Press Release Criterion Press Release: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) (4k UHD Combo) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

​

This sensual and striking chronicle of a disappearance and its aftermath put director Peter Weir on the map and helped usher in a new era of Australian cinema. Based on an acclaimed 1967 novel by Joan Lindsay, Picnic at Hanging Rock is set at the turn of the twentieth century and concerns a small group of students from an all-female college who vanish, along with a chaperone, while on a St. Valentine’s Day outing. Less a mystery than a journey into the mystic, as well as an inquiry into issues of class and sexual repression in Australian society, Weir’s gorgeous, disquieting film is a work of poetic horror whose secrets haunt viewers to this day.

FILM INFO​

• Australia
• 1975
• 107 minutes
• Color
• 1.66:1/1.78:1
• English
• Spine #29
  
  

  DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES​

  • New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Peter Weir and director of photography Russell Boyd, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
  • Interview with Weir
  • Program on the making of the film, featuring interviews with executive producer Patricia Lovell, producers Hal McElroy and Jim McElroy, and cast members
  • Introduction by film scholar David Thomson, author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film
  • On-set documentary hosted by Lovell and featuring interviews with Weir, actor Rachel Roberts, and source-novel author Joan Lindsay
  • Homesdale (1971), a black comedy by Weir
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by author Megan Abbott and an excerpt from film scholar Marek Haltof’s 1996 book Peter Weir: When Cultures Collide
    
    Cover by Eric Skillman
    
    April 9, 2024

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Thank you for supporting HTF when you preorder using the link below. As an Amazon Associate HTF earns from qualifying purchases. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.

https://www.amazon.com/Picnic-Hangi...ic+at+hanging+rock+4k+criterion,aps,63&sr=8-1

 

[titch]

Uh-oh....Peter Weir approved a degrained and re-grained master of this by Second Sight last year. No reason at all to expect that Criterion's transfer will be any different.

 

[JPCinema]

I have the Second Sight 4K and there are 2 discs , one with the original release cut and the Directors cut. I’m happy with the discs and the plethora of extras. It looks like the Criterion edition only has the Directors cut.

 

[cineMANIAC]

Pretty lame release compared to that Second Sight box. Criterion is the kind of label that doesn't seem to give two sh-ts about whether or not their releases best a competing overseas release so they'll survive but I wonder if they still slap their knees and go "Dammit, another lost opportunity! Oh, well"

 

[david hare]

This will very clearly be the Weir-approved grain free shocker. Don’t bother.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

I guess i will stick to my Criterion laserdisc.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Preorder is live. See post #2

 

[Peter Neski]

I guess i will stick to my Criterion laserdisc.

nuts