Mr. Bongo Films

[peerpee]

Based on precedent, I'd assume a reverse-engineered Cornerstone Media disc.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

I've had three hits at this. The Cornerstone which I frisbeed out the window of a moving car on the motorway. The Brazilian re-issue of a spanish edition which I sold on and have now the Italian Sinister film version which is the best me-thinks it will get until someone gets back to basics, which I very much doubt will be the case for the Bongos.
Anyone else got a take on what may be the best version? I never managed to snag the version in the french box set from, I think, Studio Canal.

[MichaelB]

Mr Bongo's stuff tends to be completely random - when they get it right (Earth, the revised The Saragossa Manuscript), the results are spectacular, but they've also released some appalling transfers, such as the non-anamorphic Kozintsev films with non-16:9-friendly subtitles. I suspect - or rather I know for certain - that it depends entirely on what's available off the shelf.

[peerpee]

Yes, when you reverse engineer someone else's disc of a new restoration, the results will be identically spectacular! :-& So it seems they just have to get a little better at picking which foreign discs to use and then all their discs will be great.

The current S&S, in a competition giveaway blurb, proclaims that both Has films "have been painstakingly restored by Mr Bongo Films." -- This is completely untrue.

I've held my tongue for a long time, but let's rock the bad ship Pongo. I think it now needs to be said openly that the way Mr Pongo operates appears to be less than commendable. Word gets around a global industry - they have a reputation for not being true to their word, and there are a number of licensors unhappy with them. They take massive liberties with the authoring and sale of their discs (their titles being offered for sale at Amazon.com (supplied directly by Amazon.com to the USA), is illegal and something that no other UK label does).

Mr Pongo seemingly believe they can continue behaving irresponsibly but they're just pretending at being in this business / a respectable label. They currently have a veneer of support which would collapse if people knew how they operated.

[lubitsch]

Any word on how Arsenal compares to the R1 Image disc? Worth doubledipping?

Since this question was never answered properly, I'd say it's debatable. The Image disc has the original intertitles and I assume the Bomngo has, too, because I'm using the screenshots Jonathan Rosenbaum has done on his page for comparison. The Image disc has an audio commentary by Vance Kepley.
A very common problem with Russian silents is the framing and that's unfortunately also the case here. The Image disc has a chunk more information on the left and the Mr. Bongo disc has roughly the same chunk at the right, so that's pretty much a draw. I'd say the Bongo disc is however superior regarding the picture, not by miles, but a tad sharper, more filmic grey and less like a tape.

[Calvin]

Mr. Bongo have uploaded some clips of Chimes at Midnight to their YouTube channel. It doesn't look too bad actually, perhaps the reason it was so bad when I saw it on the big screen is that they were projecting from DVD?

[perkizitore]

Apparently they are releasing Dovzhenko's War Trilogy AND Don Quixote in September!

[RossyG]

Mr Pongo seemingly believe they can continue behaving irresponsibly but they're just pretending at being in this business / a respectable label. They currently have a veneer of support which would collapse if people knew how they operated.

Yes. This is the crowd, after all, who used to make up their own classifications rather than submit them to the BBFC as required by law.

[Calvin]

They occasionally still do - try looking for Kozintsev's King Lear at the BBFC. I'm in two minds about e-mailing the BBFC - on one hand, they've released many films that no one else would but on the other, L'Avventura etc. deserve better.

[RossyG]

Yes, King Lear's definitely not on there; I just checked.

It's worth emailing the BBFC. Mr Bongo are breaking the 1984 Video Recordings Act, which other companies have to comply with. By skipping the classification process they are pocketing the fee (hundreds of pounds, maybe even a grand) which gives them an unfair advantage over respectable companies like MoC and Second Run.

[Jack Phillips]

They take massive liberties with the authoring and sale of their discs (their titles being offered for sale at Amazon.com (supplied directly by Amazon.com to the USA), is illegal and something that no other UK label does).

This doesn't even seem like a sane business model. Without the VAT, the amazon.co.uk price of either the Saragossa or the Chimes disc is half what it's going for on amazon.com. Apparently, Bongo is trying to appeal to a niche North American market that wants PAL transfers but is too stupid to do comparison pricing.

