New Radiance Film Blu-rays

Radiance Films is a UK-based distributor of films from around the world, with a focus on quality and artistry. They specialize in foreign films from all kinds of genres, crime thrillers, kung fu, drama, comedy and more.

MVD Entertainment has partnered with Radiance Films to bring these Blu-rays to America. Now fans of foreign films can enjoy these deluxe Blu-rays.

Here recently Radiance has brought an amazing collection of new releases. Take a look at what has been release and look at the awesome bonus features included. You are bound to find one or two or more you would love to add to your collection.

Goodbye & Amen John Dannahay (Tony Musante, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage), a CIA agent stationed in Rome, is planning to overthrow an African government. But his plan goes wrong when a corrupt colleague starts shooting people from the roof of a hotel, taking an innocent couple hostage. Director Damiano Damiani (How to Kill a Judge) wields expert tension in this gripping espionage thriller, twisting and turning its tight plot to its sensational finale. Featuring a fantastic supporting cast including Claudia Cardinale (The Day of the Owl), John Steiner (The Case is Closed: Forget It) and Wolfango Soldati (The Heroin Busters), Goodbye & Amen is one of the great 1970s Italian action thrill rides, set to a haunting score by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis (Torso, Keoma).

Bonus Materials
* New 2023 restoration of the film from the original camera negative presented with Italian and, for the first time on home video, English audio options
* Uncompressed mono PCM audio
* Audio commentary by Eurocrime experts Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth (2023)
* Interview with editor Antonio Siciliano
* Archival interview with Wolfango Soldati (2013)
* New and improved English subtitles for Italian audio and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for English audio
* Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
* Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Italian crime cinema expert Lucia Rinaldi
* Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

Allonsanfan After the fall of Napoleon, the Restoration begins. Fulvio (Marcello Mastroianni, La dolce vita), an aristocrat who has dedicated his life to the revolution has become disillusioned and his cowardice keeps him from joining his comrades. As he struggles to manage his evasion and lies he gets swept up in a suicidal uprising in Southern Italy. Stunningly photographed with lush period detail and featuring the Taviani brothers' trademark magic realism and absurdist irony, Allonsanfà n has Mastroianni on top form as the reluctant insurgent and one of Ennio Morricone's finest scores. Radiance Films is proud to present this essential film on Blu-ray for the first time in the world.

Bonus Materials
* New 2K restoration of the film from the original negative, presented on Blu-ray for the first time in the world
* Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
* Audio commentary by critic Michael Brooke
* Archival interview with the Taviani brothers by critic Gideon Bachmann in which they discuss filmmaking approaches, the role of the director, the future of cinema and more (57 mins)
* Original trailer
* Newly translated English subtitles
* Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
* Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Italian cinema expert Robert Lumley and a newly translated contemporary interview with the Taviani brothers
* Single pressing of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

 

Black Tight Killers After wooing stewardess Yoriko (Chieko Matsubara, Tokyo Drifter), war photographer Hondo (Akira Kobayashi, Battles Without Honor and Humanity) sees her kidnapped by a team of deadly female assassins who use vinyl records as weapons. Investigating her whereabouts, Hondo uncovers a conspiracy to steal a buried stash of WWII-era gold. Soon he must dodge go-go dancing ninjas and chewing-gum bullets to save Yoriko, whose family secret is tied to the hidden treasure. Every bit as stylish and inventive as the wildest works by his mentor Seijun Suzuki, Yasuharu Hasebe's spy spoof is a gaudy 1960s pop delight that ranks with the likes of Joseph Losey's Modesty Blaise and Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik!

Bonus Materials:
* High-Definition digital transfer
* Uncompressed mono PCM audio
* Audio commentary by Jasper Sharp
* Archival interview with director Yasuharu Hasebe
* Trailer
* Optional English subtitles
* Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
* Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Japanese cinema expert Chris D.

 

The Shape of Night A young woman from the countryside (Miyuki Kuwano of Oshima's Cruel Story of Youth) falls in love with a handsome hoodlum (Mikijiro Hira, Sword of the Beast), who pushes her into a life of prostitution. When his sleazy superiors catch sight of her, she finds herself trapped inside the gaudy maze of city nightlife. Directed by Noburo Nakamura, a veteran of the Shochiku studio's signature Golden Age family dramas, The Shape of Night was made as a reaction to the radical film styles of the Japanese New Wave. With its lush cinematography full of saturated colours, a lyrical tone and its story of love leading to inescapable tragedy, it has been compared to the films of Douglas Sirk, while also acting as a precursor to the work of Wong Kar-wai.

Bonus Materials
* High-Definition digital transfer
* Uncompressed mono PCM audio
* Visual essay on the artistic upheavals at Shochiku studios during the 1960s by Tom Mes
* Trailer
* New and improved English subtitle translation
* Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
* Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Chuck Stephens
* Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

Misunderstood John Duncombe, the British consul in Florence, returns home from his wife's funeral to his two children, who are unaware of their mother's passing. He makes the decision to tell his eldest son, Andrea, but hides the truth from his sickly younger son, Milo. Director Luigi Comenicini (The Sunday Woman) captures the innocence and carefree moments of youth alongside the agonising feelings of grief, creating one of the finest films about childhood, one which can stand alongside The 400 Blows, The Spirit of the Beehive and L'enfance nue. A Palme d'Or nominee at the Cannes Film Festival and recipient of multiple awards from Italian institutions, Misunderstood features remarkable performances from the children and from Anthony Quayle (Lawrence of Arabia) as Duncombe.

