Studio Canal / Kinowelt / Optimum

[broadwayrock]

I have made some exact frame lossless screencaps in VLC and the differences with Gary's caps is that they are slightly softer from the jpeg compression, the gamma seems slightly brighter with a difference in Hue.

Cap 4
Cap 5
Cap 6

The Beaver caps don't look filtered at all and are representative of the Blu-ray image.

[manicsounds]

I don't see anything wrong with Pro-B's contribution here, I mean, he IS the one who reviewed the disc on BD.com.... It's just amazing to see that 2 different sites with the exact same disc have incredibly different reviews.

My copy is on its way soon. I guess I'll have to see for myself.

[Finch]

For what it's worth, the folks at the Digital Fix didn't see anything wrong with the Blu either. I won't be able to watch my copy until the weekend but if I see anything untoward or not, I'll post my two cents. For now though I think, some folks are overdoing the Studio Canal bashing: some of their titles have been excellent, including the recent Cercle Rouge, and the Mulholland Drive disc was fine as well.

[Finch]

I've sampled a few scenes from the Peeping Tom Blu-Ray on my 50 inch plasma, and I'm reminded a little of Gaumont's A Man Escaped release: grain does exist but as with the Bresson, it can be very subtle and more noticeable in some shots than others. Have to agree with broadwayrock that some shots do have a plastic look to them, and for my taste, it doesn't bring out the textures as consistently as I'd expect it from the format. At the same time though, with all the reservations I currently have, the picture has expectantly more depth than the DVD could ever relate, it has strong blacks and the colours come out very well.

I find it interesting that on various other forums, people who've seen the resto theatrically vouch for the Blu as a faithful representation so I'd like to see the resto first before deciding either way. If I had ro rate the image right now, it'd be a tentative high 6 or low 7.

[mfunk9786]

Words cannot express how much better this commentary is than the one on the Criterion.

[manicsounds]

Well, the BD and DVD editions both have a booklet, but they have different essays in them, also, the BD is rated (18) on the disc, which I'm pretty sure is a misprint, as the cover says (15), unless something Thelma Schoonmaker says in her interview something extremely 18 rated...

[MichaelB]

Words cannot express how much better this commentary is than the one on the Criterion.

To be fair, they're very different - some people prefer Ian Christie's heavily fact-based one, others favour Laura Mulvey's far more analytical one.

I personally edge more towards Christie's, partly because I've never been convinced that the commentary format is ideally suited for film analysis (Tag Gallagher's video essays are much more effective) and partly because I know present-day Soho well so I found much of the background stuff about its 1950s history to be absolutely fascinating, but they both have very strong merits.

Put it like this: I'm glad I've heard both.

[manicsounds]

Anyone else having problems playing or loading the Peeping Tom BD? Spits it out with "Read Error" on my machine.

[tojoed]

There are two Nicholas Roeg films on Blu-Ray in March, Don't Look Now and The Man Who fell to Earth

[John Hodson]

...If you trust the listings there's also a 'Special Edition' BD and DVD set of Brighton Rock end of February, plus March also brings Manhunter and new SEs for Cronos, Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone.

[Finch]

New Brighton Rock DVD and Blu officially announced for 28 Feb and with these extras:

* Interview with Rowan Joffe;
* 1954 NFT interview with Richard Attenborough and John Bouting.

[John Hodson]

There are two Nicholas Roeg films on Blu-Ray in March, Don't Look Now and The Man Who fell to Earth

DVD Outsider has the details:

There was a time in the 70s and early 80s when even the suggestion that there might be a new Nic Roeg film on the way would send film fans into a frenzy of excitement. It's hardly surprising given the run of distinctive and sometimes groundbreaking films he helmed, from the 1970 Performance (co-directed with the late Donald Cammell) to the 1985 Insignificance, and now two of his best loved features – Don't Look Now and The Man Who Fell to Earth – are to get a Blu-ray only UK release from Optimum Home Entertainment, both featuring a digitally restored version of the film and some fine looking extras.

