The Kino Lorber BlogThe Best in World Cinema

Kino Lorber announces the release of the Great Italian Directors Collection, a four-disc DVD set with films directed by some of the masters of Italian cinema, including Michelangelo Antonioni, Mario Monicelli, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Vittorio De Sica – also featuring some of Europe’s biggest stars, including Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Romy Schneider and Sophia Loren.

Kino Lorber’s exclusive box set collects the following releases: a 2-disc, special edition release of Story of a Love Affair (1950), the debut feature by acclaimed filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni; Boccaccio ’70 (1962), a landmark anthology film with segments directed by Mario Monicelli, Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica and Luchino Visconti; and Casanova ’70 (1965), a raucously funny sex romp starring Marcello Mastroianni and directed by Mario Monicelli.

This 4-disc set comes to DVD with a street date of October 11, and a SRP of $49.95. In addition, both Boccaccio ’70 and Casanova ’70 will be available separately on Blu-ray, each with a street date of October 11, with Boccaccio ’70 priced at $34.95, and Casanova ’70 at $29.95.

The DVD for Story of a Love Affair comes with a bonus disc featuring over two hours of extras, including the making-off documentary Identification of a Masterpiece, a short film about the film’s opening night, titled Story of a Peculiar Night, a short featurette titled Fragments of a Love Affair focused on the film’s tumultuous pre-production process, and Restoring a Masterpiece, a short doc about the recent restoration.

Story of a Love Affair

(1965): 2-disc Special Edition

“Unsurpassed beauty.. a noir re-made into existential poetry.”
- Slant Magazine

“Haunting…a remarkable Italian noir.” – Chicago Reader

Story of a Love Affair (1950) is the legendary Michelangelo Antonioni’s debut feature, a powerful statement on the delusions and violence sparked by a passionate love. This deeply tragic romance already exhibits the astonishing formal control and penetrating insights into the human condition that would later make him famous in films like Il Grido, L’Avventura and Blow-Up. A wealthy industrialist becomes curious about his trophy wife Paola’s (Lucia Bose) past, and hires a private investigator. The detective discovers that she had fallen desperately in love with the handsome Guido (Massimo Girotti) as a young girl, and may have participated in a crime to win his hand. After years apart, Paola and Guido reunite to deflect the investigation, and rekindle their attraction in the process. As events spiral out of their control, a murder may blaze their only path to freedom. One of the great first features in movie history, Story of a Love Affair effortlessly weaves lust, class and the repercussions of violence into a crime movie melodrama you will not soon forget.

BONUS DISC – Over Two Hours of Extras: Identification of a Masterpiece documentary Story of a Peculiar Night documentary Fragments of a Love Affair * Restoring a Masterpiece Poster gallery * Stills gallery

1.33 Full Frame * 98 minutes  * Italian w/ English Subtitles * Mono 1.0 * Not Rated * Black & White

Boccaccio ’70 (1962)

“It has glamour, sophistication, color, wit and sensuality!” – The New York Times

“A runaway success!  Three aces back-to-back!” – The Daily Mirror

Four legendary Italian filmmakers direct some of Europe’s biggest stars in Boccaccio ’70 (1962), a landmark anthology film.

Mario Monicelli (Big Deal on Madonna Street), Federico Fellini (8 1/2), Luchino Visconti (The Leopard) and Vittorio De Sica (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow) direct Sophia Loren, Anita Ekberg, Romy Schneider and more through four stories of unashamed eros. Modeled on Boccaccio’s Decameron, they are comic moral tales about the hypocrisies surrounding sex in 1960s Italy.

Monicelli’s “Renzo e Luciana” (cut out of the original American release) is a frothy tale of young love and office politics in the big city. Fellini’s notorious “Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio” features Ekberg as a busty model in a milk advertisement whose image begins to haunt an aging prude. Visconti’s “Il Lavoro” stars Romy Schneider as a trophy wife enduring her husband’s very public affairs, and De Sica’s “La Riffa” raffles off a night with Sophia Loren to a lucky ticket-holder during a small town fair.

Bursting with passion and sly satire, Boccaccio ’70 is a glittering showcase for some of the greatest talents in movie history.

BONUS FEATURES: Poster and still gallery * Original American theatrical trailer

16×9 * 1.85:1 * 204 minutes * Italian w/ English Subtitles * Mono 1.0 * Not Rated * Color

Casanova ’70

(1965)
A film by Mario Monicelli

Academy Award® Nominee  Best Original Screenplay – 1965

“Sensuous and sensual fun.” -The New York Times

WINNER Best Actor Marcello Mastroianni 1965 San Sebastian International Film Festival

WINNER Best Director Mario Monicelli 1965 San Sebastian International Film Festival

Nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Screenplay, Casanova ’70 is a raucously funny sex romp starring Marcello Mastroianni at his charismatic peak.

Directed by Italian comedy legend Mario Monicelli (Big Deal on Madonna Street), it finds army officer Andrea (Mastroianni) dealing with a particularly strange case of impotence: his libido only gets aroused in the middle of near-death experiences. So while candle-lit dinners leave him cold, a female lion tamer or a General’s wife expand his lust to dangerous proportions. After a visit to a psychoanalyst, he fears his vice will lead to an early grave, so he attempts to live as a celibate with the virginal beauty Gigliola (Virna Lisi), but he is only delaying his inevitable descent back into sin.

