Studiocanal Gives Muriel Box Comedies 4K Restoration

Studiocanal have announced their Vintage Classics collection is expanding three with brand new 4k restorations of three comedies directed by Muriel Box.

Box was one of Britain’s earliest trailblazing female directors who remains to date the most prolific UK female director in history. Studiocanal will release THE PASSIONATE STRANGER, THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMEN and RATTLE OF A SIMPLE MAN. Available soon in the UK on DVD and, for the first time on Blu-ray and Digital from 29th May. This release coincides with the BFI’s first ever ‘Muriel Box A Woman’s Take’ season, opening at BFI Southbank on 2nd May.

With 12 features to her name, made during the 1950s and 1960s, Muriel Box was a pioneering filmmaker who explored the role of women in society through her films. Asserting her talent in an industry difficult for women to break in to, Muriel Box made a major contribution to cinema and became the first woman ever to win an Academy Award for best original screenplay, for The Seventh Veil in 1945.

THE PASSIONATE STRANGER (1957) centres around happily married house-wife Judith Wynter (Margaret Leighton) who keeps the fact she is a best-selling author of steamy romance novels, a closely guarded secret. As her husband Roger (Ralph Richardson), recovers from a serious illness, the couple’s new driver Carlo (Carlo Justini) discovers the manuscript of Judith’s latest novel and jumps to a rather unfortunate conclusion, making life in the Wynter household very complicated indeed! Boldly experimental in form and an entertaining riposte to the romance novel, the BFI declares, ‘The Passionate Stranger surely has no serious rival as the most dazzlingly ambitious commercial British film of the 1950s in terms of form and, in its fluent manipulation of meta-fictional levels, now looks several decades ahead of its time.’

SPECIAL FEATURES:
-New An Out and Out Feminist: Muriel Box and The Passionate Stranger, featuring interviews with Film Historian Dr. Josephine Botting, author of Her Brilliant Career: Ten Extraordinary Women of the ——Fifties Rachel Cooke, film director Carol Morley
-The Woman Behind the Picture: Archive interview with Muriel Box Part 1
-Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery
-Original Trailer

THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMEN (1957), which Muriel called her most personal film, reveals the complex lives of women and the assertion that women can and should be ‘an equal partner in the business of life’. A witty and touching comedy with a great cast including Laurence Harvey, Julie Harris, Eva Gabor, Mai Zetterling and Diane Cilento, the film features striking cinematography from Otto Heller and sumptuous costume design by Cecil Beaton.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
-New An Equal Partner in the Business of Life: Muriel Box & The Truth About Women, featuring interviews with Film Historian Dr. Josephine Botting, author of Her Brilliant Career: Ten Extraordinary Women of the Fifties Rachel Cooke, film director Carol Morley
-The Woman Behind the Picture: Archive interview with Muriel Box Part 2
-Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery
-Original Trailer

RATTLE OF A SIMPLE MAN (1964) follows Percy Winthram (Harry H Corbett), a shy, naïve 39-year-old who is in London with his friends for the Cup Final. When he meets beautiful hostess Cyrenne (Diane Cilento) in a Soho strip club and accepts a bet, a night of lust seems to be on the cards, but back at her apartment Percy’s innocence and vulnerability become all too evident. A bittersweet study of two characters from very different walks of life, the film is imbued with endearing and heartwarming humour and some stark home truths.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
-New Game for Anything: Muriel Box & Rattle of A Simple Man, featuring interviews with Film Historian Dr. Josephine Botting, author of Her Brilliant Career: Ten Extraordinary Women of the Fifties Rachel Cooke, film director Carol Morley
-New Interview with actor Hugh Futcher
-Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery
-Original Trailer

Studiocanal will release THE PASSIONATE STRANGER, THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMEN and RATTLE OF A SIMPLE MAN. in the UK on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital from 29th May.