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The Pemini Organisation (1972-1974) [2 X Blu-rays]
 
Hunted (1972)       Assassin (1973)     Moments (1974)

 

 

"In the early 1970s, three ambitious friends – Peter Crane, Michael Sloan and Nigel Hodgson – combined the first letters of each of their names and set up the Pemini Organisation, a young and vital independent British film production company. Active between 1972 and 1974, Pemini produced one mid-length film, Hunted, a high-suspense thriller starring Edward Woodward and June Ritchie, and two feature films: Assassin, a grimly realistic spy film starring Ian Hendry, Edward Judd, Frank Windsor, Ray Brooks and Mike Pratt; and Moments, an enigmatic romantic mystery starring Keith Michell and Angharad Rees. When Pemini disbanded, the films disappeared into the ether...

Now, these three lost works, made by one of the most vibrant independent production companies of the era, have been rescued from the archives to be given their first ever home entertainment release in this deluxe, individually numbered Limited Edition Blu-ray set, accompanied by a wealth of newly produced extras, including feature-length director commentaries, cast and crew interviews, and an 80-page book."

Posters

Theatrical Release: 1972 - 1974

Reviews                                                                                                       More Reviews                                                                                       DVD Reviews

 

Review: Indicator - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

or buy directly from Indicator:

Bonus Captures:

Distribution Indicator - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime

Hunted (1972): 0:41:19.935

Assassin (1973): 1:21:56.077

Moments (1974): 1:32:32.171

Video

Hunted (1972)

1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 48,535,757,174 bytes

Feature: 10,550,805,888 bytes

Video Bitrate: 29.99 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Assassin (1973) :

1.75:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 48,535,757,174 bytes

Feature: 20,218,641,984 bytes

Video Bitrate: 28.93 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Video

Moments (1974)

1.75:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 44,387,658,086 bytes

Feature: 27,426,580,032 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.94 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate Hunted (1972) Blu-ray:

Bitrate Assassin (1973)  Blu-ray:

Bitrate Moments (1974) Blu-ray:

Audio

LPCM Audio English 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit
Commentaries:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps

BEHP Interview:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -30dB

Subtitles English (SDH), None
Features Release Information:
Studio:
Indicator

 

Edition Details:

• • Audio commentaries on Hunted, Assassin, and Moments with director Peter Crane and film historian Sam Dunn (2022)

Disc One:
• Interview with Peter Crane, director of Hunted, Assassin, and Moments (2022 - 31:39)
• Interview with Michael Sloan, writer of Hunted, Assassin, and Moments (2022 - 6:24)
• Interview with Bruce Atkins, production designer Hunted, Assassin, and Moments (2022)
• Interview with Pemini Organisation co-founder Nigel Hodgson (2022 - 29:02)
• Interview with June Ritchie, star of Hunted (2022 - 13:53)
• Interview with Hunted composer Graham Dee (2022 - 12:04)
• Interview with Martyn Chillmaid, assistant director of Assassin (2022 - 21:47)
• Ian Hendry biographer Gabriel Hershman looks at the actor’s role in Assassin (2022 - 22:01)
• Restoring Hunted and Assassin (4:45)
• Image Galleries

Disc Two:
• The BEHP Interview with Wolfgang Suschitzky (1:33:00)
Cast and Crew Interviews
• Interview with Moments actor Peter Crane (2022 - 7:35)
• Interview with Moments actor Valerie Minifie (2022 - 6:15)
• Interview with Moments composer John Cameron (2022 - 13:42)
• Interview with Bill Summers, electrician on Moments (2022 - 10:28)
• Interview with Moments actor Bruce Atkins (2022 - 15:09)
• Interview with Moments actor James Partridge (2022 - 21:43)
• ‘Moments’ in Cannes (2022): Peter Crane recounts a memorable story from an exhibitor screening
• Film historian Vic Pratt charts the history of the Pemini Organisation (2022 - 16:23)
• Moments: deleted sex scene (1974 - 13:33): sequence removed from release prints at the behest of the distributor

• In Search of Lebanon (1970, 12 mins): student film directed by Crane and Hodgson exploring present-day Lebanon as the living source of the Adonis myth
• Image gallery: extensive behind-the-scenes, promotional and publicity materials from the Pemini archives
• Limited edition exclusive 80-page book featuring new essays by Peter Crane about the origins and history of Pemini, extracts from the films’ original press materials, an archival news article, new writing on In Search of Lebanon, and full film credits
• Limited edition exclusive set of five replica production stills


