Arrow Films’ Arrow Academy label is pleased to announce the release of Robert Siodmak’s iconic adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s signature story The Killers, coming to Blu-ray for the first time in the UK and any English-speaking territory on 8th December. This classic piece of American 40s cinema is a definitive example of film-noir, featuring an iconic femme fatale, various wronged men and ambiguously heroic characters, The Killers is also famous for marking the film debut of Burt Lancaster and an early role for Ava Gardner. By 2008 the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, quoted as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

This feature-packed disc will be released as a deluxe Blu-ray featuring a newly restored High Definition (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by Universal alongside both original and newly commissioned artwork.

Together with the above, an isolated Music & Effects soundtrack to highlight Miklós Rózsa’s famous score (used later in TV show Dragnet) will be included along with a new featurette, Frank Krutnik on The Killers, in which Frank Krutnik, author of In a Lonely Street, introduces the film and offers a detailed commentary on four key scenes. Other featurettes include Heroic Fatalism, a video essay adapted from Philip Booth’s comparative study of multiple versions of The Killers (Hemingway, Siodmak, Tarkovsky, Siegel).

To round this complete and definitive version of the film off, three archive radio pieces inspired by The Killers: the 1949 Screen Director’s Playhouse adaptation with Burt Lancaster and Shelley Winters; a 1946 Jack Benny spoof; the 1958 Suspense episode ‘Two for the Road’ which reunited original killers William Conrad and Charles McGraw.

Synopsis

Ernest Hemingway’s spare, laconic short story about two professional killers and their encounter with a mysteriously unresisting victim was significantly expanded into this all-time film noir classic, which Hemingway said was the first adaptation of his work that he really admired.

As washed-up boxer turned hitman victim Ole ‘Swede’ Andreson, Burt Lancaster made his screen debut, and was catapulted to instant stardom, not least for the screen chemistry that he showed opposite sultry Ava Gardner, whose Kitty Collins is the very personification of the femme fatale. 

German émigré Robert Siodmak was one of the filmmakers who helped create film noir, and Elwood Bredell’s high-contrast cinematography, all harsh lighting and long shadows, elevates the film far above a conventional crime drama. But even on that level it’s a first-rate demonstration of how to maintain narrative tension, with the flashback structure withholding crucial details until almost the very end.

This super-deluxe package will be full of special features and bonus material including:

Newly restored High Definition (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by Universal

Original uncompressed PCM mono 1.0 audio

Isolated Music & Effects soundtrack to highlight Miklós Rózsa’s famous score

Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

Frank Krutnik on The Killers, a video piece by the author of In a Lonely Street, which introduces the film and offers a detailed commentary on four key scenes

Heroic Fatalism, a video essay adapted from Philip Booth’s comparative study of multiple versions of The Killers (Hemingway, Siodmak, Tarkovsky, Siegel)

Three archive radio pieces inspired by The Killers: the 1949 Screen Director’s Playhouse adaptation with Burt Lancaster and Shelley Winters; a 1946 Jack Benny spoof; the 1958 Suspense episode ‘Two for the Road’ which reunited original killers William Conrad and Charles McGraw

Stills and posters gallery

Trailers for The Killers, Brute Force, The Naked City and Rififi

Reversible sleeve featuring one of the original posters and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw

Collector’s booklet containing new writing by Sergio Angelini and archive interviews with director Robert Siodmak, producer Mark Hellinger and cinematographer Woody Bredell, illustrated with original production stills

Pitch-black songs for the dark time of the year... on their new EP „Freundschaft“ (=friendship), OST+FRONT really wallow in their most acidic brand of cynical satire, wryly unmasking socialist clichés and verbiages on a thudding backdrop of German Metal-mayhem.

