5 essential extras on our Woodfall boxset

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the iconic British production company Woodfall Films, our Blu-ray boxset Woodfall: A Revolution in British Cinema will be released on 11 June. Containing eight classic features – including the debut home entertainment release of Girl with Green Eyes – the set is complemented by an array of new and archival extras.

Here’s our top five special features to look out for:

Woodfall: A Revolution in British Cinema includes two different versions of Tony Richardson’s landmark, best-picture-winning adaptation of Tom Jones – the theatrical release and director’s cut, both available for the first time in the UK in their uncut versions.

In April 2018 critic and BFI curator Danny Leigh hosted a panel discussion at BFI Southbank as part of the Working Class Heroes weekend celebrating working-class talent. The Stories That Changed British Cinema saw actors Rita Tushingham, Tom Courtenay and Joely Richardson, journalist Paris Lees and filmmaker Jez Butterworth explore the gritty stories brought to life by Woodfall Films. The discussion is presented on the boxset in its entirety.

Get a rare and fascinating insight into the Woodfall creative process from some of the company’s most famous alumni, via new interviews with directors Desmond Davis and Richard Lester and actors Rita Tushingham and Murray Melvin.

Alongside a selection of celebrated Free Cinema titles, the boxset also features a host of extraordinary experimental shorts from the BFI National Archive. Food for a Blluuusssshhhhh (Elizabeth Russell, 1959), Ten Bob in Winter (Lloyd Reckord, 1963), The Peaches (Michael Gill, 1964) and Captain Busby The Even Tenour of Her Ways (Ann Wolff, 1967) are four notable shorts funded by the BFI that perfectly complement the renegade and innovative spirit at the heart of Woodfall.

The award-winning and much-missed cinematographer Walter Lassally (1926-2017) discusses his work on A Taste of Honey, The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner and Tom Jones in a series of video essays and interviews across the boxset.

Woodfall: A Revolution in British Cinema is released on Blu-ray and DVD on 11 June 2018.

The eight films included are:

• Look Back in Anger (Tony Richardson, 1959)
• The Entertainer (Tony Richardson, 1960)
• Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Karel Reisz, 1960)
• A Taste of Honey (Tony Richardson, 1961)
• The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Tony Richardson, 1962)
• Tom Jones (Tony Richardson, 1963) (New 4K digital restorations of the original theatrical version of the film and the 1989 director’s cut)
• Girl with Green Eyes (Desmond Davis, 1964)
• The Knack…and How to Get It (Richard Lester, 1965)