Studio Canal / Kinowelt / Optimum

[domino harvey]

godard encore

What's that?

[Ovader]

Godard Encore (Dinosaur & The Baby, Jean-Luc as Seen by Luc, Godard Love Poetry) is part of Volume One so presumably I already have 13 DVDs (including Hélas Pour Moi, Eloge de L'Amour & Notre Musique) out of the 15. Prénom Carmen is possibly another candidate which I already have from Raro.

[zone_resident]

DVD Times reviews of four other recently released Tavernier films:
The Judge and the Assassin
Coup de Torchon
L.627
It All Starts Today
Kudos to Optimum for releasing all these with good transfers.

[sir karl]

The Jean-Luc Godard - The Ultimate Collection consists of 14 DVDs.

This mammoth collection features thirteen of the revered French director's most memorable films along with an exclusive bonus disc. Films included: LE MEPRIS, ALPHAVILLE, PASSION, A BOUT DE SOUFFLE, MADE IN USA, PIERROT LE FOU, UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME, LA CHINOISE, LE PETIT SOLDAT, DETECTIVE, NOTRE MUSIQUE, HELAS PUR MOI and ELOGE DE L'AMOUR.

Godard Encore is the 14th disc.
Release date: 14-7-2008.

[Cobalt60]

Has anyone picked this up? Its been out for some time now and is pretty cheap on Amazon UK (even with the shipping to the states). Its a lot cheaper to get the films included here this way rather then buying the US releases but I have not heard much about this set in terms of quality.

[Awesome Welles]

Just noticed Optimum are going to release a Joseph Losey boxset consisting of The Go Between, The Servant, Accident, The Criminal, Eva, Mr. Klein, The Sleeping Tiger, The Big Night. Has anyone seen the Studio Canal version of The Criminal? I assume it'll be the same transfer.

[tojoed]

Optimum are releasing Louis Malle's My Dinner With Andre on 1 January 2009. No artwork or further details as yet. A lot of people have been waiting for this for some time, so good news.

[tojoed]

Fritz Lang's "Woman in the Window" to be released on January 12 2009.

[Sheriff Chambers]

I'm noticing a lot of noise (from either the disc or the DVD player motor?) when playing some Optimum discs (Bob le Flambeur and Godard Collection Vol 1). It's only on menus and some extras, but not the films themselves (the intros on Bob and Alphaville are very noisy). Anyone else had this problem? I'm using an all-region Philips DVP 3020K - excellent cheap player with no previous problems.

[foggy eyes]

Yes, I have the same problem with a couple of discs from the Cassavetes set. No idea why. A few of us also had similar problems with Second Run's (otherwise superb) release of My Way Home.

[tojoed]

My "Bob Le Flambeur" is fine. I only have a cheap Panasonic, Region-free player but there is no noise at all. I don't have the Godard box, though.

[wiljan]

I've heard from a few other people that they hear some noise when playing a disc by Optimum and I guess it has to do with poorly produced discs. I think the disc is moving up and down a bit and this is causing the noise, the problem is almost certainly not with your player.

[bigP]

I've had countless noisy Optimum discs. Most notably was Jonnie To's Election Vol:2 which I thought was going to spin out of the player and decapitate me and one point, and the other, i watched today was Optimum's excellent release of Orson Welles' The Trial. Again The Trial was extraordinarily noisy for, maybe, 10 minutes or so, then it died down and seemed to settle in. I think the first couple of times it happened, i did question my players involvement, but after maybe 10 or 15 now, i'm pretty much set on the concept of Optimum producing the discs poorly, although i haven't worked out why it happens - perhaps over inking the picture surface of the disc? Thats probably ridiculous, but i'd love to get to the bottom of it.

On a similar(ish) note. Optimum astound me sometimes with their methods. I bought Welles The Trial recently, looking over the cover and settling on the fact it was bare-bones. I put it on today and was pretty much blown away by the picture quality, which really looks spectacular, then to my surprise discovered that there wasn't just one 30 minute documentary, but two!! I forget the titles, but one was a look at Welles interpreting Kafka to film and the other was about Welles' films and the use of light. It pains me that Optimum have failed to note these (oh and a small stills gallery and original trailer to-boot) on the back of the dvd (i'm guessing they had the covers printed up prior to the inclusion of the documentaries) what with their track record being somewhat 50/50 for someone to just rely on the picture quality of one of their bare-bones releases, as to me, any documentaries on a welles release puts a dvd into a much higher tier release category. Anyway, despite the overall noise over a couple of scenes from the vibrating disc, the dvd is excellent.

[Jonathan S]

I've never noticed excessive noise from Optimum discs but many have reached me with manufacturing scratches on the playing surface (sometimes multiple scratches right across the disc, though they usually play okay). I believe these occur at the factory because it's happened with various Optimum purchases - especially sets - from different suppliers (all new) and the discs have not come loose in transit.

