Release Date: 28th March 2016
Purchase Links:
Arrow Films
Price: £13.99
Amazon UK
Price: £17.99
Made in quick succession in 1970 and 1971, Beware of a Holy ***** and The Merchant of Four Seasons represent a key stage in the career of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the point at which he matured as a filmmaker and first began to attract an international audience.
A fictional recounting of the making of Whity, Fassbinder’s take on the American West, Beware of a Holy ***** is a backstage melodrama set in a Spanish seaside hotel. Starring Lou Castel (Requiescant) as the director and Eddie Constantine (Alphaville) as himself, the film is an intriguing and often acidic look through the mirror at Fassbinder and his ‘family’ of cast and crew.
The Merchant of Four Seasons concerns itself with Hans, a fruit seller, former Foreign Legionnaire and family man. Inspired by the discovery of Douglas Sirk’s work – and set, like those classic melodramas, in the 1950s – Fassbinder charts Hans’ downfall with a perfect blend of poignancy and high drama. The Sirkian formula worked so well it would inspire a new phase in the director’s output and produce such classics as The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant and Fear Eats the Soul.
•Brand new 4K restorations of the films from original camera negatives
•High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations
•Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
•Optional English subtitles
•Audio commentary on The Merchant of Four Seasons by critics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Christian McCrea
•Audio commentary on Beware of a Holy ***** by Adrian Martin
•Newly-filmed interview with actor Lou Castel on Beware of a Holy *****
•Beware of a Holy ***** theatrical trailer
Purchase Links:
Arrow Films
Price: £13.99
Amazon UK
Price: £17.99
Made in quick succession in 1970 and 1971, Beware of a Holy ***** and The Merchant of Four Seasons represent a key stage in the career of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the point at which he matured as a filmmaker and first began to attract an international audience.
A fictional recounting of the making of Whity, Fassbinder’s take on the American West, Beware of a Holy ***** is a backstage melodrama set in a Spanish seaside hotel. Starring Lou Castel (Requiescant) as the director and Eddie Constantine (Alphaville) as himself, the film is an intriguing and often acidic look through the mirror at Fassbinder and his ‘family’ of cast and crew.
The Merchant of Four Seasons concerns itself with Hans, a fruit seller, former Foreign Legionnaire and family man. Inspired by the discovery of Douglas Sirk’s work – and set, like those classic melodramas, in the 1950s – Fassbinder charts Hans’ downfall with a perfect blend of poignancy and high drama. The Sirkian formula worked so well it would inspire a new phase in the director’s output and produce such classics as The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant and Fear Eats the Soul.
•Brand new 4K restorations of the films from original camera negatives
•High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations
•Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
•Optional English subtitles
•Audio commentary on The Merchant of Four Seasons by critics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Christian McCrea
•Audio commentary on Beware of a Holy ***** by Adrian Martin
•Newly-filmed interview with actor Lou Castel on Beware of a Holy *****
•Beware of a Holy ***** theatrical trailer
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