"Director: Francesco Rosi"

• Salvatore Giuliano | Blu Ray | (29/09/2014) from £15.49   |  Saving you £4.50 (29.05%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Salvatore Giuliano can be seen as a Citizen Kane-like portrait of a man by those who knew him but is also as a crime film about the mafia and their entanglements with politics and corruption. Francesco Rosi's influential (it's style can be seen as a strong precursor to The Battle of Algiers) film is according to Rosi best explained by the original title: Sicily 1943-60 a stunning investigative portrait that would form the template for his later films. Telling the story of Salvatore Giuliano Italy's most wanted criminal who is found dead with a hand gun and rifle by his side Rosi's films asks difficult questions and courted much controversy in Italy upon release. Filming in the exact locations utilising original court reports as well as casting the actual persons involved Rosi garnered stunning performances from his part non-professional crew but also from his stars Frank Wolff (Once Upon a Time in the West) and Salvo Randone (Satyricon). Stunningly shot by Gianni di Venanzo (Fellini's 8½) the film was never released in the UK despite glowing reviews; 'outstanding' (Variety) 'one of the most courageous things the Italian cinema has ever attempted' (Sight and Sound) 'the most aesthetically satisfying and inventive film of its type in many years' (Monthly Film Bulletin) finally it can now be appreciated in a stunning new 4K restoration. Special Features: New 4K film restoration carried out with support from Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation at the Cineteca di Bologna film laboratory Newly created and exclusive content Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned by Jay Shaw Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film and more!

• Bizet: Carmen -- film version | DVD | (13/03/2000) from £17.89   |  Saving you £2.10 (11.74%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This movie version of Bizet's popular opera Carmen was filmed on location, conveying a kind of atmosphere, a sense of space, movement, and presence that's hard to achieve in a staged performance. It takes the action out of doors for many scenes, with the opening titles superimposed on the bloody conclusion of a bullfight. Elsewhere the changing of the guard, the crowd scenes, the dance number that opens Act 2, and the panoramic scenery of the smugglers' mountain hideout all benefit from the freedom granted by movie cameras. It's an exciting Carmen, too, with a young-looking Placido Domingo in top form for a role he has sung hundreds of times. For Julia Migenes, though, it was her first performance in a role she would have trouble performing in an opera house. Her voice does not fit easily into Carmen's range, and she spent months training it, very successfully, before singing the role in a recording studio where the soundtrack was taped before the film was shot. Casting her in the role was a gamble, but it worked; she is a convincing actress. Unlike most opera-house performances this movie version uses the opera's original opera comique form with some spoken dialogue rather than recitatives.--Joe McLellan, Amazon.com

• LE MANI SULLA CITTÀ | Blu Ray | (31/03/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival Francesco Rosi's Le mani sulla città [Hands Over the City] is one of the finest political dramas ever made - a ferocious invigorating exploration of civic corruption in post-war Naples with the intensity of the best Hollywood thrillers. Beginning with the collapse of an apartment building in a working-class district the film zeroes in on the subsequent investigation of responsibility surrounding the disaster. At the centre is Edoardo Nottola (Rod Steiger) a wealthy land developer and council member of the government's ruling party who is determined to keep his personal and professional interests in the building of new government housing as intertwined as possible. With sterling performances and visual prowess Rosi meticulously unpicks the tangled threads of interconnected favours and unscrupulous culture of self-reward within the halls of governmental power. This brilliant exposé (a major influence on countless filmmakers including Coppola's Godfather films) remains as blazingly topical as the day of its premiere. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present this film for the first time on home viewing in the UK in a new Dual-Format (Blu-ray and DVD) edition. Special Features: New high-definition 1080p presentation Optional English subtitles Additional extras to be announced A booklet containing the words of Francesco Rosi rare imagery and more!

• Three Brothers | Blu Ray | (04/04/2016) from £8.95   |  Saving you £11.04 (123.35%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A wonderful film that moves on waves of feeling. Francesco Rosi, who has one of the greatest compositional senses in the history of movies, keeps you in a state of emotional exaltation. A simple image has the kind of resonance that most directors never achieve. (Pauline Kael, New Yorker) Francesco Rosi established himself as one of the greatest chroniclers of Italy's stormy postwar history with such riveting classics as Salvatore Giuliano, The Mattei Affair and Illustrious Corpses. Three Brothers (Tre fratelli) explores similarly knotty social and political territory through the seemingly straightforward story of three siblings returning to their native southern Italy to pay homage to their late mother. However, their various professions a judge in Rome (Philippe Noiret), a spiritual counsellor in Naples (Vittorio Mezzogiorno), a factory worker in Turin (Michele Placido) have a profound effect on their response to this reunion. Although Oscar-nominated at the time, Three Brothers has never previously been released on any video format in the UK. Arrow Academy is proud to present it here in a brand new 2K restoration. Special Edition Contents: Brand new 2K restoration from original film materials High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray and Standard Definition DVD presentations Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray) Optional newly translated English subtitles Archival interview with Francesco Rosi Original theatrical trailer Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin Booklet featuring an essay by Professor Millicent Martin, a 1981 interview with Rosi and a selection of contemporary reviews (first printing only)

• Christ Stopped At Eboli | DVD | (15/05/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  An intellectual painter turned doctor Carlo Levi is exiled to a remote region of Southern Italy near Eboli a place were according to local myth Christ would venture no further than in his journey south. Over time Levi begins to integrate with the local community...

• Carmen: The Restored Edition (Blu Ray) | Blu Ray | (18/07/2011) from £14.59   |  Saving you £5.40 (37.01%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The heat and passion of Bizet’s Carmen is brought to life as never before in Francesco Rosi’s definitive, highly-acclaimed version starring Placido Domingo, Julia Migenes and Ruggero Raimondi.In Seville, 1820, a naive soldier Don Jose falls under the spell of sensual temptress Carmen. He deserts from the army, gives up everything to be with her, only to be spurned in favour of the toreador Escamillo. His desperate pleas for her to return are met with further humiliation and Carmen’s taunts lead to a dramatic finale.

• Lucky Luciano | DVD | (13/06/2005) from £18.88   |  Saving you £-4.89 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  In 1946 the famous gangster Charles ""Lucky"" Luciano is deported to his native Italy. Luciano has just finished serving nine years in jail and returns to Naples to instigate deals with other mobsters. Unknown to Lucky his long-time nemesis a former federal narcotics agent continues to gather evidence in order to testify against him and put him away forever...

• Lucky Luciano | DVD | (21/05/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In 1946 the famous gangster Charles 'Lucky' Luciano is deported to his native Italy. Luciano has just finished serving nine years in jail, and returns to Naples to instigate deals with other mobsters. Unknown to Lucky, his long-time nemesis, a former federal narcotics agent, continues to gather evidence in order to testify against him and put him away forever...