TCFHE Press Release: War Classics debut on Blu-ray

Ronald Epstein · 04-22-2008, 03:53 AM

JUST IN TIME FOR FATHER’S DAY, A BRIGADE OF TIMELESS WAR CLASSICS, DEPLOYING FOR THE FIRST TIME ON
BLU-RAY DISC

THE LONGEST DAY, PATTON and THE SAND PEBBLES,

Also Joining The Honored Ranks, MGM Classics
BATTLE OF BRITAIN and A BRIDGE TOO FAR

Fine War Classics From Fox Home Entertainment Report For Duty June 3

LOS ANGELES, CA – Inspiring historical tales in venerable war films make the perfect gift for Dad this Father’s Day as six memorable classics make their high definition debut on Blu-Ray Disc June 3 from Fox Home Entertainment.

Featuring a nail-biting battle that ranks as one of the most exciting ever fought in the skies, Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier and Christopher Plummer star in the BAFTA Award-nominated film BATTLE OF BRITAIN (1969, MGM), the spectacular true story of England defending its homeland against the Germans’ attack during World War II.

Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, Sir Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford and James Caan star in director Richard Attenborough’s (Gandhi) epic A BRIDGE TOO FAR (1977, MGM), recapturing the danger and excitement behind World War II Allies’ daring and disastrous attempts to capture key bridges behind enemy lines in a complicated parachute and armored assault.

With an all-star cast including John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Richard Burton, Sean Connery, Robert Mitchum, Rod Steiger and Peter Lawford, to name a few, the Academy Award®-winning epic THE LONGEST DAY (1962, Fox) recounts one of the largest and greatest military missions in history; the triumph and tragedy of the World War II heroes as they stormed the Normandy Beach on D-Day.

Winner of seven Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role (George C. Scott), Best Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Art Direction, the sweeping WWII epic PATTON (1970, Fox) tells the story of one of the most extraordinary generals, George S. Patton, Jr., whose lust for glory swept through the North African battlefield and across Europe, earning the fear and respect of his enemies, as well as the resentment of his allies.

Directed by Hollywood icon Robert Wise (West Side Story) and nominated for eight Oscars®, the definitive naval epic THE SAND PEBBLES (1966, Fox) stars Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna, Mako and Candice Bergen and follows a defiant sailor as he clashes with foreign culture as well as his own superiors during the 1926 Chinese Revolution. Each of the Fox and MGM BD war titles will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.98 U.S. / 49.98 CANADA.

Each DVD includes the feature film presented in high definition. Additional bonus materials and specs by title are as follows:

BATTLE OF BRITAIN: Presented in widescreen with English 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Audio, English Dolby Surround 4.0 and French and Spanish Dolby Surround as well as English, French and Spanish Subtitles..

A BRIDGE TOO FAR: Presented in widescreen with English 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Audio and Spanish and French Dolby Digital along with English, French and Spanish subtitles.

THE LONGEST DAY: Presented in widescreen on a dual layer disc with English 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Audio, English Dolby Surround 4.0 and French and Spanish Mono in addition to English, Spanish, Cantonese, Korean and Mandarin subtitles. Bonus features include:

· Historical commentary with Mary Corey
· Film commentary with Ken Annakin
· A Day to Remember featurette
· Longest Day: A Salute to Courage featurette
· Backstory – The Longest Day featurette
· D-Day Revisited featurette
· Still gallery
· Original trailer

PATTON: Presented in widescreen with English 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Audio, English Dolby Surround 4.0 as well as French and Spanish Mono and includes English, French, Spanish, Cantonese and Mandarin subtitles. Bonus features include:

· Introduction and commentary by writer Francis Ford Coppola
· History Through the Lens: “Patton: A Rebel Revisited” featurette
· Patton’s Ghost Corps featurette
· The Making of Patton documentary
· Production still gallery accompanied by Jerry Goldsmith’s complete musical score
· Behind-the-scenes gallery accompanied by audio essay on the historical Patton
· Original trailer

THE SAND PEBBLES: Presented in widescreen with English 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Audio, English Dolby Surround 4.0 along with French and Spanish Mono, plus English, French, Spanish, Cantonese and Korean subtitles. Bonus features include:

· Commentary by Robert Wise, Candice Bergen, Mako and Richard Crenna
· Isolated score track with commentary by music producer Nick Redman, film music historian Jon Burnlingame and screen writer & film historian Lem Dobbs
· Trivia track
· 13 deleted “Road Show” scenes
· Original trailer
· The Making of Sand Pebbles featurette
· Steve McQueen Remembered featurette
· Bob Wise in Command featurette
· China 1926 featurette
· A Ship Called San Pablo (narrated by Richard Attenborough) 1966 featurette
· The Secret of the San Pablo (narrated by Richard Crenna) 1966 featurette
· Radio documentaries (narrated by Richard Attenborough):
§ Changsha Bund and the Streets of Taipei
§ A Ship Called San Pablo

BATTLE OF BRITAIN
DVD Price: $39.98 U.S. / $54.98 Canada
Street Date: June 3, 2008
Prebook Date: May 7, 2008
Running Time: 133 mins.
Catalog Number: M107700
Rating: G
Closed Captioned YES

