Some six months after it played to mixed results in theaters, the Maurice Richard biopic The Rocket debuted on home video Sept. 19 through Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm – with a minimal marketing push in English Canada, but heftier support by TV ads in Quebec.

Directed by Charles Binamé, the story of the Montreal Canadiens legend did a solid $4 million in Quebec box office, but a wide release on 115 screens in English Canada failed to net a winner, perhaps leading Alliance to rethink its DVD release strategy.

However, according to AAV DVD co-ordinator Réjean Filion, sales are brisk across the country and 100,000 units have been shipped to retailers – with approximately 40% going to rental chains.

‘I think it is a good film and I’m disappointed it didn’t reach more people [in English Canada],’ says producer Denise Robert from the Montreal set of husband Denys Arcand’s latest film, L’Âge des ténèbres. ‘It was probably one of the highest scoring films of any that Alliance has [audience] tested.’

The Rocket may find more fans outside of Quebec on home video based on a magnetic lead performance by Roy Dupuis (Shake Hands with the Devil) and Pierre Gill’s cinematography. Extras include the perplexing addition, in English versions, of a French-only director’s commentary, recalling the treatment of Jean-Marc Vallée’s C.R.A.Z.Y., which reached English Canada with entirely French-only special features.

‘I’ve always considered the DVD market as important and essential,’ says Robert, when asked about the lack of English subtitles. ‘But the distributor really puts [the disc] together and designs it. We give our comments and they adjust accordingly.’

East Coast classic restored

An upcoming DVD release of William D. MacGillivray’s Life Classes – 1,000 discs of which are currently being pressed at Cinram in Toronto – was spearheaded by the director’s alma mater, the Nova Scotia College of Arts and Design, with Halifax post shop PowerPost providing restoration work.

The DVDs will be available for purchase exclusively through www.pictureplant.com, the site for MacGillivray’s production house, with some earmarked for educational institutions and libraries. Also included is a feature-length doc directed by MacGillivray on the history of NSCAD.

In the 1987 film – which film critic Robin Wood has called one of the 10 best films ever made – an unexpected pregnancy forces Cape Bretoner Mary Cameron (Jacinta Cormier) to examine her identity both as an artist and a person.

Also…

* Season nine of B.C.-shot Stargate SG-1 lands on DVD this month featuring audio commentaries for each episode by the director, cast or crew, special ‘SG-1 Director Series’ mini profiles and a ‘SG-1 Beyond the Gates’ behind-the-scenes featurette. The show was recently dropped by U.S. caster Sci-Fi Channel.

* Sean Garrity’s drama Lucid hit the streets Sept. 12, part of Mongrel Media’s Festival Series, joined by U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, a re-imagining of George Bizet’s 19th century opera set in modern-day South Africa.

* The Pioneers in Independent Canadian Cinema Project out of Concordia University brings Clarke Mackey’s 1971 feature The Only Thing You Know to DVD on Oct. 15 with a promotional screening at the National Film Board in Toronto. The disc includes a director’s commentary and interview with Mackey, now the head of film studies at Queen’s University.