A new 4K restoration of King And Country is heading our way

STUDIOCANAL has announced a brand new 4k restoration of British anti-war classic King And Country (1964) from esteemed American director Joseph Losey (THE SERVANT), available in time for Remembrance Day on Blu-Ray & Digital for the first time ever in the UK, plus a new DVD on 6th November, through the Vintage Classics brand. The new restoration of KING AND COUNTRY recently premiered at Venice Film Festival to great acclaim.

Returning for another stellar collaboration with director Joseph Losey is revered British actor Dirk Bogarde (THE SERVANT), seen here as Captain Hargreaves, a tough army lawyer assigned to defend army volunteer-turned-deserter Private Hamp, played by the brilliant Tom Courtenay (BILLY LIAR), whose remarkable performance earned him Best Actor at the 1964 Venice Film Festival Awards alongside a BAFTA nomination. Leo McKern (THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE) and Barry Foster (TWISTED NERVE) also star.

During World War I, a young soldier, Hamp (Courtenay) deserts his post, attempting to escape the relentless guns and mud and walk home. Captain Hargreaves (Bogarde), an aristocratic British Army lawyer, must defend Hamp before the army tribunal, for whom the crime of desertion carries the threat of execution. Initially, Hargreaves approaches Hamp’s case with disdain; however, upon learning that Hamp volunteered for duty on a dare, that he is the sole survivor of his unit and that his wife has been unfaithful in his absence, his efforts on Hamp’s behalf become more impassioned and earnest. In the face of cold army bureaucracy, Hargreaves’s arguments fall on deaf ears as Hamp becomes a victim of morale-boosting on the eve of the troop’s deployment into an impending bloody battle.

Set during WWI, KING AND COUNTRY is an emotionally powerful film that explores the effects of war on the human psyche. Based on the John Wilson play Hamp which itself originated from the 1955 novel Return To The Wood by James Lansdale Hodson, the film marked the third of multiple director-actor collaborations between Losey and Bogarde, which also included 1954 thriller THE SLEEPING TIGER, the ground-breaking 1963 drama THE SERVANT and ACCIDENT (1967), also now available from the Vintage Classics collection.

Produced from the original camera negative held at the BFI, the stunning new restoration will also include a brand new interview with Tom Courtenay alongside an archive interview with Dirk Bogarde and a gallery of ‘Behind the Scenes’ film stills.

Pre-order your copy of KING AND COUNTRY on Blu-Ray or DVD now.

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Special Features

• New Tom Courtenay on King & Country
• Archive Interview with Dirk Bogarde (1964)
• Behind the Scenes stills gallery