Tweet Rare adventure makes it to dvd AND BLU-RAY for first time

from Cy Endfield and Stanley Baker, makers of ZULU(1964). A year later the director and star went to Africa for "Sands of the Kalahari".
This rare film never on any video before now available in dvd and BLU-RAY
http://www.oldies.com/product-view/292190.html

http://www.oldies.com/product-view/293150.html

You couldn't put the film title in the thread title?

Also the links lead to nothing.

from Cy Endfield and Stanley Baker, makers of ZULU(1964). A year later the director and star went to Africa for "Sands of the Kalahari".
This rare film never on any video before now available in dvd and BLU-RAY

sorry about that, hope they work now.

http://www.oldies.com/product-view/29219O.html" target="_blank

http://www.oldies.com/product-view/29315O.html" target="_blank

The Olive Films release date for DVD/Blu-ray versions of "Sands Of The Kalahari" is August 2, 2011. A year ago. DVDSavant has a highly favorable review of this DVD in his online column at DVDTalk.

thanks. Actually unauthorized / bootleg versions of this film were available sometimes in PAL and mostly region free. Quality questionable. Just from what I've read over the years some versions available were from the A&E broadcast(circa 1980s) which had commercial breaks and cuts. The film has also aired on a UK satellite channel. But this dvd seems to be the first authorized version most importantly to me without the cuts.

[Christopher Jacobs]

I don't know about any DVD versions, but here's the review I wrote of Olive Films' Blu-ray edition back in May of this year in the "Old Movies in HD" thread elsewhere in this very forum! It looks very nice indeed projected onto a big screen (the ZULU Blu-ray, however, has some unfortunate digital issues that make it acceptable only on a smaller screen or from a greater distance away).

SANDS OF THE KALAHARI (1965) 120m ***
Cy Endfield (ZULU) wrote and directed this desert survival adventure that is engrossing on its own level, with plenty of action, intrigue, and ironic twists. It simultaneously serves as a framework for Endfield’s socio-political commentary on humanity’s instinctive tendency towards violence, dominance, and submission, versus the civilizing sense of moral conscience that separates humans from animals.

A pilot and his five disparate passengers (four men and one woman) crash-land in the African desert, and must figure out how to survive as they attempt to find help. Stuart Whitman as an aggressive big-game hunter soon emerges as a leader of the group after equally-aggressive pilot Nigel Davenport sets out by foot to find civilization, and there is naturally some competition for the attentions of beautiful young divorcee Susannah York. Stanley Baker (who co-produced the film with Endfield) plays an alcoholic engineer with a past, Theodore Bikel is an enthusiastic middle-aged professor, and Harry Andrews is an elderly German with a past of his own. They eventually find some shelter in a rock formation of caves near a colony of potentially dangerous baboons, and a combination of Bikel’s expertise and Baker’s hunting skills keeps them going long enough for various personal tensions to replace the initial group struggle merely to survive.

Picture quality is extremely good on the Olive Films Blu-ray of this Paramount Picture, although the opening credits are notably softer than the rest of the film. The main feature shows plenty of detail in the nice, wide Panavision picture. The mono audio is very good, and can be enhanced with a good subwoofer. As with most Olive releases, there are absolutely no bonus features besides the main menu and chapter stops.

SANDS OF THE KALAHARI on Blu-ray --
Movie: B+
Video: A
Audio: A
Extras: F

I actually saw this film in a theater as a kid. I recall the brightness of the desert scenes.

I actually saw this film in a theater as a kid. I recall the brightness of the desert scenes.

Back in the 80s I had an older co-worker who said the same thing about Lawrence of Arabia. His telling of the original 1962 showing of the film made me go see the 1989 restoration widescreen.

I don't know about any DVD versions, but here's the review I wrote of Olive Films' Blu-ray edition back in May of this year in the "Old Movies in HD" thread elsewhere in this very forum! It looks very nice indeed projected onto a big screen (the ZULU Blu-ray, however, has some unfortunate digital issues that make it acceptable only on a smaller screen or from a greater distance away).

SANDS OF THE KALAHARI (1965) 120m ***
Cy Endfield (ZULU) wrote and directed this desert survival adventure that is engrossing on its own level, with plenty of action, intrigue, and ironic twists. It simultaneously serves as a framework for Endfield’s socio-political commentary on humanity’s instinctive tendency towards violence, dominance, and submission, versus the civilizing sense of moral conscience that separates humans from animals.

SANDS OF THE KALAHARI on Blu-ray --
Movie: B+
Video: A
Audio: A
Extras: F

Chris I believe Endfield wrote a screenplay of the novel by William Mulvihill.
http://www.amazon.com/Sands-Kalahari-Wi ... e+kalahari

[Christopher Jacobs]

I don't know about any DVD versions, but here's the review I wrote of Olive Films' Blu-ray edition back in May of this year in the "Old Movies in HD" thread elsewhere in this very forum! It looks very nice indeed projected onto a big screen (the ZULU Blu-ray, however, has some unfortunate digital issues that make it acceptable only on a smaller screen or from a greater distance away).

SANDS OF THE KALAHARI (1965) 120m ***
Cy Endfield (ZULU) wrote and directed this desert survival adventure that is engrossing on its own level, with plenty of action, intrigue, and ironic twists. It simultaneously serves as a framework for Endfield’s socio-political commentary on humanity’s instinctive tendency towards violence, dominance, and submission, versus the civilizing sense of moral conscience that separates humans from animals.

SANDS OF THE KALAHARI on Blu-ray --
Movie: B+
Video: A
Audio: A
Extras: F

Chris I believe Endfield wrote a screenplay of the novel by William Mulvihill.
http://www.amazon.com/Sands-Kalahari-Wi ... e+kalahari" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Yes, he wrote and directed the film (getting screenplay credit), though it was an adaptation from Mulvihill's novel.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059675/fullcredits" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank
(and various posters with "Screenplay by Cy Endfield" credit)

I've never read the novel, but the film is certainly entertaining and well-worth seeing (especially on the nice Blu-ray).