Chimes at Midnight (Orson Welles, 1965)

[Ste]

HAHAHA! Very witty, yes

[justeleblanc]

Sorry to start a new post for such a silly question, but I'm curious as to what the intended aspect ratio was for this film. My library has a copy on VHS and I've been sternly told to not watch this film (this film in particular) in full-frame.

Thanks.

[Gordon]

The French DVD is 1.66:1 anamorphic.

[Ste]

Good luck tracking down the Welles box! I've been scouring the backstreets of E-tail Land for a couple of months now, and no one has it in stock. It looks like it's gone OOP due to licensing issues. And the stand-alone release of Falstaff appears to be cancelled, also. You might luck out and find a brick-and-mortar store in Paris that still has a copy of the box on the shelves, but it won't be easy.

Btw, there is already a thread dedicated to this film here. Included are screen-caps that show the significant improvement in quality of the French DVD over the Spanish edition.

[Gordon]

Gawdy, is it GOOD?? Should I be lashing out for this fucking Welles box when I'm in Paris next month?????? (I HATE the Trial.)

Bad boy! The Trial is awesome! May Tony Perkins attack you in the middle of the night with his pointy steel dildo from Crimes of Passion!

I badly want to see Chimes again. I wonder if Beatrice blocked the Studio Canal DVD?

[J Wilson]

Beatrice likely had nothing to do with it; CHIMES producer Harry Saltzman's widow has been waging legal war with the Spanish CHIMES producers over the rights for years. I had heard it had been settled, but the Locarno Film Festival needed special permission to screen it last year, so presumably something is still going on in this regard. It is this legal struggle that has kept the film out of circulation pretty much everywhere, as I understand it.

[Ste]

Got it!

I ordered the Studio Canal boxed set from Belgian e-tailer Proxis a few weeks back, but didn't hold out much hope of it coming through. (They didn't have it in stock, had to order it from their supplier, etc.) Anyway, it just arrived in the mail this morning

If any of you are still craving the new transfer of Chimes at Midnight, there is still hope. Get yourselves over to Proxis tout suite. The order page says nothing about the box's contents, but if you check out dvdfr.com you'll see that the artwork is the same. It's not cheap, unfortunately, but, like I say, you're unlikely to find it anywhere else.

[Person]

I have acquired the Studio Canal Welles set. Chimes looks gorgeous. I'll watch it soon.

[Scharphedin2]

How did you manage to get your hands on the set? I thought it had been discontinued long ago.

I acquired the Spanish release from Suevia(?), and all things considered, it is a reasonably good presentation of the film. Still, the Studio Canal set was supposed to be even better, and looked gorgeous in the stills that were posted earlier.

[Person]

Hi, Michael. I ordered it from Proxis, via Steve's link above. It took about 12 days to arrive. I was fully expecting the order to be cancelled and refunded.

[Ste]

I'm glad to be of some use for once!

[mikeohhh]

Beatrice likely had nothing to do with it; CHIMES producer Harry Saltzman's widow has been waging legal war with the Spanish CHIMES producers over the rights for years. I had heard it had been settled, but the Locarno Film Festival needed special permission to screen it last year, so presumably something is still going on in this regard. It is this legal struggle that has kept the film out of circulation pretty much everywhere, as I understand it.

I went to a screening of this film earlier this year with Keith Baxter in attendance and during his Q&A afterwards he seemed to place the blame of the film's DVD unavailability squarely on the shoulders of one Oja Kodar. He seemed to have only nice things to say about Bea and he rest of the Welles clan so he may not have been a completely objective party. Who knows? Fact is, this is one of Welles' best (IMO #2 to Kane) and ought to be less obscure. I think we can all agree on that (even Keith Baxter, Beatrice Welles and Oja Kodar).

[Darth Lavender]

Fact is, this is one of Welles' best (IMO #2 to Kane) and ought to be less obscure. I think we can all agree on that (even Keith Baxter, Beatrice Welles and Oja Kodar).

I think Kodar would disagree. At a guess, she'd probably rate it third...

