Update: Initial reports from buyers is that Filming The Trial on the Blu-ray is not much of an improvement over the print available on archive.org or YouTube. Some have complained that the features are presented in standard definition, which was noted by the seller on his website.
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Gold Ninja Video is releasing this month The Other Side of Gary Graver, a collection of rare works by Orson Welles’ faithful cinematographer.
Limited to a run of 500 copies, the Blu-ray includes Graver’s first directorial effort, The Embracers, with four minutes not seen since its 1963 theatrical release; his 1973 film And When She Was Bad; edited footage from Welles’ unfinished Filming The Trial; and an uncut version of his 2004 retrospect, A Gary Graver Movie. Blu-ray extras include a feature-length audio commentary track, audio interview with Graver aficionados Dave Wain and Matty Budrewic; audio interview with actress Jewel Shepard (Party Camp, Roots of Evil); audio interview with biographer Andrew J. Rausch; and liner notes by Will Sloan, which include an interview with Graver’s brother, Geoff, and his son, Sean. (Gary Graver died in 2006 at the age of 68.)
The Other Side of Gary Graver is priced at $15 and available online through goldninjavideo.com
The Canada-based Gold Ninja Video is the brainchild of producer-distributor Justin Decloux, who hosts the podcast The Important Cinema Club with Will Sloan.
“A year ago, I started a small boutique Blu-ray label called Gold Ninja Video that mainly releases public domain films, the kind you always find in the bargain bin at Walmarts or can easily watch on YouTube, but the hook is that we’d treat each release like a Criterion special editions: We produce a new commentary, video essay and liner note booklets for each release in an attempt to contextualize and discuss forgotten filmmakers and films,” Decloux said.
He added, “We pitch it mostly to our podcast audience, and the response has been super positive, so I’ve kept doing it — and have even been able to release a number of the more recent films in conjunction with filmmakers.”
“I’ve wanted to do something Gary Graver related since we started, and to test the waters, we reached out to Sean Graver to ask permission to release his dad’s first film, The Embracers, which had been posted on YouTube,” Decloux said. “And not only did Sean Graver say yes, but he even sent us the original digital file of the film, which has an extra four minutes he cut out for YouTube due to there being nudity, and the uncut version of A Gary Graver Movie as well.”
With those titles in hand, Gold Ninja Video decided to create a package that focused on Graver to give the viewer an all-around perspective of him as an artist and person, Decloux said.
The films are presented in standard definition and have not been remastered.
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