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Welcome to the Pre-Book Club!
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Hello! You're receiving this email because you signed up for our
Pre-Book Club.
As you probably already know, this is a new program specifically design to help those who are interested in building their own collection instead of borrowing from ours. Here's how it works:
Every Monday you will receive an email with a list of titles that will street two to three weeks later (for example, this email includes titles that will street on 2/6 and 2/13.
By replying to this email, you can let us know if there are any titles you would like to order.
Your order will be placed and your credit card on file will be charged.
When the titles arrive, we will email you and they will be ready and waiting on the street date (or we can ship them to you for an additional shipping fee).
From time to time, we will also send out emails about special sales or unique buying opportunities that we will make available to our Club.
One last thing: Release dates are subject to change, so there may be delays or items that you are expecting to see on this list may not appear. If there's anything specific, either a new release or even a catalog title you've been looking for or holding off on, let us know and we'll look into it. Thanks, and happy browsing!
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Releases for the week of 2/6
Please reply to this email by 1/26 to order any of the following titles.
The Criterion Collection
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McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971, Robert Altman)
This unorthodox dream western by Robert Altman may be the most radically beautiful film to come out of the New American Cinema. It stars Warren Beatty and Julie Christie as two newcomers to the raw Pacific Northwest mining town of Presbyterian Church, who join forces to provide the miners with a superior kind of whorehouse experience. The appearance of representatives for a powerful mining company with interests of its own, however, threatens to be the undoing of their plans. With its fascinating, flawed characters, evocative cinematography by the great Vilmos Zsigmond, innovative overlapping dialogue, and haunting use of Leonard Cohen songs, McCabe & Mrs. Miller brilliantly deglamorized and revitalized the most American of genres.
Special Features:
- 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Audio commentary from 2002 featuring director Robert Altman and producer David Foster
- Making-of documentary, featuring members of the cast and crew
- Conversation about the film and Altman’s career between film historians Cari Beauchamp and Rick Jewell
- Featurette from the film’s 1970 production
- Art Directors Guild Film Society Q&A from 1999 with production designer Leon Ericksen
- Excerpts from archival interviews with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond
- Gallery of stills from the set by photographer Steve Schapiro
- Excerpts from two 1971 episodes of The Dick Cavett Show featuring Altman and film critic Pauline Kael
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by novelist and critic Nathaniel Rich
4K UHD / Blu-ray Combo $29.95
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Lars von Trier's The Kingdom Trilogy
Filmmaker Lars von Trier's internationally acclaimed, cult classic series tells the story of a hospital built on top of the old bleaching ponds in Copenhagen, where evil has taken root and medical science faces a daily struggle with itself; where the Swedes curse the Danes, and the mysterious and inexplicable blend together in a mixture of horror and humor. Featuring the original series THE KINGDOM I & II in stunningly restored, never-before-seen versions, as well as the long-awaited follow-up series THE KINGDOM EXODUS.
THE KINGDOM I: Strange things are happening in the underbelly of a Danish hospital in Lars von Trier's long unavailable, cult TV phenomenon The Kingdom I – a wickedly funny supernatural mystery. Let the battle between good and evil commence!
THE KINGDOM II: Picking up in the immediate aftermath of the first season's startling cliffhanger, The Kingdom II sees the troubled hospital plagued by the rise of a greater evil. Masterfully harmonizing mordant humor and poignant pathos, Lars von Trier's TV phenomenon scales new heights of white-knuckle suspense.
THE KINGDOM EXODUS: Lars von Trier returns to the world of Denmark's most famous haunted hospital with this dazzling limited event series. Set in the run-up to Christmas, The Kingdom Exodus serves an incomparable blend of the nightmarish and the absurd as it beats a compulsively entertaining path towards the promise of Armageddon.
