3 gems that prove there’s still a future for DVD collectors… and what’s more, they feature Michael Caine!

Cinema history is full of examples of films that went completely under the radar for various reasons. Works that are sometimes rare are rarely or never televised. But which still deserves wide discovery. However, this is sometimes a real obstacle…

Here are three great gems we wish we had at least one day on DVD, ideally on Blu-ray. Especially when we look with envy at neighboring countries that are otherwise better served. Either way, a must-see artwork and rarity!

The Lost Valley (1971)

The massive – and well-deserved – success of the Shogun series has thankfully led to the rediscovery of a great writer and screenwriter who is unfortunately very little known to the general public: James Clavell. We owe him a special debt with the scripts of the great classics of American cinema. Black Fly, in 1958, which would be the subject of David Cronenberg’s remake. The Great Escape by John Sturgess. Angels with Clenched Fists, which he directed; A classic of Sidney Poitier’s filmography, released in 1967. Clavel was also clearly more productive as a screenwriter than a director: barely three films under his belt.

In 1971, he wrote and created a pure masterpiece that, 53 years after its release, still remains very little known: The Lost Valley. Despite the fact that the film was broadcast on television, however sparsely, unfortunately, it was not released on DVD. Even less on Blu-ray. Aside from an old VHS release in 1991, the film has remained largely invisible on physical media since then. If you do not apply import.

The film takes place in 1637, during the terrible Thirty Years’ War, which ignited Europe and pitted Catholics against Protestants. Vogel (Omar Sharif), an intellectual and former professor, tries to escape marauders, famine and plague. Crossing the forest, he accidentally lands in a valley in the Tyrol, seemingly untouched and miraculously spared the ravages of war. But he is followed by a company of mercenaries who also enter the valley, led by their leader called “Captain”…

Here’s the trailer…

Atheist James Clavell provides this film with a brilliant discussion of the religious strife (but not only) that bloodied the era and how the trauma of this war affects each of the film’s characters. It was also controversial on the subject when it came out and was even boycotted by evangelical churches in the United States, as well as the Roman Catholic Church.

If lost field Apparently a huge success at the UK box office, on the other hand, it was a dismal failure at the international box office, even showing a loss of over $7 million. A cruel injustice. Clavell took years to recover before finding success again with the Shogun series, under his first name, in 1980.

In the guise of a nihilistic and atheist man’s captain, Michael Caine delivers a fabulous composition; One of the best in his long career. Filmed right in Tyrol, Austria, it offers stunning visuals with the starkness of its story. lost field Also surrounded by one of the most beautiful musical scores by the great composer John Barry. In short, an absolute wonder.

Fade to Black (1980)

Unseen for decades in the galaxy of extremely rare nuggets, turning black (Fade to Black in VO) appears there. It’s very simple, not only has the film not been shown on TV, but it hasn’t been released by us on DVD, just like The Devil in the Box, which we’ve talked about at length here.

Directed by Vernon Zimmerman, who has since disappeared entirely and directed only a handful of films, the work enjoys a good reputation among moviegoers who have had the chance to discover it.

Fade to Black, this is the story of Eric Binford. Very shy and alone, he earns a living by delivering film reels and posters to film studios. But the main driving force behind its existence is watching movies all day long.

Often mistreated, betrayed, and ridiculed by his colleagues, Eric increasingly finds refuge in the world of his favorite movies and characters, for better or for worse. When a series of unfortunate events shakes his already precarious mental health, Eric spirals into an uncontrollable murderous rage. Now known as the Celluloid Killer, he kills his victims inspired by his favorite scenes and characters…

Produced by Compass International, the company that distributed John Carpenter’s Halloween two years ago, Fade to Black It had a very chaotic production and was sued in December 1980 by a company called William Boyd Enterprises Inc, which claimed $15 million in damages, because the images were used in the work. Hopalong CassidyA fictional cowboy whose rights he owned.

Logically full of cinephile references that fans will be happy to point out, the film is directed by actor Dennis Christopher, who starred in the solid Breaking Away and Chariots of Fire and who we’ll find a few years later as a member of the cast. In the teen (big) TV movie Ca.

In this declaration of love (crazy, obviously) for cinema and going to hell, the actor is also supported by a good cast, in the middle of which we meet Morgan Paul (killed by Leon’s character in Blade Runner). At the beginning of Ridley Scott’s film), still the beginning Mickey Rourke. And even a Marilyn Monroe lookalike, played by the ephemeral actress Linda Kerridge, who is rightfully famous for her resemblance to the icon.

At the Source of the Nile (1990)

An important figure in the New Hollywood of the 1970s, who greatly contributed to the career of his friend Jack Nicholson with Five Easy Pieces and the remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Bob Rafelson was not a particularly prolific filmmaker, with eleven films to his name. In a career of barely 34 years.

In 1990, he made a fabulous adventure film: Aux Sources du Nil. For decades, a film like no other was made, until James Gray rekindled the fire with The Lost City of Z, which unfortunately was an agonizing failure in theaters.

The authentic story begins in 1854. Two men meet in Aden: Richard Burton, adventurer (he was the first Westerner to secretly enter the holy city of Mecca, a crime punishable by death at the time), poet, ethnologist and translator of erotica. texts; and John Hanning Speck, driven by unbridled ambition. In London, they decide to return to Africa to solve a mystery that has intrigued the English for a long time: to find the exact location of the sources of the Nile.

Here’s the trailer…

The project to make a film about these two legendary explorers actually dates back to the late 1960s, when Franklin J. headed by Shafner. Finally we have to wait for the biography to be published Burton and Speck Written by William Harrison and published in 1982 to get the project back on track.

Bathed in a fabulous photo signed by Roger Deakins, at the sources of the Nile It is a beautiful, touching and even cruel tale, a story of friendship but also rivalry, carried by a wonderful duo of actors. Patrick Bergin as Richard Burton and Lane Glenn is absolutely perfect as John Hanning Speck. An actor well known to Game of Thrones fans as he played Jorah Mormont.

Other than an old VHS, this movie has never been released here on DVD, let alone Blu-ray. Maybe the film’s horrendous and deeply unfair failure in theaters, only making $4 million at the international box office (that’s some violent crap in the face), has something to do with it? We therefore begin with a heavy heart our appeal for a publisher who is charitable enough to publish this wonderful adventure film.