Olive Films

[warren oates]

Plus later Antonioni typically looks weak for lack of a better term.

That's a weird claim. Unless by later you mean "the film(s) he made after his stroke." Of which this is the only feature. Beyond the Clouds can't really compare to Identification of A Woman, The Passenger, Zabriskie Point, etc.

[knives]

I meant from Identification of a Woman forward (though from what I hear of The Mystery of Oberwald it applies to this too) where he seems to be playing with lighting and film speed to create this, again I am at a loss of appropriate word, ugliness.

[zedz]

And surely Antonioni's stroke didn't manifest itself as excessive edge enhancement and digital smoothing on whatever films he chose to shoot.

(And The Mystery of Oberwald was shot on video. In 1981. So of course it's going to look crappy, however artful the director was trying to be.)

[warren oates]

And surely Antonioni's stroke didn't manifest itself as excessive edge enhancement and digital smoothing on whatever films he chose to shoot.

No, but I can accept that Beyond the Clouds even in an optimum transfer is nothing to fawn over. It's weak to me because the images are, the film is, as is the vision behind it, from a master bereft of his energy who Wim Wenders noted would sometimes literally fall asleep in his director's chair. Not for any special technical reasons. Identification of A Woman on the other hand, I'd never dismiss as ugly or in any other way visually uninteresting. I don't even know what knives means by that.

[knives]

I should note I think Identification of a Woman is better than his '60s films with the possible exception of Red Desert. I love the visual style and think it is daring in certain respects, but it is not trying or wanting to be pretty in celluloid terms. Maybe he was trying to duplicate his analog experiences onto film.

[peerpee]

A one-frame digital glitch at 01:14:18 in THAT COLD DAY IN THE PARK.

I thought the film itself was superb, the Blu-ray not bad at all (texturally, the quality/encode reminded me of Criterion's HAROLD AND MAUDE and Criterion's ROSEMARY'S BABY). The glitch was so slight as to not cause much of a bother at all (seeing as there was only one, and it lasted one-frame). In my experience, if there's one, there's a load more, but I didn't see any others here.

I'd say this Blu was essential for any fans of Robert Altman/László Kovács. Tonally, it's closest to 3 WOMEN. A little gem.

[ellipsis7]

BEYOND THE CLOUDS is still very strong Antonioni, only have to compare the Wim Wenders' bridging sequences with the far superior MA episodes, and having visited the locations in Ferrara & Portofino, it only emphasises to me how good it is... Actually IMHO only his later contribution to EROS let him down (compensated for by the concurrent & really wonderful GAZE OF MICHELANGELO short)... However, with the burned in subtitles, it's a pass on the Olive DVD, will stick with the adequate Second Sight disc, backed up by the French DVD which also includes a DD5.1 track...

[FerdinandGriffon]

Maybe he was trying to duplicate his analog experiences onto film.

what do you mean by this?

[knives]

I haven't seen his analog film so I can't talk with that specific reference, but the films made after have that sort of visual aesthetic to them though they are shot on film. They're washed away and blown out. Even the colours are highlighted in a way that gives the sense of something not like film.

[Lowry_Sam]

Perhaps it looks better in motion. Plus later Antonioni typically looks weak for lack of a better term.

But there is a better word, "crap" & even CGI courtesy of George Lucas couldn't make it look better. I went to this when it finally got some kind of theatrical release here with a (female) friend & we both couldn;'t stop laughing through the entire picture, of course it didn't help that the theater was filled with an art house crowd that seemed to take it so seriously. The movie played out like a pastiche of your average American's idea of a bad European art house flick, with a cringe-inducing John Malkovich playing his usual letch-after-a-girl-half-his-age (who implausibly responds favorably to his relentless stalking). Both of us thought it was obvious why this wasn't picked up for US theatrical distribution. Antonioni seems to have lost his mojo more than most directors who insist on working past their sell-by-date.
<rant over>

and now that I got that off my chest, if I remember correctly cinematography was also rather inconsistent.

[captveg]

A one-frame digital glitch at 01:14:18 in THAT COLD DAY IN THE PARK.

Wow, that's a bad one. I assume Olive has very minimal budget for internal audio/video QC, but this seems like one that should have been caught since it's across the entire image.

