Cross of Iron: Special Edition in April (1 Viewer)

[Gordon McMurphy]

http://on.starblvd.net/cgi-bin/bbsmsg?peckinpah&tr=561

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...369167-9835812

132 minutes
Anamorphic transfer
Audio commentary by Stephen Prince, author of Savage Cinema
English and French mono
Original theatrical trailer
Photo gallery of German lobby cards

$29.95
18 April 2006


Woo-hoo! I have the UK edition, but I'll gladly buy this, providing the commentary is good and the transfer at least equal the R2.

 

[John Hodson]

Fantastic news!

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Indeed.

Does anyone know how Hen's Tooth acquired this film? Aside from Jacob the Liar their releases are just 'meh'. I always expected them to keep their old 1.33:1 DVD in print forever, so I am quite surprised at their presence of mind here. Warner must have awoke them from their slumber - they only release 8 titles in 2005 and all from June-November; how do they survive? They must be a subsiduary of a larger company/corporation.

The 1982 Nostalgia Merchant NTSC VHS ran an unprecedented 143 minutes. No other version runs this length. I have never been able to ascertain what the extra scenes are, though.

To be honest, I am not expecting a good transfer from Hen's Tooth, regardless of promises of it being anamorphic.

EDIT: Looking at their website, it is however, quite reassuring that they often remaster from the negative, so I hope that I am pleasantly surprised by the transfer. If they do use the neg, it might actually be a longer/longest version to date, without them realising it!

 

[CameronMcC]

awesome news. Been holding out to long on this one... Aside from the Private Eyes, and The Prize fighter I have not seen to many of their titles...

 

[walter o]

DEADLIER THAN THE MALE and CLOSE MY EYES are good films.

They are, from what I heard, a very very small outfit run by two fellows. They been around for about 15 years. In the VHS days, they put out SILVER BEARS, which was produced by the same people who produced CROSS OF IRON, so I assume thats how they licensed it.

 

[PhilipG]

Just imdb'ed this one:

James Coburn
Maximilian Schell
James Mason
David Warner

With a cast like that you can't go wrong. Looks like a definite blind buy! Thanks, Gordy!

 

[Justin_S]

This news came at just the right time, as I intended to order one of the other region DVDs of this film within the next few days. Now I'll wait for this version. Excellent film, one of Peckinpah's best.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Great news indeed Gordon

Means more Peckinpah

 

[seanOhara]

Wow, a Peckinpah commentary that doesn't contain the same four guys.

Don't get me wrong, Nick Redman et al. are quite knowledgable, but after watching the Peckinpah westerns set and Junior Bonner, the variety is appreciated.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Goddamn it-- I literally JUST ordered the Korean version last week (on Gordon's advice). Eh, it only cost me $8.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Sorry about that, Mark. I really never expected Hen's Tooth to remaster Cross of Iron and stump up an audio commentary.

This was the first Peckinpah film I ever saw (at age 16/17) and up to that point, the only WWII films I had seen was stuff like Where Eagles Dare and The Great Escape and it started me on a quest for unusual war films from various countries, my admiration for Sam Peckinpah's Cinema and also an appreciation of James Coburn, who is outstanding in this. I had never seen a military man behave or speak like that in a film before and the film seems to have had a profound effect on. I just love that final exchange: "I'll show you where the Iron Crosses grow."

 

[Jefferson Morris]

I was tempted by that Korean disc too, but luckily I'm a procrastinator.

It's a good time to be a fan of Sam the Man. Thanks again, Gordon.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Gordon,

If there's any consolation, it's that this is out on Hen's Tooth. I'll believe that it's an anamorphic transfer when I see it. Again, I'm only out $8 for the other one.

 

[John Hodson]

My initial enthusiasm has dimmed a little; I saw 'new SE' and Stephen Prince mentioned and I went ga-ga - but then I saw who was releasing it...

Warners have just ended their deal with Studio Canal in the UK, which means that a number of titles are going OOP - including their barebones, but rather decent presentation of CoI. Who knows, someone may spot the opportunity and dive in with a super new R2; Eureka, distributors of the excellent 'Masters of Cinema' range, it's time to step up to the plate...

 

[JoshB]

About time. No current DVD release of this title is at a standard that is worthy of a DVD release. Either they asre full frame, non anamorphic, poor picture quality or include no extras. Here are what some of the releases have been like:

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=977

Hopefully this release corrects the problems on all counts.

Do they mention an OAR for this title? There seems to be some problems regarding it in some of the previous releases. DVDBeaver reviewed and compared this title, and they agree that the quality is very lacking:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCom...rossofiron.htm

 

[Edwin-S]

Is this the one where

they run across a group of Russian women. The women think they are going to be raped and murdered, but in the end both groups basically end up fraternizing with each other.
?

Also wasn't there a scene where

they come across a German officer who is hiding out in a bunker, equipped with rations that he misdirected for his own use?

Or am I thinking of some other film?

 

[Kevin M]

Hen's Tooth....aren't they the people who released the "SE" of Flesh Gordon? If that DVD is any indication of their quality then this might not bode well for COI.

 

[John Hodson]

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Thank you for burning away the fog, Mr Hodson! I was always sceptical of that 143-minute timing.

BTW, Where did you hear about Warner ending their deal with Studio Canal? This means that stuff like Joe Losey's, Accident and The Servant will be going OOP. David Lean's, The Sound Barrier/Hobson's Choice, too. Or do I have things the wrong way round?

 

[John Hodson]

Go here