Best non-R1 DVDs

[tenia]

'Wild Side' (I think) also do a great complete set of 'Female Prisoner' movies

I don't think so.
HK Video released the first two movies from the Sasori series. Then Pathé released the 6 movies in a boxset about a year and a half ago. But the quality of this box set is not extraordinary.
HK Video also released a couple of months ago a 3-movies boxset from Teruo Ichii, and a second box is about to be released within a couple of months.

But, honestly, the quality of the editions from HK Video is clearly not what it used to be when they released The Killer, Hard Boiled or Shanghai Blues.
They did some minor jobs on the past years, putting an interlaced transfer for Prison on Fire, screwing up with some weird German master for A Better Tomorrow Trilogy, releasing some Jap-Horror movies when nobody wants them anymore, and, finally, these pinku that won't interest a lot of people. I really think it's the end for them.

[Finch]

Wild Side did a enormous job with about 50-60 Shaw Brothers releases, all with better video quality than the Celestrial (including a boxset for 36th Chamber and one for the One-Armed swordsman that are real great).

tenia or yojimbo, can either of you confirm if any of these are English-friendly and if they can be ordered from somewhere other than Amazon France (which doesn't seem to accept my credit card; very frustrating as I want to buy the Films sans Frontieres disc of King Hu's Raining in the Mountains), and if there are any Shaw Brothers discs you would especially recommend? I bought the Dragon Dynasty releases of Five Deadly Venoms and Heroes of the East, and want to get more SB films.

[Michael Kerpan]

[tenia or yojimbo, can either of you confirm if any of these are English-friendly and if they can be ordered from somewhere other than Amazon France (which doesn't seem to accept my credit card; very frustrating as I want to buy the Films sans Frontieres disc of King Hu's Raining in the Mountains), and if there are any Shaw Brothers discs you would especially recommend? I bought the Dragon Dynasty releases of Five Deadly Venoms and Heroes of the East, and want to get more SB films.

Do you have an Amazon UK account -- and does this accept your credit card? If so, Amazon France ought to follow suit (as you need not even need to set up a separate account).

Other decent online vendors in France are FNAC and Alapage (disclaimer -- I haven't ordered from any of these people since the dollar collapsed).

[Finch]

Michael_K, I do have an account with Amazon UK. I haven't used my card with them but with other retailers and have had no problems. Not sure why I had no luck with ordering the Hu (I may try again soon). I will also try alapage and FNAC. Thanks for the headsup, much appreciated.

[Yojimbo]

'Wild Side' (I think) also do a great complete set of 'Female Prisoner' movies

I don't think so.
HK Video released the first two movies from the Sasori series. Then Pathé released the 6 movies in a boxset about a year and a half ago. But the quality of this box set is not extraordinary.
HK Video also released a couple of months ago a 3-movies boxset from Teruo Ichii, and a second box is about to be released within a couple of months.

But, honestly, the quality of the editions from HK Video is clearly not what it used to be when they released The Killer, Hard Boiled or Shanghai Blues.
They did some minor jobs on the past years, putting an interlaced transfer for Prison on Fire, screwing up with some weird German master for A Better Tomorrow Trilogy, releasing some Jap-Horror movies when nobody wants them anymore, and, finally, these pinku that won't interest a lot of people. I really think it's the end for them.

I'll check my 'Female Prisoner' later, as I've reorganised my filing system recently and can't quite lay my hands on it, but I'm convinced I bought it from Amazon France

[Yojimbo]

Wild Side did a enormous job with about 50-60 Shaw Brothers releases, all with better video quality than the Celestrial (including a boxset for 36th Chamber and one for the One-Armed swordsman that are real great).

tenia or yojimbo, can either of you confirm if any of these are English-friendly and if they can be ordered from somewhere other than Amazon France (which doesn't seem to accept my credit card; very frustrating as I want to buy the Films sans Frontieres disc of King Hu's Raining in the Mountains), and if there are any Shaw Brothers discs you would especially recommend? I bought the Dragon Dynasty releases of Five Deadly Venoms and Heroes of the East, and want to get more SB films.

Finch, the Shaw Brothers set I have doesn't have English subs: I think only French and perhaps Mandarin also: the transfer quality is outstanding, though: far better than I remember them in my local fleapits back in the early 70s

here's the link
http://www.amazon.fr/Coffret-20-dvd-Sha ... 116&sr=1-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Yojimbo]

I'm French so I will speak about French editors I know.

Carlotta do a great job, but these days, they tends to do things already done by Criterion (Two Lane Blacktop, the Ozus, the Mizoguchis, the Fassbinders...), but they have a very nice Monte Hellman's boxset, 2 (soon 3) 8-disks Douglas Sirk (2x4 movies + a lot of extras, including the original movies he remade). They are also releasing a lot of Yoshida's movies (more than 10 so far, including the complete version of Eros + Massacre) and some Oshimas. They have done some great work on Pasolini with Orestia and Salo, but they also released a good boxset of the Trilogy of Life, but I think that the new BFIs are doing bettre now. There's a lot of stuff they did that is great, and I think that Carlotta is our French Criterion.

Wild Side did a enormous job with about 50-60 Shaw Brothers releases, all with better video quality than the Celestrial (including a boxset for 36th Chamber and one for the One-Armed swordsman that are real great). They have a nice collection called Les introuvables (the non-findable) which has some great presentations, with some Fukasakus, some Langs, some Jodorowskys. It's very eclectic, but most of the time, they do a very nice work too (except with the Baby Cart new releases, and the Kurosawas. The HKV were better for the first ones, and the Arte box for the Kurosawas was better too).