[Adam X]

I'd say this Blu was essential for any fans of Robert Altman/László Kovács. Tonally, it's closest to 3 WOMEN. A little gem.

As if I wasn't looking forward to seeing this film enough. The comparison to my favourite Altman just upped my interest in getting around to watching this that much the greater. I'm glad that glitch is there by it's lonesome - sounds like it could've been much worse, even though of course it would've been nice for it to be completely absent.

[Orlac]

A one-frame digital glitch at 01:14:18 in THAT COLD DAY IN THE PARK.

Wow, that's a bad one. I assume Olive has very minimal budget for internal audio/video QC, but this seems like one that should have been caught since it's across the entire image.

I recall their COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK was out-of-sync.

[Lowry_Sam]

I just picked up Letter From An Unkown Woman & Body and Soul. Unfortunately my copy of Letter breaks up at the 1:20.00 mark. Body & Soul seems to jump in & out of focus in places. The biggest annoyance though, and I seem to recall this occurring in some of the other titles I've picked up, is the title cards jumping up & down, I don't seem to recall this happening on my dvd, but I'll have to dig it out to compare. Anyone know why there is so much shaking up & down in the beginning of Olive's blu-rays?

[swo17]

Unfortunately my copy of Letter breaks up at the 1:20.00 mark.

That's too bad. FWIW, I checked my copy and it plays just fine.

[acf171072]

I just picked up Letter From An Unkown Woman & Body and Soul. Unfortunately my copy of Letter breaks up at the 1:20.00 mark. Body & Soul seems to jump in & out of focus in places. The biggest annoyance though, and I seem to recall this occurring in some of the other titles I've picked up, is the title cards jumping up & down, I don't seem to recall this happening on my dvd, but I'll have to dig it out to compare. Anyone know why there is so much shaking up & down in the beginning of Olive's blu-rays?

Not you, too. I only got a working copy of Letter at the third attempt. ](*,) The first broke down at roughly the same point you outline due to a curve scratch and like mottled imprints on it and the first replacement broke down after 20 mins due to a pin prick sized corruption on the disc. The third one worked fine, but it looks like whole batches of Letter were faulty. I emailed Olive about it and got no response.

[Finch]

Thanks for reminding me to check my disc! Luckily for me, my copy played fine in both spots mentioned.

[Cash Flagg]

May 28:

The Magic Christian (1969)

Shanks (1974)

The File on Thelma Jordon (1950)

Dark Command (1940)

Blowing Wild (1953)

Lady from Louisiana (1941)

[captveg]

Also:

Father Goose (1964)
The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1969)
The Grass Is Greener (1960)
In Old California (1942)
My Brothers (2010)
Reuben, Reuben (1983)

[Calvin]

Blu-Ray.com on The Sun Shines Bright

[Finch]

I always skip to the A/V section of the reviews, regardless of who wrote the piece.

[naersjoen]

I always skip to the subtitles section, to remind myself why I don't buy Olive releases.

[matrixschmatrix]

The responses to the film's HD transfer to BD are heartening. But once again Jeffrey K proves he is unfit to pass any evaluative commment on any great filmmaker from the American canon. Reading his reviews is a form of torture to me. I'd rather be locked in a room with Jeffrey Wells.

I particularly like his suggestion that Ford's mocking of Southern society is 'perhaps unintentional'

[naersjoen]

Are you kidding?

No. I'll buy a disc without subtitles if I care enough for the film, and provided no "better" release exists elsewhere. With Olive it has come down to technical details on a number of occasions. (English is only my second language and my hearing is beginning to go.) Still I agree it is good they are around and releasing films that might not see the light of day otherwise, let alone in HD.

[Tommaso]

There certainly isn't a better release (or rather, none at all) of "The Sun Shines Bright" anywhere. And even if I'm also somewhat scared as a non-native speaker to read that there may be some sound problems on this release, it's not unexpected from what I remember from the age-old VHS-sourced copy of the film I have. THe film was simply made by a small company which probably didn't have the means to do things fully up to scratch of what was possible in 1953. But still, this is such a complex, moving and engaging film and a true pinnacle of Ford's work that I'm eternally thankful to be able to get this Olive edition soon (just as I was in the case of "The Quiet Man", in spite of all the complaints here). You should really care for this film. And the picture quality indeed seems to be very good with "The Sun Shines Bright".