-italian-crime-thrillers-1973-1977-blu-ray/FCD2123

I can't say that it maintains across the line, but I've yet to be disappointed by any of the Arrow releases that I've bought sight unseen*, so I'm starting to rely on their judgment more.

*although I've knowingly bought box sets knowing they contained some garbage (see: Hellraiser IIII)

I've seen Highway Star, which is a spectacular if not particularly plot heavy heist movie, and Colt 38 Special Squad (mainly because I'm a fan of What Have You Done To Solange) which is much more what you'd expect and great fun. I might have to pre-order this one

Speaking of poliziotteschi, the record label that put out some of my soundtrack-y stuff (among others) is moving into film releases now. Probably haven't done enough to call it a boutique distributor yet though tbh but these releases seem to be popular:
https://www.cineploit.com/?page_id=2470

That's cool!

I think the Lady Scorpion set came out in a cheaper version, so that one I'm glad I didn't jump at the first version

It's all streaming on Prime in the US, but I still kind of want the physical copy when they inevitably disappear (same with the Stray Cat Rock set).

Stray Cat Rock is a must-buy (also have the Lady Scorpion set but have yet to dive in), thank u 2 Arrow for hipping me to '60s & '70s Japanese exploitation cinema generally and the fierce wonder of Meiko Kaji specifically.

Oh, here's another thing if my sale announcements haven't already bled you dry. So there's this bookstore ( https://hamiltonbook.com ) whose blu-ray buyer gets his hands on some pretty good stuff which is occasionally out of print (eg a bunch of Twilight Time stock just after they closed shop) and often at some really good discount prices. They do a new drop every fourth Monday evening and will be doing so this coming Monday. It's a real grab bag but it's worth checking out when the drop comes (particularly since he sometimes only gets a handful of copies of something good that sells out that night).

I had the Arrow Gamera sets (each for about $20 cheaper than I'd seen them anywhere else) sitting in my Hamilton Book shopping cart for too long and they disappeared. 😢

I've been tempted by Hamilton many a time, but always forget to buy before the item I really want disappears, just as in your case. The prices often seem too good to be true for brand new merchandise.

They're totally legit, I've ordered a bunch of stuff from them. I think they just function like a remaindered bookseller (although I've never understood exactly how the economics of remaindered bookselling works). It occurred to me after my last post that that was where I got my Stray Cat Rock and Lady Scorpion sets. There's almost always something from the boutique labels included in their drops. One of the more recent deals I recall was marked-down copies of Severin's Andy Milligan box set after the thing was already out of print and fetching high prices from the scalpers. Naturally, those didn't stick around long.

They seem to know what's up with their boutique labels - all the Vinegar Syndrome/Arrow stuff etc. pretty much match the seasonal sale prices, so usually ~$20-30. But there's lots of <$10 BRs that are uncommon

Damn, Arrow sent me someone else's order!

Hamilton Books hooked me up with a discounted copy of the John Ford at Fox box set. Much recommended.

I don't follow Daedalus Books, but I got a discounted copy of the Murnau & Borzage box set from them.

Whoa, I thought for a second you meant that you recently bought a copy. Had to double check, that thing's been on my list for a while.

Hamilton drop was last night, btw. Pretty light month but some Arrows, some Code Reds, worth a browse.

Ford at Fox I mean. Probably should just pull the trigger, as those prices keep creepin' but never in the direction I'd prefer.

I tell myself I'm going to watch all of both boxes and then flip them. In the event I actually do this, shall I offer them here at special ILX prices?

Indicator releasing Ishtar!

A combination between lockdown boredom and paranoia about sets selling out meant I have pre-ordered the poliziotteschi set but also threw in the Bill Rebane and William Grefé sets because I'll only be upset when I miss them (actually I had read somewhere the William Grefé was OOP already so ordered it purely because I could).

Yeah, limited edition paranoia is the bane of the physical media enthusiast in 2021.