Packed with bed-hopping hijinks, a parade of gorgeous actresses, and Mastroianni’s hilariously dry wit, Casanova ’70 is a colorfully ribald gem from the Golden Age of Italian comedy.

Bonus Features: Theatrical Trailer * Stills Gallery

16×9 * 1.85:1 * 115 minutes  * Italian w/ English

Buster Keaton
in
Go West (1925)
and
Battling Butler (1926)

Mastered from 35mm Nitrate Prints Preserved by the Library of Congress

GO WEST (1925): “…rich and uproarious, with countless novel comedy twists.” – Mordaunt Hall, The New York Times (Oct. 26, 1925)

BATTLING BUTLER (1926): “A typical Buster Keaton farce…Mr. Keaton lives up to his name as an excellent screen fun-maker” – Mordaunt Hall, The New York Times (Aug. 23, 1926)

Kino Classics, the new label from Kino Lorber specializing in classic and silent film, is proud to announce the release of two silent comedy classics from Buster Keaton: Go West (1925) and Battling Butler (1926). This special set showcases two of Keaton’s lesser-known films, newly mastered in HD from 35mm nitrate elements preserved by the Library of Congress.

Kino has previously brought five of Mr. Keaton’s feature-length films (The General, Steamboat Bill Jr., Sherlock Jr., Three Ages and Our Hospitality), as well as all 19 of his independently-produced short subjects (Buster Keaton: The Short Films Collection 1920-1923), to the Blu-ray format.

These two gems from one of silent comedy’s masters come packaged together (on Blu-ray and DVD) in a 2-disc Ultimate Edition loaded with special features, including a 1923 short comedy from Hal Roach’s “Dippy Do Dads” series also titled Go West; a 60-minute audio recording of Buster Keaton working out ideas for a script proposal of the Western TV series Wagon Train; excerpts from a screenplay written by Keaton for an unproduced remake of Battling Butler; a stills gallery from the original 1922 Broadway production of Battling Butler, and more!

Kino Classics’ Blu-ray is priced at $34.95, and the DVD is priced at $29.95. Both are available for prebook on August 30th, with a street date of September 27th.

With his trademark deadpan demeanor and his gift for inventive visual humor, Buster Keaton’s unique brand of comedy has proven to be a timeless source of laughter and an enduring influence upon several generations of screen comics.

In Go West, Keaton plays an idealistic young man known as “Friendless,” who rides the rails to a dude ranch, forms a sentimental attachment with an especially lovable cow, and, in the film’s breathtaking climax, finds himself at the center of a cattle stampede through the streets of Los Angeles.

Based on a popular stage musical, Battling Butler stars Keaton as a pampered socialite who pretends to be a famed prizefighter in order to impress his girlfriend’s bullying brothers. Once begun, however, the charade is not easy to end, and Butler–aided by his personal butler (Snitz Edwards)–must endure physical training, sparring, and, unless he can stop it, a title bout with the “Alabama Murderer.”

Special Features:
Go West (1923, 12 Min.), a western-themed comedy short produced by Hal Roach, starring the “Dippy Do Dads,” a troupe of trained monkeys
A rare 60-minute audio recording of Buster Keaton hashing out a script proposal for the western TV series “Wagon Train” (courtesy of Bob Borgen)
Excerpts of the screenplay for an unproduced remake of Battling Butler, written by Keaton in 1947
Gallery of photographs from the 1922 stage production of Battling Butler
Two galleries of production stills

“Amazing…endlessly mysterious. You have never seen anything like this movie.” – A.O. Scott, The New York Times

“Grave, beautiful, austerely comic…Pretty darn sublime.” – J. Hoberman, Village Voice

Kino Lorber is proud to announce the release of Le Quattro Volte (2011), a film by Michelangelo Frammartino, on Blu-ray and DVD.

This critically-acclaimed film, which was a New York Times “Critic’s Pick”, is available for prebook on August 16th, with a street date of September 13th. The Blu-ray is priced at $34.95, and the DVD at $29.95. Both come with special features including a theatrical trailer and stills gallery.

Le Quattro Volte (The Four Times) is an ineffably beautiful meditation on the mysterious cycles of life. Set in Italy’s mountainous region of Calabria, it traces the path of one goat herder’s soul, as it passes from human to animal to vegetable to mineral.

Director Michelangelo Frammartino was inspired by Pythagoras’ belief in “four-fold transmigration” of souls, but his film is far more physical than philosophical. In gorgeous long takes, he captures the daily routines of the herder, a baby goat, an imperious tree and a humble charcoal kiln. Plus there is a scene-stealing cameo from a stubborn sheepdog, who hilariously interrupts an Easter Procession.

Working as both a spiritual investigation and a documentary of Calabrian life, Le Quattro Volte‘s placid surface hides a complex understanding of humanity. Everything is connected in Frammartino’s sublimely mystical universe, in which he finds both humor and pathos in the hypnotic rhythms of everyday life.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
Theatrical Trailer
Stills Gallery