140 8½

[Giulio]

For those who're waiting like me and bought it from amazon.com, something went wrong, anybody already got it and know what's happening? If so let me know:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002U6 ... 15_product" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


here it is from amazon website:
(Item Under Review

While this item is available from other marketplace sellers on this page, it is not currently offered by Amazon.com because customers have told us there may be something wrong with our inventory of the item, the way we are shipping it, or the way it's described here. (Thanks for the tip!)

We're working to fix the problem as quickly as possible.)

[aox]

I got it the day it came out from Amazon. While I haven't sat and watched the whole thing or the extras, I did watch the first 20 minutes and it seemed fine. And the packaging seemed fine.

[Elmyr]

Very strange. I've watched the entire film and the last sequence documentary without any problems at all.

[Fortisquince]

I received the Blu-Ray last Friday and watched about half an hour of the film. Everything, including the packaging, seemed fine.

[RevRick]

I watched about the first half hour as well ... there seemed to be a "hot spot" on my transfer, a spot of slightly more golden hue, just to the left of center. I don't remember whether it was on the old transfer. Gotta go home and check.

[Giulio]

Thank you guys, keep waiting for my copy (ordered just a day before they put that strange message), this is the answer from amazon.com:

We will occasionally halt the sale of an item if we've found a problem with our inventory of the item, the way we're shipping it, or the way it's described on the product details page. We're sorry for the inconvenience, but these problems are usually resolved quickly and you can often find the item via our Marketplace sellers.

If you've received this DVD and discover it's not what you expected, please let us know so we can take appropriate action. To send us an e-mail with the order number, name of the item, and details of the defect, visit this page

It seems vague, if any of you know something more please let me know, thank you again

[TMDaines]

If they do this then it is usually because they have been getting a lot of complaints about the condition of the product due to their own malpractice - rather than a technical fault with the product that is beyond their control. They do this to boxsets quite often when multiple people have complained about receiving damaged boxes and the like.

[Brian C]

I watched about the first half hour as well ... there seemed to be a "hot spot" on my transfer, a spot of slightly more golden hue, just to the left of center. I don't remember whether it was on the old transfer. Gotta go home and check.

Mine, too.

[Fortisquince]

Follow up: Watched the entire film on Blu-Ray this past Saturday with no problems.

[Paul Moran]

My copy arrived from PlayUSA on 28 January. I did a "chapter skip" test on the film, and found a problem around the 103-minute mark. The player could not lock on to the film at 103:03 - the start of chapter 22 - and eventually jumped forward, not always to the same spot (e.g. sometimes to about 107 min, sometimes to chapter 24). I couldn't "time search" to within about plus/minus 5 mins of the 103:03 mark. However, the player could fast forward/reverse (2x) across the 103:03 mark, and played across it at normal speed, without any apparent problem. I also noticed a slight slowness in locking onto the audio track during the "chapter skips". Of course, neither of these problems would have surfaced if I'd just sat down and watched the film straight through!

Also, the first time I loaded the disc, the player displayed a "video or music files?" message. This did not recur in subsequent loads.

I only have one blu-ray player capable of playing Region A-locked discs - a Momitsu BDP-899, with the August firmware upgrade - so I can't say whether these problems are disc-related or player-related. If the film does play OK when I watch it all the way through, I'll keep the disc. (Perhaps I should also hang on to my SD version, instead of selling it!)

UPDATE (30 mins later): I needed to load the disc again to check some of the facts in my first post. Twice, the player displayed an "Unknown Format" message and ejected the disc. The third time, it loaded the disc OK - but still had the problems reported above. On second thoughts, perhaps I'd better send it back for replacement! BTW, the disc is clean and unmarked.

[montgomery]

Watched the whole disc without any problem.

[Anthony]

Watched the whole disc without any problem.

Has anyone contacted Criterion about these possible problems and heard a response back?