Special Features:
- Selected episode commentary by Lars von Trier, Niels Vørsel and Molly Stensgård
- In Lars von Trier's Kingdom - Documentary
- Behind the Scenes - Interviews with Lars von Trier and cast
- TV commercial for the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet - Directed by Lars von Trier
- The Kingdom Trilogy - A Companion' - 28-page booklet
- English subtitles
Blu-ray $64.95
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The Sting of Death (1990, Kohei Oguri)
In the aftermath of World War II, a writer's love affair with another woman drives his wife mad with distrust. Realising his errors, he tries all he can to save her from literally losing her mind. Kohei Oguri's haunting adaptation of the novel by Toshio Shimao is shot in a hyperreal style that is equal parts painterly and unflinching. Featuring striking set design, powerful lead performances and a vivid evocation of small-town life in postwar Japan, The Sting of Death won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival while stars Ittoku Kishibe and Keiko Matsuzaka won numerous awards for their performances. Radiance Films is proud to present this remarkable film on Blu-ray for the first time in the world.
Special Features:
- Documentary on the Japanese film renaissance of the 1990s featuring interviews with Kohei Oguri, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Kaneto Shindo and others (Hubert Niogret, 2011, 52 mins)
- Interview with film scholar Hideki Maeda (2023)
- Trailer
- Newly translated English subtitles
- Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
- Limited edition booklet featuring a newly translated interview with director Kohei Oguri
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
Blu-ray $26.95
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Funeral Home (1980, William Fruet)
Young and easily frightened Heather (Lesleh Donaldson, Happy Birthday to Me) is called to stay with her grandmother in the hopes of helping her turn an old funeral home into a bed-and-breakfast. But strange happenings and unexplained murders around the home quickly make this vacation spot a "dead-and-breakfast." It is up to Heather to investigate the eerie and creepy corners of the former funeral home to unlock a decades-old secret. Will she survive long enough to solve the mystery???
Special Features:
- 2023 Scan from the Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary with Film Historians Jason Pichonsky and Paul Corupe
- Isolated Score Selections & Audio Interview with Music Historian Douglass Fake
- Audio Interviews with Actor Lesleh Donaldson, First Assistant Director Ray Sager, And Production Assistant Shelley Allen
- Secrets & Shadows: Interview with Director of Photography Mark Irwin
- Dead & Breakfast: Interviews with Art Director Susan Longmire and Set Assistant Elinor Galbraith
- Family Owned & Operated: Interview with Brian Allen, President of Premier Drive-In Theatres
- Original Filming Location Footage
- Theatrical Trailer
- Video Trailer
- TV Spots
- Radio Spots
- Still Gallery
Blu-ray $29.95
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The Terminal Man (1974, Mike Hodges)
Mind control. Advances of modern science have removed it from the realm of the mystical into the all-too-probable. What happens when science loses control is the subject of The Terminal Man, based on a novel by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain) and written for the screen and directed by Mike Hodges (Get Carter, Croupier). Computer scientist Harry Benson (George Segal) has experimental brain surgery to end his potentially dangerous seizures. Electrodes are attached to 40 terminals of his brain to counteract his violent impulses. But there's no escaping his own mind. The experiment has back-fired, and the seizures return…with a terminal vengeance. Hooking into this visionary tale will unnerve you. But the truth behind its hallucinatory horrors will fascinate and stimulate you.
Blu-ray $27.95
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Releases for the week of 2/13
Please reply to this email by 2/2 to order any of the following titles.
The Criterion Collection
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Eric Rohmer's Tales of the Four Seasons
The seasons may change, but the follies of the heart are constant in this ineffably lovely quartet of films by Eric Rohmer, one of cinema’s most perceptive chroniclers of the pangs and perils of romance. Set throughout France, Tales of the Four Seasons is a cycle to stand alongside the director’s two earlier acclaimed film series, Six Moral Tales and Comedies and Proverbs. By turns comic and melancholic, breezy and richly philosophical, these bittersweet tales of love, longing, and the inevitable misunderstandings that shape human relationships probe the most complex of emotions with the utmost grace.