Bonus Materials:
* New 2024 2K restoration from the original negative
* Uncompressed mono PCM audio
* Interview with co-screenwriter Piero De Bernardi and Cristina Comenicini, the director's daughter and herself a noted filmmaker (2008, 36 mins)
* Interview with legendary critic Michel Ciment (2021, 24 mins)
* A Child's Heart - a visual essay by David Cairns on Comencini and the filmmaker's affinity for childhood stories (2023, 25 mins)
* Trailer
* Newly translated English subtitles
* Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original promotional materials
* Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by critic Manuela Lazic and a newly translated archival interview with Comencini

 

Shinobi: It's the 16th century and Japan is in chaos. Samurai clans engage each other in battle over who gets to rule the nation, while warlords call upon the ninja to spy on and assassinate their rivals. Goemon, an ambitious young member of a ninja family, is thrown into the turmoil of Japanese history when his village is wiped out by the forces of leading warlord Oda Nobunaga, who has sworn to eradicate the ninja in his quest for absolute power. Fueled by vengeance, Goemon uses every weapon in his arsenal to bring down Oda and to prove that a ninja is an army of one. Starring 'the Japanese James Dean' Raizo Ichikawa (Sleepy Eyes of Death, Conflagration) alongside Tomisaburo Wakayama (Lone Wolf and Cub, the Bounty Hunter trilogy) and Ayako Wakao (Elegant Beast, Red Angel), the Shinobi series was an epoch-making success and became a social phenomenon that left deep marks on Japan of the 1960s, from children's playgrounds to the leftist counter-culture. Packed with spectacular and oft-copied action scenes, it also established the ground rules for all ninja movies that followed, introducing such classic tropes as the shuriken throwing star and the iconic black mask and suit.

Bonus Materials:
* High-Definition digital transfer of each film presented on two discs, made available on Blu-ray (1080p) for the first time outside of Japan
* Uncompressed mono PCM audio
* Interview with Shozo Ichiyama, artistic director of the Tokyo International Film Festival, about director Satsuo Yamamoto
* Visual essay on the ninja in Japanese cinema by film scholar Mance Thompson Interview with film critic Toshiaki Sato on star Raizo Ichikawa
* Trailers
* New and improved optional English subtitles
* Six postcards of promotional material from the films
* Reversible sleeves featuring artwork based on original promotional materials
* Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Jonathan Clements on the Shinobi no mono series and Diane Wei Lewis on writer Tomoyoshi Murayama
* Limited Edition of 3000 copies, presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

Sympathy for the Underdog Returning from a ten-year prison sentence, former gang leader Gunji (Koji Tsuruta, Big Time Gambling Boss) finds that his turf has been taken over by his former enemy, now a large crime syndicate with a legal corporate front. Looking for new opportunities, he gathers his old crew and heads for the island of Okinawa, a legal grey zone ripe for the taking. Made just before Kinji (Yakuza Graveyard) Fukasaku's 1970s streak of yakuza movie masterpieces, Sympathy for the Underdog is a key film in the development of this director's unique style and themes.

Bonus Materials: 

* High-Definition digital transfer
* Uncompressed mono PCM audio
* Audio commentary by yakuza film expert Nathan Stuart (2024)
* Interview with Fukasaku biographer Olivier Hadouchi (2024)
* Visual essay on Okinawa on screen by film historian and author Aaron Gerow (2024)
* Trailer
* New and improved English subtitle translation
* Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
* Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Bastian Meiresonne and an archival review of the film

 

Bandits of Orgosolo A Sardinian peasant is suspected of murder following an encounter with bandits. In order to survive, he has no option but to turn to banditry himself. Winning multiple awards at the Venice Film Festival, Bandits of Orgosolo continues the traditions of Visconti and De Sica, yet with his own style and rhythms, Vittorio De Seta musters just as much power as the earlier masters. Despite awards and plaudits on release this incredible film only now makes its debut on home video. Upon release, Bandits moved Martin Scorsese to observe: 'It was as if De Seta were an anthropologist who spoke with the voice of a poet.'

Bonus Materials:
* New 4K restoration from the original camera negative by The Film Foundation and Cineteca di Bologna at Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with Titanus with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation
* Uncompressed mono PCM audio
* New interview with cinematographer Luciano Tovoli (2024, 28 mins)
* New interview with curator and filmmaker Ehsan Khoshbakht (2024, 11 mins)
* Trailer
* Optional English subtitles
* Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Filippo Di Battista
* Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Roberto Curti

As you can see with this releases, Radiance Films always puts so much love and attention to detail on their releases. With these films being restored and tons of bonus features added, you cannot go wrong with added any of these to your collection.

Now if you are looking for a good deal on any of these releases. I highly recommend visiting the Radiance Film section of MVD Visual's website. At the time of this writing, these Blu-rays  are now 15% off! So, stock up and save today!