Fellow Tush fans:

Rita's film, "THE TRAP" (1966), was released on DVD in Germany on 22
January by Schroeder Media GmbH. A friend of mine who lives near the
German border in Holland is sending me a copy, which has not yet
arrived here in Phoenix. The Amazon_Germany website already lists a
couple of reviews by customers. I am concerned that one reviewer has
said that,

(1) the transfer is blurry and indistinct,
(2) there is a German soundtrack, but no original English soundtrack,
(3) it is not widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio.

Of course, I will have to wait until I receive my own copy before I
can confirm this, but I would advise anyone who is planning to buy
this DVD to delay their purchase until these allegations can be
confirmed or denied.

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Rita's film, "PUFFBALL" (2007), was scheduled to be released on 01
February, after having been delayed from last November. Rita plays an
old woman who uses witchcraft/voodoo to try to steal another woman's
baby. The film was shot in the area of Ireland's Rossmore Forest in
Spring of 2006.

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Rita's film, "A PLACE TO GO" (1963), is scheduled to be released on
16 February by Odeon Entertainment. I have seen a preliminary review
of this DVD, which is very positive and complimentary about the
quality of the transfer. I would encourage everyone to seek out a
copy of this film. I'll be making the conversion from PAL to NTSC
format, to make a DVD that can be played in the USA/Canada/Japan.

One minor complaint about Odeon's DVD is that their cover artwork
lists the cast in the WRONG order. The cast is listed as:

Bernard Lee
Rita Tushingham
Michael Sarne
Doris Hare

According to the film's official billing, Rita's name should come
first, then Mike Sarne, then Bernard Lee. Odeon are notorious for
billing errors – their DVD of "A DATE WITH A DREAM" (1948) featured a
10-second silent performance by Norman Wisdom – his film debut – yet
he's listed as one of the main three stars on Odeon's DVD cover!

I mentioned this to Rita, and she replied,

"A PLACE TO GO", it seems such a long time ago, I did enjoy working
with Basil Dearden he had a reputation of being tough and instilled
fear into some of the crew, he was just a perfectionist. I know what
you mean about billing on DVDs, it is out of our control as they were
made so long ago, of course they are supposed to honour the billing
in the contract but often films are sold or owned by other companies
and it would be almost impossible to do anything about it, so it is
better not to waste the energy being upset."

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Rita also said that she is working on a short script that is being
written by an actor that she knows. She is also working on a short
that she wrote a while ago, which takes place in Liverpool during the
Forties and the Sixties. These scripts are intended to be directed by
Rita. But money is not easy to raise in the current economic
climate, so getting these films made may be difficult. (You may
recall that Rita was supposed to direct a TV film called "VICTORY
GIRLS" – her directorial debut – in the late 1990s or early 2000s,
but this fell through.)

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I have DVD copies of two recent short films in which Rita appears.

The first film is called "SIGHT TEST" (2008), and is a 20-minute film
that was made by London Film School student Joseph Knowles as his
graduation film. He wrote a role for a "Rita Tushingham" type of
person, and had the audacity to ask Rita herself to appear in his
film. She agreed to work for him (for free) for one day. Joseph sent
me an early version on DVD, and has recently sent me the final
version with improved audio track.

The second film is called "COME HERE TODAY" (2008), and stars Rhys
Ifans and Rita. It is a twelve-minute film in black and white, by
filmmaker Simon Aboud. This film was recently telecast (and recorded
for me by a friend) on a new UK tv channel called "ShortsTV", which
specializes is broadcasting short films.

Let me know if you'd like me to send you a copy of either DVD.

Cheers,
Robert