Films in this set:
A Tale of Springtime (1990): In the first film of Tales of the Four Seasons, a burgeoning friendship between philosophy teacher Jeanne (Anne Teyssèdre) and pianist Natacha (Florence Darel) is strained by jealousy, suspicion, and intrigue. Natacha encourages Jeanne to pursue Igor (Hugues Quester), Natacha’s father, in order to supplant Ève (Eloïse Bennett), his young girlfriend, whom Natacha loathes. Natacha’s scheme, however, risks alienating those closest to her as well as entangling Jeanne in the very kind of romantic drama she has vowed to avoid. A Tale of Springtime finds Eric Rohmer in full command of his subtle visual storytelling as he contrasts the brightness of his characters’ Parisian and suburban surroundings with their conflicting desires, ideas, and temperaments.
A Tale of Winter (1992): The second Four Seasons tale made by Eric Rohmer is among the most spiritual and emotional films of his storied career. Five years after losing touch with Charles (Frédéric van den Driessche), the love of her life and the father of her young daughter, Félicie (Charlotte Véry) attempts to choose between librarian Loïc (Hervé Furic), who lives in the Parisian suburbs, and hairdresser Maxence (Michel Voletti), who has recently moved to the central French town of Nevers. In the midst of indecision, Félicie holds to an undying faith that a miracle will reunite her with Charles, a faith that Rohmer examines in all of its religious and philosophical dimensions.
A Tale of Summer (1996): According to Eric Rohmer, A Tale of Summer is the most autobiographical film that he made. Based on events from Rohmer’s youth, this installment of Tales of the Four Seasons follows amateur musician Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud) to a seaside resort in Dinard, on the coast of Brittany. There, three women (Amanda Langlet, Gwenaëlle Simon, and Aurélia Nolin) each offer the possibility of romance, but Gaspard’s inability to commit to just one puts all of his chances at love in jeopardy. The film features Rohmer’s wistful observations on indecisiveness and the fickle nature of desire, as brought to life by a talented young cast in a picturesque setting.
A Tale of Autumn (1998): The last entry in the Tales of the Four Seasons tetralogy is a breezy take on the classic American romantic comedies that influenced Eric Rohmer and his French New Wave peers. Set among the golden vineyards of the Rhône Valley, A Tale of Autumn concerns simultaneous schemes to find a new love for the reserved widow and winegrower Magali (Béatrice Romand). Her son’s girlfriend (Alexia Portal) attempts to pair her with a former professor and lover (Didier Sandre), while Magali’s friend Isabelle (Marie Rivière) assumes a false identity in order to lure eligible bachelor Gérald (Alain Libolt). The misunderstandings that follow are pure Rohmer in bringing out the humor in human folly.
Blu-ray $79.95
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The Heroic Trio / Executioners
The star power of cinema icons Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui, and Michelle Yeoh fuels these gloriously unrestrained action joyrides from auteur Johnnie To and action choreographer Ching Siu-tung. The Heroic Trio and its sequel, Executioners, follow a new kind of justice league: a team of blade-throwing, shotgun-toting, kung fu–fighting heroines who join forces to battle evildoers in a dystopian, noirish city. Blending dazzling martial-arts mayhem with exhilarating blasts of comic-book lunacy, these beloved superhero movies reimagine the genre through the giddy genius of the Hong Kong film industry at its height.
Films in this set:
The Heroic Trio (1993): With this outrageously entertaining cult favorite, director Johnnie To and his lineup of legendary stars gave Hong Kong cinema something new: its own homegrown superhero cinematic universe. Thief Catcher (Maggie Cheung), Wonder Woman (Anita Mui), and Invisible Girl (Michelle Yeoh) are kick-ass crusaders who must overcome their dark pasts in order to defeat an evil, baby-snatching eunuch terrorizing the city. Eye-popping motorcycle stunts, bloodthirsty undead, cannibal infants, and kinetically choreographed wirework are all part of the wall-to-wall delirium in this irresistible showcase for three of the coolest women warriors ever to hit the screen.
Executioners (1993): Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui, and Michelle Yeoh return in this gritty, postapocalyptic sequel to The Heroic Trio. Following a devastating nuclear attack, Hong Kong’s supply of clean water has fallen into the hands of a masked maniac (Anthony Wong) intent on seizing political power—forcing the three fearless fighters to settle their differences and unite to stop him. Darker in tone than the original, Executioners finds Johnnie To and codirector/martial-arts choreographer Ching Siu-tung continuing to push their whirlwind action set pieces to new levels of cartoon craziness, while adding an abundance of grungy, dystopian atmosphere and a fresh dose of antiauthoritarian attitude.
