This film really does need to be released on DVD.
share[deleted]
The word is that Tartan Prods., which restored the excellent director's version of "Wild Side" to DVD (available on region 0 dvd at amazon.co.uk) is working on a restored version of "Performance" as well. No updates as of yet of its progress.
shareExcellent: it's one of the few movies left that I want on DVD and haven't been able to get.
Hi Paul,
I am working with Warner Brothers and the BFI to try to produce a Special Edition DVD release. The BFI have just released a fresh print of the film and it is being shown from May 7th across selected cinemas in London. This includes the Electric Cinema on Portobello Road, Notting Hill on May 7th.
Please stay in touch via this web site for updates.
Regards,
Paul Mitchell
Well, you'll sell at least one copy if you do :).
Paul Mitchell,
Make sure you insist that the directors cut be ressurrected, with all the footage from the first half restored. I would think you would want Nick Roeg, Frank Mazzola and Sandy Lieberson to help with this.
I can't wait!
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Paul Mitchell,
PLEASE insist that they do not use the american version with the voice of Harry Flowers being dubbed!!
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Hi Paul
Any update on this excellent news?
Pete Playdon
Hi Paul Mitchell,
It's six months now since your posting and I was wondering what progress has been made with the Secial Edition release? Can you reveal whether there are any outtakes or deleted scenes and if Nic Roeg or others have been persuaded to give an audio commentary?
Performance is my favourite movie of all time and I've seen it about 35 times now so I'm sure you will appreciate my interest in this project.
Cheers,
Clive Crump
I've asked BFI about this, and their reply was that they are expecting Warner Bros to release Performance on DVD. However, in the newest issue of Mojo Magazine there's an article about Rolling Stones (great stuff, by the way!), and it is mentioned that an BFI DVD is forthcoming. Does anyone know what's happening, really? What about that Tartan release, I recall someone mentioning about that?
I am as well anxiously waiting Performance to come out as a glourious DVD release. Hope the original cut is present to some extend, like in form of outtakes. Commentary with Roeg and Jagger would be astonishing, as well as a detailed information on literature that inspired Performance.
Regards the 'restored' BFI print - I saw it at the Curzon last September, and it was the same cut that was doing the rounds on TV in the mid 90's - also the same print that ended up being letterbox for the VHS Maverick Directors series or somesuch. The giveaway? Harry Flowers' stupid voice. It makes me embarrased to hear it, I physically cringe! Also the sound was dirty and distorted, and the print itself scratchy - although the colour was much fuller, as described by those here who have seen the US laserdisc version. I had a grand old time nonetheless - it was simply awesome to experience this film (my fav) at the cinema!
Another point - the soundtrack CD also misses a significant proportion of the film's music, notably the acoustic slide guitar section near the end (Ry Cooder - Vigilante Man) and a dark synth section when Chas enters the house for the first time. Anyone know where to find these? Also, the version of GetAway is slower on the film - in fact its a totally different take.
This film is one of the most important in British Cinema - its time to stand up for its undoubted merits. Roll on the DVD....
I'd rather they did a proper release than rush it out :).
Hello Paul Mitchell,
Great to hear about the proposed DVD. I concur with the other folks who have posted messages imploring you and Warners and the BFI to release all the extant versions of the film, not just one. There were at least five versions through the years, with significant differences. Roeg's original cut, never seen by the public, was about 15 minutes longer and did not cross-cut rapidly between the Rolls Royce and Chas's bedroom; Johnny Shannon's voice was his own; and I'm sure there were other differences as well. I can only hope that a copy of this version still exists somewhere. Perhaps you should contact Roeg and Frank Mazzola about it.
In the several versions I have seen, there is a curious cut in which a dissolve to a shot of a wall is suddenly cut short and the film goes into another scene entirely. I understand that the British VHS deletes this tell-tale fragment altogether. I hear tell that there is yet another extant version of the film that was never screened publicly. If you wish to learn more about this, contact me directly at [email protected].
When a British acquaintance saw the US laserdisc, he was shocked by its intense color. He was more accustomed to the British versions he had seen, with more normal-looking color. I assured him that the color in the original prints of the film were even more intense than they were on the laserdisc!
