Lord of the Flies (1963) Comes To Blu-ray In Criterion Edition
The Criterion Collection has announced that they are adding Lord of the Flies to their upcoming slate of Blu-ray releases. The film was directed by Peter Brook and stars James Aubrey, Tom Chapin, and Hugh Edwards. Lord of the Flies will be available in stores and online July 16, 2013.
In the hands of the renowned experimental theater director Peter Brook, William Golding’s legendary novel on the primitivism lurking beneath civilization becomes a film as raw and ragged as the lost boys at its center. Taking an innovative documentary-like approach, Brook shot Lord of the Flies with an off-the-cuff naturalism, seeming to record a spontaneous eruption of its characters’ ids. The result is a rattling masterpiece, as provocative as its source material.
Special Features:
- New, restored 4K digital film transfer, supervised by cameraman and editor Gerald Feil, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- Audio commentary featuring director Peter Brook, producer Lewis Allen, director of photography Tom Hollyman, and Feil
- Audio recordings of William Golding reading from his novel Lord of the Flies, accompanied by the corresponding scenes from the film
- Deleted scene, with optional commentary and reading by Golding
- Interview with Brook from 2008
- Collection of behind-the-scenes material, featuring home movies, screen tests, outtakes, and stills
- New interview with Feil
- Excerpt from Feil’s 1972 documentary The Empty Space, showcasing Brook’s theater methods
- Something Queer in the Warehouse, a piece composed of never-before-seen footage shot by the boy actors during production, with new voice-over by Tom Gaman, who played Simon
- Trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Geoffrey Macnab and an excerpt from Brook’s book The Shifting Point
Lord of the Flies was released on August 13, 1963.