RARE SCREENING Many of us will remember the days when if you wished to see a George Formby film, you had to hope and pray that the BBC or ITV might show a season on TV. They did now and again but it was always a rare and special occasion. As far as the cinema was concerned, George Formby was one of many who were forgotten other than at a special cinema screening (which was rarer than the TV screenings). Then in the 1990s a few of George's films started to appear on videotape and with the advent of DVD all the twenty films released by Mancunian, ATP and Columbia made it on to the digital discs. The last film to be released was the much sought after Feather Your Nest in 2014 and available via Network. NETWORK RELEASE BLU-RAY KEEP FIT Now the same company has come up with the very first blue-ray release of a George Formby film. "Keep Fit" which was first shown on general release in cinemas in the UK in 1938. £11.50 with free shipping is the price from Network and delivery was very fast. So if you want this release, make sure you go to them rather than Amazon which is the place most of us would look to first, there you will pay £13.00 minus one penny! FURTHER RELEASES? Finally, we have something to view that can match the quality of the smart TV. Who would have thought it? A George Formby blu-ray HD DVD! Can we expect further releases? One would hope so. I would think that Network, the company marketing the disc will be watching closely to measure just how successful the project will be. I applaud Network for releasing the first HD quality Formby film and would hope that if further films are to be considered, Network could perhaps consider one of George’s most popular films, Let George Do It which was not the best transfer when it was released as part of the George Formby - Comic Icons boxed set, or maybe Come On George from the same box set which I also think is of inferior quality. ON THE DISC The new Blu-ray release also offers the original cinema trailer which is a nice addition to anyone's collection, there are also some images to view, some of them would have been used outside a cinema in display frames mounted on the cinema wall so that potential customers could get a flavour of what they were about to see. SUBTITLES For me personally and I feel sure for many other people, the fact that Network has gone to the trouble of adding subtitles for the hard of hearing is as big a step forward as is the fact that it is a Blu-ray disc! Network is to be congratulated for releasing the first blu-ray quality Formby film and I would hope that sales will be enough to tempt them to look at further Formby films to follow up with. PP 24/03/2020