Powerhouse Films

[Michael Brooke]

HAMMER VOLUME TWO: CRIMINAL INTENT
THE SNORKEL (Guy Green, 1958)
NEVER TAKE SWEETS FROM A STRANGER (Cyril Frankel, 1960)
THE FULL TREATMENT (Val Guest, 1960)
CASH ON DEMAND (Quentin Lawrence, 1961)

Release date: 19 February 2018
Limited Blu-ray Edition (World premieres on Blu-ray)

Four classic thrillers from the vaults of Hammer Films released on Blu-ray for the very first time, including premiere presentations of the complete, uncensored UK theatrical release versions of Val Guest’s The Full Treatment and Cyril Frankel’s Never Take Sweets from a Stranger and a host of new and exclusive extra features. This stunning Limited Blu-ray Edition Box Set from Indicator is strictly limited to 6,000 numbered units.

INDICATOR LIMITED BLU-RAY EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES:
• HD restorations of all four films;
• Original Mono audio;
• New title-specific documentaries exploring aspects of each film;
• Two presentations of Never Take Sweets from a Stranger: the original UK theatrical cut, containing original titles and dialogue; and the alternative US version with amended Never Take Candy from a Stranger titles and censored dialogue;
• Never Take Sweets from a Stranger introduction by actor and filmmaker Matthew Holness;
• Archival audio interview with Never Take Sweets from a Stranger director Cyril Frankel;
• Two presentations of The Full Treatment: the uncensored UK theatrical cut; and the censored US version with alternative Stop Me Before I Kill! titles;
• Audio commentary with film historian Michael Brooke and author Johnny Mains on The Snorkel;
• Audio commentary with film historians Jonathan Rigby and David Miller on Cash on Demand;
• New and exclusive interviews with cast and crew members, including actors Janina Faye (Never Take Sweets from a Stranger) and Lois Daine (Cash on Demand), props master Peter Allchorne (The Snorkel) and second assistant director Hugh Harlow (The Snorkel);
• Appreciations of composers Elizabeth Lutyens (Never Take Sweets from a Stranger) and Francis Chagrin (The Snorkel) by David Huckvale, author of Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde;
• Hammer’s Women: Betta St John (2018): Diabolique magazine’s editor-in-chief Kat Ellinger offers an appreciation of the American actress, singer and dancer;
• Hammer’s Women: Gwen Watford (2018): British cinema expert Dr Laura Mayne explores the life and career of the prolific English film, stage and television actress;
• Hammer’s Women: Diane Cilento (2018): Dr Melanie Williams, author of Female Stars of British Cinema, explores the life and career of the Australian theatre and film actress and author;
• Hammer’s Women: Lois Daine (2018): critic and author Becky Booth on the popular English film and television actress;
• Archival documentaries, interviews and featurettes;
• Original trailers;
• Image galleries: extensive promotional and on-set photography, poster art and marketing materials;
• Exclusive booklets for each film, with new essays by Kat Ellinger, Julian Upton and Kim Newman, archival interview materials, contemporary reviews, and full film credits;
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing;
• World Blu-ray premieres of all four films;
• Limited Edition Box Set of 6,000 numbered copies.

#PHILTD058
BBFC cert: 15
REGION FREE
EAN: 5037899071281

Pre-order here.

[SilverSurfer]

Hopefully that will get a DVD release.

[Michael Brooke]

There won't be a DVD release, I'm afraid (or not one over and above Sony's existing Hammer Icons of Suspense box) - as of October, Indicator has been a BD-only label.

Their press release explaining the rationale behind this decision is reproduced here.

(There's been one exception: November's Ray Harryhausen box was released as a dual-format edition for continuity with the others. But that's definitely the last one.)

[SilverSurfer]

From that link....


By the time that Powerhouse releases its September 2017 Indicator titles, we will have published 36 films in Dual Format Editions. In doing so, we hoped to achieve two things. First, we wanted to ensure that users of both DVD and Blu-ray would be able to enjoy our release. Secondly, and most of all, we hoped that the inclusion of a Blu-ray Disc would assist DVD users in making the transition to Blu-ray by ensuring that they would not need to upgrade their software purchases as and when they opted to upgrade their hardware. In short, we wanted to help DVD users build a Blu-ray library which would lend weight to their decision to invest in a machine that could play all of the discs in their collections.




