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88 | Sight&Sound | May 2020THE ELEPHANT MAN
David Lynch; US 1980; StudioCanal; 3-disc collector’s
edition includes region-free 4K UHD Blu-ray plus 2 x Region
B standard Blu-ray discs; also available in 2-disc standard
Region B Blu-ray edition and 2-disc Region 2 DVD edition;
Certificate 15; 124 minutes; 2.39:1. Extras: interviews
with Lynch, John Hurt, producer Jonathan Sanger and
photographer Frank Connor; historical featurette; behind
the scenes gallery; booklet (collector’s edition only).
Reviewed by Trevor Johnston
After the cult impact of Eraserhead, David
Lynch struggled to finance his next project,
until a combination of chance and industry
friendships prompted Mel Brooks’s company
to take a chance on him for this unusual
Victorian biopic. Surrounding Lynch with
the cream of British acting talent and crew
and supporting his distinctive creative vision
resulted in a remarkable hybrid of Hollywood
emotionalism and Lynch’s individual artistry.
Chris Tucker’s superb prosthetics for John Hurt,
based on casts made of Joseph Merrick himself,
base everything in a credible depiction of his
physical deformities. Hurt, though, allows
us to access the poor man’s extraordinary
gentleness and joy in life and friendship to
an almost unbearably moving degree.
Anthony Hopkins’s reined-in contribution as
the surgeon Frederick Treves supplies effective
dramatic contrast, introducing the notion
that the well-meaning doctor is exploiting
Merrick as much as Freddie Jones’s despicable
showman Bytes – and maybe the film is too?
Lynch constructs a memorable rendition of
Victorian London, all wrought iron, smoke
and squalor, made more vivid by Alan Splet’s
sound design, which even captures the sound
of gas coursing through the pipes. Thanks to
veteran Freddie Francis’s impeccable black-
and-white cinematography, the film conveys
the innocence and wonder of early cinema to
captivating effect. Its power remains undimmed
in this impeccable new restoration.
Discs: New interviews with producer Jonathan
Sanger and stills photographer Frank Connor
add to the package of supplements on the 2009
Blu-ray. The new 4K UHD transfer of the original
negative looks marvellous in the collector’s
edition. The standard Blu-ray is no slouch either,
but the increased definition and contrast in 4K
is noticeable, not least in the tiny pinpricks of
light Freddie Francis captures in Hurt’s eyes.PINK FILMS VOL. 1 & 2
INFLATABLE SEX DOLL OF THE
WASTELANDS / GUSHING PRAYER
Yamatoya Atsushi/Adachi Masao; Japan 1967/
1971; Third Window Films; region-free Blu-ray
and DVD dual format; Certificate 18; 2.35:1.
Reviewed by Jasper Sharp
The term ‘pink film’ (pinku eiga) was originally
coined in reaction to the rising tide of lurid
low-budget independent productions pitched
at the adult market which emerged in Japan
following the much-publicised police seizure
of Kobayashi Satoru’s long-lost Flesh Market in- It describes both a genre and a sub-industry
of cinematic softcore that still exists today.
Beyond the self-produced output of
Wakamatsu Koji, the field’s first name director, so
New releases
All the major streaming platforms (Netflix,
AmazonPrime, iTunes, Disney+, GooglePlay)
host their share of classic cinema, but
alongside those behemoths are a number
of smaller, well-curated services. Here
are some of the most interesting.Britbox
The BBC and ITV’s streaming service has, in
addition to its collections of archive television,
a range of classic cinema. With a British bias,
the titles include (for starters) masterpieces
by Powell and Pressburger, early Hitchcock,
productions by the Kordas, various Carry Ons,
a Norman Wisdom collection... and so on.
britbox.co.ukBFI Player
The BFI’s platform offers free content drawn
from the National Film Archive and elsewhere,
alongside subscriber-only films drawing on a
fantastic range of classic cinema (including a
selection from the top 250 films as voted for
in S&S’s 2012 Greatest Films of All Time poll),
cult favourites, themed programmes and more.
player.bfi.org.ukCurzon Home Cinema
The UK arthouse distributor’s on-
demand service offers most of its
recent theatrical releases, as well as
titles from its back catalogue.
curzonhomecinema.comFilmDoo
A UK-based service specialising in
independent and world cinema, as well
as international genre fare – its ‘Crime’
selection offers titles from Thailand to
Trinidad and Tobago. Well worth exploring.
filmdoo.comFIAF
The International Federation of Film Archives
has compiled a fantastic list of FIAF affiliates’
websites, YouTube channels and other
streaming platforms where you can access
film heritage gems from all over the world.
http://www.fiafnet.org/pages/E-Resources/
Film-AV-Collections-Online.htmlDocsville
A documentary-focused site founded –
originally under the name Yaddo – by ex-
Storyville head Nick Fraser. It offers monthly
selections curated by theme alongside a
growing list of doc features and shorts.
docsville.comKanopy
The US-based film streaming service is
available to many in the UK. Those with a
university library card can access Kanopy’s
S&S-friendly selection of arthouse classics,
recent features, documentaries and shorts –
as can those with a public library card who live
in the right local authority.
kanopy.comKorean Film Archive YouTube Channel
Dozens of classic Korean films from the Korean
Film Archive’s collections are available to stream
via its YouTube channel, with English subtitles.
Among the directors whose work is collected is
Bong Joon Ho’s great influence, Kim Kiyoung, 13
of whose films are on the channel.
youtube.com/user/KoreanFilmMubi
Mubi’s model offers subscribers a continually
updating selection of 30 films to subscribers –
with one film added and one removed each day.
They also host retrospectives of work by many
S&S-friendly directors, and more.
mubi.comStumfilm
This fascinating site from the Danish Film
Institute collects more than 400 Danish silent
films made between 1897 and 1928, a period
when Danish cinema was popular around world,
producing stars such as Asta Nielsen and great
directors such as Carl Theodor Dreyer.
stumfilm.dkPantaflix
A German pay-per-view site, available in the UK,
which hosts a real assortment of cinema old
and new. Not everything is subtitled, but a bit
of digging throws up treasures ranging from
European arthouse (Kieslowski’s 1970s films, for
example) to documentary (Hoop Dreams).Flixpremiere
What happens to the rich variety of
independently produced films left unsold after
they’ve done the festival circuit? Well, at least
some of them might find a welcome home on
sites such as this UK-based platform, whose
selection will be unfamiliar to all but the most
well-travelled festival-goer.
flixpremiere.comInternet Archive
A US-based non-profit initiative, this
inexhaustible rabbit-hole of a site collates links
to literally thousands of movies, from classic
silent comedy to obscure film noir to science
fiction to documentary. Alongside cinema, it also
hosts music, books and more, boldly declaring:
“Our mission is to provide Universal Access to All
Knowledge.”
archive.org
Compiled by James BellCinemas may be in lockdown,
but with a host of streaming sites
offering films old and new, there’s
never any reason to be boredTHE GREAT INDOORS
Streaming