A BRIDGE TOO FAR
DVD Price: $39.98 U.S. / $54.98 Canada
Street Date: June 3, 2008
Prebook Date: May 7, 2008
Running Time: 176 mins.
Catalog Number: M107702
Rating: PG
Closed Captioned YES

THE LONGEST DAY
DVD Price: $39.98 U.S. / $54.98 Canada
Street Date: June 3, 2008
Prebook Date: May 7, 2008
Running Time: 178 mins.
Catalog Number: 2251976
Rating: G
Closed Captioned YES

PATTON
DVD Price: $39.98 U.S. / $54.98 Canada
Street Date: June 3, 2008
Prebook Date: May 7, 2008
Running Time: 170 mins.
Catalog Number: 2251978
Rating: PG
Closed Captioned YES

THE SAND PEBBLES
DVD Price: $39.98 U.S. / $54.98 Canada
Street Date: June 3, 2008
Prebook Date: May 7, 2008
Running Time: 179 mins.
Catalog Number: 2245209
Rating: NR
Closed Captioned YES

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Marc Colella · 04-22-2008, 10:24 AM

What's with the $15 difference between the CDN and US MSRP? The exchange rate is just about par.

Jay E · 04-22-2008, 01:01 PM

I see there are no extras on Battle of Britain and A Bridge too Far...looks like I will be passing on those 2.

Brandon Conway · 04-22-2008, 02:04 PM

Yeah, I don't get why MGM still refuses to put any extras on catalog titles. Granted, these are previously delayed titles from last year that likely had their disc image set in stone 12-15 months ago, but still...

Paul Arnette · 04-22-2008, 03:22 PM

So, I saw that Maxpower1987 was lamenting the sales of A Passage to India on blu-ray.com recently, which was very reasonably priced by Sony I might add. [quickaside]It might help sales to convince a brick-and-mortar other than Best Buy to carry the title, but what do I know?[/quickaside] Anyway, I can only imagine the gangbuster sales these five grossly over-priced titles are going to do.

I mean, honestly, who exactly are Fox/MGM targeting with these releases? Has Blu-ray Disc sufficiently penetrated the target demographic for these movies somewhere along the line, and I missed it? Or are they expecting to suddenly devine a huge customer base out of the air for these films because it's Father's Day? One might even think that given these realities a *gasp* price-drop might be in order, but apparently not.

That said, they still beat getting a tie!

Jari K · 04-22-2008, 11:43 PM

Based on this press release...

*Battle of Britain: No extras.

*A Bridge Too Far: No extras.

*The Longest Day:
-Only "Richard Zanuck on The Longest Day" -featurette missing (from 2-disc R1 "Cinema Classics Collection")

*Patton:
-All extras included (from 2-disc R1 "Cinema Classics Collection")
-"Audio Essay on General Patton by historian Charles Province (approx. 81 min) and "Jerry Goldsmith's Complete Musical Score" missing from the older R1 SE-release.

*The Sand Pebbles:
-Most extras included (from 2-disc R1 "Cinema Classics Collection"), but no sure about "Radio spots", "Photo galleries" and "MAD Magazine's "The Sam Pebbles" parody.
-Alternate "Roadshow version" not included (added scenes included to the "Deleted scenes" instead)
-"Trivia track" HD exclusive?

Not perfect, but not that bad. IMO, "Battle of Britain" and "A Bridge Too Far" have (again) been ready for a while (like "Predator" and "Commando") and that´s why "no extras". Not sure WHY is that, though (some have extras and some have not).

Edwin-S · 04-23-2008, 02:22 AM

I was looking forward to a couple of these.....especially PATTON, but at 55.00 bucks Canadian MSRP they can forget it. Even worse, the bare bones flicks look to be exactly the same price as the films with a few extras. They are crazy. FOX must be an acronym for Fucking Outrageous Xtortionists Ltd.

Danny_N · 04-23-2008, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay E

I see there are no extras on Battle of Britain and A Bridge too Far...looks like I will be passing on those 2.

I don't understand this kind of thinking at all. For me Blu-Ray is all about the picture quality of the main feature and not about extras which I might watch once. I own the Japanese releases of BOB and ABTF and the transfers of both are stunning.

Jay E · 04-23-2008, 07:13 AM

Quote:

I don't understand this kind of thinking at all. For me Blu-Ray is all about the picture quality of the main feature and not about extras which I might watch once. I own the Japanese releases of BOB and ABTF and the transfers of both are stunning.

I have a few reasons:

1- Fear of future double dipping

2- shelling out $30 to $40 for a barebones Blu-Ray. The increase in picture quality does not match the high price. I own a 40" HDTV and my Oppo upconverts DVDs very nicely so I can live with my SE DVD for the that price.

3- I don't want to own 2 versions (SE DVD & Blu-Ray) of the same movie, I don't have the space in my apartment for it.

Kris Z. · 04-23-2008, 08:53 AM

Listings should also say:

Overpriced Catalog Title YES
Region Coded For Maximum Annoyance YES

Screw you Fox.

I bet Patton will even have the same ruined, pasty, DNR'd-to-hell transfer as the DVD re-release.