Portrait of a Miner National Coal Board Collection Volume 1

The first collection of the wonderfully diverse and entertaining films of the National Coal Board Film Unit is released on DVD on 21 September 2009 as part of a major new BFI project, This Working Life: King Coal – A Century of British Coalmining on Screen.

This September, the BFI launches This Working Life, an ambitious three-year project that will explore and celebrate Britain’s 20th century industrial heritage on screen and its impact on our social, economic and political life. Beginning with coal mining, it will continue with the shipbuilding and steel industries in 2010 and 2011 respectively. 

Elemental, visual, dramatic: coal mining is not only deeply cinematic, but as a huge part of British life for centuries, has profoundly shaped our society. The BFI DVD collection Portrait of a Miner showcases and celebrates the extraordinary work of the National Coal Board Film Unit which operated from 1947-1984, producing films to inform, entertain and galvanise working people across the country.

From intimate drama-documentaries and sublime safety cartoons to the sheer pleasure of the topical tales from the Mining Review cinemagazine, this collection is a beguiling invitation into the domestic, community and working life of miners and their families.

With stories from coal fields across Scotland, Wales and England – from pit ponies to brass bands, cutter loaders to the five-day week – this 2-disc set presents over 5 hours of re-mastered material, and contains an extensive bound book featuring newly commissioned contributions from Lee Hall (writer of Billy Elliot), the BFI’s curators and other researchers.

As well as the DVD release, This Working Life: King Coal will feature a Film & TV Season at BFI Southbank running throughout September of newly preserved and rarely-seen films from both the documentary and fiction collections in the BFI National Archive. A season will also run at the Sheffield Showroom cinema. The season launches at BFI Southbank on 8 September at 6.30pm in NFT1 with On the Face of It: A Century of Coalmining on Screen, presented by Lee Hall. A programme drawn from all the material will go on tour around the UK.

Release date: 21 September 2009
RRP: DVD £24.99 / cat. no. BFIVD851 / cert 15
UK / 1947-1978 / black and white, and colour / English, optional subtitles for the hearing-impaired / 347 mins / DVD9 / original aspect ratio 1.33:1
BFI DVDs are available from all good retailers; by mail order from the BFI Filmstore Tel: 020 7815 1350 or online at www.bfi.org.uk/filmstore

Portrait of a Miner - Disc One
Mining Review 1st Year No 1 (1947)
King Coal (1948)
Nines Was Standing (1950)
‘Miners Health Centre’, from Mining Review 2nd Year No 3 (1948)
Mining Review 2nd Year No 10 (1949)
Mining Review 2nd Year No 12 (1949)
Plan for Coal (1952)
The Shovel (1953)
‘Time Out’ from Mining Review 7th Year No 8 (1954)
‘Balletomines’ from Mining Review 7th Year No 12 (1954)
‘Hungarians in Britain’ from Mining Review 10th Year No 8 (1957)
New Power In Their Hands (1959)
Mining Review 13th Year No 4 (1959)
‘Stormy Genius’ from Mining Review 13th Year No 8 (1960)
Arthur Clears the Air (1961)
‘Whitehaven Whippets’ from Mining Review 15th Year No 7 (1962)
Mining Review 16th Year No 6 (1963)

Portrait of a Miner - Disc Two
Songs of the Coalfields (1964)
Big Job (1965)
Portrait of a Miner (1966)
Nobody’s Face (1966)
The First Adventures of ‘Thud and Blunder’ (1964)
Mining Review 20th Year No 9 (1967)
Hands, Knees and Bumps a Daisy (1969)
Mining Review 22nd Year No 5 (1969)
What About That Job? (Case Studies for Management No 1) (1970)
The Bother Breeder (Case Studies for Management No 4) (1970)
Man Failure (1971)
I’ll See You (Too Late Now No 2) (1976)
A Beautiful Memory (Too Late Now No 3) (1976)
You Pick the Moment (Too Late Now No 4) (1976)
Miners (1976)
Review 32nd Year No 1 (1978)
40 Years On (1978)

BFI Southbank Mezzanine Display: King Coal
At BFI Southbank a two month exhibition running 6 August – 4 October will feature posters, photographs and related materials offering further insights into the rich history of this little known area of British documentary film-making.

This Working Life: King Coal on tour
A touring version of the film season will be available for booking by community groups across the UK, including local film societies and working men’s clubs in former mining areas.

This Working Life: King Coal at BFI Mediatheques
King Coal at the BFI Mediatheques (BFI Southbank and QUAD, Derby) will feature a collection of 40 titles, including a selection not available in any other part of the project.