But most of all, I beg and plead on my hands and knees: Don't letterbox it! I have examined a release print of the film, and clearly saw that it was shot at Academy 1.375:1, though it was composed for cropping at cinemas at 1.66:1. If memory serves, it looked BEAUTIFUL at 1.375:1. There was only one defect, to my recollection: an almost unnoticeable bit of a mic boom at the top of the screen in one shot in Harry Flowers's bedroom. The laserdisc was matted at 1.85:1, and it looked just awful, with images badly cropped. [NOTE ADDED ON 7 NOVEMBER 2007: Oy was I wrong! It WAS composed for cropping at 1.85:1, and a few shots were even hard-matted in the camera at 1.85:1, surprising as that may sound for a British film of the time. The laserdisc was framed too tightly. The DVD looks good.]
Minor suggestion: Footnotes for the innumerable allusions to literature (e.g. Borges) and occult mysticism (was Donald Cammell a Theosophist or something like that?) and the cinema and painting.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Ciao!
I think the cut your referring to is the small seconds long black and white image of some young boys playing in the street. You probably know this but that was a small snippet taken from Caroll Reeds film Odd Man Out starring James Mason.
share where do find a copy? i called rantal stores but that was a bit in vain.
i even checked ebay and found nothing.i dont have any super cool stones obsessed friends to tell me where to get a copy VHS or anything.
please help!
i'm a donald cammell fan and i really want a good dvd of this film to come out. a previous poster mentioned how cool a nicolas roeg/mick jagger commentary track would and i agree!!!! other possible extra features could be that long lost donald cammell short film "the argument" which i'm DYING to see and the excellant documentary "donald cammell: the ultimate performance" or some other, possibly brande new documentary about the film and/or cammell.
i really really want this to happen. it's hard to even find this movie to rent, much less own it.
You can get a DVD-R from:
http://www.subcin.com/subvid.html
It is however, a version that was recently on sale as late as 2003, from the laserdisc release. Harrry Flowers voice is dubbed and several scenes have been cut out. But it is more complete than any previous release after being re-edited (cut) for cable TV showings in the late 70's.
The argument is available from amazon uk as an extra to D. Cammells last film, "Wild Side".
"other possible extra features could be that long lost donald cammell short film "the argument" which i'm DYING to see and the excellant documentary "donald cammell: the ultimate performance" or some other, possibly brande new documentary about the film and/or cammell."
The short film "The Argument" certainly isn't lost, you can find it on the Tartan DVD release of Wild Side. It's R0 DVD, so fear not even if you don't live in the R2 land. I can truly recommend getting this DVD, on the side of the director's cut version of Wild Side it has a great interview with Cammell.
"The Ultimate Performance" still waits for an official release, but you can purchase it on DVD-R from 5minutestolive.com: http://www.5minutesonline.com/1D/PERFOMANCEDONALD.htm
very interested in this wild side dvd with argument and cammell interview on it, looneyfarm. those are both the 2 cammell films i haven't seen. is there any where i can order this dvd on the internet? u're sure it's the director's cut right? cause i don't want soft porn hack job version that's more readily available.
thank you.
"u're sure it's the director's cut right? cause i don't want soft porn hack job version that's more readily available."
I know you don't want to see the soft porn cut. How would, anyway? Yes, the Tartan DVD release is "director's cut" as advertised on the DVD case. It was put together by Cammell's favorite editor Frank Mazzola as Cammell originally intented.
"is there any where i can order this dvd on the internet?"
I think most good DVD retailers (like Play.com: http://www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=R2&title=85053) carry Tartan Video titles, including Wild Side, and if eBay's your thing you can find it cheaply there.
thanks!!
i've already seen "donald cammell: the ultimate performance" on ifc channell which is what made me fascinated by him. ihe interests me more then directors i like more then him! i've already seen performance on vhs but only once and that was 3 years ago. NEED to see it again.
looking forward to the book "fan tan" by cammell and brando that comes out next year!!
...soo can i order this movie from this link you gave? sorry to be annoying but i'm computerretarded. cause most places i look at like ebay and amazan only have the soft porn version.
i looked at the link and it said it's a u.k. dvd. does that mean it's adaptable to my dvd player. a friend looked at the link and said i'd need to ask some questions first.
"...soo can i order this movie from this link you gave?"
Yes you can, although Play.com is only one of the many retailers who carry it. They have free shipping for all orders, though, which is cool.
"i looked at the link and it said it's a u.k. dvd. does that mean it's adaptable to my dvd player."