Zavvi buys Arrow:

https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/040621-1500

I've got it worst with the Indicator Hammer sets - can't risk buying any since I have no chance of getting the early ones.

I dithered about the Hammer box sets until the first one was about to go out of print - Indicator are good about warning when titles are nearly sold out - and then hurriedly pulled the trigger. Have managed to keep up to date with them since - looking forward to volume six, shortly. I was too late on Indicator's Harryhausen sets though, and they seem to command mostly mad prices on Ebay etc now.

Missing out on the Harryhausen and Sinbad sets really hurts since there's no way of getting to them.

Kind of wish I'd tried harder to get the Norman Warren coffin box rather than the Indicator set so it matched my other three anchor bay boxes (Pete Walker, Amicus, Tigon).

CriterionForum thread says Indicator are working on a Harryhausen Centenary Collection which should include all his films; not sure where they got that info but there's ppl from Indicator on that board so false rumors usually get shot down fast.

https://www.criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=15362&p=727840&hilit=harryhausen#p727840

Took 30 days exactly but I finally got a shipping confirmation on my Warner Archive 4 for $44 order.

Sounds like that's a chronic problem. I guess there were lots of layoffs at WB around the time they shuttered the store.

Some of these boutiques and specialty stores are amazing with their shipping (Kino is great, and the Ronin Flix store is so unbelievably efficient that I can't say with certainty that they don't immediately drop what they're doing and drive your package to your home), but others...prrrrobably should focus on their product and leave the shipping and handling to someone else. Severin, I'm looking at you. And Mondo Macabro is a great label but my Halloween sale package arrived sometime in early 2021, lol.

Finally decided to get the Severin Christopher Lee box pre-order and it looks like the Andy Milligan box is delayed because it's still a pre-order too.

I thought the Milligan box was long OOP. Unless they're reissuing it.

Well they've just let me order one with a pre-order date of last month.

Not really boutique but Studio Canal's Vintage Classics line is worth a look. Mostly old timey Brit classics - Ealing, the Archers, kitchen sink stuff - but they seem to be branching out in interesting ways. Anyone seen Restless Natives?

https://vintageclassicsfilm.co.uk/films/

Restless Natives used to be compulsory viewing on STV, seemed to be screened every month. Haven't seen it in a long while but I remember it as being more fun than either Gregory's Girl or Local Hero (which I suppose are the nearest touchstones, even if they aren't much alike).

I'm tempted by the That'll Be The Day/Stardust double header. Can anybody vouch for Sparrows Can't Sing as I've been curious about that for years.

It's a great transfer of And Soon The Darkness, but the surprise standout for me is Tales of Hoffmann, which is absolutely beautiful and well worthy of the format.

Sparrows Can't Sing is another of those things that's seemingly on all the time on freeview, but it might be London Live which doesn't help you. i watched it a couple of years ago when it was on but the only thing i remember about it is Barbara Windsor is in it.

It's something I always seem to miss though, no matter how well intentioned I am about definitely watching it this time.

Written by Stephen Lewis, who of course went on to be Blakey, so the casting of Bob Grant in it might be connected.

Sparrows Can't Sing is good but you have to have a high tolerance for couples bickering, it's like a working class cockney comedy Who's Afraid Of Virgina Woolf.

is there a scene on a strange swing bridge in docklands somewhere?

Anyone else feel Arrow's output has been a bit underwhelming in recent years? What happened?

I don't personally feel like there's been much of a drop-off (although they're certainly putting out more mainstream stuff of late) but there's a lot more competition these days, a lot of other boutique labels covering similar ground. So they're probably getting snaked on the rights to release some things they would've had a clear and easy path to a few years back.

I have to wonder if it has been difficult getting some rights, Jasper Sharp often works with them and I'm sure he has a skyscraper wishlist of japanese films but it's been a trickle and usually films that have already been on dvd.