[domino harvey]

They said play it again in two weeks

[dad1153]

Saw "8 1/2" on Blu-ray for the first time over the weekend . After "Nights of Cabiria" last week I knew I wanted this to be my next stop in the Fellini express after finding out that Giulietta Masina was married to Fellini (I had no freaking idea while watching "Cabiria"). Now that I've finally seen the cinematic and personal flights of fancy the maestro indulges in with "8 1/2" I concur: it's as outstanding and timeless a cinematic experience as advertised. Like "Citizen Kane" before it this is a diehard film lover's delight because (a) Fellini (like Wells) got away with doing it in the first place, (b) it's a personal and (mostly) distorted mirror-like reflection of the maestro's own reality at the time "8 1/2" was made (the same way Wells ripped stories about Hearst and his sordid life for "Kane"), plus (c) very few directors today have both the clout to get something like "8 1/2" made (Spielberg maybe) AND the need to tell the type of personal story Fellini wanted to tell (Spielberg fails here). And the women, my goodness! From Claudia Cardinale down to the grotesque-but-appropriate elder ladies in Guido's life, "8 1/2" must have set a world record for number of cinematically appealing ladies gorgeously photographed by an Italian production with their clothes on.

I don't think I could rewatch "8 1/2" in its entirety any time soon though. So little actual story tying its 135 minutes into a coherent whole. But its many memorable scenes/vignettes (the director 'floating' away, the 'harem' dream, the production office crammed inside a small health spa room, the meeting -real and imagined- with the Cardinal, the casting viewing, the ending, etc.) are why the DVD/BD chapter stop was invented for: multiple revisits to magical movie moments only a couple of button presses away. Picture/sound are OK for high-def (no "Seventh Seal"-type revelations in the transfer though) but the extras waiting for me to dive into sure look appetizing. Don't know if this will become an all-time favorite like it has for some others, but I will certainly see it again after I grab a few more Fellini's under my belt ("Juliet of the Spirits" is next).

[karmajuice]

"8 1/2" must have set a world record for number of cinematically appealing ladies gorgeously photographed by an Italian production with their clothes on.

I watched 8 1/2 with some friends a few weeks ago (they were planning to see Nine, and I forbade seeing it until they watched this) and one guy's primary complaint was that the film had no female nudity.

[Zot!]

Mmm...well I think the prospect of watching Nine would be fairly emasculating, so I can see his point.

[Giulio]

thank you very much for those who answered to my post, I got my blu-ray yesterday, I checked it and it's ok, viva fellini!

[daniel p]

This looked a lot better in motion than i was expecting it to, I am loving the Criterion Blu-Rays so far (this was my 3rd).

[What A Disgrace]

I received my disc a couple of days ago from Criterion's own webpage, and my Momitsu has the same problem as Paul Moran's...only the disc is not playing at *all*.

[Ovader]

A new coffee-table book with color photographs by Paul Ronald plus interviews with Ronald and Anouk Aimée.

[karmajuice]

If you saw those photographs without having seen the film, you'd think the film was designed to be shot in color. Looks gorgeous.

[TMDaines]

Maybe it's because I was born when colour TV was well and truly the staple but I always find it hard to imagine the black and white locations of films in colour. I could never imagine myself there in colour but only in black and white.

[stevewhamola]

Maybe it's because I was born when colour TV was well and truly the staple but I always find it hard to imagine the black and white locations of films in colour.

Same here. In fact, whenever a character in a black and white movie so much as makes a reference to colour, for example saying "That's a lovely yellow dress you're wearing" or somesuch, I'm always dumbstruck for a second and say to myself "That's not at all the colour I was imagining!" but then realize I didn't even have a particular colour in mind...

[matrixschmatrix]

It's almost disillusioning, like finding out that the cast secretly all speaks English amongst themselves or something

[krislandis]

This film is the definition, to me, of a Beautiful Film. Kane may be the greatest film ever, but to me, this is my favorite. As a film-maker myself, this is the one film that I look up to and say "If I can get close to this, I will be happy." The story, the structure, the photography, the music, it's all perfect. Every time I'm preparing to start a film, the night before shooting, I watch this. To remind myself why I'm doing what I'm doing, and just how amazing the results can be.