Is Optimum's DVD for The Trial missing the "Before the Law" pinscreen prologue? It's cheap on Amazon UK, but I'd like to confirm before I import it.

Yes it is missing the prologue and reedited according to this post but it is a good transfer and there are some bonus features.

Come on Accatone, I know how big a Godard fan you are. If you don't go blu for one of his scope Technicolor films shot in the med; well you're never gonna go. Do it!

This might be my most anticipated release on the format yet.

Dito! But as far as i am a complet (not completl, but) tech-zero i serously fear going to these electronic markets etc…i hate these and they stink
Plus i fear that i have misscalculated my trip/holiday to Sicilia next week because i did not consider all the vino and food that i will consume there…but when i am back…and the release is there - it will be too hard to resist!!

I have the Optimum disc and can confirm the prologue is missing - though the credits for it are retained! I also have the earlier UK Warner disc which does include the prologue. PAL timings are 1:47:25 (Optimum) and 1:50:15 (Warner). Both editions have a 1983 copyright notice under the main title. I do think the Optimum is worth having for the hour's worth of bonus features: two documentaries (in French with English subs) including interviews with people who worked on the film, the trailer and a stills gallery. The extras are not even mentioned on Optimum's box!

To take advantage of the anti-scratch coating.

I have a checkdisc of Optimum's release of Rider on the Rain, which is being released on 21 September.

It contains both the English and French versions (Le passager de la pluie) of the film (the latter with optional English subtitles, no subs on the former as per Optimum's policy with English-language films). These aren't the same transfer with different audio tracks, but separate transfers altogether, both anamorphic, with different running times - 109:33 and 113:00. I haven't watched either version all the way through, so couldn't tell you what's in the additional three and a half minutes in the French version.

On a first glance the French version is brighter, and fully matted into 1.85:1. The English version seems darker, and is 1.78:1 with very thin mattes top and bottom (1.80:1?). The sound is Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, as you might expect, and there are no extras.

Studio Canal Blurays

Now we can see why Ran and Contempt were cancelled. Says that when the discs are played, they first make you choose the company of choice.

On both Ran and Contempt, the Lionsgate logo opens up when clicked on USA, which leads to believe that Lionsgate is the current rightsholder in the USA.....

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad that these turned out to be region free. A couple of my very favorite films that I might order before I get a BD player in the next couple of months.

Any word on whether The Ladykillers will be region free or not?

Noel Megahey reviews Le mépris on blu-ray for the DVD Times. A total rave (with characteristic technical analysis with re to discern between flaws in the transfer - i.e. none - and inherent flaws due to experimentation with e.g. film stock and painted objects).

Japanese subtitles! Woohoo!

Ruscico seem to be the only DVD company (outside of Japan) which ever bothered with Japanese subs. I guess they're too big for DVD or something.

I suppose I'm celebrating by myself, but it's SO nice to see. Now if only Japanese companies could be persuaded to put English subs on non-English films.

Any ideas of what the BD-Live features are? I imagine they won't be worth worrying about, but it'd be interesting to know.

What Ruscico and Studio Canal have in common is that they tend to represent the world rights to particular titles, so there's every reason for them to prepare Japanese subtitles along with other languages.

But most arthouse distributors only represent a handful of territories at most, in many cases just one or two. As a result, there's no incentive to go to the considerable trouble of adding a language that isn't widely spoken within that territory - and I imagine Japanese presents particular linguistic and technical difficulties. There might also be rights complications if a Japanese distributor decides to license the film - they probably wouldn't be too pleased to hear that there's a rival edition with Japanese subtitles, and may well use this as a negotiating tactic to force the price down.

Adding English subtitles is a different matter because English isn't a regionally-specific language in the same way.

Most of the Studio Canal titles on BD from France have Japanese subtitles on them, and that includes these new Optimum titles which are the exact same discs as the french ones.

Ya all better be correct about this being a region 0, 'cuz I don't have a multi region BR disc player and I preordered and plunked the pounds down for this from Amazon.UK based on info here. I will report back, but if led astray, am taking out whoever said it would play here in the US of A, so watch out!

Whoever reports on what works from the BFI BR's is spot on, so I buy according to his/her very accurate list, but I am delving into unchartered territory here!

Don't fret, young man, it's region free. I wouldn't tell porkies just to annoy you.

Thanks for the reassuring post, but the proof will be in the pudding. I do trust everything will be fine and will give a report on video quality when it arrives early in October.

Word on the street (the internet street) is that Ran is a recycling of Canal's own HD DVD master, which was pretty poor. Screenshots here.

DVD Times on the Ran blu-ray.

That's a little disappointing.

Are there any comparisons of the Last Year In Marienbad Blu-Ray with the Criterion out there?

That transfer looks a little peaked. Especially for 1080p. It's a shame Criterion aren't releasing this.

It seems we will have to wait another 5 years for someone to do the film justice.

Just received the Studio Canal BR Le Mépris and am quite pleased with it. It doesn't seem as amped up color-wise as the CC DVD (except for the reds). I have only seen the film in an old scratched up print in a theater and the CC DCD, but it is a great improvement over the CC DVD. It is too bad, however, that CC didn't get to release the BR edition but this edition if fine by me.

According to Bluray.com, Belle du Jour is Region B locked

Has anyone else had a problem with their sd Optimum discs when watching them with blu-ray players? My Philips BDP3000 hasn't had any kind of trouble playing sd discs by any other firm but all the films by Optimum are jamming (including for example the films from Buñuel, Malle and Walter Hill box sets). All the discs I've tried to watch have jammed before the menu screen has appeared. I still have my sd player just in case so it's not that big of a problem but it's still pretty annoying.