New Australian DVD and BD Releases

[Solaris]

Dec 14 MGM will release Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha, 1984 (1984) and Babs's Yentl.

Jan 18 2006 Fox will release special editions of David Cronenberg's The Fly and its sequel The Fly II as well as Hitchcock's Lifeboat.

[squarefoot]

Dec 14 MGM will release Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha, 1984 (1984) and Babs's Yentl.

Yentl is being released non-anamorphic 1:66.1: the transfer is not too bad but apparently the colours are a little off. Rumour has it Streisand is working on a transfer for R1 release.

[Solaris]

Jim Henson's The Storyteller - Greek Myths will be released by Columbia on December 07. Considering the fantastic (yet overpriced) discs of The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth they released earlier, this release is something to look foward to.

[devlinnn]

From all reports, next week's release of Major Dundee from Sony will be the extended version with all the extra material found on the R1. A steal at $14.95rrp. Olivier in The Entertainer and Finney in The Dresser will be thrown out next month for less than a tenner each, with the underrated Impromptu only a few dollars more. How much further can these prices drop?

[Lino]

Can anyone vouch for the recently released Fellini Casanova? What's the running time? And how's the A/V presentation?

[solent]

I thought art and politics were not to be mixed in this country. Then again, is there such a thing as politics here to begin with?

I have two Howard-interfering-with-my-life stories. Both are to do with me trying to get from A to B in the city [Adelaide] and finding security then the King himself turning up to make things difficult. The last straw was that American coming here a few days ago causing the city to go into lock-down. I saw Hawk a few years ago and I don't remember any goons back then... [sigh] times have changed.

I assume all the upcoming Peckinpahs will be released here. I still couldn't figure out why MEAN STREETS wasn't put out with KNOCKING & ALICE.

[Solaris]

Can anyone vouch for the recently released Fellini Casanova? What's the running time? And how's the A/V presentation?

I have not been able to find out any info about this DVD, besides that it is two discs. Does anybody know what kind of extras it has?

[Narshty]

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=58949

[Lino]

That's the UK edition. I was asking about the australian one. This is the right thread, right?

[devlinnn]

The R4 Casanova is the English dubbed version only (2:35 anamorphic, 147 minutes). Second disc has the Donald Sutherland interview, E Il Casanova de Fellini? doc. and the Et Fellini Crea Le Casanova interview with Angelucci. Yet to view the whole thing, but picture looks fine.

[Lino]

The R4 Casanova is the English dubbed version only (2:35 anamorphic, 147 minutes)

Are you sure about that 2:35? The extras look great, though. If only Gary would make a kick-ass comparison between the italian, UK, french and aussie editions, then we would be talking some serious business.

Criterion, where are you?!

[devlinnn]

The R4 Casanova is the English dubbed version only (2:35 anamorphic, 147 minutes)

Are you sure about that 2:35? The extras look great, though. If only Gary would make a kick-ass comparison between the italian, UK, french and aussie editions, then we would be talking some serious business.

Criterion, where are you?!

Damn! Damn! Damn!

Apologies, you're right Annie. Serves me right for jumping the gun. A quick view on the small kitchen TV led me to believe all was OK. Sitting down in the proper environment however...the DVD package states 16:9 Widescreen - Full Height Anamorpic (what the hell does that mean?) The reality is a non-anamorphic transfer. The dubbed version only was bad enough, now this will need to be returned. What happened to quality control?

[Lino]

But is it 2:35 or 1:85 or even 1:75? And while you're at it, looking at the captures posted at the end of this review here below, which one do you thing the R4 resembles more? The UK one or the french one?

http://dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=55660

[devlinnn]

The French DVD, Annie. Umbrella seem to have taken the French transfer, minus the option of the original Italian language track (no subtitles at all), along with the two doco's, plus the Sutherland interview from the UK set. They have not added the extra material found on both sets. The picture quality is actually pretty good, but the fact we are promised an anamorphic transfer when there isn't one is maddening. Oh, and it is encoded region 0 (as most Umbrella titles are).

[Lino]

Oh, how I pine for a definitive edition of that title, ye gods!