Well, Tartan's Wild Side page (http://www.tartanvideo.com/ht_title_template.asp?TITID=107) says it's region-free (as it is with all Tartan DVDs), so it should be universally playable.
alright it's been ordered. thanks looneyfarm. i should get it later this month. i'll post a review here. :)
sharehey, looneyfarm, guess what? after all this time and delays, i still don't have the "wild side" dvd. :( i ordered from that link you gave me and they told me it would be a bit of time. then they said it'd be longer cause they had to ship it from england first. now they're saying they don't have any in stock at all and it could be ANY length of time before they get one in and gave me the option of a refund. i haven't decided yet if i'm just going to get my money back but it does sound like i could be waiting forever. i guess i'm just gonna have to give up on seeing getting that dvd. i wanted specifically that dvd versian of the film too cuase the extra features appealed to me as much as seeing the film did. oh, well. i do appreciate u giving me that link even though it didn't work out.
shareWhen did they tell you about it being out of stock? I don't think it's going to take months for a restock, since Play is a very cool and reputed retailer (which is why I recommended them in the first place). Do what you do, but having recently seen Wild Side and only now realizing its greatness, I'd say it's well worth the trouble to get the DVD.
However, what I didn't think about last time posting here was that the DVD is in PAL format, which might become a problem if you live in an NTSC land. Hope you're able to play PAL discs if you get the Tartan edition?
there are thrre dvd versions of wild side.
the first, released by artisan, is unrated
and runs 90 minutes.
the second, released by lions gate, has a
Canadian 18 rating and runs 95 minutes.
the third, released by tartan, carries
a UK 18 rating and runs 111 minutes.
the artisan release is now quite rare, but is
perhaps the most notorious, for it includes
the rather explicit sex between joan chen and
anne heche, which some might see as a voyeuristic
sequel to cammell's crawling beneath the sheets
to film jagger and pallenberg in performance
there are fundamental differences in all
three versions, including character development
and how the film ends.
and it is unusual to find scenes in the shortest
version of a movie that are not included in a
version that runs 20 minutes longer.
my guess if one were to complete a montage of
all the available scenes from the three versions,
a more complete film of wild side would run
between 120 and 125 minutes.
i will soon see "wild side" and "the arguement'' so i'm looking forward to saying i've seen all his films.
like i said, i saw "performance" 3 years ago and it definately left an impression in my head. but i mistakenly looked at the back of the box and thought it was a nicolas roeg movie who i was more aware of at the time cause i'd seen and love "the man who fell to earth" and "walkabout". it wasn't till i saw a year or 2 later on the ifc channell "donald cammell: that ultimate performance" that i learned about cammell. he was a fascinating guy in that doc. i work at a video store now and got to rent in the last year "demon seed" and "white of the eye''(they had "wild side" too but that movie and every video store i've been to has the soft porn version of the film, if at all i don't want that crap version i've read about to ruin the film for me) neither are as good as "performance" now i know that demon seed was a studio project that he didn't have much control over but i didn't even think "white of the eye" was GREAT either. granted it was a really old tape from probably around when it came out (it's an old store) and the quality was of picture and sound were bad. there were parts of it i really liked. there were even parts of demon seed i liked. but i really wish i could say i liked them more. performance is just a solid film whereas those other 2 films are flawed but have a lot of good ideas in them.
i really can't wait for a really good dvd of "performance''' but like someone said, don't rush it if it can be better. other posters had some really good ideas for extra features. i would LOVE to see a nicolas roeg/mick jagger commentary track and i don't even think it's that outrageous an idea. i'm really quite pleased with mick jagger who has stood by his late friend, cammell. he's gotten so much bigger since around the time he did performance. he wasn't just being hipster chic back then. he still likes what he did with cammell. (there's a great interview with him in the ultimate performance documentary) you would think he might just act like all this was in his past, forget about it and enjoy his millions but that hasn't happened.
when the performance dvd comes it will be in my collection next to my wild side dvd. i would even get all cammell's other films for my collection too....well, maybe not demon seed.
So is there definitely a release forthcoming then? I bloody hope so.
shareThe obvious dubbing of Harry has always caused me great irritation but there's also the examples of Lorraine and the musician who meets his Mum at the railway station.
Some of Lorraine's dialogue seems to come from the live sound of the actress herself but, during other scenes, her voice becomes the voice of a fully grown woman trying to do a kid's voice.
The guitar player (Noel?) meeting his Mum at the train station. His whole scene seems to have been dubbed by another actor and, what's more, that actor sounds very much like Paul Nicolas!
Hopefully, the DVD will try to correct this.