STELLA: Live In Boston
Featuring Extensive Bonus Content and Archival STELLA Performance Clips
ARRIVES ON DVD SEPTEMBER 15, 2009 from Shout! Factory

“Off-the-cuff Marx Brothers-meets-Monty Python” —Rolling Stone

STELLA – Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Wain – is the unique comedy trio known for its critically acclaimed Comedy Central® series, long-running nightclub show and wildly popular series of shorts. On September 15, 2009, Shout! Factory will release Stella: Live In Boston, the first DVD to document Stella’s incomparable live show. Bonus features include encore footage, three episodes of the award-winning web series Wainy Days, three episodes of the Michael Showalter Showalter and archival footage from 2003 performances at the Fez in New York. Stella: Live In Boston will retail for $14.99.

Filmed at The Wilbur Theatre in Boston, the DVD captures the ensemble’s signature mix of smart and silly, with the aid of a few slide shows, musical numbers and a brand-new Stella short entitled “Birthday.”

Black, Showalter and Wain created Stella back in 1997 and have captured a loyal following over the years. Their brand of absurdist humor mixed with modern sketch comedy follows in the footsteps of the Marx Brothers, Eugene Ionesco and The Goodies. Their recent tour played to sold-out theaters throughout the country and their audience continues to grow through the popularity of their online shorts and the continued sales of their Comedy Central series DVD.

In addition to pursuing their own individual projects, Black, Showalter and Wain have been collaborating in various ways for over 20 years. They cofounded The State, a comedy troupe whose MTV series ran in the early ’90s, and also teamed up on the cult comedy film Wet Hot American Summer. Wain’s hit movie Role Models was released last year, and Showalter and Black’s new series Michael And Michael Have Issues debuted on Comedy Central® this summer.

DVD BONUS FEATURES
Encore – Ice Cream
3 Wainy Days Episodes
3 Michael Showalter Showalter Episodes
Footage From 2003 Fez Performances
 

SHOUT! FACTORY IN PRODUCTION ON CARL REINER & MEL BROOKS THE 2000 YEAR OLD MAN: THE COMPLETE HISTORY

REMASTERED 3-CD/1-DVD SET FEATURES CLASSIC TV APPEARANCES AND EXCLUSIVE NEW INTERVIEW WITH REINER & BROOKS ALBUMS AVAILABLE DIGITALLY FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!

IN STORES NOVEMBER 24

“It’s been a wonderful two thousand years, and you’ve been a wonderful civilization!”

Shout! Factory is pleased to announce the release of Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks’ The 2000 Year Old Man: The Complete History. This extraordinary collection of classic and timeless comedy from one of the funniest men in history and his interviewer will be in stores on November 24.

Newly remastered for the 50th anniversary of the birth of The 2000 Year Old Man, this 3-CD / 1-DVD box set contains all five legendary comedy albums released by the duo, including The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000, for which they received a Grammy® Award in 1998.  The DVD features a brand new exclusive interview with Reiner and Brooks discussing the history of the routine, the 1975 animated 2000 Year Old Man TV special, and vintage clips of the two appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show and The New Steve Allen Show. The 2000 Year Old Man: The Complete History also includes extensive liner notes, rare photos and tributes from some of the biggest names in comedy.

“Well Go USA Announces Much Anticipated Japanese Gore Film Samurai Princess to DVD”

Tokyo Gore Police Team reunites for Samurai Princess

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – RICHARDSON, TX – Well Go USA Home Entertainment announced today the upcoming DVD release plans for the next Japanese import Samurai Princess.  Samurai Princess will street November 10, 2009 in the US with an English dub and will be available for sale and rental nationwide.  Samurai Princess is written and directed by Kengo Kaji (Tokyo Gore Police) and featuring special make-up effects by Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police, Machine Girl and Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl).

Samurai Princess takes place sometime, somewhere in an alternate universe version of feudal Japan, where people live together with highly developed mechanical dolls.  However, excessively developed mechanical dolls start causing harm to the human society, leading to ghastly bloodsheds happening all over the place.

Under the circumstances, Kyoraku, a mad scientist, creates a female ninja mechanical doll.  Equipped with 11 types of built-in weapons, the ninja doll is infused with the souls of eleven of her fallen sisters and she uses their combined power to take down anyone who stands in the way.  The ninja doll will not die even if she is slashed by a sword or shot by a gun she is virtually indestructible on her quest to save humanity.