Still, as I'm not that sure about those garish colors that are present on the UK set, the australian one seems to be the one to go for if only for its low price and the fact that it samples the best of the extras of both the UK and the french sets.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

The French DVD, Annie. Umbrella seem to have taken the French transfer, minus the option of the original Italian language track (no subtitles at all), along with the two doco's, plus the Sutherland interview from the UK set. They have not added the extra material found on both sets. The picture quality is actually pretty good, but the fact we are promised an anamorphic transfer when there isn't one is maddening. Oh, and it is encoded region 0 (as most Umbrella titles are).

Isn't this release from Shock, not Umbrella?

[devlinnn]

Casanova is an Umbrella title, only distributed by Shock.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Casanova is an Umbrella title, only distributed by Shock.

Yes, you're right. Looking at the picture on EzyDVD the Umbrella logo is visible. What threw me is that they list the title as "Casanova (Shock)".

[Solaris]

New Wizard of Oz DVD unfortunetly does not contain a third disc with original silent films, however it does contain an extra exclusive to this region - a sound chip that plays seven seconds from 'We're off to see the Wizard'.
Ben Hur four disc does contain original silent film, yet to purchase.

[Narshty]

No, the UK has the irritating sound chip thing too. Why didn't they just package it in a birthday card?

[Solaris]

Oh my mistake. Does the UK Edition include the silent films?

[Narshty]

The 3-disc version is available, with all the reprints and photos, as an exclusive from HMV.

[Solaris]

Perhaps HMV Australia stock the 3 Disc set.

Also picked up a copy of Hopscotch's The Seventh Seal, print and extras are taken from the Criterion Edition, does not include extra "Ingmar Bergman: An Illustrated Filmography" and English dub (thank God).

[devlinnn]

Just bought Dark Corner which, like the local Somewhere in the Night is missing the commentary track. (Eddie Mueller's for Somewhere is particularly good, especially in regard to Mankiewciz's debut as a director - Dragonwyck being an inherited project.)

This is extremely annoying as Fox are charging 22 bucks which is definitely medium Price range for classics. God forbid they will also presumably drop the Ursini/Silver track for Nightmare Alley too. Why are they doing this? Rights? Couldn't care?? Is it happening with R2 as well or are the release patterns and licencing there entirely different?

Unless they can push it to a 2-disc special edition (such as the upcoming Lifeboat and My Darling Clementine sets) Fox will never put a commentary on these single-issue 'Fox Classics' DVDs. For starters they would have to pay a nominal fee, and they would see the market for these DVDs (Woolworths shoppers over 50) as not caring about such things. Who else has a mother who has only pressed play-pause-stop for the last 6 years? Heaven Can Wait and The Razor's Edge (yes, an impossible, yet masterly, film which probably should have it's own thread) were treated the same. Wait 'till Mother's Day and all these will be '3 for $30'. I'm just surprised they are getting released at all considering major Fox money spinners Oklahoma, State Fair, Carousel and South Pacific sit in limbo land.

Also, according to reliable sources, Accent have no retail releases planned until March 2006 at the earliest.

[devlinnn]

David, we are living in desperate times, so let old men whine. A friend just finished work helping film students with their end of year shoots. She claims no one had seen any classic films or foreign fare and worse still had little interest in seeking them out. The Astor here has been sold to make way for apartments leaving no re-run theater besides (cough) ACMI, and yes, nearly everyone just shrugs and buys Plasmas to watch their DVDs of TV programs that are on Foxtel anyway (that they still pay $75-100 a month for). As we count down the hours 'till a young man hangs (we are living in 2005?) for a stupid error of judgement, Howard really has lulled us all into a cozy, Christmas Day Holiday optional for some, coma.

Oh - the problem with rental arthouse/classic tiltes is most of those with an interest buy them anyway. The general public under 30-35 have zero interest, as if you didn't know. Those cinephiles under 35 are also stingy, baby, complaining as they do behind the decades old collection of Green Guides at the library, bathing in the missed nostalgia of TV when "Australia's Favourite Films - You Vote, Our Cheap Programming" (Margaret - how low can you go? David - good to see enough is enough) were actually presented.