Fritz Lang on DVD/Blu-ray

[Der Spieler]

Good news! Can't wait to add this to my collection. Thanks Exposure!

A review on Amazon says:

This release from Exposure Cinema is a scandal.
Film Noir buffs have been waiting for years for a decent dvd of this masterpiece.
How in Gods name can anyone in this day and big screen tv age even think of releasing a SuperScope (2.35:1) movie in 1:33:1 ????????
Filmlovers don't want that !!
The picture is chopped down to aprox. half it's original size, and not only that, it has pixel 'noise'.

[Frankinho007]

The reviewer seems to be a bit wrong. Sorry. He should have checked some facts regarding SuperScope ~ 2,00:1 and that most (or all?) movies were made in 1,37:1 and cropped afterwards. Therefore the SuperScope Version shows half of the size and the fullscreen version is just Open Matte, look for the huge headroom on picture 2,4 and 5.

[Der Spieler]

Beaver

The review mentions the aspect ratio problem that seems to be an incorrect rumor. Maybe someone who knows their stuf should write Tooze an email. Still, I'm glad to see it was worth the wait. The image quality seems pretty good.

[domino harvey]

Regardless, Tooze doesn't like open-matte for whatever reason, even when it looks obviously superior. He'll just change to a lateral negative stance

[Der Spieler]

It's just a bit irritating when people write stuf like that without knowing the facts. The Exposure DVD seems quite good, and we should be thankful that they took time and money to put out a film no other company seemed to give a damn about. The end of the Beaver review makes it sound like it's a so-so DVD that "does the job" while we wait for a better product to come along.

Apparently Tooze got corrected and changed his review.

[Frankinho007]

Btw. I got this from Exposure:



Release: Early 2011

[Der Spieler]

Good thing about "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt", even though in my opinion it's not a very good movie. I got my "While the City Sleeps" DVD last friday, and I must say it looks quite good, even though the print is still a bit dirty. Nothing distracting though. I must thank Exposure for finally bringing this one on DVD.

[matrixschmatrix]

Has anyone checked out the Optimum Woman in the Window? The MGM one is out of of print, so if it's the same transfer I'd rather get that one.

[Forrest Taft]

Has anyone checked out the Optimum Woman in the Window? The MGM one is out of of print, so if it's the same transfer I'd rather get that one.

Looks good, as far as I recall. The cover has the MGM logo, so I assume it's the same transfer.

[matrixschmatrix]

Thanks, that'll save me like $20

[HerrSchreck]

Wow, at first I was like "What is this guy talking about???" because I picked up the excellent MGM (Fox prodc'd I believe) dvd the day it streeted, and it was like $11 in Kims... it may have even been below ten bucks because these things (Kansas City Conf, Bullet For Joey-- which I didn't buy but I remember it being dirt cheap-- Woman) were dirt cheap. Now just hopping on to Amazon I see it's pushing THIRTY DOLLARS???

What in fluck's sake???

EDIT: bizarre. They have Kansas City Conf. for literally pe n n i e s. WTF sorta shenanigans is this? Welles' The Stranger is 10 bucks (about what I paid for when these streeted), KC Conf (an excellent noir) is 198 cents, Bullet For Joey is under 5 bucks, and this Lang is almost 30 dollars?

[Der Spieler]

Blind-bought 'Kansas City Confidential' for 5 bucks, thanks for the tip!

[Murdoch]

EDIT: bizarre. They have Kansas City Conf. for literally pe n n i e s. WTF sorta shenanigans is this? Welles' The Stranger is 10 bucks (about what I paid for when these streeted), KC Conf (an excellent noir) is 198 cents, Bullet For Joey is under 5 bucks, and this Lang is almost 30 dollars?

Ha! Thanks for the link, had no idea it was going for that cheap. The marketplace is a very strange place.

[matrixschmatrix]

I bought the Toho Godzilla boxset for $21.99, new, from Amazon, in July. Now it's going for $87. It often doesn't make a lot of sense.

Is there a cheaper way to buy the e-m-s Hangmen Also Die than from amazon.de? It's charging me like 14 euro just in shipping.

[bugsy_pal]

Is there a cheaper way to buy the e-m-s Hangmen Also Die than from amazon.de? It's charging me like 14 euro just in shipping.

I just received mine today from a German ebay seller. I paid 11.50 Euro plus & 7 Euro shipping. It was cheaper than any of the copies I could find on Amazon.de.

I think I got a bit lucky - most or all of the German ebay listings say they will only ship to EU - so I asked a couple if they would ship to Australia, and one of them obliged. That seller doesn't seem to have anything available at the moment (his name is legan2006). Just keep trying...

Update: Having said that, it appears that there is one seller at the moment who will ship Worldwide for 7.45 Euro.

Beware though - there is one seller (uncut-movieshop) who has a listing saying that he would ship outside the EU to Australia (still has it listed). I bought from him initially and paid via Paypal, and then he refunded me saying that he would not ship to Australia.

I'm looking forward to watching this at last. The e-m-s disc is a nice package. I just wish I could read the German booklet.

[Jonathan S]

The generally very positive DVD Times review of Exposure Cinema's While the City Sleeps contains a comment I find worrying:

Something that I noticed on multiple occasions is a sudden speeding up of movement, akin almost to watching a silent slapstick comedy. Even considering the PAL format's 4% speedup, I can't recall ever encountering such a prominent display of this as seen here. It doesn't occur often but it is noticeable when it happens. I'm unsure as to whether it's a consequence of the transfer or a reality of the film that would have always existed.

Can anyone who has watched this release, or Exposure Cinema themselves, comment on this? It's a while since I viewed my off-air copy but it seems very unlikely that undercranking would be used in a film of this type and as late as the mid-1950s. I can cope with 4% PAL speed-up, but this sounds more like the 10% time-compression acceleration used for some US TV broadcasts.

[Der Spieler]

Never noticed anything wrong with my copy...

Savant review of 'Hangmen Also Die' from the e-m-s disc forwarded by yours truly.

[otis]

Interesting discussion of the various aspect ratios of While the City Sleeps in the second half of this blog post by David Bordwell.

[Frankinho007]

Received You and Me from Koch Media today. Again a good looking dual-layered disc with some bonus material: the original trailer in English, a stills gallery and a booklet (in German only).
Audio is English DD 2.0 Mono with optional German subtitles - there is no existing German dub.
The DVD is locked to region 2, has a runtime of 89:50 Min. and below are some screenshots:



The following two are with the optional German subtitles:

[Forrest Taft]

As the Optimum (Region 2, UK) edition of Western Union is OOP, I ended up ordering the French edition. The transfer is all right, and the subtitles are removable. There is also a bonus disc, called Les "Western Home Movies" de Fritz Lang, including 100 minutes of 8mm footage apparently shot by Lang himself, with music by Galeshka Moravioff. Does anyone have any more info on what this is?

[tojoed]

Another version of Hangmen Also Die is soon to be released in Australia.

[perkizitore]

You Only Live Once on blu-ray

[tojoed]

Sounds wonderful. Do you know anything about Eagle Pictures, Perky? Are they any good?

[perkizitore]

They have released some Land on DVD including You Only Live Once, which supposedly is decent. They are also releasing Metropolis on blu-ray, but the PQ in this case is a sure bet as they are probably using the restored master.

[knives]

When you say in this case are you referring to Metropolis or the You Only Live Once?