Cinedigm announced today that The Film Detective (TFD), the classic film restoration and streaming company, will release the 1961 sci-fi classic, Battle of the Worlds, on special-edition Blu-ray and DVD this August for the first time.
In the film, “A runaway asteroid dubbed “The Outsider” mysteriously begins orbiting the Earth and threatens it with lethal flying saucers.”
Filmed in Italy at the height of the country’s sci-fi craze, this independent classic stars Golden Age-star Claude Rains (Casablanca, The Invisible Man, Notorious), Bill Carter, Umberto Orsini, Maya Brent, Jaqueline Derval, and Renzo Palmer, with cinematography by Marcello Masciocchi.
The Science Fiction: The Complete Film Sourcebook (1984) calls Battle of The Worlds, “an astonishing piece of cinema … uncannily beautiful and garish.”
Directed by Antonio Margheriti, the film is coming to special-edition Blu-ray and DVD and is a highly anticipated release from TFD, presented from a 4k scan of an original 35mm archival print.
BONUS FEATURES:
- Original essay by author Don Stradley, Margheriti’s World
- Full-length commentary track by film historian Justin Humphreys
- All-new original production
- A Cinematic Outsider: The Fantastical Worlds of Antonio Margheriti by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures
- An insert with a special surprise for TFD fans.
Battle of the Worlds will be available on Blu-ray ($29.95) and DVD ($19.95) on August 9, 2022. You can secure a copy by pre-ordering now.
