Pre-Order Dark of the Sun (1968) (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

The price link below will take you directly to the product on Amazon. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This release date should make some HTF members happy.

 

[skylark68]

WOW! Glad to finally see this is being released. I'd be interested in knowing what the hold up was.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

DARK OF THE SUN (1968)
NEW 2018 1080p HD MASTER
Run Time 100:00
Subtitles English SDH
DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 MONO- English
16 X 9 LETTERBOX, ORIGINAL ASPECT RATIO - 2.35:1
COLOR
BD 50
Special Features
Theatrical Trailer (HD)
New Commentary by Trailers From Hell's Larry Karaszewski and Josh Olson with Brian Saur and Elric D. Kane

Take elite commandos, send them on a do-or-die assignment – and sit back and watch the action explode. The men-on-a-mission formula that worked in 1967’s The Dirty Dozen and in Where Eagles Dare (released in the U.S. in 1969) provides another salvo of volatile screen adventure with this strike force saga released in 1968. Rod Taylor and Jim Brown are among a mercenary unit rolling on a steam train across the Congo, headed for the dual tasks of rescuing civilians imperiled by rebels and recovering a cache of diamonds. The film’s violence is fierce, unforgiving, ahead of its time. Quentin Tarantino would offer a tribute of sorts to this red-blooded wallop of a cult fave by using part of its compelling score in Inglourious Basterds (2009).

https://www.facebook.com/warnerarch...4nOQhHEVCAiyxwXB1yV_PXioMO45U5g&__tn__=EEHH-R

 

[Dick]

Commentary...cool! THis would have been an instant buy even without it. Nice extra. If only a commentary could have been added to THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The Amazon link is active for a 12-18-18 release date.

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Sun-Blu...id=1542914302&sr=1-1&keywords=dark+of+the+sun

 

[Robert Crawford]

Amazon had dropped the pricing down to $17.99.

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Sun-Blu...id=1542914302&sr=1-1&keywords=dark+of+the+sun

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Do I want to buy this, Robert?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Do I want to buy this, Robert?

It's alright, but the forum has bigger fans on this forum to speak of its movie virtues.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Website CineSavant has a detailed review of the film and the disc. Did order mine and ready to see it when it arrives.

https://trailersfromhell.com/dark-of-the-sun-2/

 

[Robert Crawford]

The latest Warner Archive Podcast with George Feltenstein. It has a date of December 11th, but it didn't show up on my iTunes until today. Feltenstein and group talks about "Dark of the Sun".

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/warner-archive-collection-podcast

 

[J. Casey]

Great release! And directed by the great British cinematographer Jack Cardiff!

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Pair it with Mandy as a double feature and you'll have a great night of chainsaw battles.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Just received my copy and played a few scenes. Good image & sound so fans of the movie will be very happy.

 

[Douglas R]

Having now seen this, I am reminded of why I've been in no rush to see the film again after having seen it back in 1968. It's a very unpleasant film in its unrelenting brutality: sadistically violent in fact. Apart from the gratuitous violence, I just don't think it's a very good film with its clichéd, one dimensional characters. The film doesn't flow well. It's badly edited with distracting continuity errors. There's no character to empathise with and Rod Taylor's (admittedly one of his most impressive acting roles) attempt at redemption at the end is unconvincing - coming across as an afterthought. I'm not surprised to learn that DARK OF THE SUN is one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite films, because I dislike Tarantino's films as well!

It was good to see stalwart British actors Kenneth More and Andre Morell given major roles. Kenneth More in particular was hugely popular in the UK (my local theatre is called The Kenneth More) but his part as a drunken doctor was a big departure from his usual light-hearted performances.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I'm not surprised to learn that DARK OF THE SUN is one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite films, because I dislike Tarantino's films as well!

Tarantino does very much appear to have a love of the sadistic and brutal. His primary theme in his oeuvre is revenge and in the most nasty and sadistic manner possible. There is an extreme ugliness at work in Tarantino's pictures and it does make me wonder. Some statements he has made, which I won't repeat here, I have found utterly repulsive.

