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Has there been any news on the Bunuel's (or really any of the early to be gone crits that are still missing in action)? Stuff like Discreet Charm you'd think would be day one put outs.

Looks very good indeed! Hopefully it's a foretaste of things to come from Optimum's classics line-up.

Yes, it looks great and in the correct AR. Optimum have even put English SDH on it, and that makes a pleasant change. Now for "Kind Hearts".

I just got around to Dickinson's The High Command which is now available from playtrade for £6.29 (UK post free) - and because the seller "cavalcade" is (I believe) Optimum themselves you can be sure of getting the corrected version, with the restored and longer cut.

As for the film itself, it was much better than I expected, with a rather sardonic approach to British colonial rule (shutters banging and curtains billowing while the British National Anthem is played). Like The Arsenal Stadium Mystery it's basically a crime drama that, after some rather dull and confusing scene-setting (punctuated by typically witty Dickinson juxtapositions), becomes more intriguing as it progresses with suspects and nominal detectives interchanging. The cast is fascinating, including the eccentric Skelton Knaggs (most famous for his Val Lewton appearances) in a bit part as a hotel receptionist, though I feel the film really belongs to Lionel Atwill. Philip Horne (in his excellent filmed introduction) finds him rather stiff and theatrical, but for me he is pleasingly restrained - quite different to his gimlet-eyed Hollywood villains - and ultimately very moving in this role.

Apparently the next Studio Canal Blu batch is going to include Don't Look Now, Cross Of Iron, That Obscure Object Of Desire and La Grande Illusion, and is tentatively scheduled for April next year.

The BBC Culture Show (last week's episode) has a segment on Peeping Tom (play from about 47 mins onwards).

2nd March 2009
Gran Casino - £17.99 – This film by Luis Buñuel makes its UK DVD debut. Presented in 1.33:1 with Spanish DD2.0 Mono audio and English subtitles, the only extra is an introduction to Buñuel (Mexican period) by Luc Lagier (4mins).

Does anyone know how is the picture quality compared to the Lionsgate release?

I received the Peeping Tom Blu-ray today. Its a bit of a mixed bag visually.

The close ups look very good, but the clothing in medium/long shots often look plasticky.

I disagree. The presentation is anything but a mixed bag. And I must assume that what you refer to in your post is the softer photography, which is most notable during many of the medium/long shots. It has nothing to do with plasticky (which implies very heavy DNR).

Pro-B

pro-bassoonist wrote:I disagree. The presentation is anything but a mixed bag. And I must assume that what you refer to in your post is the softer photography, which is most notable during many of the medium/long shots. It has nothing to do with plasticky (which implies very heavy DNR).

That softness in MLS/LS was apparent also on the DVD... Interesting photo feature from Time Out on Michael Powell's London, kicking off with locations for PEEPING TOM...

pro-bassoonist wrote:I disagree. The presentation is anything but a mixed bag. And I must assume that what you refer to in your post is the softer photography, which is most notable during many of the medium/long shots. It has nothing to do with plasticky (which implies very heavy DNR).

I was referring to DNR, though i wouldn't say its very heavy. The texture of the clothes that is apparent on the restoration comparison get smoothed down.

The two documentaries on the disc are very good, probably worth the price of admission.

Very well. We shall agree to disagree then. I think that the presentation is excellent, not a mixed bag.

Pro-B

I don't know what Beaver is on about, it looks pretty damn good to me.

This review is not in keeping with all the others I've read, blu-ray.com for instance gives the image 5/5.

I saw this at the cinema recently and I have to say all the caps I've seen look very close to what I saw on the big screen.

I also think the Blu-ray looks nice based on the screen caps. If you look at Beaver's full-sized screen caps closely there is still some evidence of grain in the image, but it's subtle. It's possible that they applied filtering--I can't say for sure--but it doesn't have the waxy look of the notorious Predator and Predator Blu-rays. I like that they didn't go heavy on the sharpening, though. In comparison, the old Criterion disc looks fairly grainy and appears to be transferred from later generation elements, but this is strictly a guess.

Yes, if you get a good negative, close to the original, the grain will be quite light. As jsteffe notes above, this can be seen on the full-sized caps. I'm certainly not an expert, but I have the BD and I'm very happy with it.

The heavy filtering has occurred on the DVDBEAVER screencaptures (heavily compressed as well). They do not accurately reflect what is stored on the Blu-ray disc. This is very easy to see.

Pro-B

The screencaps at Bluray.com and Dvdbeaver look very close to me. And in each case a lot of the grain is absent. Pro-bassonist, are you saying the Dvdbeaver caps misrepresent the image? What about the Bluray.com caps?

denti alligator,

The screencaptuers are anything but identical.

They can only look somewhat identical if you are not logged into Blu-ray.com and comparing them as a visitor. This disclaimer appears under each shot posted with the reviews there:

"Disclaimer: Please note that this screenshot was captured at 1080p, resized to 720p and then compressed using JPEG to improve the loading time. While it should give you a general idea of what a title will look like, it's not representative of the true quality that Blu-ray offers. 1080p screenshots are available for Blu-ray.com members (membership is free), click Site preferences and select "1080p screenshots".

A side by side comparison between the 1080p captures at Blu-ray.com and those at DVDBeaver clearly shows a great deal of detail missing from DVDBeaver's captures -- they are clearly compressed and filtered. I am viewing both on a Dell Ultrasharp 24' monitor and the difference between the two is beyond obvious. I am sorry to say it but it should have been fairly obvious by now (even with past history from DVD screencaptures, which have been criticized on this very forum by MOC - I am referring to Bruno Dumont's La vie de Jésus) that screencaptures posted at DVDBeaver should not be used to produce a definitive opinion on how good/poor a transfer is. In fact, they should not be used to produce an informed opinion either, as I've also noticed that color reproduction with many releases that are covered there is also problematic.

Bottom line, denti, is this - I almost never form an opinion based on screencaptures alone.

Pro-B

Pro-B, chill. And thank you for clarifying. Yes, I know that the Beaver caps can be suspect. I guess it's about time I register over at Bluray.com and check out the 1080p caps.

So what about the grain? Has it been mostly removed?

denti alligator wrote:Pro-B, chill. And thank you for clarifying. Yes, I know that the Beaver caps can be suspect. I guess it's about time I register over at Bluray.com and check out the 1080p caps.

So what about the grain? Has it been mostly removed?

I am definitely cool

But I care about this film so much that there are a couple of things that really don't make sense at all - the color-scheme for example is simply incredible.

Grain - I've projected this Blu-ray disc on a 100+ screen. There is plenty of grain (well resolved) and detail. I could not see the film theatrically in London (too far for me, I am on the opposite side of the Atlantic), but I would be shocked if what is on the Blu-ray isn't in more than one ways extremely close to what is being screened at this very moment. The color-scheme in particular is incredible.

Pro-B

Looks like the administrative team here isn't happy with the discussion, and my contribution in particular, which is why a warning was issued.

Obviously, I don't feel like I should continue my participation on the board as I've apparently "annoyed" certain people.

Thank you.

Very informative, Pro-B, thanks!

pro-bassoonist wrote:Bottom line, denti, is this - I almost never form an opinion based on screencaptures alone.

...and I think that's particularly wise when it comes to Blu-ray transfers, because the difference between a screen capture and the image in motion can often be quite startling. Much more, I think, than the equivalent difference with a lower-resolution format such as DVD, largely because the original grain structure is much more visible, and that can make a substantial difference to the overall look of the film.