Powerhouse Films

[BAKA]

My copies of the second volume of the William Castle set and Berserk arrived on Wednesday from Amazon. As usual a beautiful set from Indicator. Thinking of giving Berserk a spin on my Birthday next week, it seems suitably stacked and worthy of a special occasion. I noticed there's a Crawford featurette from Pamela Hutchinson, who had some amusing comments in the latest Sight & Sound, about there being a future for men in the industry after listing two films directed by men in her top 5. Now if only we could get some Bette Davis on an Indicator release. Sadly, I imagine much of her best stuff is with Warner.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by BAKA

My copies of the second volume of the William Castle set and Berserk arrived on Wednesday from Amazon. As usual a beautiful set from Indicator. Thinking of giving Berserk a spin on my Birthday next week, it seems suitably stacked and worthy of a special occasion. I noticed there's a Crawford featurette from Pamela Hutchinson, who had some amusing comments in the latest Sight & Sound, about there being a future for men in the industry after listing two films directed by men in her top 5. Now if only we could get some Bette Davis on an Indicator release. Sadly, I imagine much of her best stuff is with Warner.

My copy of Berserk! was dispatched today from HMV along with Second Sight's release of When a Stranger Calls. For some reason HMV have Berserk! listed as a 17/12 release compared to Amazon who have it listed as the 10/12 and have evidently received stock on this date and have been sending it out.

[BAKA]

Gave Berserk a spin tonight, looked beautiful. Fantastic supplements too, especially enjoyed Rigby's Circus Of Blood. He contextualised the landscape at the time very eloquently, and brought up a few films for the watchlist (The Mad Room, and purely for the title, Crooks And Coronets; can't believe I'd never heard of it before). I wish I'd known it had been double billed with Torture Garden, I would have done so myself, since it was also conveniently released by PowerHouse Films too.

I do wish they'd adopt a menu style similar to Arrow and Criterion with regards to special features, some of them are titled in such a way that you need the case at hand to figure out what they are ('The Shop Girl's Delight', 'Circus Of Blood'), which isn't always convenient (I know plenty of people who store their discs in folders separately from the cases). One I couldn't even find listed on the back of the case, 'In The Ring' (Am I blind?). Arrow and Criterion typically bring up a description on selecting the feature, often with a runtime, which I find extremely helpful. It's something minor, that probably won't bother a great deal of people, but something I hope they implement.

Extremely beautiful package, the reverse art is gorgeous. Haven't had a chance to read the booklet yet, looking forward to it though.

[BAKA]

Also Tom Baker is hilariously bitchy. I'm glad they included those. I don't think I've ever seen anything of Beyond Belief before. Definitely going to look into what other films he did introductions for. Insightful despite the brevity too (the Edith Head costume and Penny Dreadful connection).

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by BAKA

Also Tom Baker is hilariously bitchy. I'm glad they included those. I don't think I've ever seen anything of Beyond Belief before. Definitely going to look into what other films he did introductions for. Insightful despite the brevity too (the Edith Head costume and Penny Dreadful connection).

When you say Tom Baker do you mean THE Tom Baker as in Doctor Who or someone else?

Rigby is great at docs isn't he. I've really come to appreciate his wisdom after reading his three Gothic books.

[BAKA]

Honestly never been a Doctor Who fan, but I think it's the same guy.

I still need to pick up one of those Gothic books. Can't remember which one I'm missing. Definitely have the Euro one.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by BAKA

Honestly never been a Doctor Who fan, but I think it's the same guy.

I still need to pick up one of those Gothic books. Can't remember which one I'm missing. Definitely have the Euro one.

The English Gothic book is like a bible to me. Read it twice in the three years i've had it.

I've also read the earlier paperback version which i bought when that originally came out getting on for twenty years ago.

[Michael Brooke]

Originally Posted by BAKA

I do wish they'd adopt a menu style similar to Arrow and Criterion with regards to special features, some of them are titled in such a way that you need the case at hand to figure out what they are ('The Shop Girl's Delight', 'Circus Of Blood'), which isn't always convenient (I know plenty of people who store their discs in folders separately from the cases). One I couldn't even find listed on the back of the case, 'In The Ring' (Am I blind?). Arrow and Criterion typically bring up a description on selecting the feature, often with a runtime, which I find extremely helpful. It's something minor, that probably won't bother a great deal of people, but something I hope they implement.

If for some reason you’ve chosen to separate the case from the disc (which we don’t recommend), you can always find out exactly what the extra is by playing it, as there’s always a capsule description immediately after the main title.

This helps keep the menus as simple and uncluttered as possible, which we think is important given that some Indicator discs are seriously crammed. We’re very much in favour of people being able to stick the disc in and get to where they want to go in a matter of seconds, with minimal clicks and no intrusive pop-ups, clips, soundtrack snippets, etc.

And of course there’s also a full contents description on the Powerhouse website - in the case of Berserk a complete one, since ‘In the Ring’ was added at a very late stage and the sleeve unfortunately wasn’t updated before it went to press.

[BAKA]

Yeah, I just don't agree. To me it's counter-intuitive to look away from a screen to look up something up, be it on a case or the website via another device, or to have to start playing something to find out what it is. Arrow and Criterion put out plenty of stacked discs and I certainly wouldn't say their efforts look cluttered, or are in any way complicated to navigate. I'd even say there is less screen space dedicated to words, they just make use of the space in a more dynamic way. It's probably more of a bugbear to me because usability and accessibility are fundamental to my work. I rarely have the time to consume stacked boutique releases in one sitting, and it's beneficial to me when a release is able to give me the information I want in a concise and immediate way, that doesn't take me out of what I'm doing.

[Rob4]

i don't find the menus such a bother but i'd certainly support running times being displayed - like BAKA, due to my schedule, i usually have to watch supplements in snatches over a period of time.