Harry Palmer is finally coming to Blu-ray in the United States! And somewhat surprisingly, not in
The Ipcress File* or
Funeral in Berlin, but the much more divisive third film in Harry Saltzman's
other spy series,
Billion Dollar Brain. (Which, on any given day, could easily be my own personal favorite of the three.) Kino Lorber will release Ken Russell's brilliant and beautiful Len Deighton adaptation
Billion Dollar Brain in high definition on October 7. (There will also be a
DVD edition, as the old MGM release is long out of print.) If you've never seen this Michael Caine masterpiece, read my review
here to understand why this is such great news! And if you have, then why not go ahead and
pre-order it now on Amazon? So far the only extra announced is the theatrical trailer, but the real question on spy fans' minds is will this version contain the half minute or so of footage excised from previous DVD editions in all regions? Probably not, since the footage in question contains a clip of the Beatles movie
A Hard Day's Night along with its prohibitively expensive music. But perhaps Kino has found a way to clear this music? Even if they haven't, it's still well worth owning
Billion Dollar Brain in high definition--especially with such pretty cover art! Spy fans and fans of Sixties capers might be interested to know that the company will also release
Topkapi on Blu-ray the same day.
*Though it's never been officially released in America, The Ipcress File is available on Blu-ray as a region-free import.
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