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david hare wrote:Svet, I think David Mackenzie, or others if not him, also had problems with the white crush (or overblown white) on the S-C A Bout de Souffle. Anyhow I decided to cancel my bets on that and pre-order the Criterion.

Hello David,

I understand. And I also agree that Criterion have a much stronger, more competent team that will makes sure that Breathless probably looks as good as it possibly can.

This being said, however, I think that Canal are nowhere near as bad as some people who have seen only a few of their U.S. cloned releases have claimed. They have certainly made mistakes, and I wholeheartedly agree with you that their quality control could be improved, but let's be objective when it comes to the titles they are releasing - there are simply no funds to rescan many of them. Even Criterion have struggled with the same issue - see Kagemusha. I recently checked a screener for one of Melville's films, and while not perfect, I fail to see how anyone could possibly argue that the SDVD transfer(s) from UK boxset/releases are in any way preferable - the difference in quality is enormous.

As to the "demise" of DVD - you know that I happen to communicate with a number of different parties, so suffice to say this transition to downloading that some people are hyping up is as ridiculous as one of the ongoing threads on this forum where there are "serious" speculations that Paramount are about to stop producing DVDs. For the record, Paramount's reduction of catalog titles began long before 2006, and what you are seeing at the moment is nothing more than catalog sorting - the same type that has made a number or Warner titles, for instance, unavailable. I am not entirely sure how some people expect(ed) the studios to maintain their entire catalog libraries as we move forward.

Good to see you still posting.

(and a fox is always welcome to contribute elsewhere ).

Pro-B

pro-bassoonist wrote:I recently checked a screener for one of Melville's films, and while not perfect, I fail to see how anyone could possibly argue that the SDVD transfer(s) from UK boxset/releases are in any way preferable - the difference in quality is enormous.

I could argue that the Canal Melvilles are superior to the Criterions, but I've already done that in another thread. I think there are plenty of others who feel the same, especially about "Le Cercle Rouge".

Hello,

Indeed, I was talking about the upcoming French Blu-ray release of Le cercle rouge. I don't have a screener for the UK Blu-ray release yet, which I assume would be identical to the French one.

Pro-B

Not to be rude, but you don't need to sign on/off each time. The main text is well enough without the hellos.

Pro-B can you confirm the aspect ratio of the Le cercle rouge Blu-Ray?

knives wrote:Not to be rude, but you don't need to sign on/off each time. The main text is well enough without the hellos.

My first thought was that another PR agent came in to bully us.

In more appropriate discussion, why exactly is Pierrot Le Fou listed at $52.98? I wouldn't imagine anyone was rushing to buy it anyway.

Maybe they're making a deal with Japan? My best guess is that it is a simple pricing error and that everything will go to the usual price within a few weeks. Now when is Alphaville going to be released? That is one in need of an update.

pro-bassoonist wrote:Hello,

Indeed, I was talking about the upcoming French Blu-ray release of Le cercle rouge. I don't have a screener for the UK Blu-ray release yet, which I assume would be identical to the French one.

Pro-B

Sorry, I misunderstood you. I thought you were talking about Criterion Melvilles. My mistake.

As sadly foreseen, the Graduate BD uses the same French/Studio Canal master.

PS: in faith, those grabs of Breathless look marvellous. Can't say the same about the others, though. A bluster chafes in my heart!

I am waiting to see Mulholland Drive in motion. There's nothing spectacular about the US DVD transfer, and since I'm getting a region free player in early September, I can't resist giving this one a whirl (especially since there are actually bonus features). Has anyone had a chance to look through this release yet?

So, are there any SC blu-rays that have been unanimously praised? Based on the Beaver caps, Belle de Jour looks pretty great, but it's the only one so far that I've found myself really eager to own.

The closest to unanimous praise I'm aware of is The Lady Killers. There was a bit of controversy at the beginning, but now it's generally accepted that this is the best home version yet.

Received an email from Amazon.de that the Blu-Ray of The Great Silence has been delayed untill January 2011!

The Italian The Great Silence? Does this mean it's a SC title and will therefore eventually get a US release or is it just being rereleased by kinowelt?

david hare wrote: Can't comment on Elephant Man or Senso as I don't have them.

Elephant Man is marvellous to my mind. Senso is good too, but a tad too soft for my taste, still a vast improvement over the DVD. Feel free to check out these caps. The only thing I'm not sure of is the AR, but the Academy ratio seems to me the right one. :-k

I'd agree about the lewd Ladykillers BD, it's a slight to high def.

No matter what you think about "The Ladykillers" colour palette, at least it is in the correct aspect ratio and the Anchor Bay was not.

knives wrote:The Italian The Great Silence? Does this mean it's a SC title and will therefore eventually get a US release or is it just being rereleased by kinowelt?

I think this is from Kinowelt only and not SC!

knives wrote:The closest to unanimous praise I'm aware of is The Lady Killers. There was a bit of controversy at the beginning, but now it's generally accepted that this is the best home version yet.

The controversy was exclusively about the aspect ratio - and was raging before anyone had a chance to watch the actual Blu-ray, after which more problems came to light.

Elephant man looks 'ok'. Good contrast but it looks to have had too much DNR applied to my eyes.

Still a better image than sd could ever manage anyway.

Here are the specs for "Le Cercle Rouge". Note the aspect ratio is 1.85:1 as it should be, not 1.66:1.

Features include:
•Region B
•1080P 1.85:1 Widescreen
•French, English and German 2.0 DTS-HD MA
•English, French and German subtitles
•New or previously unreleased material:
◦Codename Melville Documentary directed by Olivier Bohler (76’35) (SD)
◦Interview with José Giovanni (15’03) (SD)
•Interview with Rui Nogueira (author of Melville on Melville, produced by the Criterion Collection) (26’11) (SD)
•Introduction by Ginette Vincendeau (12’30) (SD)
•Interview with assistant director Bernard Stora (30’45) (SD)
•Trailer (’45) (HD)
•Booklet Essay by Ginette Vincendeau, Professor / Author - Ginette Vincendeau is Professor of Film Studies at King’s College London. Among her works on French cinema are Stars and Stardom in French Cinema (2000) and Jean-Pierre Melville, An American in Paris (2003)

Which means it does not carry over the BFI commentary

Yes, I think it will. The commentary was also on the Optimum DVD, and those specs only state what is new.

It's not listed on the Studio Canal page for the Blu-ray release, nor in the recent press release for the September wave.

I see. That's surprising, I don't see why they wouldn't include it, but they do some strange things.

Maybe they needed every MB of space they could muster to accommodate the inevitable edge-enhancement and DNR.