Bernardo Bertolucci on DVD

[Calvin]

Calvin in which direction are the rights a problem? Is it the Borges estate?

Arrow never told me anything more than that I'm afraid. Thank you for the assessment of the Japanese Blu-Ray. Google Translate seemed to indicate it would be a more promising transfer than that, but it certainly sounds like a step in the right direction!

[jsteffe]

There are actually two new Blu-ray editions of The Spider's Stratagem: one already released in Germany in addition to the one in Japan.

David, do you think that the Blu-ray is a reasonably good representation of the film's color based on your experience? I've never seen the film on 35mm, only on VHS. I did notice that the flesh tones and overall color spectrum are unusual on the Blu-ray transfer, and I wonder whether that reflects the specific color effects that Bertolucci and Storaro were going for. Among other things, it looks to me as if yellow has been suppressed in many shots, pushing the image more toward cyan/magenta combinations. This is not a complaint, I'm just curious.

[jsteffe]

I just received the Japanese Blu-ray released by Cinefil and it looks dramatically different from the German Blu-ray. The source is altogether different. The German Blu-ray looks OK in terms of detail, but lacks a full color range - yellows are fairly weak. Maybe the Germans were working off a faded copy?

The Japanese disc is from the 2018 restoration overseen by Storaro (if I am not mistaken), with Italian credits, including a separate credit for RAI at the opening. It features bold, rich, and well-balanced color. It is also in the 1.33 aspect ratio, unlike the German Blu-ray. It lacks English subtitles, but frankly I don't care.

When I have some time later I'll post screen captures.

[andyli]

Great news! Nice to hear confirmation that the Japanese release is the one that features the new 2K restoration, because from what I gathered the German release is only 15 gigs, in addition to some of the issues outlined above.

[jsteffe]

The Japanese Blu-ray is dual-layer, and the main feature is about 32 gigs. Please excuse me for being selfish if I wallow about in the film for the next few days before publishing any screen caps! I've been waiting for many years to see a decent copy of this film and am beside myself...

[andyli]

Take your time, James. By the way the Japanese release is from Kadokawa, not Cinefil, not that it matters.

[jsteffe]

Take your time, James. By the way the Japanese release is from Kadokawa, not Cinefil, not that it matters.

Correct. I double-checked and It has both Kadokawa and Cinefil listed on the case, so maybe it is some kind of joint release.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Cinefil is the home video label of the satellite channel Cinefil WOWOW (formerly Cinefil Imagica, which was also the old name of the label). Their titles have been distributed by a few companies over the years, but it looks like the main ones are Pioneer, Kinokuniya, and now Kadokawa. I don't know if Cinefil WOWOW actually works on releases published under their label or it's just a branding agreement. Either way they've put out a ton of stuff, but I appreciate them mainly for releasing the only OAR DVD of A City of Sadness.

[andyli]

Good to learn something! They are also behind the irreplaceable Yuriy Norshteyn blu-ray set.

[jsteffe]

As promised, here are some screen captures from the Japanese Blu-ray of THE SPIDER'S STRATAGEM.

[kekid]

Which labels are most likely to pick this up in regions A and B? I have been looking for this for years.

[jsteffe]

That's hard to say. There could be some underlying rights issues that have prevented a DVD release over the years, since I imagine that Bertolucci is a marketable director. But there may be some momentum for an English-friendly release now that a new restoration is available.

[Noiretirc]

Dammit, we are still waiting for an English-sub release of The Spider's Stratagem, right? This film deserves more love.