International Blu-ray and UHD Discs

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Warner has talked about North by Northwest a few times, I think they're doing another full restoration pass for its Blu-ray debut sometime next year. If the UK release uses the current SD-DVD transfer which is really filtered it's unlikely it'll be a big step up in detail, where the eventual Warner release should look great.

Warner distributes it in the UK too. And there's pretty much zero chance they'll be using the old SD-DVD master, since that wasn't done in HD.

[eerik]

"North by Northwest" received a brand new 8K transfer.

The arrival of North by Northwest on Blu-ray is a landmark event in home video history, as it marks the very first of the famed director’s films to become available on this state-of-the-art format. Accordingly, the film has received a meticulous restoration and remastering especially for this occasion with Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging scanning the original VistaVision production elements in 8K resolution. The resulting presentation reveals a depth of field and clarity never before possible, only serving to heighten every thrill-packed moment of this beloved classic.

[feckless boy]

Seven Samurai is to be released on Blu-ray in Japan on October 23. Hopefully that means we'll have a Criterion edition sometime next year.

[eerik]

Seven Samurai is to be released on Blu-ray in Japan on October 23. Hopefully that means we'll have a Criterion edition sometime next year.

Thats a bit old news. I'm hoping for a Rashomon rerelease. Japanese Blu-ray does not have English subtitles.

[feckless boy]

Seven Samurai is to be released on Blu-ray in Japan on October 23. Hopefully that means we'll have a Criterion edition sometime next year.

Thats a bit old news. I'm hoping for a Rashomon rerelease. Japanese Blu-ray does not have English subtitles.

I see, I guess it's time for one these.

[michaelgsmith]

My review of Mega Star's region-free LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE Blu-ray.

[elcinegro]

The （Region A） Blu-ray World Premiere of Eric Rohmer's 4 films:

"Conte de printemps（A Tale of Springtime）"
"Conte d'hiver (A Tale of Winter)"
"Conte d'été (A Tale of Summer)"
"Conte d'Automne（A Tale of Autumn）".

Released in Japan on March 24, 2012.（Original French language with Japanese subs, No English subs）.

As for "Conte d'hiver (A Tale of Winter)" and "Conte d'Automne （A Tale of Autumn）", the Aspect Ratio is 4:3 as Rohmer preferred.

[michaelgsmith]

Great news about the Region A release of the Tales of the Four Seasons. Who is the distributor?

[elcinegro]

Great news about the Region A release of the Tales of the Four Seasons. Who is the distributor?

"The Tales of the Four Seasons"
Japanese Region A Blu-rays

released by Mermaid Films
Blu-ray & DVD trailer
http://www.eiganokuni.com/dvd/rohmer/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

distributed by Kinokuniya-Shoten
http://forest.kinokuniya.co.jp/Person/49211/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Calvin]

Yuzo Kawashima's Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate will be released in Japan on June 2nd. Seems to be pretty popular in Japan - it made the top 5 of both Kinema Junpo top 100 polls and it seems to be quite high in the bestsellers chart. Unfortunately, no English subtitles are mentioned but there is an English option at the official site.

[rockysds]

The Scandinavian company Soul Media have put some interesting stuff out the last year or so. Outside of releases of Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy-films, they seem to mostly release films that Fox aren't in any hurry to release on their own. They've released dual format editions of such films as:

Drums Along the Mohawk (John Ford)
David and Bathsheba (Henry Koster)
Alexander the Great (Robert Rossen)
Arch of Triumph (Lewis Milestone)
Against All Flags (George Sherman)
The Egyptian (Michael Curtiz)
North to Alaska (Henry Hathaway)
Prince Valiant (Henry Hathaway)
Un divan à New York (Chantal Akerman)
Target (Arthur Penn)
The Lion in Winter (Anthony Harvey)
The Barbarian and the Geisha (John Huston)
The Conqueror (Dick Powell)
Extreme Prejudice (Walter Hill)
Butch and Sundance the Early Days (Richard Lester)
Treasure Island (John Hough)

Priced around 100 DKK or roughly $17-18.

