Friday, October 2, 2015

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and The Seven Minutes coming to Blu-ray and DVD from Arrow Video (UK)

Two Russ Meyer Films Coming in a Limited Edition Set

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls Blu-ray cover


Arrow Video has announced plans to bring two Russ Meyer films to home video in a (UK exclusive) limited edition Blu-ray and DVD set. The two film set is scheduled to be released on January 18, 2015. 


LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:
  • Limited Edition collection of both of Russ Meyer’s Hollywood films (3000 copies)
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
  • Standard Definition DVD presentation of The Seven Minutes
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for both films
  • Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
  • Two commentaries on Beyond the Valley of the Dolls by co-screenwriter Roger Ebert and actors Erica Gavin, John LaZar, Cynthia Myers, Harrison Page and Dolly Read
  • Introduction to Beyond the Valley of the Dolls by John LaZar
  • Above, Beneath and Beyond the Valley: The Making of a Musical-Horror-Sex-Comedy
  • Look On Up at the Bottom, with composer Stu Phillips and three members of the Carrie Nations discussing the film’s music
  • The Best of Beyond, favourite moments selected by cast and crew members
  • Sex, Drugs, Music & Murder: Signs of the Time, Baby!, a look at the late 1960s culture that spawned Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
  • Casey & Roxanne: The Love Scene, discussed by participants Erica Gavin and Cynthia Myers
  • Screen tests for Michael Blodgett, Cynthia Myers, Harrison Page, Marcia McBroom
  • High Definition photo galleries
  • Multiple trailers
  • Reversible sleeve featuring two original artworks
  • Booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Kat Ellinger

Synopsis:

When Easy Rider rewrote the box-office rulebook in 1969, Hollywood scrambled to catch up – and 20th Century Fox noticed that one particular independent filmmaker was seeing impressive returns from tiny investments. So what would happen if he was given a decent budget and the run of a Hollywood studio and told to make the ultimate Russ Meyer film?

Well, this is the result: an initially X-rated cult camp classic about an all-female rock band trying to parlay Midwestern success into a Hollywood contract with the aid of a hefty inheritance. But will they be able to maintain their trademark apple-pie wholesomeness under their new manager, the notorious Ronnie ‘Z-Man’ Barzell? Take a wild guess.

Co-scripted by film critic Roger Ebert, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a merciless satire of Hollywood and the music business, a no-holds-barred psychedelic thrill-ride that gleefully stirs sex, drugs, rock’n’roll, fashion, lesbianism, transvestism and Nazis into one of the most riotously unhinged mainstream films ever made. 


This special edition also includes the rarely-seen The Seven Minutes (1971), Russ Meyer’s Hollywood swansong, an adaptation of Irving Wallace’s polemical novel about the absurdities of American obscenity laws.

You can pre-order the limited edition set from the Arrow Video store.