We’re all familar with Fritz Lang, but not ever like this. FM is happy to announce that Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will present Fritz Lang’s 1941 classic thriller, Man Hunt, on DVD for the first time ever on May 19, 2009! Full details in the press release below!
THE HUNTER BECOMES THE HUNTED
MAN HUNT
Fritz Langs Vintage World War II Thriller Arrives On DVD For The First Time Ever May 19 From Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Loaded With Exclusive Bonus Features Including A Restoration Comparison,
Still Gallery, Interactive Pressbook And More
CENTURY CITY, Calif. Hand-picked from the vault and meticulously restored and remastered Fritz Langs (Metropolis, M) classic 1941 Nazi war film, MAN HUNT, arrives on DVD for the very first time May 19 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Set in Nazi Germany, MAN HUNT stars Oscar nominee Walter Pidgeon (How Green Was My Valley, Forbidden Planet) as Captain Thorndike, an English big-game hunter who conceives the fantastic notion of stalking Adolph Hitler for sport. With The Führer in his sight, Thorndike hesitates and debates with himself whether or not to pull the trigger, ultimately being apprehended by the Gestapo during this brief moment of reflection. Thorndike is interrogated and tortured by Nazi officer Major Quive-Smith (George Sanders; All About Eve, Hangover Square). Left for dead, his body thrown over a cliff, Thorndike survives and makes his way back to the safety of England. But Quive-Smith pursues Thorndike back to London, where he goes into hiding with a young prostitute (Joan Benett; The Woman in the Window, Scarlet Street) who has the Nazi spies close in on him. Best known for his groundbreaking silent films and contributions to the Film Noir genre and dubbed The Master of Darkness by the British Film Institute, MAN HUNT is Langs first anti-Nazi feature. Loaded with commentary by author Patrick McGilligan, Rogue Male: The Making of Man Hunt and more, the MAN HUNT DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $14.98 U.S. / $16.98 Canada. Prebook is April 22.
Synopsis:
Based on Geoffrey Household’s best-selling 1939 novel, “Rogue Male,” a British game hunter takes aim at the biggest prize of all, Adolf Hitler. Captured and tortured, the hunter becomes the hunted as Nazi spies pursue him back to England in a desperate fight to the death.
DVD features:
The MAN HUNT DVD will be presented in full screen format with Mono sound and English and Spanish subtitles.
Special Features:
Commentary by Author Patrick McGilligan
Rogue Male: The Making of Man Hunt
Restoration Comparison
Man Hunt Trailer
Interactive Pressbook
Still Gallery
Best news heard for many a year! Except that at present this dvd release is only for Region 1 collectors. The film is really a film noir. I sympathise with Fritz Lang when he denied it was a propaganda film. But I can understand someone who might think it was particularly for the closing scene made as though to raise the morale of civilised peoples all over the world downtrodden and bullied by the nasty nazis as Churchill would have described them. But all the film story is really a film noir. It takes place in peacetime yet there are sinister elements everywhere and even in one’s own country – England in the story – one can trust no one. The beast of fascism seems to gnaw away at the moral fibre of ordinary people. But there are great exceptions: Vaner, the cabin-boy, who because of his young age cannot know much but he knows the difference between those who deserve his trust and others who do not; and there is Jerry who cannot know much either but for different reasons. But she knows the difference between men who abuse her and perhaps the one man she’s ever known to be what she calls “a gentleman”, ie a man of quality, a decent and good man. I saw this film when it first came out during the war when only a youngster. Those days were very dark days and the film for me reflected the times perfectly, or should I say reflected the times that preceded the outbreak of the war perfectly, ie times that had lead the world to war, and it was the close of the film’s story that reflected the present and the task remaining to be fulfilled that may have been seen as an item of propaganda – who cares – for it was the sign of resolution and determination to have done with the beast at long last and that for me is/was the essence of the greatness of Fritz Lang. Please do your utmost to make this dvd release available for Region 2 collectors like myself. Many thanks in anticipation of this good news!