The Dollars Trilogy

[JamesF]

We hope you agree it'll be worth the wait. We fully expected the films to get more complex to restore as they progressed, but as it happened, they were all about equally monstrously hard, with GBU edging it as the toughest and taking much longer than anticipated to nail down. I have no intention of working on a restoration of a Techniscope post-synced film again (well, maybe Once Upon A Time In The West if the opportunity ever arose... maybe), but I'm very pleased with how these have all shaped out. I'm proud to say that, excluding the "Techniscope handles" (the redundant frames at the start and end of every shot on the two-perf negative that need to be removed for every new restoration), all known surviving footage for GBU is restored in full 4K HDR/Dolby Vision on either the feature streams or the bonus material, including the material unique to the Italian preview versions (with a reconstruction of the "bones in the desert" audio, except for the missing dialogue), the French trailer with the Socorro Sequence footage, and more. Shame we couldn't include the Italian mono audio due to insurmountable rights issues, but everything else should be there!

[JamesF]

In terms of the packaging, I do really like that at the bottom of the spines we have a circular sweep design with a figure that appears as if it is going to be carrying across all three releases. A Fistful of Dollars has Eastwood on the spine and For A Few Dollars More has Lee Van Cleef. So I presume we will be getting Eli Wallach's silhouette and the curving back down of the circle on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly's spine.

You presume correctly!

[andyli]

I have no intention of working on a restoration of a Techniscope post-synced film again (well, maybe Once Upon A Time In The West if the opportunity ever arose... maybe)

O…please don’t tempt us so…

By the way, congrats on the first two installments. I’m sure the third and final one will be well worth the wait.

[TMDaines]

Anyone got a brand new, sealed, mint 4K UHD Fistful of Dollars they are looking to swap for A Few Dollars More? I have two of them.

[swo17]

Looks like these 4K editions are all sold out, even the not-yet-released The Good, the Bad & the Ugly. The BD editions of the first and third films are still available though

[Lowry_Sam]

Amazon UK still has the second 2 still showing available, but that probably won't last long.

[Feego]

Will there be standard releases of these films on 4K?

[Finch]

Arrow haven't said otherwise so far, so I'd expect regular releases to show up about three months or so after the LEs sell out.

[Finch]

Standard releases of FAFDM and TGTBTU coming September 15th. The standard of the latter drops the fourth disc with the Sad Hill Unearthed documentary.

[MannFan]

What are the sources for the audio on GBU? I am curious if, as with the Kino Lorber UHD, they also relied on the Laserdisc audio, or they were also able to use original stems, and optical sources as well?

[Stefan Andersson]

Colorist Devan Scott on restoring TGTBTU and more:
https://www.alternateending.com/podcast ... eservation

[tenia]

"If you’re the sort of person who groans inside when you learn that a new Criterion Collection release was based on a L’Immagine Ritrovata restoration, this one is a must-listen."
FINE, I'LL LISTEN TO IT

[pzadvance]

Am I seeing things or is the limited edition of the 4K TGTBTU still available for pre order from Arrow UK?

[Drucker]

20+ years later and it appears that the old single disc DVD has color timing that most closely resembles the Arrow release.

[Finch]

The TGTBTU disc has Easter eggs. On the second UHD, if you highlight the extended cut with the grotto and torture scenes and press right on your remote, it will give you yet another cut which reinserts both the grotto and uncut torture scenes plus Angel Eyes Arrives and Bones in the Desert footage.

An additional Easter egg is in the Special Features section. Highlight the back arrow and press right on the remote to access raw dailies of the cemetery scene.

[aox]

The TGTBTU disc has Easter eggs. On the second UHD, if you highlight the extended cut with the grotto and torture scenes and press right on your remote, it will give you yet another cut which reinserts both the grotto and uncut torture scenes plus Angel Eyes Arrives and Bones in the Desert footage.

An additional Easter egg is in the Special Features section. Highlight the back arrow and press right on the remote to access raw dailies of the cemetery scene.

So, there are three cuts?

Which cut do I have? I am pretty sure it isn't the truncated American cut because there are scenes I didn't recognize growing up and I believe Eastwood and Wallach overdubbed their voices for those added scenes 50 years later.

[Finch]

Sorry for the delay. There is the international cut on disc one, and multiple versions of the extended cut on disc two. Two versions either add only the grotto or the torture scene via seamless branching and the third version adds both. A hidden fourth cut that I mentioned on Sunday also has both and adds two more scenes/bits that were subsequently removed after the Italian premiere. This version runs 181 mins. I'm assuming the longest cut wasn't officially advertised by Arrow as not to piss off the Italian rightsholders.

I'm not a huge fan of the film in any version but I thought Arrow's grade looked very nice but some people prefer the look of the Kino UHDs. Short of the Italians doing or allowing another scan in the future, I think this is as close as you can get to the best possible release of all three films. Naturally the one I like best, For A Few Dollars More, hasn't been as well preserved as the other two but c'est la vie.

[dwk]

Some people are reporting that Arrow has cancelled their pre-orders for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. If you ordered from Arrow and haven't gotten a shipping notice yet, check the status of your order.

[pzadvance]

I ordered pretty late from Amazon UK, no idea if that’s gonna go through

[videozor]

I pre-ordered a limited blu-ray (not 4K) set from Rarewaves UK and received it today.

[Finch]

Orbit DVD will put their remaining 500 units on sale tomorrow at noon EST so keep an eye on their website. One copy per customer and they'll check your previous orders.

[mfunk9786]

Steeling myself for disappointment. Wish they'd have just put them up without any fanfare like they do with everything else.

[domino harvey]

Orbit DVD will put their remaining 500 units on sale tomorrow at noon EST so keep an eye on their website. One copy per customer and they'll check your previous orders.

I had no idea Orbit was doing anything close to this volume of business!

[dwk]

Diabolik DVD is going to put their remaining stock up when they finish shipping their pre-orders.

[mfunk9786]

Diabolik DVD is going to put their remaining stock up when they finish shipping their pre-orders.

Three, four weeks from now? Got it. (Diabolik takes forever to ship. That's my joke. Ta da.)