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8/21 - The Castle


8/21 - The Films of Michael Haneke Collection (7 films)


8/21 - She - Deluxe Edition


9/4 - Francois Ozon: A Curtain Raiser & Other Shorts


9/4 - In the Pitt (2006)


9/4 - The Lottery Bride (1930)


9/4 - Scene of the Crime (1986)


9/25 - Tom Verlaine & Jimmy Rip: Music for Experimental Film

Here's the plot synopsis for The Castle:

A Melbourne family is very happy living where they do, near the Melbourne airport (according to Jane Kennedy, it's "practically their back yard"). However, they are forced to leave their beloved home, by the Government and airport authorities. 'The Castle' is the story of how they fight to remain in their house, taking their case as far as the High Court.

I think they must have got it confused with The Trial.

Wrong "The Castle", they are describing the plot of THIS one:

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0118826/

instead of this one:

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120075/

;~}

Michael Kerpan wrote:Wrong "The Castle", they are describing the plot of THIS one:

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0118826/

instead of this one:

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120075/

;~}

Hilarious stuff...when I saw Haneke's film at the Toronto Film Fest in '97, it was definitely based on Kafka's unfinished novel!

regarding the Kino Haneke box... I know that it's probably just going to be the old releases repackaged in a box... But all I can hope for is anamorphic versions of The Piano Teacher and Code Unknown.

miless wrote:regarding the Kino Haneke box... I know that it's probably just going to be the old releases repackaged in a box... But all I can hope for is anamorphic versions of The Piano Teacher and Code Unknown.

This wont happen, unfortunately.

By the way, are any of the Kino Haneke's anamorphic?

justeleblanc wrote:

miless wrote:regarding the Kino Haneke box... I know that it's probably just going to be the old releases repackaged in a box... But all I can hope for is anamorphic versions of The Piano Teacher and Code Unknown.

This wont happen, unfortunately.

By the way, are any of the Kino Haneke's anamorphic?

Yes, the four that came out last year--SEVENTH CONTINENT, BENNY, 71 FRAGMENTS and FUNNY GAMES--are 16x9.

tavernier wrote:

justeleblanc wrote: By the way, are any of the Kino Haneke's anamorphic?

Yes, the four that came out last year--SEVENTH CONTINENT, BENNY, 71 FRAGMENTS and FUNNY GAMES--are 16x9.

And I assume that The Castle will be, too.

miless wrote:

tavernier wrote:

justeleblanc wrote: By the way, are any of the Kino Haneke's anamorphic?

Yes, the four that came out last year--SEVENTH CONTINENT, BENNY, 71 FRAGMENTS and FUNNY GAMES--are 16x9.

And I assume that The Castle will be, too.

I'm less concerned about 16:9 than the aspect ratio, which they fucked up in the last batch, but who knows, maybe they'll get this one right...

miless wrote:regarding the Kino Haneke box... I know that it's probably just going to be the old releases repackaged in a box... But all I can hope for is anamorphic versions of The Piano Teacher and Code Unknown.

If you aren't locked into region 1, I highly recommend the Artificial Eye Code Unknown.

Gary's comparison

"The Castle" specs, courtesy of Kino:

THE CASTLE
Written and Directed by Michael Haneke
1997 Germany / Austria 123 min.
Letterboxed (1.77:1)
In German with optional English subtitles

Special Features
• Michael Haneke Filmography
• Stills Gallery
• Optional English subtitles
• Enhanced for 16x9 TVs

imdb lists the movie as 1.66:1; I saw it 10 years ago, so I don't remember how it was shown in Toronto. I wonder if Kino will be cropping, however slightly?

Is it Kino that crops it, or is it the print they receive?

justeleblanc wrote:Is it Kino that crops it, or is it the print they receive?

Don't they just get PAL sourced digital tapes and convert them to NTSC...
I thought KINO didn't touch the film elements (generally)

I don't know....Fred, a few posts above, said they "fucked up" the aspect ratios of the last bunch.

tavernier wrote:I don't know....Fred, a few posts above, said they "fucked up" the aspect ratios of the last bunch.

but those newer ones were ports of the discs from europe (I believe France)... and that they might have cropped the video (and not the film)

It's entirely possible that Kino were given bad materials to work with--I have no way of knowing--but they ultimately chose to release the films in the aspect ratio they did, so as far as I'm concerned they're responsible for the quality control problems with discs that they put their name on. Copying someone else's mistakes (I don't know; I've never seen the Euro discs and don't know if Kino's are ports) isn't an excuse. No one made Kino release them in the wrong ratio. (The British discs of the so-called glaciation trilogy seem to be 1.78:1 which I would chalk up to lazy 16:9 encoding.)