1. F for Fake
2. Citizen Kane
3. Chimes at Midnight

[J Wilson]

Oja Kodar has never had any claim on CHIMES and has never done so to the best of my knowledge, so I'm not sure where Baxter is getting that from. The fact that he was bigging up Beatrice Welles indicates a distinct ignorance of who's actually been working to make Welles' work more available. And having read a transcript of his comments from that evening, it wasn't the only thing he was confused and/or wrong about. Kodar isn't a saint, but she's far preferable to Beatrice. Getting back to CHIMES, it's always been about the dueling producers fighting over the rights.

[MichaelB]

Getting back to CHIMES, it's always been about the dueling producers fighting over the rights.

Somewhere in my files I still have a telegram sent from Madrid ordering me to cease and desist with regard to my plans to screen it in London in the early 1990s. I don't remember who signed it, but it categorically wasn't Oja Kodar.

[PimpPanda]

Has anyone heard of that copy?

[J Wilson]

It's a bootleg.

[Scharphedin2]

It's a bootleg.

I own the Brazilian release of the film, which is serviceable. The product review of this particular release, makes it sound as if this DVD (bootleg or not) significantly improves upon the Brazilian DVD. It would be interesting to hear from anyone, who ends up with copies of both.

Furthermore, I believe that the EU release mentioned by Davidhare a few posts up has become available again. At least I believe someone mentioned this last summer.

A fantastic film. What a wonderful Criterion release (a la Mr. Arkadin) this could have made.

[J Wilson]

I guess it all depends on where they sourced it from, be it the Spanish disc, the French disc, VHS, who knows? Is the Brazilian disc different from the Spanish one? I kind of assumed it duped that for some reason. If Saltzman's widow and the Spanish producers ever settle things, maybe we'll get a good edition someday. Beatrice Welles has made noise about wanting "restore" it a la OTHELLO, so that raises all kinds of flags. On a side note, I wrote something about the film years ago on Wellesnet, and got an email shortly thereafter from Saltzman's widow, more or less asking if I was interested in purchasing her rights in the film. When I responded to say I was only a guy on the web, and not a film producer wanna-be, but asked her to go on the record with the film's status for the sake of clearing up rumor and speculation, she never responded.

[Magic Hate Ball]

Just saw a 35mm showing of this tonight. The audio was muddy, plus the Shakespearean dialogue, as well as Welles' voice being what it is, frankly, I couldn't understand half of what was said, and so it really dragged on and on for me, which is too bad because apparently this is one of his best works. It looked nice, but it sounded like gravel.

[exte]

I hear its battle scenes have been very influential. Any comment on that maybe? Would it be worth buying off eBay for that?

[atcolomb]

I hear its battle scenes have been very influential. Any comment on that maybe? Would it be worth buying off eBay for that?

I have the Spanish dvd version from Suevia Films and even if you are not a Welles fan the whole movie is a great treat to watch with excellent performances and nice camera work. I know Orson picked this as his favorite film.

[miless]

I know Orson picked this as his favorite film.

that's debatable. He told Peter Bogdanovich, in one of the many interviews that comprised 'This is Orson Welles' that his favorite was The Trial.

I never fully trust anything from Mr. Welles, however, as he's known to skew the facts, or his own opinions, in order to make a more entertaining story/interview.

[atcolomb]

I know Orson picked this as his favorite film.

that's debatable. He told Peter Bogdanovich, in one of the many interviews that comprised 'This is Orson Welles' that his favorite was The Trial.

I never fully trust anything from Mr. Welles, however, as he's known to skew the facts, or his own opinions, in order to make a more entertaining story/interview.

Very true.....the books i have on Welles tells many different stories and opinions from him.

[Awesome Welles]

I hear its battle scenes have been very influential. Any comment on that maybe? Would it be worth buying off eBay for that?

I have the Spanish dvd version from Suevia Films and even if you are not a Welles fan the whole movie is a great treat to watch with excellent performances and nice camera work. I know Orson picked this as his favorite film.

I borrowed the Spanish DVD from a friend and I clearly remember the battle scenes being very good, way ahead of their time.