89 Sisters

[swo17]

Reissue Oct 23

[Peter McM]

Good news, indeed--especially with Margot's recent passing. Now bring on "Femme Fatale", please!

[Gerald Christie]

Good news, indeed--especially with Margot's recent passing. Now bring on "Femme Fatale", please!

Yes, what's the deal with that title? Considering that Brian De Palma titles sell well you would think it would be a no brainer. Hopefully Criterion or someone else end up releasing it someday as it's BDP's last good film.

[Rayon Vert]

Re: the new 4K restoration. Did Arrow use an older transfer?

[Gerald Christie]

I already have the excellent Arrow release, so I'll wait for the reviews to see how much of an improvement it is. Besides, don't get me wrong a new 4k restoration is great but I don't know how much of an improvement we can get. This will be an interesting release for sure as I expect it will look different color wise (much like Dressed to Kill). The special features do look interesting and the fact that they manage to include Brian de Palma and Margot Kidder in some way and the promise of more does sound enticing. Who am I trying to fool? I'll keep my Arrow edition for the terrific and exclusive extras and buy this one too.

[swo17]

Re: the new 4K restoration. Did Arrow use an older transfer?

Arrow's release is now four years old. At the time, the transfer was advertised as a "Brand new High Definition digital transfer." It had been provided by Criterion.

[Rayon Vert]

I guess this is the new reality: upgrading your blu's every 4 years.

[tenia]

To be fair, whenever a Blu-ray release is from an older pre-existing master, there's a chance for it to become obsolete technically as soon as someone does a new restoration. It's not like, say, Lost in America is going to anytime soon.

[Gerald Christie]

Blu-ray.com Sisters review is up

As expected it looks a little cooler/bluer compared to Arrow release, same like with Dressed to Kill. Comparing the screenshots with the Arrow release (which remains a solid presentation), the new 4K restoration has a much finer grain structure as expected.
Honestly, I think that I just might end up buying it solely for the 90 (!) minute interview with Brian De Palma.

[M Sanderson]

Will there be controversy due to the greener colour scheme that some accuse Criterion of introducing into many of their teamsters?

Think I’ll definitely go for this due to the greater level of detail present.

[tenia]

There might be a little, though I suspect the former master to be too pink, and that this reference biases the comparison by making the Criterion look way too cool. However, even without it (and taking into account Beaver's infamous unfaithfulness regarding colors), it does seem noticeably cool, even outside of any comparison.

[domino harvey]

Wow, is "masters" the word they meant to type? I could not figure out what "teamsters" was a typo for

[M Sanderson]

Wow, is "masters" the word they meant to type? I could not figure out what "teamsters" was a typo for

Hi, it was an autocorrect, the best one yet.

Yes, you know what I meant

[Lost Highway]

I find this green tinge on many of their masters weird. The Criterion Dressed to Kill looked nice enough, it just didn’t look like any previous version of the film I’ve seen. We are talking several theatrical screenings, TV, VHS, DVD and two previous blu-ray releases. I always came away from remembering the film having a warm look to it. Sisters looks even more green.

[tenia]

I'd be interested however in knowing who was the colorist for this new restoration. I don't recall many of the debated gradings coming from Criterion / Lee Kline themselves, but rather from using masters graded by others (à la Ritrovata), though there certainly are some (like Bull Durham and Midnight Cowboy, though he wasn't alone for both of these).

[dwk]

CineSavant/Glenn Erickson:

Although it hasn’t really surfaced yet, people online are scratching their heads about color choices for the new Criterion Blu-ray of Brian De Palma’s Sisters. I haven’t seen it either, but I can attest that original preview prints and A.I.P.’s release prints — I saw it three times when new — were not things of beauty, with mismatched color, and the A.I.P. print sickly green and grainy, too. I never got the Arrow Region B, so I can’t compare with that either. GOOD movie, though!

[Boosmahn]

I really wanted to like this film, but its connections to Hitchcock are so strong it was hard to enjoy as a standalone work. Not even sure if I'll keep my Arrow copy.

[Lost Highway]

I really wanted to like this film, but its connections to Hitchcock are so strong it was hard to enjoy as a standalone work. Not even sure if I'll keep my Arrow copy.

To me that’s almost entirely missing the point of what De Palms does with his thrillers. The connections to Hitchcock‘s films is a main reason why I enjoy De Palma‘s Hitchcock influenced thriller so much.

[Rayon Vert]

Just listened to the 1h30 audio interview with De Palma - not great sound but an interesting listen (which plays with the movie). There's a hilarious bit near the end where he imitates with all of the actual intensity that occurred Hermann's angry outbursts during the initial viewing. (Something that gets mentioned in the other extras, here and on Arrow).

And a factoid about the slight Margot Kidder appearance on Cavett in 1970: she's sitting between Janis Joplin and Gloria Swanson, the former two months before her passing.