nick wrote:I received my Bunuel boxset over the weekend and started to look through it a little bit. Chambermaid looks like a drastic step up in detail over the old Criterion DVD. I haven't compared The Milky Way yet but Tristana appears to be from a different source than the Cohen as the title cards and opening credits are different. The good news is that the Studio Canal offers the Spanish soundtrack, as well as French and German. The Cohen blacks appear boosted next to the Studio Canal, though the Canal seems a little washed out with blacks appearing greenish on my setup. I think I prefer the skin tones on the Studio Canal though I will defer to others with more knowledge over which is more accurate.
I'm looking at the StudioCanal Tristana right now, but you're mistaken about the audio. The Cohen only has Spanish audio, whereas the StudioCanal adds the French, which presumably has Catherine Deneuve's original voice (though Fernando Rey and others appear to have spoken Spanish on the set).
I feel the Cohen release has superior picture quality, which makes sense since it's taken from a more recent restoration, albeit of a different print and version of the film. The StudioCanal looks like it was taken from an older master. It has a softer, less detailed and a filtered look. The StudioCanal has different cut of the film. The Cohen's opening credits are truncated, it cuts out abruptly before the film's final shot of Tristana and Saturna walking away, and tacks on end credits. The StudioCanal runs 1:39:08, whereas the the Cohen release runs 1:38:41.
Some thoughts on PQ of the 7 titles. These all appear to be from older DVD era masters, with the exception of Belle de Jour
Diary of a Chambermaid: A bit filtered and sharpened, a fair amount of ringing
Belle de Jour: New remaster, looks sharper and cleaner than the Criterion, but a bit too green and the encoding is a poor.
The Milky Way: A tad soft but pretty decent
Tristana: Soft and filtered, some shots quite heavily
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeosie: Filtered, Edgy look, the worst of the bunch. Never saw the first release, but this one is apparently worse.
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The Phantom of Liberty: A tad soft but pretty decent
That Obscure Object of Desire: Quite heavily filtered and soft, probably same as previous SC release
Like David said, there isn't a great need to upgrade this title from any of the previous Blu-ray versions. I bought the latest version released in France because of the 4K restoration and the bonus postcards that come with it.
