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Picnic At Hanging Rock - Deluxe 3 Disc Edition [1975] | ![Picnic At Hanging Rock - Deluxe 3 Disc Edition [1975]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41RuKJeGrpL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Peter Weir
Actors: Rachel Roberts, Dominic Guard, Helen Morse, Jacki Weaver, Anne-louise Lambert
Studio: Second Sight Films Ltd.
Category: DVD
List Price: £19.99
Buy New: £8.49
You Save: £11.50 (58%)
New (7) from £8.49
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 4014
Format: Pal
Language: English (Unknown)
Rating: Parental Guidance
Region: 2
Number Of Items: 3
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.6 x 0.9
EAN: 5028836031390
ASIN: B0017WVSS8
Theatrical Release Date: 1975
Release Date: June 30, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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A dream within a dream November 1, 2008
Trevor Willsmer (London, England)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Picnic at Hanging Rock is one of those films that should have been left alone, but unfortunately Peter Weir's considerably shorter director's cut does the film no favours. The additions are minor - a redundant scene of a reporter photographing the school and a very brief but much better introduction to the scene where Albert (Wolf Creek's John Jarrett) tells Michael (Dominic Guard) his dream about his sister - but the deletions in the last third are fairly substantial and surprisingly damaging - most notably the entire section of Irma thanking Albert for finding her on the Rock, Michael's growing relationship with Irma, the church service, Albert and Michael talking at night, and Mrs Appleyard removing Sarah's belongings. Sadly, while it may make the film even more elliptical as is Weir's wont, it diminishes the film's resonance and your involvement with the already rather sketchy characters, and it was a tragedy that for a long time only the director's cut was available - until now.
While the picture quality on the theatrical version is not top quality - it only seems to survive in a poor print struck back in the mid-90s before the Australian film industry took film preservation seriously - Arrow's excellent three disc set does at last include it. There's also a good selection of extras from the Australian two-disc set, with pride of place going to a 113-min documentary where various cast and crew round on Weir for spoiling the film for the audience with the re-edit. Even Weir himself admits that directors shouldn't second-guess their work before basically just saying that's what he did anyway. The doc includes the deleted ending and interviews with most of the key players, including Bruce Smeaton, who dismisses the ending as "airy-fairy."
An excellent set that fin ally gives the original version of the film its due.
A Dream Within A Dream Film For Movie Buffs October 28, 2008
E. A. Redfearn (Middlesbrough)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Originally released in 1975, this classic film has finally been restored as a Directors Cut. This 3 Disc set is an absolute delight for movie buffs everywhere.
Both versions are available on this set, the original version can be found on Disc 2. It is the slightly longer of the two versions, looks as though it was shot in soft focus which may enhance the haunting qualities of the film, is shown as a cropped 1:66 image; and has a Dolby Digital 2 Channel soundtrack.
On Disc 1 is the Directors Cut, 8 minutes shorter, with a much sharper print; shown in 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen and has a 5:1 or a 2:0 Audio soundtrack depending on which sound system the viewer is using.
On Disc 3 is a movie buff's dream of a treasure chest of extras. These extras(there are eight extras altogether which will keep fans and movie buffs busy for hours) are worth the price of this box set alone, for they are extremely revealing with loads of information about "The Making Of". . . . interviews with some of the cast, the director Peter Weir and the producer, and as an extra bonus, interviews with the beautiful Anne-Louise Lambert who portrays Miranda, one of the girls who goes missing. Indeed, it is her face which adorns the box set and I can say in all honesty, that Peter Weir's decision to give her the part of Miranda when it was originally set for another actress, was a master stroke.
The music score which enhances the mystical atmosphere of the film is provided by composer Bruce Smeaton, and the Flute De Pan played by Gheorghe Zamfir. This is one of the most haunting movie scores ever created.
