Studio Canal / Kinowelt / Optimum

[domino harvey]

Do we really have the same discussion happening in three different threads now?

[GaryC]

The Siege of Pinchgut, which is out on the 15th:1.66:1 anamorphic with the only extra being the trailer. Looks in pretty good shape at a first glance, though I've yet to watch it all the way through.

[MichaelB]

Michael, do you have contact with Mr. Kemp, or info on how to contact him? Even if he wasn't involved at the telecine stage, he might be able to tell us what Mackendrick's preferred ratio was.

I emailed him earlier today, and this was the reply:

I've never seen TLK screened in anything but Academy ratio. In fact as far as I know, only one Ealing movie was ever made in widescreen - the late and rather feeble comedy Davy, which was shot in Technirama. So 1.66:1 would distort Sandy's film rather badly.

I'd already come down firmly in favour of 1.33:1 on the basis of the visual and circumstantial evidence amassed so far, and this reinforces it.

[Jeff]

Many thanks, Michael. That's certainly the final answer as far as I'm concerned.

While it may have eventually screened in many U.S. cinemas at 1.66, I don't think that was ever correct. The info at IMDb very likely came from someone who bought the Anchor Bay DVD and assumed it was framed properly. I think that happens a lot, which is why I don't rely on them for aspect ratio information.

[captveg]

Now that's a statement I consider definitive. I'm glad my initial concern has been addressed.

Many thanks to you, Michael, for taking the time to email Mr. Kemp (and my thanks to him as well if you respond to him).

Between this and Ran seemingly not being the disaster I had assumed, promise is restored, for me, to the StudioCanal Collection line.

[MichaelB]

The info at IMDb very likely came from someone who bought the Anchor Bay DVD and assumed it was framed properly. I think that happens a lot, which is why I don't rely on them for aspect ratio information.

I completely agree - the IMDB is hopeless when it comes to reliable AR information. It's not just well-meaning people entering data from incorrectly-formatted DVDs: I've also seen entries that essentially amount to blatant guesswork.

I remember having a similar argument to this one about Ran, which I knew for a fact was never in Scope (I hadn't only seen it on the big screen more than once, I'd physically examined a 35mm print and so can confirm at first hand that the image hadn't been anamorphically squeezed - easy enough to verify by eye), yet the IMDB insisted that it was 2.35:1 for ages. Same with Losey's Don Giovanni, another film I was sure was a lot narrower on the basis of big-screen memories - and, sure enough, it turned out to be 1.66:1.

But it's amazing how much people will doggedly stick to the IMDB as though it was holy writ - I think the only thing that definitively settled the Don Giovanni argument was the discovery that its cinematographer Gerry Fisher had personally approved the restored transfer! Mind you, that's not necessarily definitive either, but I think Vittorio Storaro is still in a vanishingly small minority - thankfully.

[John Hodson]

The info at IMDb very likely came from someone who bought the Anchor Bay DVD and assumed it was framed properly. I think that happens a lot, which is why I don't rely on them for aspect ratio information.

I completely agree - the IMDB is hopeless when it comes to reliable AR information. It's not just well-meaning people entering data from incorrectly-formatted DVDs: I've also seen entries that essentially amount to blatant guesswork.

It's a fair guess though; The Ladykillers opened in the US in Feb. 1956 - by that time in the States there were very few mainstream cinemas that would be capable of showing the film in AR. It might have been 'wrong', but that wouldn't have stopped 'em - think Shane.

[HarryLong]

Michael, do you have contact with Mr. Kemp, or info on how to contact him? Even if he wasn't involved at the telecine stage, he might be able to tell us what Mackendrick's preferred ratio was.

I emailed him earlier today, and this was the reply:

I've never seen TLK screened in anything but Academy ratio. In fact as far as I know, only one Ealing movie was ever made in widescreen - the late and rather feeble comedy Davy, which was shot in Technirama. So 1.66:1 would distort Sandy's film rather badly.

I'd already come down firmly in favour of 1.33:1 on the basis of the visual and circumstantial evidence amassed so far, and this reinforces it.

I admit I was a bit surprised (to put it mildly) that an Ealing film of that period might be in 1:66 ... that's why I wrote "for what it's worth."

[Zot!]

