UPDATED!
The word from Sergio at Shadow and Act is that, despite the fact that it is only available on a DVD of unconfirmed quality and not at all available on any kind of official DVD release from Warner Bros. Home Video, the 108-minute version of Ken Russell’s The Devils (1971) is now available in 2.35:1 for download from, of all places, iTunes. There is some tech spec going on here as to the viability of burning that download onto a DVD—obviously seeing Russell’s wide-screen imagery and Derek Jarman’s masterful set design on a 3.5-inch iPod screen isn’t the best way to see the movie (I’ll blow it up to 17 inches or so on my laptop), but in a time when corporate feet are colder than ever in regards to whether or not the climate around Warner Bros. can withstand the predicted shit-storm over the release of the film through conventional home video channels, I guess this relatively under-the-radar release will have to do. I have not yet given up hope for that official DVD release with the infamous ”Rape of Christ” sequence intact, but for now this masterpiece, reduced to a mere pixel’s shadow of its glorious big-screen self, should be grabbed at a $9.99 bargain while the grabbing is good.
(Thanks to Brian Saur for the tip!)
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UPDATED 6/22/10 Not so fast! Be sure to follow the thread in the comments column for all the latest on this very tantalizing, frustrating non-development in the ongoing history of Russell's film and the forces that would keep a well-designed, official DVD out of the American home video market.
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