4K UHD / Blu-ray Combo $39.96
Blu-ray $32.95
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Nothing But a Man (1964, Michael Roemer)
Michael Roemer’s groundbreaking first feature, sensitively shot by his close collaborator Robert M. Young, is a still-resonant expression of humanity in the face of virulent prejudice. Made at the height of the civil rights movement, Nothing but a Man reveals the toll of systemic racism through its honest portrait of a southern Black railroad worker (Ivan Dixon) confronting the daily challenges of discrimination and economic precarity, as he attempts to settle down with his new wife (jazz great Abbey Lincoln) and track down his father (Julius Harris). Admired by Malcolm X and now recognized as a landmark of American cinema, this tender film grounds its social critique in characters of unforgettable complexity and truth.
Special Features:
- New, restored 4K digital master, approved by director Michael Roemer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- An Introduction to Michael Roemer, a new interview program featuring Roemer
- Conversation from 2004 between Roemer and coproducer and cinematographer Robert M. Young
- Program featuring archival interviews with actors Ivan Dixon, Abbey Lincoln, and Julius Harris
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Gene Seymour
Blu-ray $24.95
DVD $19.95
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Twilight (1990, György Fehér)
After discovering the murdered body of a young girl deep in a mountainous forest, a hardened homicide detective pushes himself to increasingly obsessive ends in his quest to catch the serial killer – known only as "the giant" -- responsible for the crime. A much admired but long unavailable masterpiece by influential Hungarian auteur and regular Béla Tarr collaborator György Fehér, Twilight (Szürkület) is at once an existential murder mystery and an expansive meditation on time and space. Stunningly lensed in rich blacks and cascading greys by DP Miklós Gurbán (Werckmeister Harmonies), Arbelos is proud to present Twilight for its first-ever U.S. release in a brand new 4K restoration by the National Film Institute - Hungarian Film Archive and FilmLab, supervised by Gurbán.
"I want to show to what extent the search for justice stands in ridiculous contrast to the eternity of nature. Meanwhile, it is precisely this search that I am so fascinated by." - György Fehér
Special Features:
- NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL 35MM CAMERA NEGATIVE by the National Film Institute – Hungarian Film Archive and FilmLab, supervised by Miklós Gurbán
- NEW video interview with cinematographer Miklós Gurbán
- NEW video interview with editor Mária Czeilik
- György Fehér's first two short films:
- Öregek (1969)
- Tomikám (1970)
- U.S. Theatrical Trailer
- New English-language subtitle translation
- 12-page booklet with new essay by Andrea Virginás (Film Genres in Hungarian and Romanian Cinema: History, Theory, Reception)
- Limited edition slipcase
- Collectable "giant" drawing as seen in the film
- REGION-FREE
Blu-ray $26.95
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Fear is the Key (1972, Michael Tuchner)
From bestselling author Alistair MacLean (The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare) comes a pulse pounding, rip-roaring rampage of revenge starring Barry Newman, the king of existential cool who had previously put the pedal to the metal in Vanishing Point. Mysterious drifter John Talbot (Newman) arrives in a small Louisiana town, picks a fight with local police and gets arrested. In court it is revealed he's wanted for a number of violent crimes, but nothing is quite what it seems. Staging a daring escape, Talbot abducts seemingly random spectator Sarah Ruthven (Suzy Kendall) and hits the road at high speed for a journey filled with unexpected twists and turns: a crashed airplane, a sleazy private investigator, criminal enforcers, and an oil millionaire. It's a journey toward truth and vengeance and Talbot won't hit the brakes until he gets there. Director Michael Tuchner (Villain) delivers a crackerjack crime-thriller packed with great performances (including Ben Kingsley in his first movie role), an unforgettable score by Roy Budd (Get Carter), and stunt sequences coordinated by the legendary Carey Loftin (Bullit, Vanishing Point, The French Connection). Fear Is the Key is a white-knuckle winner that demands to be seen!
