Studio Canal / Kinowelt / Optimum

[ellipsis7]

MK2 put English subs on Kiarostami's THE WIND WILL CARRY US (incl supplements), TEN (incl 10 ON TEN) & FIVE (the supplements), ABC AFRICA is essentially in English, but no Eng subs on AU TRAVERS DES OLIVIERS/THROUGH THE OLIVE TREES & LE GOUT DE LA CERISE/TASTE OF CHERRY, so there's not always consistency; AE releasing in UK TASTE OF CHERRY (incl 10 ON TEN) & THE WIND WILL CARRY US (direct port in with supplements) with Eng subs, they did have VHS rights to THROUGH THE OLIVE TREES, but no sign of an AE DVD there yet...

[Perkins Cobb]

Well, it sounds like the Taverniers that do have English subs were very much in the minority for Studio Canal, then. I believe their disc of Stavisky also had subs, but in most cases I have had to search out ports from other countries. (For Claude Sautet, for example, I ordered Les choses de la vie from Spain and Max et les ferailleurs from Australia, both with the Studio Canal logo & transfer.)

So I'm going to assume that's a "no" on Que la fête commence!, which means I'm stuck with the crappy Kino transfer. I was hoping Optimum would keep going with Tavernier but they seem to have stalled out for now.

[gyorgys]

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).

[Sanjuro]

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.

[MichaelB]

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.

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.

[manicsounds]

Japanese subtitles! Woohoo!

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.

[so lightly here]

Great news about "Contempt".

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!

[tojoed]

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

[so lightly 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.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

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.

[perkizitore]

DVD Times on the Ran blu-ray.

[Sanjuro]

That's a little disappointing.

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

[Napier]

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

[perkizitore]

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

[so lightly here]

Great news about "Contempt".

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!

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.

[manicsounds]

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

[Lamourderer]

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.

[tojoed]

I've had no problem with Optimum discs, my player is a Sony. I can't think of any reason why that should happen.

[tojoed]

Blu-Rays for February 2010 - The Ladykillers (MacKendrick), The Go Between, Breathless, and Pierrot le Fou. I'm not sure what region they will be, as yet.

[MichaelB]

Blu-Rays for February 2010 - The Ladykillers (MacKendrick), The Go Between, Breathless, and Pierrot le Fou. I'm not sure what region they will be, as yet.

I'd assume anything that's also out on Criterion will be Region B.

[Matt]

I'd assume anything that's also out on Criterion will be Region B.

Unless anything that's also out on Criterion suddenly goes out of print between now and then.

[tojoed]

Dr Amicus mentioned this elsewhere, but I thought I'd post it here. Thorold Dickinson's "The Queen of Spades" is being released on January 10th 2010. Very welcome news.

[Finch]

Excellent cover - hopefully the A/V will be up to scratch - if so, I'll save up for this on top of the Rossellini set.

[Camera Obscura]

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.

Don't know about blu-ray players, but I had the same problem in the past with some of Optimum's discs with some DVD-players. Apparently due to a manifacturing error, some discs are slightly 'asymmetrical' and either jam or make a very loud noise when playing (especially in the beginning and end of the film). Some of Optimum's discs (Louis Malle Box Vol 2 for instance) almost play like a washing machine, get pretty quiet in the middle but the ending feels like a small plane is landing. Needless to say, it's very annoying and a problem I only seem to have with DVD's from Optimum (and Arrow in one case). Luckily it doesn't happen to often, but if they don't play at all, it's probably better to send them back.

[What A Disgrace]

Play.com has some specs.

The Go-Between
- Filmed interviews with Josh Losey, Michael Billington, Patricia Losey, Gerry Fisher and John Heyman
- Horlicks advert directed by Joseph Losey
- Audio recording with Joseph Losey interviewed by Dilys Powell in 1973

Breathless
- Colin Maccabe Introduction (3min15)
- Chambre 12 (1h18)
- Photo Gallery (103)
- Trailer (2min5)
- Jean-Luc selon Luc
- Godard et l'Amérique
- Posters (2)
- Credits

Pierrot le Fou
- Colin Maccabe Introduction (3min15)
- Comments by J.B. Pouy (01'45'00)
- Trailer (2')
- TV spot (German)
- Posters (2)
- Godard, l'amour, la poésie

And of course, the big one...The Ladykillers
- Filmed interviews with: Allan Scott, Terence Davies ( =D> ) and Ronald Harwood
- Audio Commentary with Philip Kemp: Mackendrick/Ladykillers expert
- Interview with James Mangold - BD live option only
- Forever Ealing Documentary
- Introduction to The LadyKillers by Terry Gilliam (it's 2'27")