Blu-ray Release Date: May 30th, 2022

Custom Blu-ray Case

Chapters 4 / 11 / 11

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Indicator Blu-ray (May 2022): Indicator have transferred all three 70's films from The Pemini Organisation to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "4K scans of the only surviving film elements by Powerhouse Films". Text screens inform us "Film materials for the Pemini Organisation's Hunted and Assassin exist thanks to the BFI National Archive, where an original 35mm distribution print of each film is preserved. As is often the case with such prints, prior to their archival preservation they had undergone physical damage through being screened multiple times. After scanning the prints at 4K resolution, the team at Final Frame Post, London, painstakingly removed or reduced thousands of instances of dirt, scratches and other imperfections, while also stabilising the image. The only extant copies of Moments appear to be a 35mm distribution print preserved by the BFI National Archive and an analogue U-matic tape owned by the filmmakers. Although both versions of the film are largely identical, the videotape contains a longer, pre-distribution cut. " It's quite weak - soft, video-like, but we have no doubts the best from the available elements. The 1080P image can marginally shift colors (skin tones) between edits, there is occasional judder and we have given examples of a few compromised frames that aren't overly visible in standard viewing - maybe a 1/2 dozen for each film. The imperfections weren't detrimental to the HD presentation viewing on my system. Hunted (1972) is just over 40-minutes and shares the first Blu-ray with the hour twenty-minute Assassin (1973.) The second Blu-ray has Moments with a max'ed out bitrate looking rough but highly watchable.

NOTE: We have added 106 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Indicator use a linear PCM mono tracks (24-bit) in the original English language. With modest budgets the three film's audio output is devoid of a dynamic soundstage, but gunfire, cars (screeching brakes in Assassin) etc. carry hollow depth as per the flat original production sound. Dialogue is about the level of the video with occasional imperfections - more notable on Moments - but dialogue was still audible throughout if a bit scattered at times. On Hunted the score is credited to Graham Dee and Gerry Shury (who teamed up on the 1970 In Search of Lebanon documentary included in the supplements.) On Assassin the score is by Zack Laurence (Interceptor TV Series) and on Moments it is by John Cameron (Night Watch, 1988's Jack the Ripper, The Ruling Class.) So, the sound, generally is quite acceptable if not at modern efficiency levels. It matches the video presentation. Indicator offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-rays.

The Indicator Blu-ray package offers a massive amount of extras. First we get commentaries for each film by Pemini co-founder and director Peter Crane and film historian Sam Dunn. Crane details the evolution of Pemini, his film school work, partners and many of the small hurdles they had in bringing these three Indie-ish efforts out in the space of only a couple of years. There is a lot to appreciate here. The 2nd disc Blu-ray, with Moments features an audio option of a BEHP Interview with cinematographer Wolfgang Suschitzky - archival audio recording, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, featuring the DoP in conversation with Bob Dunbar and Manny Yospa. There are a dozen new interview with cast, crew as well as a piece where film historian Vic Pratt charts the rise and fall of Pemini. In Search of Lebanon is the 1970 student film directed by Crane and Nigel Hodgson exploring present-day Lebanon as the living source of the Adonis myth. There are 14-minutes of deleted scenes sequences removed from release prints, a new restoration piece, image galleries, trailers with extensive behind-the-scenes, promotional and publicity materials from the Pemini archives and lastly a limited edition exclusive 80-page book featuring new essays by Peter Crane about the origins and history of Pemini, extracts from the films’ original press materials, an archival news article, new writing on In Search of Lebanon, and full film credits.    

Of the three films, I wasn't that keen on Hunted as it seemed somewhat contrived although Woodward and June Ritchie were able to stand out from the very low-budget chamber piece. However, I certainly enjoyed the inner workings of a killer-for-hire's existence in Assassin that had me occasionally thinking of The American. Ian Hendry is perfect in the part - a cold, weary killer. It was nice to briefly see Edward Judd (The Day the Earth Caught Fire.) I saw some impressive and inventive cinematography from Brian Jonson as a bonus. I also really liked Moments a lot. It's a personal tragedy interrupted by a vivacious young sweetheart - seemingly sent by fate (although we find more about that) to, initially, steer him away from his monumental depressive state. Angharad Rees is quite wonderful and I was quite smitten with her performance. These are unique grassroots films that I never would have seen (in my entire life!) without the stacked Indicator Blu-ray package. We love their cinematic diversification, commentaries, endless extras and booklet - we absolutely recommend this stellar boxset.

Gary Tooze

 


Menus / Extras

 

Blu-ray Two


CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 


 

 


 

 


 

 

 


 

 


 

 


 

 


 

 


 

 


 

 


 

  


Examples of NSFW (Not Safe For Work) CAPTURES from "Assassin"  (Mouse Over to see- CLICK to Enlarge)

 


There are a handful of compromised frames in each film - here are three examples:

(CLICK to ENLARGE)


 

More full resolution (1920 X 1080) Blu-ray Captures for DVDBeaver Patreon Supporters HERE

 

Hunted (1972)

 

Assassin (1973)

Moments (1974)

 

 
Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

or buy directly from Indicator:

Bonus Captures:

Distribution Indicator - Region FREE - Blu-ray


 


 

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