Don't Look Now (1973)
Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie star in Nic Roeg’s brilliantly atmospheric adaptation of the novel by Daphne du Maurier. Following the death of their daughter, John and Laura Baxter travel to Venice where John is to oversee the restoration of an old church. Here they encounter a pair of elderly sisters, one of them a blind psychic who claims to have been in communication with the couple’s dead child. Whilst Laura is intrigued John resists the idea, despite the possibility that he is having his own visions that threaten to put his life in danger. A genuinely unsettling and beautifully atmospheric film with a startling climax, Don't Look Now is widely acknowledged as perhaps Roeg’s finest film and one of the best British films of the late twentieth century.

Boasting a new, restored high definition transfer, the disc will have the following extra features:
* Commentary by director Nicolas Roaeg;
* Looking Back documentary on the making of the film;
* Interview with composer Pino Donaggio;
* Introduction by Alan Jones;
* Compressed version of Don’t Look Now made by Danny Boyle for BAFTA tribute (new);
* Interview with Danny Boyle (new);
* Interview with co-screenwriter Allan Scott (new);
* Interview with director of photography Tony Richmond (new);
* Interview with leading man Donald Sutherland (new).

The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
Crash landing on Earth from his dying planet, an alien humanoid traveling by the name of Thomas Jerome Newton (David Bowie) uses his superior intelligence to build a vast business empire. As he takes on, and beats, every major US corporation, people can only guess his true purpose – to save his dying world from drought.

Newton’s ageless fall from grace, as he becomes prey to lust, alcohol, business rivals and the US Government makes The Man Who Fell To Earth not only a bitingly caustic indictment of the modern world but also a poignant commentary on the loneliness of the outsider. Also starring Candy Clark, Rip Torn and Buck Henry and based on the cult novel by Walter Tevis.

Featuring a new, restored high definition transfer, the release will have the following extras:
* Interview with director Nic Roeg;
* Watching the Alien documentary feature;
* Theatrical trailer;
* Interview with cinematographer Tony Richmond (new);
* Interview with screenwriter Paul Mayersberg (new);
* Interview with actress Candy Clark (new).

[justeleblanc]

StudioCanal asks on their facebook wall, "Among these titles, which one would you like to see in the Studiocanal Collection?"

The titles are:
L’Armée des ombres, J.P. Melville
La belle et la bête, J. Cocteau
La Bête humaine, J. Renoir
Carmen, F. Rosi
Casque d'or, J. Becker
César et Rosalie, C. Sautet
The Conversation, F. F. Coppola
Don't Look Now, N. Roeg
Jeux Interdits, R. Clément
Million Dollar Baby, C. Eastwood
Plein Soleil, R. Clément
The Producers, M. Brooks
Quai des brumes, M. Carné
Quai des Orfèvres, H.-G. Clouzot
Le Journal d’un curé de campagne, R. Bresson
La Strada, F. Fellini
The Trial, O. Welles
Tristana, L. Buñuel
Aux frontières de l'aube, C Bigelow
Mayerling, T Young
Riso amaro, G de Santis
La grande illusion, J. Renoir

[perkizitore]

Say everything except for the Criterion titles...

[Finch]

I thought La Grande Illusion was confirmed, even with a street date for 21 April? Can't remember where I saw the info, may have been the French sub-forum on Blu-Ray.com

[Peacock]

Diary of a Country Priest needs your vote...

[aox]

I thought the Conversation was confirmed as well. Pretty concretely.

[Der Spieler]

THE TRIAL on Blu would be awesome!

[aox]

only if someone spent the money to clean it up.

[Finch]

I thought the Conversation was confirmed as well. Pretty concretely.

Yes, it was but what's it doing in the Studio Canal list in the first place? I thought American Zoetrope would distribute it themselves in the US and Europe?

[tenia]

What is funny is that Carmen has just been released in France by Gaumont around November 2010...

Anyway, except maybe the Bigelow and the De Santis, I would say that they all deserve their entry in the collection.

[RossyG]

StudioCanal asks on their facebook wall, "Among these titles, which one would you like to see in the Studiocanal Collection?"

None of them, but I'd like to see many of those titles on Criterion, BFI and Masters of Cinema.

[rohmerin]

Blasphemy ! Riso amaro non interesting!

Mayerling please

[Feego]

Wait, so the Mayerling they're offering is the 1968 Terrence Young remake with Omar Sharif and Catherine Deneuve and NOT the 1936 Anatole Litvak one they swiped from Criterion?

[rohmerin]

1936 version is very good, but this one is the best film about Royals I've ever seen, filmed in Vienna.