I find Dark of the Sun an interesting picture and yes, I think Rod Taylor is very good in it. It was made at a time where violence in motion pictures was changing and becoming much more graphic. This falls right between Bonnie and Clyde and The Wild Bunch and is exactly as shocking for that moment in time as those pictures were. You are correct though, Doug, that it appears to have a bit more of a nasty streak in how it uses the violence...which is, I am sure, what appeals to Tarantino.

Oddly, and probably a reflection on me, is I don't find the films of this period as eagerly slanted toward cruelty as I do the many scenes that occur in Tarantino films.

Also oddly, and again reflecting something about myself, I still enjoy watching Tarantino pictures...not at all for their cruelty...but for his absolute obsession with dialogue. What I always remember from Tarantino films is not the violence or torture scenes he seems to have a fetish for including but rather the outrageous conversations he writes for his characters.

I don't think Tarantino is a stellar action director but he directs a conversation with more enthusiasm than most.

I also really enjoy the fact, as pointed out above by Jason, that Jack Cardiff directs this one.

 

[bujaki]

Tarantino writes verbal diarrhea full of jarring anachronisms. His overly precious dialogue takes me out of the suspension of disbelief so essential to fiction. For instance, Landa, in Basterds, would in reality never spend an inordinate amount of time speaking in florid terms to a French peasant who doesn't understand most of the monologue. I know Basterds occurs in an alternate universe, but even in such a fictive world, mimesis is required.
Jackie Brown is his best film because Tarantino did not write it from scratch.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Tarantino writes verbal diarrhea full of jarring anachronisms. His overly precious dialogue takes me out of the suspension of disbelief so essential to fiction. For instance, Landa, in Basterds, would in reality never spend an inordinate amount of time speaking in florid terms to a French peasant who doesn't understand most of the monologue. I know Basterds occurs in an alternate universe, but even in such a fictive world, mimesis is required.
Jackie Brown is his best film because Tarantino did not write it from scratch.

Yes, I basically agree with you, Jose. Basterds is a film that puts on full display all of Tarantino's worst or, if you like what he does, best instincts.

I think Tarantino's career breaks up into two sections. His pictures up until Jackie Brown are still tethered to some form of reality and then beginning with Kill Bill he throws that out the window and begins writing whatever he wants. And what he wants is to write movie scenes that are about movies...not reality in any way. So, with Kill Bill he cuts the tether.

The thing with his post Jackie Brown output is he does not care about suspension of disbelief because he is not attempting to get you to believe that anything in his films is in any way believable. Everything is openly just about movie worship and being in love with a fictional universe and characters that say the sort of ridiculous stuff he loves.

For me, this is sort of like watching a child play with a toy he or she really loves. The guy seems to be having so much fun it is infectious.

By the time we get to Basterds and his two westerns he is writing just nutty over the top stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with reality and is only about satisfying his movie fantasies.

Hans Landa is Tarantino saying "Look what an amazing MOVIE character I have written!" as I think he feels Landa is basically his masterpiece. He surrounds that character with all sorts of movie stuff and never once during the entire picture does he even wave to reality.

He's doing fiction about fiction. That, as they say, is his bag.

I don't expect him to come back down to earth at this point. His next picture is a film that is going to be set in Hollywood and the world of making pictures. Which likely means that it will be as far from reality as possible. He does appear to be using some real people and possibly real events in the film but as he ignored any reality about WWII in Basterds, I would expect him to use these people and events in whatever way he sees fit to serve his fiction.

So, you never know, in Tarantino's picture Sharon Tate might slaughter Charles Manson and serve his remains in a souffle at a birthday party for Roman Polanski.

 

[DalekFlay]

I agree Tarantino has largely thrown realism to the curb, but I think it works for his themes and style, so it doesn't bother me. Reminds me of how some people really hate Bram Stoker's Dracula because of the silliness and hammy acting, while others love it for that. It's very much just a "different strokes for different folks" kind of thing. Same with his violence and vulgarity, which I personally don't find at all off-putting. In fact I wish more movies featured people talking how they really do, and showed violence as the messy, nasty enterprise it is.

 

[Alan Tully]

I love some Tarantino films, others not so much (love Hateful 8, don't like Django), but at least all Tarantino films are very much Tarantino, & not the bland efforts that many other directors give us. As for Dark Of The Sun, I didn't fancy seeing it back in the sixties & I've learnt to trust those instincts of a younger me.