[TMDaines]

I believe some of their releses have being interlaced and so forth in the past though so its worth trying to find people's comments with Google before buying. LOL at The Egyptian though. Sure puts Twilight Time's absolute pricing nonsense into perspective.

[swo17]

=;

[michaelgsmith]

I believe some of their releses have being interlaced and so forth in the past though so its worth trying to find people's comments with Google before buying. LOL at The Egyptian though. Sure puts Twilight Time's absolute pricing nonsense into perspective.

Do you know if Drums Along the Mohawk is interlaced or do you know of any reviews that have been posted anywhere online? I'd like to buy it but don't want to make the plunge without knowing what I'm getting into.

Incidentally, Paramount Germany has listed a Liberty Valance blu for June: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B007IZ41BO/ref= ... amp=211189

[David M.]

Being interlaced doesn't automatically = bad. It's not a great sign, but it's not that last word in image quality.

[MichaelB]

I have a handful of interlaced Blu-rays, and I honestly couldn't tell the difference by eye. It's a completely different situation visually from interlaced SD material.

[peerpee]

It's heartbreaking when you pause them though.

[MichaelB]

It's heartbreaking when you pause them though.

<Tommy Cooper>Well, don't pause them then.</Tommy Cooper>

[peerpee]

I pause Blu-rays quite often, to read a sign in the background or to admire the detail. Obviously, taking Blu-ray grabs involves pausing too, so it's a bit of a shitter if the disc is interlaced for no apparent technical reason and I'll usually avoid a disc that's interlaced because of this.

[David M.]

There are possible ways to maybe solve that problem.

Scenario 1: If we're talking about high motion video camera content (that is, interlaced content where both fields are unique) then a perfect reconstruction of the frame is impossible, because the acquisition method itself involves compromise. (Although there are some filters that can make VERY convincing and hi-res progressive results of such content).

Scenario 2: If it's a film that's been transferred to interlaced 50hz video, both fields are the same so pausing should look fine. But some players will see that the content is interlaced and assume scenario 1 and will only show one of the fields (halved vertical resolution) when the pause button is hit. Some DVD players - and I hope BD players - have a Field/Frame toggle in the setup menu that dictates what the pause mode does. If you set it to Frame it should look clean.

If it's a film transferred to 60hz video, you have 3:2 pulldown to contend with so you'll have to be careful which frames you select (some should look clean). But it's possible to do a perfect reconstruction and get a nice progressive frame out of it, all the same. Of course it'd be a hell of a lot easier if the compressionists handled that and just encoded it at 24p to start with!

[andyli]

Fox is releasing an 8BD+11DVD complete collection of Monroe's work in Japan this summer. Given that they own/distribute the titles worldwide, hopefully US and other territories will follow suit. The five blu-ray debuts are Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire, River of No Return, The Seven Year Itch, and There's No Business Like Show Business.

[hearthesilence]

Would definitely love Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

One thing though - it looks like they slimmed her down on that cover for How to Marry a Millionaire. Monroe wasn't quite that thin. In fact, it looks like they stuck her head on someone else's body.

[swo17]

Monroe wasn't quite that thin. In fact, it looks like they stuck her head on someone else's body.

How to actually marry a millionaire

That's step 3. :-$

[Hofmeister]

That's interesting, those five titles have been announced as both a boxed set and separate BDs in Germany -- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes / The Seven Year Itch / There's No Business Like Show Business / River of No Return / How to Marry a Millionaire.

Street date is July 20, see also http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Marilyn-M ... ray/43610/. At the moment, the announced price points are EUR 62 for the set and EUR 16 per single title.

[eerik]

While Germany gets the same set, UK release only includes four films: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire, Some Like it Hot, The Seven Year Itch.