Performance Aficianados,
Warner Executives from the DVD division, will be conducting a live
chat concerning titles form their catalog on March 14th at 8:00pm EST
You have to join the HTF here:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/register.php?s=
Please join and ask for a 2 disc special edition,with the original
directors cut from 1969 without the dubbed voices.
Post on the message boards, and participate in the chat, please
Yikes! Here's an excerpt from the chat:
[JeffNewcomb] Warner does a great job with their classics...how about some 70s
titles: Scarecrow, Night Moves, Brewster McCloud, Performance, Fedora.
[WarnerHomeVideo] SCARECROW and NIGHT MOVES are on the schedule and in production.
We have special plans for PERFORMANCE, but no date. No plans yet for BREWSTER or FEDORA.
Hopefully, their "special plans...but no date" means that they know how important the film is and they want to do it correctly, not quickly. With the possible exception of "A Matter Of Life And Death", I think this is the best British film I've ever seen, so I'm preying that Warners/The B.F.I don't drop the ball on this one.
I remember Alex Cox talking about the film on the BBC. He said that something like SEVEN(!) editors were put on the film by W.B. prior to the offical censorship. With so many people taking their turn to hack away at the film, I'm thinking that a restoration of the original cut will take a heck of a lot of work.
I'm usually a bit cynical about DVD releases; thinking that it's just another way to sell a product a 2nd, a 3rd, a 4th time but a "Performance" DVD would be an important, exciting event.
As someone said above, don't rush it out if it can be made better.
i finally get "wild side" on dvd yesterday. pretty good dvd. first i watched the short "the arguement" which i wasn't crazy about which was kind of a disapointment cause i was sort of more interested in seeing that actualling seeing wild side. then i watched the movie and i was really suprised at how good it was. it reminded me of an abel ferrera film but more stylized and way better then any ferrera film i've seen. christopher walken was incredible. this was way better then "white of the eye" or obviously "demon seed" i really need to see "performance" again cause i only saw it once like 3 years ago, to remember why i got into cammell in the first place. i really hope they put that awesome doc on the "performance" dvd whenever it gets. i'd really like to own performance, the doc and white of the eye to complete my cammell collection.
shareI rewatched Wild Side some time ago, and I was too surprised how good it is. It's really a comedy, isn't it? I agree with you about Walken's performance. In the scene in which his character's wife locked to bathroom he went so over the top I was cracking up. The movie looks amazing, too. Maybe the best thing about the film, since each of Cammell's films look more or less outdated, but Wild Side is so in a more ironic sense. If you know what I mean. There is also a great reference to Performance, did you notice it? White of the Eye I wasn't so crazy about, and Demon Seed seemed a turkey to me.
sharei can forgive him for demon seed since it really wasn't his film but i really disapointed i hate to admit by white of the eye and the argument and he more or less had control over those 2. it sucks cause i dig cammell but i really only love 2 of his films. walken was hilarous. he's hilarous threw out the film especially in the opening scenes where he's talking to anne heche before they have sex. he's seems so wired! steven bauer was good too. i loved some of the cuts like when anne heche throws the phone down and it fades to blue. very cool.
shareI have really enjoyed reading these posts re Performance. I remember seeing it in its original US release in 1970 (I vaguely remember that the theater was quite empty. I suppose it didn't get a very wide realease and wasn't a blockbuster for the distributor.) I was 19 then it it really left an impression. Its interesting that around the time of its release, the films Barbarella (Roger Vadim) and Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick)were released also. It was a time of artistic expression (experimentation?) and I'm glad I was there to experience it. I have been wanting to see Performance again for a long time now and view it through more mature eyes. I really didn't understand the film being so young at the time. I own a copy of the soundtrack on an LP.
I hope a fully restored version is released soon. I'll keep my eye on this forum for more info. Not to step on any copyright toes here, but has anyone who has had the opportunity to view it recently made a copy? I'd trade a copy of the LP Album....
P.S. I am now quite interested to see Cammell's other works as well.
Thanks All!
Marc
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Don't worry, I'm sure it'll be released one day. Film companies know that DVDs mean that there's "Gold in them thar hills!" and with this being such an important, ground-breaking film, and with it having been gutted by the studio itself and the censors, "Performance" fits the bill for a DVD re-issue like a glove. In some ways, the longer we wait, the better, because they're probably busting a gut to make it the best release possible. If they were going to release a botched version, I think it would've come out by now.
share[deleted]
You probably know that The Devils DVD is on its way, just the release date needs to be set. I'm more worried about other Ken Russell titles, wonder if Lisztomania will ever get a digital treatment?