But I'm also not sure if the idea that Kino only deal with video masters is completely correct. It could very well be the case with some or even most of their dvds--and could even be so in this case--but they also distributed prints of these films in the American theatrical market at the time of the dvd release, so obviously they had access to prints.

The films Kino released should be 1.66:1. I know from seeing them screened that 1.85 is not correct. It makes the subtitles appear as if they were printed too low in the frame, forcing the projectionist to shift the frame in order to get the subtitles on screen, very obviously chopping off the top of the frame. This may be less of an issue with player generated subs on a dvd, as the cropping could occur equally on the top and the bottom, but that doesn't make it correct so much as less obviously wrong. I also have a recording of Benny's Video from a European television broadcast which is clearly in 1.66:1.

Ironically, the two Haneke films which aren't in 1.66:1 weren't released by Kino on dvd.

I'm terminally sick of films being forced into 1.85:1 for the American market. I'm sure there are exceptions--there always are--but 1.85:1 is predominantly an Anglo-American aspect ratio. None of the European directors whose work I admire has ever worked in this ratio, yet their work is routinely shown in it.

All that said, The Castle was, after all, made for television, and it appears that in this case 1.78:1 is the correct ratio: DVD Times review

The German Arte DVD of Haneke's Das Schloss, which is likely the source for Kino's upcoming release, is 1.78. It's a DVD-5 with a decent transfer. No subtitles.

i'm not easy to persuade to buy a Kino title, yet i like their guts to release a thing such as this Hanneke box.

That's a big lack on Criterion's side to dare and put out the better works of Hanneke or let's say Kaurismäki.

Anyone have any info about Kino's re-release of She? Kino is still selling the out of print B&W version...I'm wondering if this new 2-disc release will be just the original Kino B&W release plus a color version that I've seen making the rounds.

Tribe

Tribe wrote:Anyone have any info about Kino's re-release of She? Kino is still selling the out of print B&W version...I'm wondering if this new 2-disc release will be just the original Kino B&W release plus a color version that I've seen making the rounds.

If you're talking about this upcoming release, then it sounds like a revamped version of this release from Legend Films last year. As I recall, Legend actually did digitally restore the b&w version before colorizing it; however, they mistakenly released an edited version, placing footage that should have been in the original version in the Special Features as "Deleted Scenes." They promised to rectify their mistake, and I assume that this is the result. The only thing that surprises me is that it's being released through Kino. It's worth keeping an eye on, though. I rented the Legend release, and their b&w version was superior to Kino's. Once they get the original, full-length version all together, it should be the definitive release -- if you ignore the crappy colorized version.

tryavna wrote:If you're talking about this upcoming release, then it sounds like a revamped version of this release from Legend Films last year. As I recall, Legend actually did digitally restore the b&w version before colorizing it; however, they mistakenly released an edited version, placing footage that should have been in the original version in the Special Features as "Deleted Scenes." They promised to rectify their mistake, and I assume that this is the result. The only thing that surprises me is that it's being released through Kino. It's worth keeping an eye on, though. I rented the Legend release, and their b&w version was superior to Kino's. Once they get the original, full-length version all together, it should be the definitive release -- if you ignore the crappy colorized version.

Yes, that's the one. I saw the podcast of the colorized version and it just reminded me why everyone hated colorized black and white movies way back when Ted Turner had the brainstorm. If it's gonna be an improved black and white version, then I can wait. Otherwise I'd pick up the out of print Kino which is going for $11 over at the Kino site.

Tribe

Tribe wrote:Otherwise I'd pick up the out of print Kino which is going for $11 over at the Kino site.

Unfortunately, that earlier Kino release is the edited version, too. And it doesn't even contain the additional eight minutes as "Deleted Scenes." So I think I'll wait. I don't mind spending an extra $8 or $9 for a better edition of this particular film.

By the way, Harryhausen's commentary for the colorized version is actually rather interesting -- though I seem to recall that the person accompanying him (whose name I don't remember) was a biographer of Merian C. Cooper and provided most of the really good info.

tryavna wrote:Unfortunately, that earlier Kino release is the edited version, too. And it doesn't even contain the additional eight minutes as "Deleted Scenes." So I think I'll wait. I don't mind spending an extra $8 or $9 for a better edition of this particular film.

I will wait...many thanks for the info.

Tribe

I'm under the impression that Kino have licenced the new German restoration of POTEMKIN. Tartan have licenced the Ruscico edition.

The German restoration of POTEMKIN is, apparently, "the one" -- and I heard this was with the BFI in the UK.

I may be wrong, however. I had been hoping that Criterion would get the German version, and Kino would release what Tartan are releasing.

peerpee wrote: I had been hoping that Criterion would get the German version, and Kino would release what Tartan are releasing.

All in all, it looks like the Criterion Eisenstein silents box is not to be.

Anyone have any info on the restored Battleship Potemkin news that appears on the Kino web site?