Roman Polanski Collection (Box Set)

Film Details

Cast

Catherine Deneuve, Donald Pleasence, Françoise Dorléac, Patrick Wymark, Jack MacGowan

Technical Details

What better present for Roman Polanski on his 70th birthday? And an equally tempting gift for those interested in some of the quirkiest and most disturbing films ever ... more >

What better present for Roman Polanski on his 70th birthday? And an equally tempting gift for those interested in some of the quirkiest and most disturbing films ever made by this maverick (and wildly inconsistent) talent. Anchor Bay UK is releasing this highly anticipated four-disc DVD boxed set, bringing together the first three full-length features of the director's illustrious career (Knife in the Water, Cul-de-Sac and the masterly Repulsion with Catherine Deneueve and that razor blade). This release also includes, for the first time on DVD, eight of Polanski's early, rarely seen short films, many of which were made while he was still a student in Poland – these are fascinating precursors of the director’s later work. The three features are as memorable today as when they were made: the Oscar and BAFTA nominated suspense chiller Knife in the Water with its psychological and physical battle aboard a boat (later ripped off in Dead Calm), the terrifying Catherine Deneuve-starring psychological thriller Repulsion (still one of the cinema’s great studies in alienation), and the darkly comic Cul-de-Sac, starring Donald Pleasence and Francoise Dorleac (the real-life elder sister of Catherine Deneuve). Re-cycled Pinter and Beckett, perhaps (Lionel Stander and Jack McGowran's gangsters could be waiting for Godot), but brilliantly played and directed. Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby were yet to come (along with a slew of misfires), but Polanski’s talent was already fully formed. < less

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