About Anchor Bay, Criterion and other distributors... Yes, it would be great to see them putting out a great DVD of Performance, but the movie is owned by a big film studio, so it is very unlikely that a third party will get video rights for it. But the quote I previously posted probably says it all, Warner haven't forgotten this fantastic film, and they sure know that there's demand for a DVD release.
I have it on DVD disc- I know of two online sources but it is very hard to find on VHS let alone DVD, but I did :)
share[deleted]
Moving back a little to the first subject here... the DVD of Performance seems to be as far off as ever.
Anyone know anything more? I can't believe its been so glaringly overlooked.
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In an earlier post in April of this year it was mentioned that Warners had special plans for Performance. Lets hope it's just taking time to get the extras they want - maybe footage not seen yet. Let's be optimistic!
share[deleted]
The best version over here in the U.K as far as I've seen, heard and read is the version put out a few years ago by Warner Home Video as part of their Maverick Directors collection. This included films like Deliverence for example. The cut on this collection was a good decent fuller version of the film. If you have saturlite, it sometimes comes on sky movies cinema. Though not for a good long while it hasn't. As a film fan and a person who likes this film, I'm not sure of all the different cuts out there. All I can go by is the version that was shown on bbc 2 some years ago that is more than likely the same version that was part of the maverick directors warners collection a few years ago, and is probably the same version as sky cinema show once in a while. So, with all that, I'd put money on that being the cut that is shown on the DVD should it come out one day. It is more than long overdue. I've read on these posts about missing sex scenes too. Will they appear on the DVD etc. I'm not in a big rush to see Mick Jaggar naked at anytime if the truth be told ;O But it seems many people would like to see these scenes. Anyway, should a DVD come out one of these fine years, I'm sure it will have the best version that they could ever get hold of. Minus the sex scenes I'm sure.
shareHopefully Warner Bros. will get it on DVD, only if its Uncut, I've seen PERFORMANCE on TRIO! more than six times, and it's still good, to Warner Bros. please get the movie PERFORMANCE the green light on DVD in an UNCUT version,
featuring commentary with Nicolas Roeg, Mick Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, and James Fox, plus the doc. "Donald Cammell: The Ultimate Performance" which I've seen on IFC and its good! and maybe a documentary on looking back in PERFORMANCE, I admire Nicolas Roeg after seeing PERFORMANCE, and love The Man Who Fell To Earth, Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession, and Walkabout, but to Warner Bros. Please get this movie on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
Please get PERFORMANCE on a Special Edition DVD!
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Acid, shrooms, hallucinogenics, whatever. I'd say it is. Any others you think are better?
The whole movie is an acid trip, and it's incredible, at the end it really feels like you've spent 2 hours trippin balls. It is embarrassing how little known, this infinitely acessible film is today. Saw it on the big screen in NYC and blew me away. It has eveything you could ask for in a movie, visual storytelling, rock and roll, philosophy, gangsters, titties, a Mick Jagger music video (really amazing), even a "Persona"esque reversal in the end. Guy Ritche masturbates to this movie.
What do you think are the best acid films?
"I have vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals." - Butch Cassidy
"Guy Ritchie masturbates to this movie.".
Shouldn't that be just "Guy Ritchie masturbates."? His films are dreadful.
Yellow Submarine
Altered States
2001
Zardoz
Monterey Pop
The Grateful Dead Movie
(Is that supposed to be a list of acid trip movies? What about Zabriskie Point or -- heh -- Marat/Sade?)
People here might be advised to check with Japanese mailorder sites for a really good VHS edition of PERFORMANCE -- FAR, FAR superior to North American releases, if you can still find it anywhere. It's in a widescreen format with wonderful colours and sound, and has a runtime of 105 minutes -- tho' of course it comes with Japanese subtitles (but you got used to that with EL TOPO, right?). Doublecheck with someone who can read Japanese -- I can barely remember my hiragana and katakana -- but this turns up on Amazon when I enter the code on my video box, WV-W11131, and the title, I can vouch for, is PERFORMANCE, and the subsequent characters in the title match up with what's on the box:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005HD5C/qid%3D1142126019/503-8529186-4931117
They DO ship internationally, tho' not everything is available that they list!
You are welcome to send me money as a means of thanking me for this invaluable tip.
Allan (http://alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.com)
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