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I thought that all the discs are going to be BDs. What's going to be on the DVD then?

I assume the archive material. Even discounting My Métier, there's over three hours' worth there.

Eleven films? Good lord, what a treasure. I was looking at my budget thinking I'd have to cancel my pre-order, but not now! I had no idea that Dreyer was so busy during the '40s. I'm really looking to this release. Especially since it's such a big leap over the Criterion set.

I was thinking of cancelling too, but I'm inclined not to now! Surely the biggest set BFI have produced since last year's wonderful Herzog set (which was basically a dream come true for me). I'm not familiar with Dreyer's films but I'm certainly familiar of his importance to cinema, and look forward to experiencing these for the first time.

Reckon this will be delayed to May though? I can't complain about any delays with BFI releases considering they seem to make every effort to leave no stone unturned when it comes to adding to their packages...so just wondering if that looks like the case rather than trying to veil a complaint. The Rossellini box was put back to April 1st after all (and Rashomon has been pushed back to May 18th...and hopefully we finally get Franju's Eyes Without A Face in June), so it seems quite likely.

chatterjees wrote:I thought that all the discs are going to be BDs. What's going to be on the DVD then?

MY METIER, which originates in SD (at least as far as post production is concerned).

I hope the package is sturdy as well as pretty. That Herzog set still annoys me.

Jean-Luc Garbo wrote:Eleven films? Good lord, what a treasure. I was looking at my budget thinking I'd have to cancel my pre-order, but not now! I had no idea that Dreyer was so busy during the '40s. I'm really looking to this release. Especially since it's such a big leap over the Criterion set.

Busy with a lot of state-sponsored films, educational type films. Don't get too excited, but of course it is wonderful to have them for the completists in all of us! Just don't expect seven more Days of Wrath.

I absolutely cannot wait to see these new transfers, especially Gertrud. There's reference to the film in My Only Great Passion and I believe Dreyer mentions that the film's color temperature was to be a bit more neutral and grey than appears in the Criterion DVD, so I'm wondering if it will look noticeably different than the other DVD transfers (beyond what the blu ray upgrade will certainly offer).

Drucker wrote:

Jean-Luc Garbo wrote:Eleven films? Good lord, what a treasure. I was looking at my budget thinking I'd have to cancel my pre-order, but not now! I had no idea that Dreyer was so busy during the '40s. I'm really looking to this release. Especially since it's such a big leap over the Criterion set.

Busy with a lot of state-sponsored films, educational type films. Don't get too excited, but of course it is wonderful to have them for the completists in all of us! Just don't expect seven more Days of Wrath.

I absolutely cannot wait to see these new transfers, especially Gertrud. There's reference to the film in My Only Great Passion and I believe Dreyer mentions that the film's color temperature was to be a bit more neutral and grey than appears in the Criterion DVD, so I'm wondering if it will look noticeably different than the other DVD transfers (beyond what the blu ray upgrade will certainly offer).

Yeah, it's a bit misleading that the shorts have the same billing as the famous features. Interesting about Gertrude.

Drucker wrote:I absolutely cannot wait to see these new transfers, especially Gertrud. There's reference to the film in My Only Great Passion and I believe Dreyer mentions that the film's color temperature was to be a bit more neutral and grey than appears in the Criterion DVD, so I'm wondering if it will look noticeably different than the other DVD transfers (beyond what the blu ray upgrade will certainly offer).

That's a surprising comment. It's a black and white film, the video has no information in the color channels at all (except for an opening logo).

Therefore the color temperature can only be affected by the screen it's being viewed on. Seeing as very few people have their screens calibrated, that'll mean they'll be watching it through a blue tint.

So without seeing the Criterion DVD (I can't imagine it's any different) or hearing the quote in question, it sounds like Mr Dreyer is commenting on the inaccurate grayscale of the monitor he was looking at it on, so don't be so quick to blame the disc.

As an aside, a lot of people recommend calibrating to around ~5400K for older black and white movies since this is in the ballpark of the carbon arc lamps used at the time. The standard for color TV (in all countries) is 6504K. TVs that haven't been calibrated are usually 9000-11,000K.

Since Dreyer died in 1968, I'm not really sure what he was referring to in that quote (other than that it obviously wasn't the Criterion DVD), or how Drucker is interpreting his comment.

We read and write about many DVDs and Blu Rays in this forum. But when I look back at all that has come out over past several years, only a few sets stand out as truly great. The last set I felt deserved that description was the BFI release of the Herzog collection. The Dreyer collection promises to be the next great set.

My only disappointment with the BFI Herzog collection was the quality of packaging. I very much hope that the Dreyer collection will get the packaging commensurate with the quality of its content.

Let me clarify I see that I worded that poorly: Dreyer mentioned he shot Gertrud in very neutral, greyish tones, not with sharp black and white. Therefore, the somewhat contrasty Criterion DVD could be a bit off and I wouldn't be surprised if the look changed drastically. Again, this is me just channeling what Dreyer says in the book to what I imagine the film could look like.

