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UK quad for Never Take Sweets From A
Stranger, one of the thirteen Hammer titles
announced for DVD release in a deal
announced between DD Home Entertainment in
the UK and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment |
Hammer's
official website has today announced an exciting slate
of dvd releases starting later this year. The deal is
the result of a long negotiation between DD Home
Entertainment in the UK and the present owners of the
Columbia Pictures catalogue, Sony. Thirteen Hammer
titles have been provisionally announced, many of which
have never been released on home video formats before,
and two of which were widely considered to be "lost"
Hammer films.
The
thirteen titles coming to dvd are The Camp on Blood
Island (1958), Cash on Demand (1963),
Creatures the World Forgot (1971), The Damned
(1961), Don't Panic Chaps (1959), The Gorgon
(1964), Maniac (1963), Never Take Sweets
From A Stranger (1960), The Stranglers of Bombay
(1959), Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960),
Taste of Fear (1961), Terror of the Tongs
(1960), and Watch It Sailor (1961).
The
announcement stresses that the titles are subject to an
evaluation of archive materials, which could suggest
that more titles may be announced, or that titles may be
subsequently put on hold. According to Hammer "There may
be other titles to follow."
The
Columbia Hammer films are amongst the most highly sought
after by fans, and include a number of war pictures,
horror and comedy films, and have previously been
unreleased on home video formats. Most have been
screened on tv in the last twenty years, but few lately
in the UK or USA, resulting in a healthy inferior
bootleg trade for several of the titles. We'd encourage
fans to hold out for the official releases later this
year.
Sony/Columbia have previously dipped into their
catalogue to issue dvds of
Revenge of Frankenstein
(US & UK), and
Die Die My Darling (aka.
Fanatic)(US & UK), alongside a UK only release of
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb and a Japanese only
dvd of Taste of Fear.
Indications that the Sony catalogue *might* at least be
accessible for licensing in the UK were evident with the
1990s video release by Elite of several Hammer titles
including These Are the Damned (US title for
The Damned), Stranglers of Bombay, The Old
Dark House, and The Gorgon.
Of the
titles revealed today enthusiasts will be delighted by
the prospect of scope versions in high-resolution dvds
for the first time. Several titles were also thought by
some to be unlikely to see a dvd release owing to
changing attitudes, and the possibility of the
accusation of racism being levelled against the likes of
Terror of the Tongs, The Stranglers of Bombay
and The Camp on Blood Island owing to their
casting of caucasion actors in ethnic roles.
Nevertheless the Hammer/Columbia productions include
some of the most cerebral work from the company -
Yesterday's Enemy (1959) received a BAFTA nomination
for Best Film and paints a grim reality to the duality
of the warring Japanese and British factions in the
second World War; The Damned is a grim sci-fi
warning helmed by the blacklisted director Joseph Losey;
Cash on Demand proved an intelligent
psychological two-hander between Andre Morell and Peter
Cushing; and Never Take Sweets From A Stranger
is one of the finest films Hammer ever produced, with
its shocking warnings of paedophilia lambasted by a
conservative press of the period who believed Hammer to
only be capable of exploitation and not social comment.
We'll be
following progress on this story with great interest
over the coming weeks and months and will keep you
updated. The dvds are likely to include a swathe of
special features in line with previous DD releases.
The
announcement does leave a number of other Hammer titles
produced with Columbia still unreleased. This includes:
The Ugly Duckling, A Weekend With Lulu,
The Old Dark House, The Brigand of Khandahar,
The Devil Ship Pirates (previously released by
Warner Bros in the UK), The Full Treatment,
The Pirates of Blood River, The Scarlet Blade,
The Snorkel, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll,
Visa To Canton, and the Val Guest masterpiece
Yesterday's Enemy.
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