BFI 75th Anniversary Box Set: A Centenary of British Film DVD | Silent Film

Star Review

MovieMail has long championed the BFI’s wide-ranging, high quality releases of film on DVD & VHS. Indeed, it was a group of arthouse producers – including the BFI’s imprint Connoisseur Video – who formed MovieMail back in the summer of 1996, because they couldn’t get their products into high street stores. This Box Set celebrates both the BFI’s imminent 75th Anniversary and twelve years of our fruitful partnership.

Looking through the wonderful list of titles, one concept leapt out – 100 years of British cinema with a title drawn from each decade. The collection picks freely from across the wide spectrum of the BFI’s releases, from the pioneering work of RW Paul (whose films actually date back to 1895), through to the profoundly moving 1997 drama Under the Skin, which gave Samantha Morton one of her first leading roles, from film noir (Night and the City) to the ever-popular British Transport Films series, from Michael Powell’s brilliant The Edge of the World, shot on location in the Shetlands in 1937, to Derek Jarman’s richly evocative 1986 film Caravaggio. The full contents – elegantly packaged in slimline DVD cases – are listed box left.

This collection is a piece of history in more ways than one. Most importantly, it’s also a cracking collection of excellent films that deserves a place in your library.

MovieMail on 1st August 2008
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Film Description

To commemorate the BFI's 75th anniversary, MovieMail was given the privileged opportunity to compile an exclusive, limited edition box set of their DVDs. We decided that a set that celebrated a century of British film history would be very desirable indeed, and so that's what we have compiled. The films span over 100 years of British cinema, with films drawn from each decade of the twentieth century, from RW Paul's innovative films to Carine Adler's profoundly moving 1997 drama, Under the Skin. There are only 500 of these sets at this extremely special price which saves over £125 on the combined RRPs!

The full contents are:

RW Paul: The Collected Films (1895-1908)

Dickens Before Sound (1878-1922)

Piccadilly (Dupont, 1929)

The Edge of the World (Powell, 1937)

Night and the City (Dassin, 1950)

See Britain by Train (1951-80)

The Caretaker (Donner, 1963)

The Early Films of Peter Greenaway (1973-78)

Caravaggio (Jarman, 1986)

Under the Skin (Adler, 1997).

More details of the films:

RW Paul: The Collected Films (1895-1908) - RW Paul is justly celebrated as the leading pioneer of British film, and this unique collection of 62 films brings together for the very first time the collected output of his studio.

Dickens Before Sound (1878-1922) - An exciting collection of early adaptations of one of Britain's favourite authors. Features the magic lantern show Gabriel Grub (1878), A Christmas Carol (1901), The Cricket On The Hearth (1909), Oliver Twist (1909), The Boy And The Convict (1909), Nicholas Nickleby (1912), Pickwick Papers (1913), David Copperfield (1913), Oliver Twist (1922) (with Jackie Coogan and Lon Chaney), Dickens' London (1924), and the first Dickensian talkie - Bransby William's monologue as Grandfather Smallweed from Bleak House (1926).

Piccadilly (Dupont, 1929) - Seething with sexual and racial tension, this is a sumptuous showbiz melodrama starring Anna May Wong as ShoSho, a maid in a London nightclub whose exotic dance routines make her the focus of erotic obsession and jealousy. Newly restored and tinted according to the 1929 release print and featuring a specially-composed jazz score by Neil Brand.

The Edge of the World (Powell, 1937) - Drama about the true story of the evacuation of 36 people from St. Kilda. The new ways of the trawler fleets are meeting the old island ways and lead to an argument between two childhood friends that they decide to settle by the ancient tradition of climbing the island's highest cliff face. Without ropes. Beautifully filmed and edited. Filming wasn't permitted on St. Kilda, so it was filmed on the remote Shetland Isle of Foula.

Night and the City (Dassin, 1950) - Richard Widmark gives a dynamic, febrile performance as the constantly scheming, ever-overreaching Harry in this London-set film noir, which brilliantly fuses two styles of filmmaking, mixing expressionist lighting and framing with a documentary feel.

See Britain by Train (1951-80) - One of the best of the ever-popular British Transport Films series. This volume features the travelogues that promoted the country as a place for holidays and relaxation.

The Caretaker (Donner, 1963) - Brilliant drama based on the play that made Harold Pinter's name and featuring two of the original members of that first production - Alan Bates and Donald Pleasence. Mesmerising performances and dialogue imbue the film.

The Early Films of Peter Greenaway (1973-78) - Features six films - Intervals, Windows, H is for House, Dear Phone, Water Wrackets and A Walk Through H. Greenaway's narrative and visual invention is to the fore in these early films. Subversive, infuriating and entirely original takes on the documentary tradition from one of the UK's leading experimental film artists.

Caravaggio (Jarman, 1986) - One of Jarman's most accessible works, this is a ravishingly-shot depiction of the painter's life as he reminisces in his jail cell. The look of Caravaggio's work is beautifully captured, whilst the acting and direction are nothing short of superb.

Under the Skin (Adler, 1997) - In her first major role, Morton is Iris. Unable to cope with her mother's death and alienated from a happily-married sister, she ditches her job and her boyfriend, dons her wig and goes looking for love in all the wrong places. Carrying the movie along like an incendiary device, Morton plays one of the most passionate heroines ever caught on film by a BFI grant.

There you go - happy viewing!