Out of the four films I have two,So will look elsewhere for those missing ones.

Cash on Demand the original print was ~88 mins but was edited down to ~66 mins for the general UK cinema release. The US edit is ~80 mins.

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparison....php?fid=16517



.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Never Take Sweets from a Stranger is my favourite non-horror Hammer film.

[Michael Brooke]

Originally Posted by SilverSurfer

Cash on Demand the original print was ~88 mins but was edited down to ~66 mins for the general UK cinema release. The US edit is ~80 mins.

The UK release was indeed a mere 66 minutes, but on the basis of my research I currently don't believe that this 88-minute version ever existed. The only reputable source I can find is the BBFC database, which also reports a 120-minute version of The Full Treatment, which I'm also convinced never existed.

In the case of The Full Treatment, I know for certain that the UK release version was a whisker under 110 minutes, as that's backed up by both the Monthly Film Bulletin (which calculated running times from physical footage lengths, so is the most reliable source of theatrical running times as you can work them out down to the second) and surviving UK release prints preserved by the BFI National Archive. So my hypothesis is that whoever entered the data when the BBFC first created an electronic database many decades after passing the film simply got a digit wrong - which is much easier to believe than ten minutes disappearing between BBFC acceptance and eventual release. (120 minutes also seems insanely long for a Hammer film - even 110 makes it comfortably one of the longest films they've ever released.)

And I assume something similar happened with Cash on Demand, partly because I've yet to find any actual description of what was cut (believe me, I've looked - and I also liaised extensively with Jonathan Rigby in the run-up to him recording his commentary), but mostly because the film is so tightly plotted that it's very hard to believe that there's a whole extra eight minutes out there. And 80 minutes is a perfectly standard running time for a Hammer film of this vintage.

Of course, if I'm wrong, please let me know - I still have about a month before I have to lock everything down.

[SilverSurfer]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Never Take Sweets from a Stranger is my favourite non-horror Hammer film.

Given the stuff that goes on today it is quite a powerful statement.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Michael Brooke

The UK release was indeed a mere 66 minutes, but on the basis of my research I currently don't believe that this 88-minute version ever existed. The only reputable source I can find is the BBFC database, which also reports a 120-minute version of The Full Treatment, which I'm also convinced never existed.

In the case of The Full Treatment, I know for certain that the UK release version was a whisker under 110 minutes, as that's backed up by both the Monthly Film Bulletin (which calculated running times from physical footage lengths, so is the most reliable source of theatrical running times as you can work them out down to the second) and surviving UK release prints preserved by the BFI National Archive. So my hypothesis is that whoever entered the data when the BBFC first created an electronic database many decades after passing the film simply got a digit wrong - which is much easier to believe than ten minutes disappearing between BBFC acceptance and eventual release. (120 minutes also seems insanely long for a Hammer film - even 110 makes it comfortably one of the longest films they've ever released.)

And I assume something similar happened with Cash on Demand, partly because I've yet to find any actual description of what was cut (believe me, I've looked - and I also liaised extensively with Jonathan Rigby in the run-up to him recording his commentary), but mostly because the film is so tightly plotted that it's very hard to believe that there's a whole extra eight minutes out there. And 80 minutes is a perfectly standard running time for a Hammer film of this vintage.

Of course, if I'm wrong, please let me know - I still have about a month before I have to lock everything down.

As i was reading your post Michael, it immediately sprung to mind that Hammer just don't release films of 120 mins.

The same goes for so called missing footage from Cash on Demand. As i was reading i was thinking, 'No, there's nothing cut from the film'. Someone's got it wrong somewhere. You can just tell as you watch that nothings been edited out.

[SilverSurfer]

Originally Posted by Michael Brooke

And I assume something similar happened with Cash on Demand, partly because I've yet to find any actual description of what was cut (believe me, I've looked - and I also liaised extensively with Jonathan Rigby in the run-up to him recording his commentary), but mostly because the film is so tightly plotted that it's very hard to believe that there's a whole extra eight minutes out there. And 80 minutes is a perfectly standard running time for a Hammer film of this vintage.

Of course, if I'm wrong, please let me know - I still have about a month before I have to lock everything down.

So is the version being released 66 mins or 80mins?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by SilverSurfer

So is the version being released 66 mins or 80mins?

80. The same as the US dvd.