Without having to resort to the experts, it's clearly evident from the Beaver screenshots that the film is composed for either format. Nobody would go to the trouble of framing things so perfectly for 1.66, while keeping the boom out of the 1.33 frame if there wasn't the chance it was going to be an variable projection format. The title card is a dead giveaway, even the "fine print" is high enough to fit the wider ratio. That being said, I would agree that the 1.33 looks much preferable. Now can we get back to arguing about the brightness? I think it probably looks much better than the caps would indicate.

[colinr0380]

I managed to test out my new Blu Ray player last night and of course had bought the Studio Canal/Optimum/Lionsgate disc of one of my favourite films, Contempt, in preparation. I can't comment on image quality yet as I've yet to get a HDTV - I've gone for the player first - but did find the extras were interestingly different to the Criterion disc.

DVD Beaver in its comparison doesn't go into much detail on the extras, so I'll do a mini-comparison here.

The Criterion is still an important purchase for the excellent and insightful commentary by Robert Stam, the Raoul Coutard interview and the two black and white on set documentaries by Jacques Rozier (but more philosophical than the average making of documentary, especially the Paparazzi one) that are presented in full. The Dinosaur and the Baby and the trailer are on both discs (it looks like both of these features are a straight port over as they even seem to have the same style of subtitles from the Criterion disc!)

On the Studio Canal Blu Ray the introduction by Colin McCabe is very nice, though many issues are necessarily only briefly touched on due to the five minute duration. The Once Upon A Time...Contempt documentary does a good job of tackling the production and the main themes within the film, though the most interesting aspect of the documentary are the interviews with Godard (occasionally shown watching the film) and Piccoli. The Godard interview is particularly interesting for the refreshingly subdued approach to appreciating the film, and eventually quite moving in the quiet despair at the lack of filmmakers despite the easy access to equipment that there now is and the unnecessary reverence to the medium of 'classic films' (as opposed to DIY You Tube stuff I assume) from the public. Clips from the Bardot et Godard and Paparazzi films are included here.

Contempt...Tenderly is an analysis of the scenes where Paul and Camille part - the two 'pimping to Prokosch' scenes and the two scenes where Camille ends things. For me while this was an interesting piece tackling these scenes in isolation only made the material around them seem even more necessary for understanding them - for instance the end of the apartment argument is given more context by both the transitional taxi ride (the silent emotional aftermath) and the scene at the audition which follows (the text resonance linking the personal relationship back into the world of filmmaking); or the sending of Camille off with Prokosh on the boat in Capri naturally flowing into Paul's discussion of the mythic with Lang. Most importantly the documentary focuses on the final 'fatal' car crash without considering the scene that comes before between Camille and Paul where she definitively ends their relationship with a grand gesture that leaves Paul's own grand gesture seeming pathetic and rather anti-climactic (especially when followed by the image of Lang valiantly soldiering on with his film, and trying to make something of it - in a way Paul is in the classic position of the screenwriter, sandwiched as an intermediary between the 'real' event and the 'mythical' filmmaker).

In isolation the four sequences discussed provide some interesting ideas, but it feels that there would be a far more valuable discussion if these scenes were considered in context. I was left with the feeling that any interpretation of a scene can be justified if you consider it in isolation from a film as a whole. Though I suppose here we are getting into the whole 'commentary versus visual essay' argument. I'm more for commentaries!

Perhaps the most valuable feature of the Studio Canal disc though is the German interview with Fritz Lang, which while it is not particularly insightful in terms of the questions asked does feature footage from Lang on set in Capri, disrupted part way through by a trespassing boatful of tourists desperate for a glimpse of Bardot but instead getting turned away disappointed (though the privileged audience for this film gets a quick shot of poor B.B. in her bathing suit!) This makes the interview a good companion to the other two Jacques Rozier films, and indeed Rozier is also credited at the end of this piece.

The interview features some interesting excerpts from Die Niebelungen but especially fascinating is an alternate (black and white fullscreen) take of the discussion between Prokosch and Lang in the screening room - it is nowhere near as sharp as the final scene and it feels a lot like a rehearsal but it is fun to see Palance hysterically screaming at Lang at the top of his voice and knocking letters off of the "Cinema is an invention without a future" sign with an angry thump on the screen, to hear a different line from Lang when Prokosch tries to grab the script from his hands, and also to see the more protracted build up to the 'film can used as a discus' moment.

