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Posted: **Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:34 am**

Posted: **Thu Feb 01, 2007 3:07 am**

Mizoguchi Kenji's Zangiku Monogatari (Story of the Last Chrysanthemum) Shochiku R2 Japan NTSC

more images here:

one, two, three, four, five, six.

Posted: **Thu Feb 01, 2007 3:17 am**

Michael Kerpan wrote:Gwoemul / The Host (BONG Joon-ho, 2006)

I watched this last week and it is one of the best looking discs I've ever seen.

Posted: **Thu Feb 01, 2007 9:06 pm**

Earth / Zemlya (Dovzhenko)
Kino (US) vs Arte (German)
German subs only on the Arte

Kino (top) vs Arte (bottom):

Kino (top) vs Arte (bottom):

Posted: **Fri Feb 02, 2007 4:49 pm**

My God, the Arte disc looks beautiful! I wonder what the chances are of some UK distributor porting this and providing English subs? (As I recall, however, there aren't that many intertitles in this film to begin with.)

Posted: **Fri Feb 02, 2007 5:32 pm**

In comparison to the Kino/Image dvds the Arte version of Earth really does look amazing. I hadn't realised that so much had been cropped on the U.S. discs. The fact that the brilliance and poetry of this film still manages to shine through on that horrible print is a testament to Dovzhenko's true genius. I was going to watch this film again soon (for the millionth time) but now I will definitely wait until I can get hold of this version. The English intertitles were so crap on the R1 versions that I'll probably be better off without them.

Schreck must be 'combing the plaster outa (his) hair from hitting the ceiling after levitating with joy' with the news of this transfer.
I know I am.

Posted: **Fri Feb 02, 2007 7:38 pm**

tryavna wrote:As I recall, however, there aren't that many intertitles in this film to begin with.

I think there are well over a hundred, though whether they are essential to the enjoyment of the film is another question. The colloquialisms of the Kino subtitles are so excruciating that, as Vogler said, you're probably better without them if you know the film.

The Arte at 78 mins is about 6 mins longer than the Kino, though I'm not sure where the differences lie. The nude scenes and the tractor pissing seem to be the same in both editions. The German edition has a modern score (by Alexander Popov) which is more sympathetic to the rhythms of the film than the Kino soundtrack.

Posted: **Sun Feb 04, 2007 4:39 am**

Posted: **Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:13 am**

vogler wrote:In comparison to the Kino/Image dvds the Arte version of Earth really does look amazing. I hadn't realised that so much had been cropped on the U.S. discs. The fact that the brilliance and poetry of this film still manages to shine through on that horrible print is a testament to Dovzhenko's true genius. I was going to watch this film again soon (for the millionth time) but now I will definitely wait until I can get hold of this version. The English intertitles were so crap on the R1 versions that I'll probably be better off without them.

Schreck must be 'combing the plaster outa (his) hair from hitting the ceiling after levitating with joy' with the news of this transfer.
I know I am.

Had to buy a new comb, old one broken. Unbelievable improvement, I'm surprised it took so long to effect a new restoration on this film consistently on Top Ten lists around the world.

The fucking resto imported for the Shepard release in the 90's is from a nineteen sixties restoration! How sick is it that we're still waiting for a definitive global release. The old Kino did the trick to at least show the film back inna day, but given how incredibly original this material is, and how revered, the wait is utterly absurd.

Dovzhenko is forever the man, and after seeing Zvenigora onscreen a month or 2 ago, the best is still yet to come.

Posted: **Sun Feb 04, 2007 8:00 pm**

The new Italian DVD of Visconti's La terra trema (Ripley's Home Video). A restored print, with Italian, French and English subtitles:

Posted: **Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:42 pm**

Gadz, those images look opulent...where's my cheque book.

Posted: **Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:47 pm**

La Haine
UK 10th Anniversary edition (Optimum) vs French 10th Anniversary 3-DVD edition (Studio Canal)
I'm surprised there's a difference at all, given that both discs were produced in the same year and the Optimum was licensed from Studio Canal.
Optional French subs only on the French disc; fixed English subs on the UK disc.
The UK disc sampled here is identical to disc 1 of the Optimum 3-disc "Ultimate Edition", according to the DVD Times review.
The French disc has 6 audio tracks: 2.0, 5.1, DTS & 3 commentaries.

Optimum UK (top) vs Studio Canal France (bottom):

Optimum UK (top) vs Studio Canal France (bottom):

Posted: **Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:33 pm**

otis wrote:The new Italian DVD of Visconti's La terra trema (Ripley's Home Video). A restored print, with Italian, French and English subtitles

Oh my! Can a Criterion be far behind?

Posted: **Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:57 pm**

They're supposed to be bringing out Ossessione soon too. Will keep you posted.

Posted: **Tue Feb 06, 2007 1:08 am**

Chik geuk siu ji / Bare Foot Kid (Johnnie To, 1993)

Wonderful film -- and the DVD looks pretty gorgeous --

Posted: **Wed Feb 07, 2007 12:17 pm**

Rossellini's Il generale Della Rovere (Minerva Classic). English subs included:

Posted: **Thu Feb 08, 2007 1:07 am**

How is the jittering and skipping at the beginning of "Autumn Afternoon". (It was in both the Shochiku print and the Shochiku DVD).

The Shochiku DVDs of these films look pretty similar color-wise.

Posted: **Thu Feb 08, 2007 1:42 am**

Michael Kerpan wrote:How is the jittering and skipping at the beginning of "Autumn Afternoon". (It was in both the Shochiku print and the Shochiku DVD).

Jitter and skipping? None that I could see. Where exactly?

Re: La terra trema & Generale della Rovere: WAO!

Posted: **Thu Feb 08, 2007 6:10 am**

Jittering and skipping, noticeable missing frames -- all in the first reel or so.

Posted: **Thu Feb 08, 2007 4:31 pm**

Tartan's Ozu: Volume 4. Brought to you by Mystic Tan.

Posted: **Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:48 pm**

After reading this in the Late Spring thread (Michael Kerpan):

I would like to match the Criterion subtitles to my Shochiku DVD -- but I think the software I'd need to make a new DVD combinng these two would cost several hundred dollars.

I decided to give it a try with Criterion's Ran. The Swedish subtitles are taken from a rather poor release. Using only freeware (PgcDemux, Muxman and DVDSubEdit): muxing, copying-and-pasteing, remuxing etc.

Sorry for the subpar screencaps, I used PowerDVD5 (the only software available - iÂ´m at work).

So Michael, if you send me a DVD9-copy of your Shochiku Late Spring I think we can work something out!

Posted: **Fri Feb 23, 2007 3:50 pm**

I have yet to tackle DVD-9 issues -- maybe one day I'll get around to this -- but right now the blank discs still cost too much here.

Posted: **Mon Feb 26, 2007 4:49 pm**

Ichikawa Kon's Ten Dark Women (R2 Japan)

Posted: **Wed Feb 28, 2007 1:22 pm**

Paris vu par... (French R2)
Filmed in 16mm. No subs.

Godard:

Rouch:

Douchet:

Chabrol:

Rohmer:

Pollet:

And, for comparison, this is a screen shot from the Japanese edition:

Posted: **Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:39 pm**

What solid information do we have about LA NOTTE's aspect ratio? --

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Screen Captures (5-6 per post + links to additional images)