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Optimum is releasing Besson's new flick Angel-A in january, anyone here seen it? I'm solely interested because of Rie Rasmussen at this point, just wondering if anyone can say it's worth the plunge.

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/angel-a2.html

Upcoming Optimum releases:

John Schlesinger's, Darling (hopefully with an anamorphic transfer this time)

The L-Shaped Room (hopefully with an anamorphic transfer this time)

Night Of The Eagle (aka. Burn, Witch... Burn!) (previously available as part of an expensive boxed set)

The Go-Between

John Sayles Collection: Lianna; Return of the Secaucus Seven; Brother from Another Planet (hopefully with the R1 commentaries)

just a heads up: optimum titles are drastically reduced at sendit.com. Now's your chance to pick up some Godard...and of course if you don't have it yet, Whiskey Galore.

Also concerning Godard (albeit not Optimum), they have the AEye Weekend for under 7 pounds (finally ordered it).

Thanks, skuhn! By the way, folks, here's the direct link

Optimum's new double disc of Ran (with a new transfer) was hardly anticipated or, one would have thought, much needed, but DVD Beaver compares it and says "It also differs from Criterion Region 1 transfer, as Criterion has a richer, darker image, yet is more compressed than Optimum, as when you zoom in, Criterion reveals more visible compression artifacts than Optimum. To be honest, I do not recall the deep colors of Criterion from my theatrical experience many years ago. To me, there always have been a pale element to the colors, thus I am inclined to favor the Optimum."

Any thoughts on this pale element?

Added: DVD Times goes further in its comparison and comes out in favour of the Optimum

Amazon.co.uk list an Optimum Godard boxset for March 5th 2007, containing:

ALPHAVILLE, PIERROT LE FOU, UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME, LE PETIT SOLDAT, A BOUT DE SOUFFLE, LA CHINOISE and MADE IN THE USA.

Six of these were available on two 3-disc 'Godard' sets, Warner with Canal logo at front of the films, gone out of print fast, and A bout de souffle was already an optimum. I presume this will just bump them all together at a bargain price, but who knows, will be interesting to see the Optimum website when the details are loaded.

porcupine2 wrote:Amazon.co.uk list an Optimum Godard boxset for March 5th 2007, containing:

ALPHAVILLE, PIERROT LE FOU, UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME, LE PETIT SOLDAT, A BOUT DE SOUFFLE, LA CHINOISE and MADE IN THE USA.

Thanks for the info - I was expecting this. That's four Warner boxsets I've got to sell on ebay now.

At first I wondered why Prenom Carmen isn't included since it was on the 2nd Warner set, but then I looked on amazon and it says this will be Vol.1. La Chinoise and A Bout de Souffle are already available as single discs from Optimum. Perhaps these sets will be collections of their existing Godard dvds with the addition of the films from the 2 Warner sets and a few others. Maybe Vol.2 will be a collection of later films - Detective, Prenom Carmen, Eloge de L'Amour, Notre Musique and more?

That would be a perfect mix for volume two....

I really would like to see something done with Alphaville...

The other Warner box was Renoir. Perhaps Optimum will do that, with added Boudu & unknown others? Fingers crossed.

DVDTimes posted Opitimum will be releasing the 9-Disc Alfred Hitchcock: The Early Years on Feb 26th. Contents include:

The films in this 9-disc set are: The Ring, Champagne, The Farmer's Wife, The Manxman, Blackmail, Murder!, The Skin Game, Rich and Strange and Number Seventeen.
Special features:
# Re-mastered with new soundtracks for The Ring, Champagne, The Farmer's Wife and The Manxman
# Alternative ending to Murder!
# Introductions to all films by Director / Film Historian Noel Simsolo
# Blackmail: Takes with Anny Ondra (Hitchcock's first ‘Blonde')
# 52-minute documentary: Hitchcock's Early Works with Claude Chabrol and Bernard Eisenschitz
# Scenes from the original silent version of Blackmail
# Picture galleries for all films

This looks to be the same as the Studio Canal 3 boxset release with the sole exclusion of Foreign Correspondent.

i wrote a review of the Optimum "Ran" disc up now - basically, I prefer this transfer very slightly to the Criterion, for much the same reasons as on the DVD Beaver comparison.

the hitchcock boxset looks like a dream! i got the first studio canal boxset so i know its wonderful! but it will be nice to have the introductions subtitled and the movies without forced french subtitles. and i will finaly ge skin game without buying the whole french box.

Make of this what you will, but the new Optimum schedule has Gance's Napoleon and Austerlitz down as 28 May releases. Both £15.99.

meanwhile wrote:Make of this what you will, but the new Optimum schedule has Gance's Napoleon and Austerlitz down as 28 May releases. Both £15.99.