[Jeff]

New website. It's a shame it doesn't show which discs are being released in which markets.

[TMDaines]

Well the subtitles listed for the disks are a good indication. No English subs on Senso so that, very disappointingly, won't be coming to the UK or US it seems. I don't know why as they would surely be a great seller and it is the only release that seemingly isn't English friendly. Right issues with the UK and/or the US perhaps and therefore they can't be bothered going to the effot of making an English package just for one market or so?

[TMDaines]

Do we really have the same discussion happening in three different threads now?

Indeed all these threads should be merged with the Studio Canal stuff.

[zedz]

I think this is most likely because the HD transfer has been licensed to different distributors in R1 or the UK. (e.g. Criterion for Senso) No subs on their edition is thus likely to be a condition of the license (if the licensee has any sense!).

[L'amiDeVS]

Well the subtitles listed for the disks are a good indication. No English subs on Senso so that, very disappointingly, won't be coming to the UK or US it seems. I don't know why as they would surely be a great seller and it is the only release that seemingly isn't English friendly. Right issues with the UK and/or the US perhaps and therefore they can't be bothered going to the effot of making an English package just for one market or so?

I don't think Senso will be thought of as a great seller, compared to titles like The Elephant Man, The Deer Hunter and Mulholland Drive. Too bad it doesn't have English subtitles though, I'm interested in the film. I think Criterion holds the rights for the US, I'm guessing another company holds the rights for the UK because otherwise they could have put on English subtitles and make it region B locked (or they just figured they couldn't be bothered with English subtitles because the movie is too obscure and they didn't foresee many sales outside France & Germany).

[MichaelB]

If electronic subtitles exist - which they certainly do in this case - it costs next to nothing to add them, certainly when set against the likely dividend from English-speakers importing the disc. So it's highly likely that it's a contractual imposition on Canal's part.

[GaryC]

I've never seen TLK screened in anything but Academy ratio. In fact as far as I know, only one Ealing movie was ever made in widescreen - the late and rather feeble comedy Davy, which was shot in Technirama. So 1.66:1 would distort Sandy's film rather badly.

I presume by "widescreen" he means Scope or large-format. I have here a checkdisc of Optimum's DVD of The Siege of Pinchgut, and it's anamorphic 1.66:1. While it's possible that the AR is wrong - I can't comment as I won't be watching Siege before the weekend - as the film was made in 1959 I'm inclined to believe it.

[tavernier]

Dave Kehr on The Ladykillers

[perkizitore]

May Wave, what a bunch of crap!

[triodelover]

Saw this over on the Blu-ray.com forum. Apparently Optimum are shipping Pierrot le fou with a properly labeled disc that actually contains A bout de souffle. So let's see...questionable transfers, poor QA/QC...what's next?

[Dr Amicus]

May Wave, what a bunch of crap!

Wash your mouth out!

The Howling, Serpico and, at least to a certain degree, Constant Gardener are all fine films. I still have Howling on laserdisc somewhere...

[John Hodson]

May Wave, what a bunch of crap!

But not part of the 'Studio Canal Collection', simply French releases from Studio Canal.

[perkizitore]

May Wave, what a bunch of crap!

Wash your mouth out!

The Howling, Serpico and, at least to a certain degree, Constant Gardener are all fine films. I still have Howling on laserdisc somewhere...

Sorry, i was referring to the majority of titles, i should have clarified!

Saw this over on the Blu-ray.com forum. Apparently Optimum are shipping Pierrot le fou with a properly labeled disc that actually contains A bout de souffle. So let's see...questionable transfers, poor QA/QC...what's next?

If the transfer is a good one that should be a keeper and a collectable one too!

[TMDaines]

May Wave, what a bunch of crap!

But not part of the 'Studio Canal Collection', simply French releases from Studio Canal.

Indeed. They didn't look like Collection titles.

[John Hodson]

DVDuell reported the next wave as:

# La Grande Illusion [1937, Jean Renoir]
# The Third Man [1949, Carol Reed]
# Peeping Tom [1960, Michael Powell]
# That Obscure Object of Desire [1977, Luis Bunuel]
# Mulholland Drive [2001, David Lynch]

Apparently, Kind Hearts and Coronets may make the roster too at some point, though how many will make it on to the Lionsgate label I don't know.