The Penguin Cafe Orchestra/Still Life at the Penguin CafeADD

[baggish]

The Penguin Cafe Orchestra/Still Life at the Penguin Cafe

This DVD contains two features:
The Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Documentary with Simon Jeffes, originally broadcast on ITV/London Weekend Television in 1987
Still Life at the Penguin Cafe - A Ballet Performance with the Royal Ballet, originally broadcast on ITV/Thames Television in 1989

Title: The Penguin Cafe Orchestra/Still Life at the Penguin Cafe
Country: Germany*
Region: R0
Releasing Studio: Arthaus Musik
Case Type: Keep case
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Anamorphic?: No
PAL or NTSC?: NTSC
Soundtracks:
English PCM stereo (I think the documentary might be mono)
Subtitles: French, German, Spanish
Cuts:
Documentary: No cuts (50:45 NTSC)
Ballet: No cuts (38:46 NTSC)
Commentaries:
Extras:
Trailers:
- ¡Guitarra! (2:49)
- Paco de Lucia - Light and Shade (4:23)
- Three Ballets by DV8 Physical Theatre (3:10)
24-page booklet
Notes:
ASIN: B000Y351ZC
Sources:
- Own it

*I'm not actually sure of the country. Arthaus Musik is German and there is a white FSK 0 certification logo, but the printed language on the packaging is English. The booklet contains credits in English, and an essay in English, French and German.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Is there an IMDB link for Still Life at the Penguin Cafe?

[baggish]

Yes, sorry:
Documentary: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt13634258
Ballet: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2143484

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

The link has a date of 1991. But the date is 1989 on the disc?

[baggish]

Yes, I noticed the 1991 date, which seems to be a date somehow connected with the US.

The cast is the same, so I think it's the correct link.

The booklet is a bit vague: it says that Simon Jeffes orchestrated and arranged the music for the orchestra of the Covent Garden opera in 1988 and that the ballet became a hit with live performances in England, Europe and Australia (undated). The booklet doesn't mention anything about when or even if the ballet was broadcast on TV in the UK, but as Thames Television were involved in producing the film it seems likely that it was. The copyright date in the booklet and at the end of the film is 1989.

The title of the ballet on the packaging is Still Life at the Penguin Cafe but at the beginning of the film itself there are some quotation marks: 'Still Life' at the Penguin Cafe.

[baggish]

Just noticed and corrected a typo in my original post:
Three Ballets by DV9 Physical Theatre - DV9 should be DV8

[baggish]

The ballet was broadcast on UK TV on August 3 1989 @ 22:35 (source: The Times Digital Archive, subscription required). I could not find archived schedules for ITV/Thames Television anywhere that does not require a subscription which might be why this date is not on IMDB. There is tvrdb.com but this is not complete yet for ITV/Thames Television in the late '80s/early '90s e.g. the page for August 3 1989 https://tvrdb.com/listings/1989-08-03 only has five programmes for Thames at the moment.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Do the documentary and trailers have the same subtitle options as the ballet feature?

[baggish]

The short answer is: the ballet and the documentary have the subtitle options, the trailers do not.

The long answer is: the subtitle options are really intended for the documentary. There are menu options for the subtitles, but these only work for the documentary. If you want subtitles for the ballet you can only choose them using the remote control (I assume this will work, I can do it in the Apple DVD Player and VLC). As it is a ballet there is no dialogue (as far as I can tell, I haven't watched it all yet) but it has a spoken introduction by Jeremy Irons and it is this that can be subtitled from the remote control.

Trailer details:
- ¡Guitarra! - in English
- Paco de Lucia - in Spanish with English voice over the top
- Three Ballets by DV8 Physical Theatre - no dialogue

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Added it. Thanks!