Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

[swo17]

Thanks Swo17. Possibly because this was released about the same time as Carruth’s public self-destruction, it seems no review disks were ever sent out and I can find no reviews of this release anywhere. I already have the Primer DVD and original Upstream Color Blu-ray release. I have been trying to find out whether the Primer image is an improvement over the DVD. Given that both films share a single disk leaves this ambiguous, and I’m guessing that Upstream Color is still transferred at the bit-rate typical of a single-layer disc and likely no better (and hopefully not worse) than the original Blu-ray.

Any pros or cons to report on this one?

I've only sampled, but I'm actually going to say that both films look noticeably better than their prior releases. This isn't necessarily that surprising for a 1-disc release when you consider that the two films are less than 3 hours in total, that it's the same slim pickings for extras (actually, Upstream Color adds an isolated score track), that even the prior Blu-ray is pretty old, and that Arrow knows what they're doing with encodes

[JamesF]

Thanks Swo17. Possibly because this was released about the same time as Carruth’s public self-destruction, it seems no review disks were ever sent out and I can find no reviews of this release anywhere. I already have the Primer DVD and original Upstream Color Blu-ray release. I have been trying to find out whether the Primer image is an improvement over the DVD. Given that both films share a single disk leaves this ambiguous, and I’m guessing that Upstream Color is still transferred at the bit-rate typical of a single-layer disc and likely no better (and hopefully not worse) than the original Blu-ray.

Any pros or cons to report on this one?

Obviously I'm biased in that I work for Arrow and oversaw the release, but to answer some of your questions:
- There's never been a booklet with it
- If you want to see the films in HD, there's no other better option. Forget the worrying about bitrates from two films being on one disc, as that's a red herring - a) they're both relatively short (Primer is only 77 mins), b) bitrates basically mean next to nothing above a certain point as long as the encoder knows what they're doing, which ours does.
- You get all the extras from previous editions (such as they are) plus an isolated score for UC.
- You won't get a better release of these films now. We wanted to originally, but for various reasons (Carruth's difficulties in particular, but not exclusively) that I obviously can't get into on a public forum (sorry), this is the best we could do.

[therewillbeblus]

My copy of Sailor Suit and Machine Gun came with a booklet, which is the first title I've ordered that came with an Arrow booklet in as long as I can remember, including new releases. Hopefully that doesn't indicate that's it's an extremely poor seller...

[DeprongMori]

Of my relatively recent Arrow purchases from a variety of sources…

Booklets:
• Come Drink With Me
• 8 Diagram Pole Fighter
• Spotlight on a Murderer
• Toto the Hero
• Pulp
• The Witches
• Red Angel
• Irezumi
• Giants and Toys
• Red Angel
• Blind Beast
• Black Test Car / Black Report
• The Sheltering Sky

Without Booklets:
• JSA
• Three Films by Jia Zhangke
• The Major and the Minor
• The Merchant of Four Seasons / Beware of a Holy Whore
• Hotel du Nord

[ryannichols7]

My copy of Sailor Suit and Machine Gun came with a booklet, which is the first title I've ordered that came with an Arrow booklet in as long as I can remember, including new releases. Hopefully that doesn't indicate that's it's an extremely poor seller...

I was at Barnes and Noble and saw a copy that didn't have a slipcover but did have a booklet! I'd say a good seller, and glad Arrow is keeping booklets for longer runs

[TMDaines]

Anyone ordered Killer Nun, Who Saw Her Die or Django from the Arrow US store recently? What are my odds like of getting booklets?

[Glowingwabbit]

Anyone ordered Killer Nun, Who Saw Her Die or Django from the Arrow US store recently? What are my odds like of getting booklets?

Zero. Isn't Django now just the special edition now. I think only the box came.with a booklet.

[TMDaines]

Anyone ordered Killer Nun, Who Saw Her Die or Django from the Arrow US store recently? What are my odds like of getting booklets?

Zero. Isn't Django now just the special edition now. I think only the box came.with a booklet.

Ahh, yes. The Steelbook is still about with slimmer booklet. What about the other two? Some titles seem to hang around a lot longer with booklets.

[TMDaines]

I got a booklet for Killer Nun in both a copy ordered from Amazon US and Arrow US. No booklet for Who Saw Her Die from Amazon US. I did not try Arrow US. Maybe I should have?

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Was downright shocked to receive Amour fou from the recent sale and discovering it had a booklet. It came out in 2017!

[Boosmahn]

I bought Aniara from the UK store, and it came with a booklet. Southland Tales did not, despite me buying the limited edition and it saying "limited edition" on the back? Strangely, it also didn't come with a slipcover.

[therewillbeblus]

I've also come across situations where I jump on an Arrow blu upon announcement and it comes with the LE slipcover but there's no booklet inside

[Adam X]

Both releases are from the dark days that spawned this thread. It’s more unexpected that either of them had a booklet. Aniara’s a great film, so not sure what that says about it’s popularity.

The Southland Tales LE also has the longer Cannes cut on a second disc, so you presumably still got that.

[Boosmahn]

I've also come across situations where I jump on an Arrow blu upon announcement and it comes with the LE slipcover but there's no booklet inside

I wonder if there are newer slipcover-less releases out there with booklets...

Both releases are from the dark days that spawned this thread. It’s more unexpected that either of them had a booklet. Aniara’s a great film, so not sure what that says about it’s popularity.

The Southland Tales LE also has the longer Cannes cut on a second disc, so you presumably still got that.

I was very surprised about Aniara having a booklet. Less so about Phantom of the Paradise, though I was expecting one for Nightfall -- now I see another member didn't get one as far back as 2020.

Southland Tales did come with the Cannes cut, thankfully. The Arrow site has a PDF of the booklet, so I won't contact them (not that they're likely to have a physical one).

[DeprongMori]

Three I picked up this month, which all miraculously had booklets. The first two had the slipcovers as well.

Sleep, January 25, 2022
Sailor Suit and Machine Gun, November 16, 2021
To Sleep So as to Dream, March 22, 2022

[domino harvey]

Bought Viva L’Italia from Hamilton Book and it had a booklet

[Captain Paranoia]

Shanachie Records' Yazoo imprint discontinued this practice (probably because their customer service seems to have disappeared), but when they were scaling down costs, one thing they did was stop printing liner notes on their back catalog releases while making them available as a PDF upon an emailed request. It won't appease collectors, but I imagine quite a few people (like myself) would be open to that option.

You know, now that I think about it. I hope there's a website where limited edition booklets can be posted in the same way cover and disc artwork are posted on this website.

[Captain Paranoia]

Shanachie Records' Yazoo imprint discontinued this practice (probably because their customer service seems to have disappeared), but when they were scaling down costs, one thing they did was stop printing liner notes on their back catalog releases while making them available as a PDF upon an emailed request. It won't appease collectors, but I imagine quite a few people (like myself) would be open to that option.

You know, now that I think about it. I hope there's a website where limited edition booklets can be posted in the same way cover and disc artwork are posted on this website.

Turns out that sort of website does exist! I discussed this in another thread:
https://cultsploitation.com/

[Godot]

Just received The Hired Hand from Hamilton Books, was pleasantly surprised to find a 20-page booklet included. Oddly, the notes on the back cover do not list the booklet or 6-page essay by Kim Morgan; the packaging is from 2018.