[TMDaines]

Have you not got anything better to do than cross-referencing the latest DVD releases with the BBFC's database?

It's absurd that DVD labels have to submit everything to the BBFC in the first place, and the whole practice is directly responsible extras being left out UK releases that can't justify the submission cost.

[Drucker]

Hey, I know it doesn't seem like Mr. Bongo has a great reputation, but I picked up a CD copy of Tom Ze's first album Grande Liquidacao yesterday on CD, and it was also released by Mr. Bongo. From the one song I've played so far, it sounds pretty good quality wise, actually (not that I've ever owned anything but an MP3 of the album.) How long have they also been a record label? Is it a separate branch?

[Calvin]

The record company has been around since '89, way before the film division came in '04.

It's absurd that DVD labels have to submit everything to the BBFC in the first place, and the whole practice is directly responsible extras being left out UK releases that can't justify the submission cost.

I don't think it's that absurd though I do think there should be a cap on the price rather than them charging for each and every item on the disc. That being said, it's not really fair that Mr. Bongo (illegally) bypass the BBFC either, when labels such as Second Run (and even the dreaded Cornerstone) diligently submit their films.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Hey, I know it doesn't seem like Mr. Bongo has a great reputation, but I picked up a CD copy of Tom Ze's first album Grande Liquidacao yesterday on CD, and it was also released by Mr. Bongo. From the one song I've played so far, it sounds pretty good quality wise, actually (not that I've ever owned anything but an MP3 of the album.) How long have they also been a record label? Is it a separate branch?

Mr Bongo is a record store of long standing in Soho. They specialise in Latin music but I don't know if their DVD arm is a different set of people.

[MichaelB]

As far as I'm aware, it's the same people - after distributing Latin music for years, they moved sideways into Cuban and Brazilian cinema, and from thence into world cinema in general.

[HJackson]

Have you not got anything better to do than cross-referencing the latest DVD releases with the BBFC's database?

It's absurd that DVD labels have to submit everything to the BBFC in the first place, and the whole practice is directly responsible extras being left out UK releases that can't justify the submission cost.

Well if breaking the law allows Mr Bongo to continue putting out the feature-rich, extras-laden discs they've come to be known for, I'm all for it!

[McCrutchy]

The Chimes DVD has finally released (and with different cover art than I saw previously); it's now a "Definative [sic] Restored Version DVD" according to Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Falstaff-Midnig ... 007H7OQW2/



Really hoping somebody can buy this ASAP and tell me if I should get it before Beatrice changes her mind and forces the disc to go out of print at the end of the week.

[JPJ]

Amazon UK reviewer suggests that best version is from Sinister films(Italy).Maybe this is the same transfer?

[McCrutchy]

Amazon UK reviewer suggests that best version is from Sinister films(Italy).Maybe this is the same transfer?

No one on Amazon has reviewed the Bongo disc yet, since it released today.

[JPJ]

Amazon UK reviewer suggests that best version is from Sinister films(Italy).Maybe this is the same transfer?

No one on Amazon has reviewed the Bongo disc yet, since it released today.

Yes I know,since it was written in january I think he's reviewing earlier Cornerstone Media release.I was just speculating if the Italian release is so good maybe Mr.Bongo is using their transfer,after all it's "definative" restored version.

[doc mccoy]

According to the BVA, Il Posto and the Grim Reaper have been deleted, even though they were released a year ago, and there's no sign of them anywhere on the usual etailers, not even Bongo's site.

[MichaelB]

This might be a legacy of the Sony DADC fire - existing unsold copies would have been destroyed, and sales might not have been good enough to justify a reprint.

[Jonathan S]

Just received the 1981 Russian TV Hound of the Baskervilles and from a brief preview it looks like a nice transfer with optional English subs. The back cover states: "Authored from DigiBeta" and "Licensed from Contemporary Films Ltd."

Curiously, though no more than 146 minutes, it's split over 2 single-layer DVD5s, but as it was made in two parts (each with separate credits) that isn't a problem for me.

Mr Bongo has scheduled the Kozintsev Don Quixote for September 24, also a collection of their three already-released Dovzhenko silents.

[kidc85]

Mr Bongo has scheduled the Kozintsev Don Quixote for September 24.

Nice. Is it as good as his Shakespeare adaptations?