Could there be any connection - player's error-correction working overtime? or maybe it's just that both faults are indicative of sloppy disc production. Many people who bought the MGM/Fox Hitchcock Premiere Collection (R1) have also reported a combination of scratched surfaces and excessive noise.

Optimum are also very sloppy in their box details. They regularly indicate the wrong aspect ratio of their transfer (sometimes the correct ratio, when the DVD is incorrectly transferred, but vice-versa too, so it's not deliberate!). Their release of Canyon Passage has four major factual errors on the box, including spelling the leading lady's name incorrectly in large letters on the front - "SUSAN HAYARD"!

[Person]

Is Kafka's Parable of the Law opening sequence, read by Welles, included on the Optimum edition?

[bigP]

Is Kafka's Parable of the Law opening sequence, read by Welles, included on the Optimum edition?

I was unaware that this existed, so I just had a quick look and the Optimum DVD goes straight into the opening credits, then into the opening scene where Joseph K. is awoken by the inspector's invasion. There is nothing before or after the title credits read by Welles (although the end credits, as read by Welles, is there). I also had a skim over the film again, and whilst it still looks very good, it definately is quite high in contrast to accentuate the blacks (and presumably to eradicate stray dust and scratches that are relatively non-existant throughout) but at the cost of over brightening the whites and the mid tones (although, it's not overly strong as the mids still carry alot of detail). I should also note that it could be sharper, and most importantly, the film has been picture-boxed!! Still, although I think my first impression was far better than my second viewing of its quality, it is still fairly pleasant surprise overall, although i'm slightly disgruntled that it's now seemingly incomplete.

I've put up some screen captures here for those interested.

[videozor]

Is anybody familiar with Catherine Deneuve Collection?

Question: is the Belle disk exactly the same as in the Bunuel Collection (or/and that's available separately)? For example, Umbrellas disk looks differnet than the stand alone edition - double set vs. single disk.

Thanks in advance!

[Scharphedin2]

Is Kafka's Parable of the Law opening sequence, read by Welles, included on the Optimum edition?

That prologue, which is included on the old Milestone disc, was one of my favorite parts of the film, and beautifully set the tone for the entire film. It is hard to conceive of the film without this. The reading takes up two or three minutes of screentime, and it accompanies a series of pin screen drawings by Alexandre Alexeïeff.

[What A Disgrace]

On the promise of a commentary and documentary for Blood of a Poet, I purchased Optimum's Jean Cocteau Collection, and neither appeared on the discs. Very dissapointed.

[Person]

[The] prologue, which is included on the old Milestone disc, was one of my favorite parts of the film, and beautifully set the tone for the entire film. It is hard to conceive of the film without this.

Indeed. I find it astonishing that Optimum bungled this. Sad times, as the disc sounds great, otherwise. I'll rent it.

[domino harvey]

On the promise of a commentary and documentary for Blood of a Poet, I purchased Optimum's Jean Cocteau Collection, and neither appeared on the discs. Very dissapointed.

Where did you hear that? There's a commentary on Orphee

[Ovader]

I bought the Cocteau Collection from Amazon UK where it still advertises the COCTEAU CINEASTE documentary. I was disappointed just the same as What A Disgrace at the lack of promised extras.

[Narshty]

On the promise of a commentary and documentary for Blood of a Poet, I purchased Optimum's Jean Cocteau Collection, and neither appeared on the discs. Very dissapointed.

Where did you hear that? There's a commentary on Orphee

The Optimum Cocteau collection has only BLOOD OF A POET and TESTAMENT OF ORPHEUS (both StudioCanal properties). The BFI picked up ORPHEE from another licensor. (The Criterion set is still my favourite boxset they've ever released.)

How does the Optimum BLOOD OF A POET compare, by the way? Does it still have English intertitles or any noticeable sound or image improvements?

[tojoed]

Coming on March 3 2009 The Jean-Pierre Melville Collection. The films are Army of Shadows, Le Doulos, Leon Morin Pretre, Le Cercle Rouge, Bob le Flambeur, and Un Flic.

Great stuff.

[Person]

Coming on March 3 2009 The Jean-Pierre Melville Collection. The films are Army of Shadows, Le Doulos, Leon Morin Pretre, Le Cercle Rouge, Bob le Flambeur, and Un Flic.

Great stuff.

Not really. These will probably ports of the BFI transfer of Army of Shadows, Le Doulos, Leon Morin Pretre and Le Cercle Rouge but bare bones. Optimum would have considered acquiring the rights to the Ophuls-esque Quand tu liras cette lettre, the jazzy Deux hommes dans Manhattan and the arch buddy road thriller L'Aîné des Ferchaux, created new HD transfer and put together some extras. These three films are screaming for english-friendly releases.