Grand Duel - Special Edition Coming to Blu-ray

New edition of The Grand Duel is coming to blu-ray on May 7.  This film has previously been on bare bones, but pretty great looking blu-ray for quite some time (reviewed here).  This new edition from Arrow Video has a new restoration and a wealth of great looking extras.

Official information from Arrow Video below-

The Grand Duel is an archetypal spaghetti western which boasts many of the genre’s classic hallmarks including action-packed gunfights, wild stunts and an impressive climactic showdown...

Genre stalwart Lee Van Cleef (The Big Combo, Day of Anger) stars as a gnarled ex-sheriff called Clayton who comes to the aid of young Philipp Wermeer (Alberto Dentice), a fugitive framed for the murder of a powerful figure called The Patriarch. Clayton helps Philipp fend off attacks from bounty hunters in a series of thrilling shootouts before the two make their way to Jefferson to confront three villains known as the Saxon brothers, and reveal who really killed The Patriarch. 

A complex tale of revenge penned by prolific giallo writer Ernesto Gastaldi (Torso, The Case of the Scorpion's Tail), The Grand Duel benefits from a beguiling central performance from Lee Van Cleef and assured helmsmanship from Giancarlo Santi (assistant director to Sergio Leone on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West). Add to this brew a memorable and tuneful score by composer Luis Bacalov (Django, Milano Calibro 9) and the stage is set for one of the grandest of all the Italian westerns. 

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• New 2K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Uncompressed mono 1.0 LPCM audio
• Original English and Italian soundtracks, titles and credits
• Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
• New audio commentary by film critic, historian and theorist Stephen Prince
• An Unconventional Western, a newly filmed interview with director Giancarlo Santi
• The Last of the Great Westerns, a newly filmed interview with screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi
• Out of the Box, a newly filmed interview with producer Ettore Rosboch
• The Day of the Big Showdown, a newly filmed interview with assistant director Harald Buggenig
• Saxon City Showdown, a newly filmed video appreciation by the academic Austin Fisher
• Original Italian and international theatrical trailers
• Extensive image gallery featuring stills, posters, lobby cards and home video sleeves, drawn from the Mike Siegel Archive and other collections
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Griffin
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Kevin Grant and original reviews

LVC Dives off Ship to Save Pup Washed Into Sea

I've seen this article on a number of websites, but have yet to track down what publication it is attributed to.

December 7, 1944
SAILOR DIVES OFF SHIP TO SAVE PUP WASHED INTO SEA 

How he dived 30 feet from the bridge of the mine-sweeper into the Mediterranean with the pipe he was smoking still tight in his teeth, and won himself a four-legged pal at the same time, is the story told in a letter home from Soundman 2c C. Leroy Van Cleef Jr. 20, U.S. Navy of 198 North Bridge St. H wrote his parents. 

“We were along the coast and had our new mascot aboard. It was a fairly heavy sea (and cold water, I might add). Our mascot happens to be a spaniel of some sort. We call the water-loving hound 'Rusty'. 

“Well, Rusty was out on the fantail this day and a wave came along, washing her overboard. We had to get permission to break formation and go back for her. That took us about 15 minutes until we finally found her. I was up on the bridge at the time, smoking my pipe. Well, I shed the knife I had on and my shoes, and yelled up for permission to go after her. 'Permission granted.' 

“So I dove off the bridge. When I hit the water, I heard something snap in my mouth. That happened to be my pipe while diving about 30 feet. I don't know how my teeth escaped breaking. Luck, I call it. However, I got Rusty all right. She was swimming to beat everything. Quite a current too. They threw us a life ring and pulled us aboard.

“Yesterday I was out on the fantail and the sea was rushing up on the deck. Rusty came up and snuggled around my legs. I guess that swim was worth my favorite pipe.”

 

Death Rides a Horse - German Film Program

Click to enlarge!

For A Few Dollars More - Coming to Blu-ray (Again)

New from Kino Lorber, to be released on March 26.



BRAND NEW 4K RESTORATION! Screen legends Clint Eastwood (Thunderbolt and Lightfoot) and Lee Van Cleef (Sabata) co-star as two rival bounty hunters who join forces to bring murderous bandit El Indio (Gian Maria Volontè, Face to Face) and his vicious gang of criminals to justice. But all is not as it seems in this hard-hitting second installment of Sergio Leone’s (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) trilogy starring Eastwood as the famed “Man with No Name.” Music by legendary composer Ennio Morricone (A Fistful of Dynamite, The Mercenary) with a stellar cast that includes spaghetti western legends Mario Brega (A Fistful of Dollars), Luigi Pistilli (Death Rides a Horse), Aldo Sambrell (Navajo Joe) and Klaus Kinski (The Great Silence).

Special Features:
-BRAND NEW 2018 4K RESTORATION
-NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Tim Lucas
-NEW On location in Almería and Granada with Filmmaker Alex Cox
-Audio Commentary by Film Historian Sir Christopher Frayling
-FAFDM: The Christopher Frayling Archives
-A New Standard: Frayling on FAFDM
-Back for More: Clint Eastwood Remembers FAFDM
-Tre Voci: FAFDM | FAFDM: The Original American Release Version
-Location Comparisons
-NEW TRAILERS FROM HELL with Ernest Dickerson
-NEW Promoting FAFDM: Posters & Lobby Cards
-NEW FAFDM: On the Set
-NEW FAFDM: Color Stills
-NEW FOR A FEW Pictures MORE
-Newly Restored 2.0 Stereo / Original 2.0 Mono / 5.1 Surround
-12 Radio Spots
-Restored UA Logo
-Double Bill Trailer
-FAFDM Trailer 1
-FAFDM Trailer 2
-A Fistful of Dollars – Trailer
-The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – Trailer
-A Fistful of Dynamite – Trailer
-Death Rides a Horse – Trailer
-The Mercenary - Trailer