Picnic At Hanging Rock — Picnic At Hanging Rock (UHD & Blu-Ray Boxset)
Picnic At Hanging Rock is a quietly enchanting and often haunting blend of period drama and mystery- with light brushes of dreamy unease & horror. The mid-1970s movie is set in the 1900s in the Australian countryside, where three students & their teacher go missing without a trace. It’s a film that has gone on to inspire and inform other moody/ lightly chilling movies and TV series. And though it’s nearing fifty years since it was first released- it still retains its highly distinctive air of haunting and lightly dreamy unease. Here from Second Sight, is a new four-disc (two Blu Rays & two UHD) set, taking in a beautiful new 4k scan of the film, a great selection of extras - all presented in a ridged slipcase, with six art cards, a soft cover booklet & original novel with new cover art.
Picnic At Hanging Rock appeared in the year 1975- filmed on location in the sun-beaten, yet hauntingly beautiful & barren Australian countryside. It was directed by Sydney-born Peter Weir director Between the late ’60s, and early 2010’s he has thirteen feature credits to his name- these go from comedy sci-fi horror The Cars That Ate Paris (1974), supernatural thriller The Last Wave (1977), WW1 adventure drama Gallipoli (1981), social satire-come-comedy drama The Truman Show (1998).
The film is set on Valentine's Day 1900 in Victorian, where the class from an exclusive school for young ladies are going on a day trip to the local beauty spot Hanging Rock. It opens in the morning with the girls getting up & dressed for their special day- there’s the golden-locked and popular Miranda (Anne-Louise Lambert), and her younger- rather troubled & talks little roommate Sara (Margaret Nelson) who worships the ground Miranda walks on. As well as a few others.
The horse & carriage is brought around, and at the last minute Sara is told she can’t go on the trip-so Miranda and around ten or so other girls, two teachers- bubby & bright French teacher Mademoiselle de Poitiers(Helen Morse), and rather dead-pan/ odd comment making mathematics teacher Greta McCraw( Vivean Gray)- head off for the day. The school's battle axe headmistress/ owner Mrs Appel Yard(Rachael Roberts) says they should be back by 8.00 pm, with the girls being allowed to take off just their gloves on the scorching hot day.
After being at Hanging Rock for some hours Miranda asks if she & two of her friends can go for a wander- with the bespeckled, and heavy-set Edith (Christine Schuler) asks if she can join the others- she allowed with Miranda waving to Mademoiselle de Poitiers. After walking for a short distance, the girls are observed by rich & privilege twenty-some Michael Fitzhubert (Dominic Guard) and his parents' young coachman Albert- an early role by prolific oz actor John Jarratt, who will be known to genre fans for his turn as the killer in Wolf Creek.
After taking their tights off, climbing the rock & walk through its enclosed walkways. The girls sleep for a while before disappearing off into the rocks tunnels as Edith screams at something, before running back to the rest of the party. Finally, the girls arrive back at the school, and we find out the three girls, along with Ms McCraw (who was last seen in just her underwear) have disappeared.
As the film unfolds the girls are searched for, and the impact of their disappearance revibrates through the school. And the clearly shaken up rich boy Michael Fitzhubert, and coachman Albert carry out a search of their own.
The movie has a very drifting & hazy quality- this is edged with touches of dreamy unease & subtly disquiet. The film has a tangible feeling of melancholic mystery about it, which is blended & blurred with the hauntingly shot landscape, and the films wavering ‘n’ whistling lead theme which mixes plaintive flute playing with hovering organ work. The young cast is well picked & placed, as are the teachers/adults. All making Picnic at Hanging Rock a lulling masterwork of mystery, drama, and low-key unease.
Moving onto this region B set- which offers up two UHD discs, and two Blu-rays. For review, we were sent just the Blu-Ray screeners, though all the extras are the same on both sets of discs- as well as new 4k scans of the film. The first disc in the set takes in the director’s cut of the film, and 2004 documentary A Dream Within a Dream: The Making of 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'- this runs just shy of the two-hour mark, and really is the definitive doc on the film- with interviews with the cast and crew. Also on this first disc, we get a new commentary track from Australian film commentators/ academics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson- this is a wonderful researched, at times entertaining track which covers a fair bit of ground. They begin by talking about the opening title card, and how it relates to the question of whether the film is wholly based purely on fact. They talk about how both the film, and the 1968 Joan Lindsay novel it was based- on, are very culturally impactful/ important in Australia. They discuss when director Weir meets Joan Lindsay to talk about the screen adaptation. They talk about Hanging Rock itself, its firm connection to the Aboriginal/ first nation people, and their personal experiences on the rock. Later on, they discuss the rather eccentric Joan Lindsay, and quirky stories relating to her. They talk about the key figures involved with the film, as well as discussing the 16mm film made in 1968 based on the film by a 13-year-old- which never got shown, and much more. An excellent track that I will definitely be revisiting down the line.
On the second disc, we find the theatrical cut of the film, and the lion's share on the extras front. On the new side, we get the following- A Lovely Day for a Picnic (11.20) interview with Actor Karen Robson. Finding the Light (10.48) interview with Cinematographer Russell Boyd. Crashing Through Boundaries:(7.04) Interview Camera Operator John Seale. Something Beyond Explanation (22.50) Thomas Caldwell on Picnic at Hanging Rock- all of these are well worth a look. On the archive side, we get a twenty-minute interview with Joan Lindsay, and A Recollection: Hanging Rock 1900(27.00) which is a 70’s TV show regarding the film.
The finished release comes presented in a rigid slipcase with new hazy/dream-like artwork. Along with the four discs, we get a soft cover book with new essays by Daniel Bird, Kat Ellinger and Justine Smith, an archive essay by Rebecca Harkins-Cross, Costume Gallery and features on the original marketing of the film and the new restoration. The original novel with exclusive cover art, and six collectors' art cards.
With this impressive, wonderfully presented, and curated release Second Sight has given us the ultimate edition of this Australian classic. It’s a film that is difficult to fully tie down into just one or two genres…but if you appreciate beautiful captured, haunting, at times unease & mysterious cinema- you'll need to see Picnic At Hanging Rock, and this wonderful new release is the best way to see this dreamy masterwork.