The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner & Other Social Realism Milestones

[John Hodson]

Bad news - 'Loneliness' has been postponed until March next year. Good news - it will be joined by a BFI re-release of 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.'

[Ed Parsons]

Bad news - 'Loneliness' has been postponed until March next year. Good news - it will be joined by a BFI re-release of 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.'

John, do you know if the new Saturday Night and Sunday Morning DVD will feature an upgraded transfer like Loneliness?

[John Hodson]

Bad news - 'Loneliness' has been postponed until March next year. Good news - it will be joined by a BFI re-release of 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.'

John, do you know if the new Saturday Night and Sunday Morning DVD will feature an upgraded transfer like Loneliness?

I've naturally assumed it will, but I'll get it confirmed.

[John Hodson]

Got some good news from the BFI:

SNSM will feature newly telecined and remastered HD presentation of the film (which will differ from our old DVD version).

We anticipate it having having the same extras as our DVD, but - as is the case with our Loneliness BD - these will been re-created to allow us to present at full 1080 resolution (as opposed to upscaled SD content). Extras are still slightly TBC though.

Anamorphic in SD, HD extras in BD. It's all good.

[Ed Parsons]

Got some good news from the BFI:

SNSM will feature newly telecined and remastered HD presentation of the film (which will differ from our old DVD version).

We anticipate it having having the same extras as our DVD, but - as is the case with our Loneliness BD - these will been re-created to allow us to present at full 1080 resolution (as opposed to upscaled SD content). Extras are still slightly TBC though.

Anamorphic in SD, HD extras in BD. It's all good.

Thanks John. It looks like it may be a case of getting shot of the old DVD whilst the prices are good.

[Richard--W]

I have several of the titles mentioned in this thread; I'm particularly fond of Look Back In Anger and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.

Isn't Hell Drivers British social realism? One of the best films ever made in England. Payroll ? Robbery! ? What about Georgy Girl? Two For the Road? Do they qualify as social realism?

[John Hodson]

I have several of the titles mentioned in this thread; I'm particularly fond of Look Back In Anger and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.

Isn't Hell Drivers British social realism? One of the best films ever made in England. Payroll ? Robbery! ? What about Georgy Girl? Two For the Road? Do they qualify as social realism?

Maybe 'Georgy Girl' at a stretch, but certainly 'Hell Drivers', 'Payroll' and 'Robbery' are principally 'gritty British thrillers'; I think to be labelled first and foremost 'social realism' a film has to be (obviously) about contemporary social conditions, and be a commentary on such. Has anyone mentioned Bryan Forbes 'The Whisperers'? Not a milestone, but it should have been.

[steve56]

Payroll went for over 50quid recently on VHS over on ebay

[rigsby]

Payroll went for over 50quid recently on VHS over on ebay

Really? How bizarre, it's easily available on DVD for about 8 quid, not a bad looking print either.

[Delgadofan]

So being somewhat behind in my DVD backlog, I finally got around to watching my BFI DVD of The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner last night.
...[*]A Taste Of Honey (Richardson 1961)[*]Saturday Night, Sunday Morning (Reisz 1960)[*]Billy Liar (Schlesinger 1963) - Region 1[/LIST]

Great stuff, it takes me all the way back to BBC2's excellent Sunday night "Best Of British" season in the late 70s (which also showered us with If..., Women In Love, The Long and the Short and the Tall etc).

[Mycroft]

Payroll went for over 50quid recently on VHS over on ebay

Really? How bizarre, it's easily available on DVD for about 8 quid, not a bad looking print either.

It looked great, however my copy seemed to be a bit knackered as it kept jumping scenes.

[Mycroft]

What about Georgy Girl? Two For the Road? Do they qualify as social realism?

I don't think they are classed as "social realism" but they are two favourites of mine which seem to have no critical reputation at all (I pretty much came to the DVD's "cold" and ended up very impressed).

[Ed Parsons]

HMV is now listing DVD and blu-ray releases of 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' and 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner' for 23 March 2009.

[John Hodson]

Extras for both releases, same in DVD and BD:

Special features Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
• Commentary by film historian Robert Murphy, with writer Alan Sillitoe and cinematographer Freddie Francis
• New filmed interview with Shirley Anne Field
• Audio interview with Albert Finney
• We Are the Lambeth Boys (1959) – Karel Reisz’s classic Free Cinema documentary
• Illustrated booklet containing essays and biographies

Special features for The Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner
• Commentary by film historian Robert Murphy, with lead actor Tom Courtenay and writer Alan Sillitoe
• Video essay by cinematographer Walter Lassally
• Momma Don’t Allow (1956), Tony Richardson’s Free Cinema documentary shot by Walter Lassally
• Illustrated booklet including essays and biographies

[John Hodson]

I've commented on both the above BD offerings in the Blu-ray forum, so I won't double up here - suffice to say that whichever format you choose, I don't think anyone could be disappointed in either transfer, SN&SM in particular is a scorcher.