We also have MK2 that do great most of the time, and they also have contemporary releases that are pretty complete (like the 2-discs release of Hunger). On the older movies, it's more random.

For Studio Canal, it's kind of random too.

We also have a new editor called Potemkine, which has already done some great stuff, like the Director's Cut of The President's Last Bang, a new edition of Walkabout (in anamorphic), and a restored edition of Come And See (which is said to be the best in the world so far).

tenia I must check out that 'Come And See ' which must surely be in my all-time Top 10, maybe even Top 5, of war films

[Finch]

Finch, the Shaw Brothers set I have doesn't have English subs: I think only French and perhaps Mandarin also: the transfer quality is outstanding, though: far better than I remember them in my local fleapits back in the early 70s

Thanks for confirming Yojimbo: the lack of English subtitles renders those releases worthless to me then (I was useless at French in school). Guess, I have to hope/wait for DD or another distributor to pick these up (I bought the R3 of Enchanting Shadow last year and it was near unwatchable on my plasma).

[NilbogSavant]

Anyone know where the complete João César Monteiro DVD set can be purchased. Amazon.fr has been sold out for a long time.

[tojoed]

I have just received The Swedish Silent Classics Box, which contains Haxan, Terje Vigen, Phantom Carriage, Erotikon, Sir Arne's Treasure, and Gosta Berling's Saga. The films, the extras, and the accompanying booklets are all English friendly and it's currently £34 including postage to the UK. Thanks to RobertB for the heads up.

[perkizitore]

How is Haxan and Phantom Carriage compared to the other existing DVDs?

[tojoed]

They look identical to me. The Tartan "Phantom" and the Criterion "Haxan" are both, I believe, ports of these films from the Swedish Film Institute.

[perkizitore]

Considering i have none of the films, it has tremendous value, hasn't it?

[Ledos]

The Swedish Film Institute's release of Häxan is different than the Criterion. It's a newer transfer, though not necessarily better. The Criterion release features some very good extra material that really adds to one's appreciation of the film, but the SFI version incorporates 22 additional intertitles discovered in 2006, making it the more complete version.

[perkizitore]

Does anyone know if this edition of Minnie and Moskowitz improves over the older discs?

[Michael Kerpan]

Has anyone ever created a "Best non-Region A Blu-ray" thread? Since I just ordered a Sherwood (to supplement my current players), I'll be looking for a nice comprehensive source of information. ;~}

[manicsounds]

Has anyone ever created a "Best non-Region A Blu-ray" thread? Since I just ordered a Sherwood (to supplement my current players), I'll be looking for a nice comprehensive source of information. ;~}

Lost in the fold, but I made one a while back...
Essential Region B / C BDs

[perkizitore]

Is this Monteiro set the same as the French OOP one?
Fnac has very expensive shipping, but i can't seem to find any other Portuguse e-tailers!

[gyorgys]

Is this Monteiro set the same as the French OOP one?
Fnac has very expensive shipping, but i can't seem to find any other Portuguse e-tailers!

I have bought the Monteiro boxset from Amazon France years ago and it looks like an edition very similar to mine, if not identical (same titles, number of disc etc.).
The price isn't bad; IIRC, I have paid € 160 (shipping costs excluded). If the the set including postal costs doesn't arise above the price I paid for it alone, it's IMO not a bad deal after all. But, of course, that's you to decide.

[perkizitore]

Fnac.pt also has the Manoel De Oliveira set, so buying both at the same time will make the shipping cost burden a bit more bearable.

[Numero Trois]

On Fnac the subtotal for the Monteiro set is reduced significantly on checkout. The subtotal it gave me was 114.88, with a grand total including shipping of 139.67 EU. Considering it's his entire ouevre it sounds like a deal to me. I've been looking for this one for quite some time.

[perkizitore]

VAT removal essentially makes shipping free for you. My total is 155 euros, but i'll wait until the Oliveira set is in stock to order both.

[Telstar]

On Fnac the subtotal for the Monteiro set is reduced significantly on checkout. The subtotal it gave me was 114.88, with a grand total including shipping of 139.67 EU. Considering it's his entire ouevre it sounds like a deal to me. I've been looking for this one for quite some time.

I snagged this a few years back on ebay (won't boast about how little I paid), and it's possibly my favorite dvd set ever. Like having the man's entire life in a box.

[Numero Trois]

Yeah, it does pop up on eBay once in a blue moon. One sold recently for a reasonable price. I'm holding off on it for now. Not quite ready to part with $180. While we're still on the subject of Fnac and expensive box sets, though, Jonathan Rosenbaum does have some things to say in the latest Cinema Scope. (Quoting one of his readers concerning the Oliveira box set):

“I bought this set at the end of 2008 from FNAC. One disc was faulty—A Caixa (1994) had no sound. This seems to have been a wider issue than just my set, because I was aware of at least two other sets with the same problem. It was difficult getting any response from FNAC Portugal. Ultimately, a response said I could return the complete set for a refund. This was far too valuable an asset to lose all the films because of one faulty disc. And there was no comment on whether they’d reimburse postage (two ways to/from Australia) in such a case. And…a friend who’d previously bought A Caixa in a separate release burnt me a copy of the integral title. Surely a case where burning is more than justified. A friend who happens to be the Portuguese Consul in Melbourne also made several attempts to contact FNAC on my behalf and using his “title” as a lever—ignored! This rather soured my relationship to the box, and it’s sat there unexplored since this event. I really must start looking through it.”

Yikes. Too bad Fnac seems to be the only game in town. Or close to it.