The Great Silence (Il Grande Silenzio)

[Caligula]

Anyone know anything about this, due for release on 19 October 2009? Could this be the long-overdue English-friendly & anamorphic release?

[Person]

Anyone know anything about this, due for release on 19 October 2009? Could this be the long-overdue English-friendly & anamorphic release?

Play.com lists as special features, "Score by Ennio Morricone". Now, whether this is just a blurb line or if it means that the DVD features an isolated score by the Master, we'll have to wait and see. I agree, looooong overdue an anamorphic, English audio, Italian audio (with English subs) and frankly, a scholar's commentary. Awesome Western.

[akaten]

Is this a new DVD edition from Eureka or have they lost the rights, will be curious to see how they compare.

[Caligula]

I have emailed Digital Classics to request particulars on this release, and they have advised me as follows:

The Great Silence:

BONUSES: Interview with Alex Cox (Sid & Nancy, Repo Man), Alternate Ending (with optional commentary by Alex Cox), Theatrical Trailer.



{Technical boxes}

Aspect Ratio: 1.66.1 Anamorphic

Format: Region 2 PAL

Sound: Stereo

Language: Italian, English Dubbed, Optional English Subtitles

Running Time: 103 mins approx

At last, an English-friendly anamorphic release!

[perkizitore]

I didn't know Digital Classics were a reputable company!

[MichaelB]

They're not - their Lisztomania is dire. That said, Petulia is a decent transfer, if barebones.

I have a checkdisc of this, but it's in the office - I'll update later today.

[max_cherry]

Can anyone confirm italian lang. + english subs on this edition?
And what about decency of transfer?

[MichaelB]

Assuming the DVD-R they sent me reflects the retail version (it's got menus and copyright notices, so it probably does), here are my findings:

The picture is 16:9 anamorphic with tiny black bars at the sides - probably nearer 1.75:1 than 1.66:1. A quick spin suggests, thankfully, that the source print is closer to Petulia than Lisztomania: there's a tiny amount of age-related damage, but for the most part it's in very clean shape for a 40-year-old film.

An even more pleasant surprise is that it offers Italian and English soundtrack options, with optional English subtitles. Both tracks are obviously post-synched, but the English appears to be more accurate in terms of lip-sync: I suspect many of the actors (certainly including Kinski) were asked to perform in English on the set.

Extras include a five-minute interview with Alex Cox, an alternative happy ending (no soundtrack survives, so you can watch it either mute or with a Cox voiceover), and the original trailer.

All in all, a pleasant surprise: Digital Classics is clearly raising its game.

[Caligula]

Many thanks for the feedback, Michael.

Sold.

[max_cherry]

Wow!
Thanks for reply, MichaelB!
Now we know.

[Person]

Sold! Great Italo-Western and it will be sweet to watch it in Italian and anamorphic finally.

[MichaelB]

Just a quick follow-up to say that I've now watched the disc in full, and the transfer is honestly as good as I could realistically expect for a 1960s Italian western that clearly hasn't been given the deluxe Leone restoration treatment. Which means that there's some physical damage (though nothing severe, and the print is in surprisingly good condition) and occasional colour fluctuations, but the transfer itself is fine.

The aspect ratio is indeed more or less exactly 1.75:1, so it's slightly cropped from the original 1.66:1 - though nowhere near enough to affect appreciation. Let's face it, Corbucci isn't exactly Leone when it comes to meticulous visual composition.

One slight oddity is that the BBFC claims that the running time is 105 mins 25 secs - i.e. the theatrical running time. Suspecting a NTSC-to-PAL transfer, I stepped through an action sequence frame by frame, and it looked fine (ghosting should have been glaringly obvious under those conditions) - and I didn't spot anything untoward when watching it at normal speed. I then checked the actual DVD running time, and it's 100 mins 58 secs, which is what you'd expect after PAL speedup has been applied.

The extras are well worth a watch, especially the jaw-dropping "happy ending". I can see why Corbucci was compelled to shoot it by his backers, but to say it changes the tone of the entire film is a pretty major understatement.

[Wu.Qinghua]

Let's face it, Corbucci isn't exactly Leone when it comes to meticulous visual composition.

That's right, no doubt. But back in the summer of 1969, when "Il Grande Silencio" and "Il Mercenario" were screened in Germany for the first time, film critics sympathizing with or identifying themselves with the New Left in Germany went on a rampage. Corbucci front pages, Corbucci interviews and so on. In short, these movies found an enormous resonance under students and young workers around 1970 and, at least in the German case, it may be argued that Corbucci's westerns topped Leone's westerns regarding their historical cultural and sociopolitical impact or relevance.

[Wu.Qinghua]

That's right, no doubt. But back in the summer of 1969, when "Il Grande Silencio" and "Il Mercenario" were screened in Germany for the first time, film critics sympathizing with or identifying themselves with the New Left in Germany went on a rampage. Corbucci front pages, Corbucci interviews and so on. In short, these movies found an enormous resonance under students and young workers around 1970 and, at least in the German case, it may be argued that Corbucci's westerns topped Leone's westerns regarding their historical cultural and sociopolitical impact or relevance.

I am sorry for putting this up again, but I forgot to ask if anyone can comment on my assessment of the reception of Corbucci's westerns by German students and young workers. I am especially interested if those movies made a similar impact on the student or youth movements in other countries around 1970. I know those Italian westerns (and especially 'Django') made a strong impact on the Jamaican 'rude bwoy' subculture. But were they also used by youngsters and students in other countries to forge dissident identities, discuss about 'antiimperialist politics' and so on? And if you could recommend me some texts or articles which had been written around 1970 or nowadays apart from Christopher Frayling's texts...

[MichaelB]

I can't find any evidence that it was released at all in Britain until its 1990 TV airing - Django had been turned down flat by the BBFC, and The Great Silence is appreciably more violent in parts.

[Wu.Qinghua]

Ah, this is not really a surprise ... But as I believe I read somewhere you can read German, Michael: If you ever get hold of a German magazine called "Film", which has been published by a company called 'Velber' until the end of 1969 or the beginning of 1970, have a look in the magazines they published in 1969. It's quite astonishing to see which movies were considered to be the most important ones by critics in those times ...