International Blu-ray and UHD Discs

[manicsounds]

The French BD of "Repulsion" gets a score of 1 out of 10 in picture quality

[David M.]

I really want to see what this looks like...

[Minkin]

I'm not too familiar with The Digital Fix. Is it their common policy to not include a single screenshot? I mean, sure, you can't judge an entire transfer from a few stills, but come on, let's see the freak.

[manicsounds]

They used to be called "DVDTimes" (which I still refer to in my mind). They used to include screenshots. I don't know why they stopped doing it.

[David M.]

I used to write for 'em before I was spirited away to make Zulawski DVDs

[eerik]

Magnificent Obsession is coming out next month in Italy.

[MichaelB]

I'm not too familiar with The Digital Fix. Is it their common policy to not include a single screenshot? I mean, sure, you can't judge an entire transfer from a few stills, but come on, let's see the freak.

I suspect Anthony simply doesn't have the technical wherewithal to do Blu-ray grabs - I can't either, which is one of the reasons I've never reviewed a Blu-ray for The Digital Fix.

[eerik]

Sternberg's The Blue Angel is scheduled for 31st August in Germany.

[TMDaines]

Sternberg's The Blue Angel is scheduled for 31st August in Germany.

I would buy but then I'd regret it two months later when MoC released it and in a better and cheaper editon. :-"

[eerik]

Oh yeah, totally forgot that MoC will most likely release it as well.

[TMDaines]

Kinski/Herzog set on Blu in Germany later this year.

[Drucker]

I've been tempted to pick up the American set for two years...so (potentially) glad I held out!

[manicsounds]

Keisuke Kinoshita Blu-ray coming to Japan on 8/29/2012

Twenty Four Eyes in both the original 1.33:1 and recompositioned 1.78:1 version (apparently supervised by Kinoshita)
Twenty Four Eyes (1987 remake) directed by Yoshitaka Asama (in 1080i)
The Ballad Of Narayama
Carmen Comes Home in both color and black and white versions

Plus a really dumb Boxset, which includes "Twenty Four Eyes" on Blu-ray and DVD, plus "My First Love Affair", "The Lighthouse", and "Carmen Comes Home" on DVD plus a CD, postcards, posters, hardcover book, and pamphlets.



Why are they even including "Carmen" on DVD when the Blu-ray's coming out the same time? Just throw the BDs into one boxset and make it easy...

No English subtitles by the way

[manicsounds]

Masayuki Suo's "Shall We Dance?" (1996), coming to Blu-ray on 5/30 from DS Media in Korea, with English subtitles. The length confirms it is the original cut, not the Miramax cut, and retains all the extras from the 2-disc DVD.

[Minkin]

Japan seems to have some of the most interesting releases lately. Too bad they are all so damn expensive. Kinoshita on Bluray sounds great, but not for $50+ each. Is this just a really bad exchange rate or fairly common for DVD/Blu in Japan?

[Michael Kerpan]

Kinoshita on Bluray sounds great, but not for $50+ each. Is this just a really bad exchange rate or fairly common for DVD/Blu in Japan?

Japanese home video products have always been very expensive. Back in the day, VHS tapes were even more expensive.

[TMDaines]

There's a number of factors I imagine: cost of living is higher in Japan but PPP is lower so things are generally more expensive for the average citizen than they are in the US or UK. Perhaps home video, or digital media in general, is more expensive in comparison to other products too but I don't know. Norway, for example, is ridiculous in terms of the price of alcohol.

[manicsounds]

Japanese studios price their stuff expensive with their home video products because they know the fans will pay premium.

Obviously, if they lower the prices they might get some more buyers, but they really don't care about the 'iffy' fans, (the ones who may or may not buy titles) probably because they don't think it would be cost effective, sadly.

[purplex]

Japanese studios price their stuff expensive with their home video products because they know the fans will pay premium.

Also more than a few people will by a disc, watch it, then sell it on to a second hand retailer, of which there are many. The sell price for second-hand new release titles around week later is only 10% or so less than new, so you can recover a lot of money selling on quickly.

I think the high price is to factor in this kind of activity. For a regular title, they might calculate they can sell 2,000 original copies at inflated prices to the original buyers who are not so price sensitive, which generate a sufficient return. This is subsidizing the extra 2,000 second hand sales over the life of the product of which the studio gets no money.

[eerik]

Sternberg's The Blue Angel is scheduled for 31st August in Germany.

Special features according to bluray-disc.de:

• English version
• Marlene's live performances of "Falling in Love Again" (Stockholm, 1963), "Lola" and "You're the Cream in My Coffee" (London, 1972)
• Audio commentary by film historian Werner Sudendorf
• Two trailers (1930 and 1960)
• Test shots
• Scene comparison between English and German versions

[triodelover]

Sternberg's The Blue Angel is scheduled for 31st August in Germany.

I would buy but then I'd regret it two months later when MoC released it and in a better and cheaper editon. :-"

You might want to review the saga of M. This is a Universum release.

[TMDaines]

Sternberg's The Blue Angel is scheduled for 31st August in Germany.

I would buy but then I'd regret it two months later when MoC released it and in a better and cheaper editon. :-"

You might want to review the saga of M. This is a Universum release.

Oh, I'm aware their M is superior than the Criterion and MoC thanks to further restoration - even if it's quite a bit dearer, I would like to get it at some point. My comment was quite lighthearted.

[triodelover]

I would like to get it at some point.

jpc have it for 17.99€ at the moment (18% off the regular price). Der blaue Engel is available for pre-order at 15.99€.

My comment was quite lighthearted.

So was mine, particularly for 3 Ack Emma local time.

[eerik]

Italian release of Murnau's Nosferatu (1922) is back on the schedule for 28th August 2012, along with Fred Niblo's Blood and Sand (1922) on the same day.

[eerik]

Universal is releasing Roeg's Walkabout in the UK on 10th of September.