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Wonderful news!

Will it be region free, or is too early to tell?

Given the Italian source, I'd assume Region B unless otherwise confirmed.

Any chance of the commentary on the Madman Australian disc being ported over? It would make the upgrade to Blu even sweeter.

I do a nonspecialist blog for the elusive "common reader." Here are a few thoughts on La notte.

Amazon have notified that this is pushed back to 20th May...

According to their Facebook page, it will be released on August 25th.

Unfortunately I have another change of release date to report. Due to unforeseen circumstances LA NOTTE will now be released on 25 August

Hah...may be we will see at least CC announcing the Trilogy before that.

Is is safe to assume that the MoC will also be the 4K restoration?

FrauBlucher wrote:Is is safe to assume that the MoC will also be the 4K restoration?

"Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups." –Stanley Kubrick (and LA NOTTE was one of his favourite films).

I might have to get both the MoC version for the original AR and the Criterion version for the expectedly cleaner image, then. How I hate doing that!

From the MoC twitter:

MoC wrote:Just to clarify and update, our new Blu-ray edition of Antonioni's LA NOTTE will be 1.85, and has updated on the site. The new master is *slightly* more masked at the very top, but greatly expands the picture info to the left and right compared to the 1.66, i.e., 1.85 here not a case of matting cropping off picture detail that would have otherwise been visible at top and bottom of the old 1.66.

From earlier in the thread:

peerpee wrote:MoC final encode is 1.66:1 anamorphic. After reviewing the materials and analysing everything closely, there was no other option without losing key pieces of frame information.

With both the Criterion and the new MoC edition being 1.85, has something definitive arisen showing that this is the proper AR?

As the MoC twitter message explains, this new resto reveals a lot more image on the left and right than the one previously used for the DVD. Likely 1.85:1 has always been the accepted ratio, but when working from a source missing vital side information, 1.66:1 was probably decided as more appropriate to retain the correct top and bottom line.

It's probably worth stressing that MoC (and possibly Criterion too) wouldn't have had access to 35mm materials - they'd have been working from masters created by others. So it's easy to see why they made the decisions they did, based on what they had to hand at the time.

The hoary old story that no-one's mentioned yet is that European films were apparently shown in Europe in "European widescreen" 1.66:1, and in America in "American widescreen" 1.85:1 due to how respective cinemas/projectors/screens were set up on each continent. This is why European sourced OAR has often been 1.66, and US editions have been 1.85. Both being "OAR" in their respective countries.

Seeing as the film is Italian, and was displayed on release in its homeland and around Europe in 1.66, I'd argue that 1.66 is the most accurate OAR – unless there was some other information which trumped that...?

The Criterion L'AVVENTURA DVD has always looked too tight to me (and, from memory, it's not even 1.85:1, it's 1.77:1)

david hare wrote:what on earth is this biz that the new scan has "far more" picture info on the sides? IS this from a previously unknown O-neg? I mean this as a serious question.

Is it possible that the telecine operator on the old transfer just got a little crazy with the zooming?

Maybe the previous transfers were based on positive prints that had already been reframed somewhat, and accessing the original negative revealed more picture information. (Pure speculation: though that scenario would pose the question of whether the new framing was ever intended by Antonioni.)

So hang on, the MoC isn't from the new 4k restoration? Meaning I need to cancel my pre-order and pay double for the Criterion?

I think they were talking about the DVD. I'd say their blu-ray would be sourced from the same 4K scan.

bdlover wrote:So hang on, the MoC isn't from the new 4k restoration? Meaning I need to cancel my pre-order and pay double for the Criterion?

I'd have thought it was a very safe bet that MoC and Criterion are using exactly the same source, especially since neither of them did the restoration themselves. What Craig seems to be saying is that the new restoration reveals more of the original negative area than the master that MoC previously used, hence the fact that 1.85:1 now works in a way that it didn't before.

Is the La Notte you're releasing from a 4K restoration?

MoC Twitter wrote:Yes, it's the same restoration.

Good to know!

16th September now for the BR...

ellipsis7 wrote:16th September now for the BR...

It's starting to be a bit of a delay, now... At this pace, it's going to be released in 2014. :-k