Tescovision

It's been a while since I posted anything here. I was doing some writing for money and then I was a bit ill, and then I had more paying work to do, and then I was another bit ill followed by a bit more work. And then, in a surprising medical intervention, I was detained in hospital for the guts of a week. The saga continues... (Nothing too serious I'm told, but the root cause has yet to be determined).

But back to the subject matter of this here blog.

I was in Tesco, on a hunt for 60% dark Easterolate, when I noticed the depleted rack of Irish DVD titles on sale. They were priced at €5 each for the most part, although a few were higher.

I'm presuming that this promotion*, if that's what it was, was on offer thoughout Tesco's outlets in the Republic but I wonder if they put it together themselves or if an enterprising wholesaler thought up the idea to clear their 'remainder' bins.

Many of the DVD boxes had no obvious distributor named and as I turned over the boxes in my hands I was asking myself questions about Irish rights-holders, Irish producers' shares, Irish production companies that have since gone bust, and when the films might have received their Irish classification ratings, where they were evident.

Here's the list of what was on offer, in no particular order. There are some real rarities here, and some titles that just aren't Irish at all.

The Snapper (BBC Films) €12.95
Hunger (Pathé) €7.00
The Van (20thC Fox) €7.00
The Commitments (20thC Fox) €5.00
My Left Foot (Ferndale) €5.00
The Field (Ferndale) €5.00
Into The West €5.00
Angela's Ashes €5.00
The Informer €5.00
Mickeybo and Me €5.00
Borstal Boy €5.00
Crushproof €5.00
Dancing at Lughnasa €5.00
Dead Long Enough €5.00
December Bride €5.00
Headrush €5.00
Evelyn €5.00
In America €5.00
The Magdelen Sisters €5.00
Moondance €5.00
Ordinary Decent Criminal €5.00
Ryan's Daughter €5.00
Small Engine Repair €5.00
Song for a Raggy Boy €5.00
The McMullen Brothers (sic) €5.00
The Butcher Boy (WB) €5.00
The Halo Effect €5.00
Waking Ned €5.00
When Brendan Met Trudy €5.00
The General €5.00
48 Angels €5.00
Bloody Sunday €5.00
The Quiet Man €5.00
Michael Collins (WB) €5.00
The Wind That Shakes the Barley €5.00

*I've put some questions to Tesco about this and if they get back to me I'll post further details here.