For many years, many people who saw the film believed it to be based on a true story. This may be because of the credit at the beginning of the film which explains what happened one Valentine's Day when some school girls and a teacher went missing at Hanging Rock and were never seen again. Joan Lindsay who wrote the novel explained that it was up to the viewer to make up his or her own mind about whether it did actually happen. My own view is, it is purely fiction, but the mystery of what actually happened at Hanging Rock is a fascinating one and it is just a story, and a clever one at that.
Peter Weir's eye for detail is apparant here for there is one outstanding scene here which is one of the most haunting I have ever seen in a film. And that is the shot of the entire party sat around at the base of the rock itself, just resting in the shadows. Still like, eerie, it is a beautiful shot.
There is no doubt it is a masterpiece of Australian cinema and deserves to be amongst the all time greats of modern cinema.
 New Picnic at Hanging Rock Three Dvd Set July 2, 2008
Peter Neski (New York, NY United States)
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
I am sorry to say this isn't the perfect set I hoped for,The picture
of this 16x9 Directors Cut isn't as good as the Non 16x9 Criterion
version,The extras are the reason to get this set,the Original version
is a star lower in PQ ,but is the only dvd version,the third dvd apears the same as the region 4 dvd ,which was fantastic!!
The Movie gets 5 Stars,this set is 4
A Languid and Sensual Masterpiece - Restored!! June 17, 2008
David Podlesak (Lincolnshire, UK)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
I wonder if perhaps it's a bit cheeky to review something before its official release - but of course the film has been out for years and I've certainly seen it enough times as to offer an opinion - I just hope the reader will forgive the rest but I experienced a keen sense of anticipation when I first read that this edition was going to be released (if that doesn't sound too nerdy!). I was a young teen when I first saw this film when it debuted on British tv. Perhaps it was because I was at an impressionable age what with the constant images of (largely) beautiful young ladies dressed in white against the dramatic and foreboding backdrop of a strange and alien landscape. Certainly the film made an impression that has stayed with me since.
The plot as such is that on a school valentines day outing in the year 1900 to Hanging Rock (in Australia), three pupils and a teacher mysteriously disappear. Search parties are organised and one pupil is found though she has no memory of what happened. Meanwhile the school and authorities have to try and deal with both their own sense of loss and the unwelcome attention this tragedy brings especially as there are no answers as to what happened.
The story outline though does not serve justice to the brooding presence of Hanging Rock itself - a natural rock formation that is filmed in such a way as to be as important as any of the characters and dominates over the entire film as a mysterious and malevalent landscape. The musical use of panpipes heightens this moodpiece.
This new edition on dvd will be particularly welcome as, when I bought my current version dvd a few years ago, I had a memory of a couple of scenes that now seemed to be missing. I still had a VHS recording off the tv of the film so scanned through it and I was right - Michael's growing friendship with Irma, the rescued girl, had all but disappeared and (spoiler alert!) so had the scene whereby Mrs Appleyard went into Sara's room at night and took some things, suggestive as this was before it was discovered that Sara had killed herself! There may well be other scenes too - so the opportunity to see the film properly restored is a welcome one as is the prospect of additional extras as my current dvd has none (I don't count 'Scene Access' as a special feature even if the dvd case does!) So what better reason do we need to own this extraordinary film.
Additional - I have since bought this edition and had time to view the films and extras and I still stand by my original comments above. The original (longer) version is still the better film although the print quality is not quite as good - though to be honest, neither film is pristine. On the extras there are a few interviews and featurettes but the main attraction is a near 2-hr making of which is quite informative, providing anecdotes and interviews on most aspects of the film.
Finally, an edition that does this film justice May 30, 2008
J. Ramchandani (London)
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is a MUST HAVE for anyone who likes Australian films, Peter Weir films or World Cinema in general. The extras alone make this boxset a necessity for any DVD collection:
"Dream Within A Dream" - making of featurette; "A Recollection - Hanging Rock 1900"; "Joan Lindsay Interview"; "Audio Interview with Karen Robson"; "Hanging Rock & Martindale - Then and Now"; "The Day Of St Valentine" and "Deleted Scenes".
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