If nobody else has the book, I will try to get to the library and re-find the passage soon. Based on the Google Scholar posting of the book, it likely appears around page 257, but I'm still looking for it.

Let me clarify I see that I worded that poorly: Dreyer mentioned he shot Gertrud in very neutral, greyish tones, not with sharp black and white.

Aha. Well that would be dynamic range, not color temperature.

There's certainly no shortage of D.R. in the new scan. I haven't seen the Criterion DVD though.

This tweet shows what the packaging looks like.

Looks like outer box is similar to Herzog, but standard blu-ray cases are used. Excellent.

But the outer box was half the problem with the Herzog set--flimsy and too easily banged up in transit, in contrast to the stately thick cardboard that Eureka commonly uses.

I hope that those blu-ray cases are the slim ones (probably 6 mm?), not the regular 14 mm ones.

kekid wrote:We read and write about many DVDs and Blu Rays in this forum. But when I look back at all that has come out over past several years, only a few sets stand out as truly great. The last set I felt deserved that description was the BFI release of the Herzog collection. The Dreyer collection promises to be the next great set.

Not a Walerian Borowczyk fan, clearly.

(In all seriousness, I don't think anything in the last few years can match Daniel Bird's exhaustive labour-of-love effort on Arrow's Camera Obscura project, great though the Herzog and Dreyer sets undoubtedly are - and I'm working my way through the Dreyer box right now, so this isn't just based on the specs.)

MichaelB wrote:

kekid wrote:We read and write about many DVDs and Blu Rays in this forum. But when I look back at all that has come out over past several years, only a few sets stand out as truly great. The last set I felt deserved that description was the BFI release of the Herzog collection. The Dreyer collection promises to be the next great set.

Not a Walerian Borowczyk fan, clearly.

(In all seriousness, I don't think anything in the last few years can match Daniel Bird's exhaustive labour-of-love effort on Arrow's Camera Obscura project, great though the Herzog and Dreyer sets undoubtedly are - and I'm working my way through the Dreyer box right now, so this isn't just based on the specs.)

I have acknowledged my admiration for everyone who made the Borowczyk set possible. The production was second to none. My comment strictly reflects my personal views about the relative importance of directors involved.

On second thoughts, I would add to the list the AE Truffauts. They clearly did not have the supplemental material anywhere comparable to the Boro set. Nor was the packaging in the same league. They even discovered a way to infuriate their most dedicated customers by releasing the set singly, and then announcing the collection. But despite all this, I appreciate the opportunity to finally see a broad collection of Truffauts in high definition.

These are the directors whose work most resonates with me. Clearly making such a short list is hazardous, and if I offended anyone by not mentioning their favorite director's set, I apologize.

We're splitting hairs. The box-set releases that have come out in the last 3 years from BFI, Arrow, and MOC (let's not forget the Mizoguchi set) are unbelievable, and the kind of thing you need to own. This is just another feather in the cap for BFI.

When you get your own copy of something in physical media that is likely to be as close to definitive as necessary for most of us (like Beatles Mono Box set, for example), it's just a relief and a blessing. Clearly the Arrow Boro box and BFI Herzog and Dreyer boxes are as good as it gets, too. Kudos!

The BFI are on such a roll I can barely keep up. I'm still eyeing up the Rossellini set, but I reckon I'll go for Dreyer if I have to choose...especially considering the wealth of short films and extras for around the same price, and the use of slim cases rather than a digipack! Ideally, I'd want both though...it's just a matter of cost!

Just wondering though...MichaelB, do you know if they're planning on releasing any of these separately on Blu-ray in future (or just DVD)?

This set looks awesome, but I think I should wait to see what Criterion has cooking.

I think such a comprehensive package is more striking when coming from the BFI because while they fare quite good (to be fair) regarding movie presentations, the added editorial value is usually more limited than the one coming from Arrow or MoC. Especially, big boxsets are not really a habit for BFI so it’s all the more striking, so with their latest outputs on this point, they indeed really seems on a roll.

I believe (though could be mistaken) that Master of the House runs at 18fps on this Palladium master. Assuming that it will be presented by the BFI using their standard interpolation method for 18fps films rather than interlacing like the Criterion, I think this will be the first time we'll see 1080i and 1080p presentations of the same non-24fps silent film go head to head in the PQ department. Should be interesting (to the nitpickers!).

You could not pick up this set, but then this is your future. There is fair warning that this is a truly limited edition. I can't believe anyone with a remote interest in Dreyer would hesitate.

Well, there's always a chance Criterion could release their own Dreyer box set, with Vampyr and The Passion of Joan of Arc, and in any case even more supplements. I imagine there's a pretty good chance of that, and I'm not interested in quadruple dipping on these films.