Which version of Napoléon? Something tells me this won't be the full Brownlow restoration with Carl Davis score in 5.1 surround...

The Australian DVD of the Coppola version of Napoléon begins with the Studio Canal logo. Considering the connection between Optimum and Studio Canal I would think it has to be that version. It will still be a very welcome release but I'm dreaming of a DVD of the full Brownlow restoration. I'll most likely stick with my Australian DVD.

Hopefully they really start pumping out HD titles. Their La Haine disc looks SO good.

Optimum appear to be releasing Le Jour se lève later this year. I'm assuming that this will be a port of the gorgeous Studio Canal transfer on the French disc (making this release very welcome indeed). Also, there's a special edition of Peeping Tom on the way too.

davidhare wrote:Given the Optimum/Universal/Studio Canal nexus the Carne will undoubtedly be a port of the Studio Canal.

And the great thing about it is that Optimum releases drop in price pretty quickly in the UK and become very affordable (unlike this).

davidhare wrote:Peeping Tom however is a problematic title - both the Criterion and the R2/R4 Universal discs (from the same master) are cropped to 1.78, poorly encoded, riddled with artefacting, and totally inferior to the French restoration DVD . Point is which one will Optimum get?

Maybe I don't understand you but the institut lumiere edition had no restoration work done that I'm aware of, and review sites indicate that it's almost identical to the studio canal transfer.

Whatever shows up can't be worse than what's out there-- the Ian Christie commentary is sure to make it the best version available.

Also Diary of a Country Priest in May. Interesting...

What the devil is this all about?

Here is some information from play.com about the upcoming Jean-Luc Godard Collection Vol.1.
"Includes the classic Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) Godard films Alphaville, Passion, A Bout De Souffle and Made In The USA."

Here is the information from amazon.co.uk.
"This set features six of his best known films - ALPHAVILLE, PIERROT LE FOU, UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME, LE PETIT SOLDAT, A BOUT DE SOUFFLE, LA CHINOISE and MADE IN THE USA."
That looks like seven films to me (unless they only consider six of them to be "his best known films").

Are they referring to the same box set, is it 5 discs or 7, what films will it contain, will Passion be included or are play.com talking complete and utter crap?

I just found this one as well. What does it all mean?

Also Diary of a Country Priest in May. Interesting...

Hmm... I'm considering trading my Criterion but can't find any reviews of the French DVD... :-k

vogler wrote:What the devil is this all about?

Here is some information from play.com about the upcoming Jean-Luc Godard Collection Vol.1.
"Includes the classic Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) Godard films Alphaville, Passion, A Bout De Souffle and Made In The USA."

Here is the information from amazon.co.uk.
"This set features six of his best known films - ALPHAVILLE, PIERROT LE FOU, UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME, LE PETIT SOLDAT, A BOUT DE SOUFFLE, LA CHINOISE and MADE IN THE USA."
That looks like seven films to me (unless they only consider six of them to be "his best known films").

Are they referring to the same box set, is it 5 discs or 7, what films will it contain, will Passion be included or are play.com talking complete and utter crap?

I just found this one as well. What does it all mean?

Basically, as I see it, Optimum (and Studio Canal) are going for world domination. Benson's World confirms the 7 disc Godard set with the contents as stated in your post.

In addition, one could spend the better part of an afternoon listing all the various releases and sets they have coming up in the next 3-5 months. One that I just happened to stumble over is a 7 disc Renoir set with the following contents:

A collection of four films directed by renowned French Filmmaker Jean Renoir. Titles included: LA GRANDE ILLUSION, LE CAPORAL EPINGLE, LA MERSEILLAISE, LA BETE HUMAINE, LE TESTAMANT DU DOCTEUR CORDELIER, DEJEUNER SUR HERBE and ELENA ET LES HOMMES.

This is the link to the list of "coming soon" titles from Optimum at Benson's World.

Scharphedin2 wrote:This is the link to the list of "coming soon" titles from Optimum at Benson's World.

Talk about market saturation. They seem to be pushing the actor-themed box set, in the hope of luring the semi-mainstream viewer. Other items of interest on that list are the first UK appearances of L'eclisse and Stavisky (as part of Delon and Belmondo sets respectively), and Cocteau's Le Sang d'un poete. Presumably they might have the resources to put out a Resnais box set.

Incidentally, the Scorsese intro to 'Peeping Tom' can be viewed on Amazon.co.uk...

Two by Bryan Forbes on June 4th, The L-Shaped Room (1962) and The Raging Moon (1971).