More often than not, the vilest stories are not conceived in the minds of pulp-writers, but are really happening out there, in the real world. It was not too long ago that a nasty story about potency pills derived from aborted fetuses or stillborn babies from China that were supposedly sold to the South Korean bourgeoisie for a lot of money dominated the tabloids. For the natural born cynic and keen observer Hermann Ostfront, this was the ideal peg to hang a satire about all the dogmas and verbiages that he experienced during his youth in socialist East Germany on. Thus, he created a gorgeously nasty anthem on a foundation of massive Electronica, thundering drums and a stakkato of Metal-guitar-riffs that gives an entirely new meaning to the easily dished-out phrase of "Freundschaft" (=friendship.) Next to the title track, the new single contains five highly creative remixes/reinventions of songs from the charts-hitting album "Olympia" by fellow bands Lord Of The Lost, Heimataerde, Forgotten Sunrise, Tanzwut and Heldmaschine. And as a real sign of friendship, OST+FRONT have also included two exclusive, previously unreleased songs: "Wanderlust" and the long-requested early song "Tschernobyl" that the band had uploaded to their Myspace account as a demo-version in their early days. Risen from ruins and facing the future – OST+FRONT macht frei!

Tracks:

1. Freundschaft

2. Wanderlust

3. Tschernobyl

4. Sonne, Mond & Todesstern (Remix by Lord Of The Ost)

5. Feuer und Eisen (Aneto Remix by Heimataerde)

6. Anders (Ständ Remix by Forgotten Sunrise)

7. Perfekt (Tanzwut Remix)

8. Liebeslied (Heldmaschine Remix)

Not many series evoke so many controversy than in the States HBO's Girls. The sometimes explicit sex scenes, sensitive topics and raw humor of Lena Dunham and her friends are always fodder for discussion. The general public, however is keen on it, soon the fourth season starts.

Girls, won two Golden Globes, and is above all a unique series about the lives of four twenty - portrays giving a realistic view from contemporary New York. The third season of Girls from 14 January on DVD.

SYNOPSIS

Hannah has built a comfortable household with Adam and tries to get her writing career back on track. Marnie is working hard, while she recovers from her painful breakup with Charlie. Shoshanna, also single again, is trying to find a healthy balance between school nd parties, and now the end of the study is in sight. Jessa still interupts the lives of everyone who is surrounding her.

BONUS MATERIALS

Season 2 Recap
Inside the Episodes
Audio Commentary

From 17^th December on DVD and Blu-ray via Remain In Light

This documentary is a surprising reconstruction of 24 hours in the life of musician, writer and artist Nick Cave. On his 20,000ste of life we dive with him in his archive, we accompany him during a session with his therapist and we are introduced to a number of key figures in his career. He has a tête-à-tête with actor Ray Winstone, pop star Kylie Minogue and band members Blixa Bargeld and Warren Ellis. The result is an inspiring look at what this man is a myth.

Awards:

Golden Athena - Athens International Film Festival 2014

FIPRESCI Prize - Istanbul International Film Festival

Directing Award & Editing Award - Sundance Film Festival 2014

Press

"Incredible. So Inventive and Inspiring. It's thrilling to behold." - ★★★★★ Time Out

''20, 000 Days on Earth "is much more than an excellent portrait of the rock star and total artist Nick Cave. At its best moments - and there are quite a few - this film transcends the fascinating world of Nick Cave, and the prevailing myths about the romance of the artist's life virtuoso punctured. Creative work: it is fucking hard labor "- The Time.

"Facts, fiction. The man, the myth. Nick Cave as you know him and have never seen before. "- Knack Focus

"A breathtaking journey through the head of a musical genius" - Metro

"Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth's pseudo-documentary offers a unique day-in-a-life look at a living legend." - Indie Wire

"Cave [is] sounding oracular and refreshingly honest '- Screen International

"A captivating look into the lives of one of the great creative minds of our age" - Indie Wire

Including Nick Cave, Blixa Bargeld, Kylie Minogue, Warren Ellis & Ray Winstone

A film by Xavier Beauvois (Of Gods and Men)

With Benoit Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dog) Roschdy ZEM (Indigenes), Nadine LABAKI (Caramel), Chiara Mastroianni (Prêt-à-porter), Peter Coyote (ET the Extra-Terrestrial) and Dolores CHAPLIN

Based on a true story.

Switzerland, late 70s. Eddy Ricaart is released from prison. He met his friend Osman Bricha. Both men are desperate penniless. When Eddy learns that Charlie Chaplin deceased in their village along Lake Geneva, he summarizes a bold plan: he wants to steal the coffin of Chaplin and ransom demand to the family.

Release in Belgium on January 7, 2015