Special Features:
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
- Original lossless mono audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- New audio commentary by filmmaker and critic Howard S. Berger
- A Different Kind of Spy Game, a new visual essay by film critic and author Scout Tafoya
- Fear in the Key of Budd, a new appreciation of composer Roy Budd and his score for Fear Is the Key by film and music historian Neil Brand
- Bayou to Bray, an archive featurette in which crew members look back on the making of the film
- Producing the Action, an archive interview with associate producer Gavrik Losey
- Theatrical trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh
- Double-sided foldout poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh
- Illustrated collector’s booklet with new writing by filmmaker and critic Sean Hogan
Blu-ray $26.95
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The Shaolin Plot (1977, Huang Feng)
In 1977, fight choreographer Sammo Hung made one last film under his mentor, director Huang Feng (Lady Whirlwind, Hapkido) before graduating to the director's chair himself with The Iron-Fisted Monk. That film was the rarely-seen martial arts ensemble thriller The Shaolin Plot, which sees the pair reunite with Hong Kong heavy Chan Sing (New Fist of Fury). Prince Daglen (Sing) is hellbent on completing his comprehensive collection of Chinese martial arts manuals and mastering each form against his opponents. With only two manuals left to obtain, he sends his most dangerous henchman, a renegade monk (Hung) armed with two golden cymbals acting as flying guillotines, to steal the manual of Wu-Tang. To steal the sacred texts of Shaolin, however, the wicked Daglen will have to infiltrate the temple himself. The stage is set for a clash between Daglen, his cronies and surviving Wu-Tang student Little Tiger (James Tien, The Big Boss), alongside a lethal duo of Shaolin warrior monks (Casanova Wong, Warriors Two and Kwan Yung Moon, My Young Auntie). Based on a story by legendary storyteller Ni Kuang (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin), The Shaolin Plot is a classic tale of martial arts intrigue and deception, combining the incoming new wave of action with the old, resulting in one of the most overlooked and underrated kung fu classics from one of the most prolific Hong Kong film studios of all time!
Special Features:
- 2K restoration from the original film elements by Fortune Star
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
- Original lossless Mandarin and English mono options
- Optional English subtitles
- Commentary by martial arts film experts Frank Djeng & Michael Worth
- Commentary by action cinema experts Mike Leeder & Arne Venema
- Alternate English credits
- Original theatrical trailers
- Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Peter Glagowski
Blu-ray $26.95
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Planet Earth III (2023)
Completing the Planet Earth trilogy, Planet Earth III explores the greatest habitats on our planet and the extraordinary animals that live in them. Filled with wonder and insight, Planet Earth III celebrates places and animals beyond our imagination. From the depths of the ocean to the most remote jungle, discover the planet’s last great wild places and the astonishing strategies animals have evolved to survive. Each episode focuses on a distinct and dazzling habitat, including grasslands and deserts, forests, freshwater habitats, and coasts. This contemporary chapter of Planet Earth also reveals the new challenges that wildlife faces in our modern and crowded world.
4K UHD / Blu-ray Combo $41.95
DVD $26.95
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Priscilla (2023, Sofia Coppola)
When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a vulnerable best friend. Through Priscilla’s eyes, Sofia Coppola tells the unseen side of a great American myth in Elvis and Priscilla's long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German army base to his dream-world estate at Graceland, in this deeply felt and ravishingly detailed portrait of love, fantasy, and fame.
Blu-ray / DVD Combo $29.95
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The Stone and Brian Jones (2023, Nick Broomfield)
Featuring revealing interviews with all the main players and unseen archive released for the first time, The Stones and Brian Jones explores the creative musical genius of Jones, key to the success of the band, and uncovers how the founder of what became the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world was left behind in the shadows of history.
Blu-ray $21.95
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That's all for this week's list. Once again, please reply to this email with your selections by the dates indicated above. Thanks for your orders!
If you have any further questions, email prebookclub@scarecrow.com.
You'll receive another list next week for titles releasing on 2/13 and 2/20.
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