To kick off the new year, on 20 January Indicator will present UK Blu-ray premiere editions of four classic American films, each focusing on life at the edge of civilisation, and all directed by and starring some of the giants of cinema history. The titles in question are The Lives of a Bengal Lancer and The Shepherd of the Hills from director Henry Hathaway, the Zoltán Korda directed Sahara starring Humphrey Bogart, and Edge of Eternity from director Don Siegel. Full details on each release below.
THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER (1935)
Limited Edition Blu-ray | 20 January 2024 | £16.99 | Pre-order here
Gary Cooper (Bluebeard's Eighth Wife), Franchot Tone (Mutiny on the Bounty), and Richard Cromwell (Baby Face Morgan) head the cast of spectacular adventure classic The Lives of a Bengal Lancer.
When Lieutenant McGregor (Cooper) welcomes officers Forsythe (Tone) and Stone (Cromwell) to a remote outpost on the northwest frontier of the British Raj, they face overwhelming odds as they battle a local insurgency.
A high point in the diverse and celebrated career of prolific filmmaker Henry Hathaway (The Shepherd of the Hills), and featuring stunning photography by Charles Lang (The Big Heat), The Lives of a Bengal Lancer was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:
- 4K restoration
- Original mono audio
- Audio commentary with screenwriter and novelist C Courtney Joyner and filmmaker Steve Latshaw (2025)
- Sheldon Hall on 'The Lives of the Bengal Lancer' (2025): critical appreciation by the academic and film historian
- Lux Radio Theatre: 'The Lives of a Bengal Lancer' (1939): radio adaptation of the film's screenplay starring Errol Flynn, Brian Aherne and Jackie Cooper, alongside original cast members C Aubrey Smith and Douglass Dumbrille
- Original theatrical trailer
- Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Sam Wigley, an archival production report, an extract from an archival interview with Henry Hathaway, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
- UK premiere on Blu-ray
- Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK
All features subject to change
THE SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS (1941)
Limited Edition Blu-ray | 20 January 2024 | £16.99 | Pre-order here
Henry Hathaway (Go West Young Man) directs John Wayne (Jet Pilot), Betty Field (7 Women), Harry Carey (You and Me), and Beulah Bondi (Remember the Night) in the classic 1941 melodrama The Shepherd of the Hills.
When Daniel Howitt (Carey), a kindly stranger, arrives in a remote Ozark community riven by hatred, he befriends young Sammy (Field) and raises the ire of her fiancé, Matt (Wayne), a bitter moonshiner who has sworn to kill his own father.
Based on the best-selling novel by Harold Bell Wright, and boasting ravishing cinematography by Charles Lang (The Long Gray Line) and W Howard Greene (The Magnificent Seven), Hathaway's version of The Shepherd of the Hills was the third of no fewer than four big-screen adaptations, and was Wayne's first film in Technicolor.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:
- High Definition remaster
- Original mono audio
- Audio commentary with academic and curator Eloise Ross (2025)
- Bertrand Tavernier on 'The Shepherd of the Hills' (2017): archival appreciation by the celebrated filmmaker and critic, presented with English subtitles for the first time
- Original theatrical trailer
- Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Rick Burin, an archival report on the film and source novel's Ozark setting, an extract from an interview with Henry Hathaway, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and full film credits
- UK premiere on Blu-ray
- Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK
All features subject to change
SAHARA (1943)
Limited Edition Blu-ray | 20 January 2024 | £16.99 | Pre-order here
Humphrey Bogart (The Harder They Fall), Bruce Bennett (Undertow) and J Carrol Naish (The Lives of a Bengal Lancer) star in Sahara, a thrilling tale of World War II heroism from director Zoltán Korda (A Woman's Vengeance).
Separated from his unit following the fall of Tobruk, Master Sergeant Joe Gunn (Bogart) and his crew flee in a tank across the Sahara, picking up a variety of stragglers and prisoners along the way. With their survival entirely dependent on the water from a depleted well, the group must defend it against a whole German battalion.
Produced by Harry Joe Brown (Buchanan Rides Alone) and shot under harsh conditions in the unforgiving landscape of the Colorado Desert, the production of Sahara utilised an entire US Army division as extras, adding to the film's gritty sense of realism.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:
- High Definition remaster
- Original mono audio
- Audio commentary with screenwriter and novelist C Courtney Joyner (2025)
- Ehsan Khoshbakht on 'Sahara' (2025): appreciation by the curator, filmmaker, and editor of The Lady with the Torch: Columbia Pictures 1929–1959
- Building a Tank (1942): documentary short on the work of the Detroit Tank Arsenal, and the manufacture and testing of the M-3 Lee tank which prominently features in Sahara
- The Siege of Tobruk (1942): documentary short produced by the UK's Army Film Unit detailing the World War II military campaign in the North African port of Tobruk during 1941, which preceded the events portrayed in Sahara
- Original theatrical trailer
- Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Imogen Sara Smith, an archival interview with actor Kurt Kreuger, an archival on-set profile of Humphrey Bogart, a look at how the film's promotion assisted the war effort, new writing on the short films, and film credits
- UK premiere on Blu-ray
- Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK
All features subject to change
EDGE OF ETERNITY (1959)
Cornel Wilde (Shockproof), Victoria Shaw (The Crimson Kimono), and Mickey Shaughnessy (Jailhouse Rock) star in Edge of Eternity, a riveting murder mystery from director Don Siegel (Madigan, Charley Varrick).
When a series of killings plagues an Arizona ghost town on the edge of the Grand Canyon, Deputy Sherrif Martin (Wilde) forms an unlikely partnership with playgirl Janice (Shaw) to investigate.
Made on location, and shot in CinemaScope by the great Burnett Guffey (The Sniper, The Reckless Moment), Edge of Eternity is one of Don Siegel's most arresting and thrilling crime films.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:
- High Definition remaster
- Original mono audio
- Audio commentary with professor and film scholar Jason A Ney (2025)
- José Arroyo on 'Edge of Eternity' (2025): in-depth appreciation by the writer and academic
- Original theatrical trailer
- Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Peter Cowie, an archival piece on the making of the film by producer Kendrick Sweet, an extract from Don Siegel's autobiography, and film credits
- UK premiere on Blu-ray
- Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK
All features subject to change |
