That Cold Day in the Park

[Finch]

Arrow UK store

Made after years of directing television and industrial films - and just one year before his commercial breakthrough with M*A*S*H - Robert Altman's underrated psychosexual chiller That Cold Day in the Park, arguably the first true 'Altman film', is a stylish harbinger of the themes that would resonate through many of the director's later masterpieces such as Images and 3 Women.

On a cold and rainy day, Frances Austen (Sandy Dennis, Academy Award winner for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), a reclusive virgin sheltered from the sexual revolution happening outside her door, suddenly becomes obsessed with an enigmatic 19 year-old boy she sees sitting on a park bench. Inviting him into her apartment to be bathed and fed, Frances' repressed fantasies soon violently boil over into a dangerous and disturbing desire to keep the boy in her clutches... no matter what.

Adapted from Richard Miles' novel by British author Gillian Freeman (The Leather Boys), Altman expertly turns the screws in this suspenseful tale of sexual repression, the chilly Vancouver locations vividly photographed by László Kovács the same year he lensed Easy Rider, and accompanied by a haunting score from Johnny Mandel, just before he co-wrote the anthem "Suicide Is Painless" for Altman's next film.

TWO-DISC LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tom Ralston
Illustrated collectors' booklet featuring new writing by Brad Stevens, Anna Bogutskaya and James Flower, original press notes including an essay by Altman, and an excerpt from David Thompson's Altman on Altman

DISC ONE
High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
Original lossless mono audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
New audio commentary by critic Samm Deighan
Isolated music and effects track in lossless mono
Crazy in the Rain: Altman's Vancouver, a newly produced featurette revisiting the locations by Kier-La Janisse, author of House of Psychotic Women
Archive interview with film critic and historian David Thompson, author of Altman on Altman
Extended scenes from a pre-release print of the film, never seen on home video before
Over ten minutes of behind-the-scenes footage featuring Altman and Dennis, from the archives of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery

DISC TWO (LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE)
High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of a newly extended 114-minute version of the film re-integrating previously deleted material from a surviving pre-release print
Original lossless mono audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

[beamish14]

Truly a remarkable-looking release, and I’m so, so happy to finally get those pre-release scenes that UCLA preserved.

The visual essay on Altman in Vancouver sounds great. He loved the Lower Mainland

[Big Ben]

Does anyone know what exactly the footage in the Extended Version entails? I would assume it's content that would have ruffled feathers?

[beamish14]

Does anyone know what exactly the footage in the Extended Version entails? I would assume it's content that would have ruffled feathers?

Yep. I discussed it in another post, but it’s classic Altman. They’re extended versions of the dinner prep at the beginning and Sandy Dennis’ visit to her gynecologist. It’s the latter scene that really illustrates how Altman found his unique style with this film, as the camera moves to two characters sitting next to Dennis in a waiting room who don’t have any dialogue in the theatrical cut. It’s very droll and extremely funny.

The film was cut at the very, very last minute. Maybe just days before prints were ordered.

[JamesF]

Yep. I discussed it in another post, but it’s classic Altman. They’re extended versions of the dinner prep at the beginning and Sandy Dennis’ visit to her gynecologist. It’s the latter scene that really illustrates how Altman found his unique style with this film, as the camera moves to two characters sitting next to Dennis in a waiting room who don’t have any dialogue in the theatrical cut. It’s very droll and extremely funny.

The film was cut at the very, very last minute. Maybe just days before prints were ordered.

Actually, the additional footage is all from the first half of the film, and does not include additional dialogue in the gynaecologists' waiting room. Do you mean the three women talking among themselves? That dialogue (which does indeed feel semi-improvised and 'Altmanesque') is already in the main version of the film. The additional footage on our release was supplied directly from UCLA Film Archive and should represent all the additional material from Altman's pre-release cut. I discuss this in some depth in a booklet essay titled "The Seven Minutes", which also describes some alleged X-rated material that could not be found in the material supplied to us by UCLA (more explicit alternate takes of some scenes) via quotes from a couple of Variety articles from the time of release.

[beamish14]

Yep. I discussed it in another post, but it’s classic Altman. They’re extended versions of the dinner prep at the beginning and Sandy Dennis’ visit to her gynecologist. It’s the latter scene that really illustrates how Altman found his unique style with this film, as the camera moves to two characters sitting next to Dennis in a waiting room who don’t have any dialogue in the theatrical cut. It’s very droll and extremely funny.

The film was cut at the very, very last minute. Maybe just days before prints were ordered.

Actually, the additional footage is all from the first half of the film, and does not include additional dialogue in the gynaecologists' waiting room. Do you mean the three women talking among themselves? That dialogue (which does indeed feel semi-improvised and 'Altmanesque') is already in the main version of the film. The additional footage on our release was supplied directly from UCLA Film Archive and should represent all the additional material from Altman's pre-release cut. I discuss this in some depth in a booklet essay titled "The Seven Minutes", which also describes some alleged X-rated material that could not be found in the material supplied to us by UCLA (more explicit alternate takes of some scenes) via quotes from a couple of Variety articles from the time of release.

Ah, I was mistaken! I saw this footage I think about 10 years ago when UCLA had a big Altman retrospective after they’d acquired his film materials. Editor Danford B. Greene (who attended high school with Altman in St. Louis) was on hand and was asked about the last-minute trims, but I don’t think he could recall why

I’m just amazed that the footage hadn’t faded. The negatives for those cut scenes don’t exist, do they?

[JamesF]

I’m just amazed that the footage hadn’t faded. The negatives for those cut scenes don’t exist, do they?

Nope, they're from a surviving pre-release print, possibly belonging to Altman himself. There's definitely a shift in quality compared to the rest of the film, but I don't think it will ruin anyone's enjoyment.