criterionforum.org

david hare wrote:

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:As a gentle reminder we will see next week what the Melville SC french box has to offer. As I keep harping on I have seen a better version via the Tavernier doc. which may or may not be a viable alternative used by SC

Happy to see the Tavernier is out on Cohen next month. Have not been able to see it anywhere this year, can't wait.

David. There is also supposed to be a 6hour plus TV version coming as well but no news yet of a DVD release.
Also just to be clear the 'better' in this case is in relation to the Pathé which is not a hard task.

I haven't seen the Pathe disc: after seeing the grabs I totally passed on it. But is it safe to assume that the clips from the film used in the 2011 documentary on here (d'honneur et de nuit, which appears to have been made for that Pathe release) come from that restoration? Because if they do... fuck. What a disaster!

It’s staggering. I finally got a copy courtesy of StudioCanal’s big Melville box (the French edition), and it’s hands down the worst Blu-ray transfer I’ve ever seen. How anybody with functioning eyes signed it off is a total mystery.

Saw the restoration the other night at Film Forum and I really thought it looked amazing. The opening shot is shockingly dark, and the darker interiors are definitely a bit bluer than the original Criterion blu, but not...a lot bluer? If that makes sense? Exterior shots have a slightly more neutral color palette at times, and some of the shots, especially such as the soft focus shots in Jef's girlfriend's apartment, don't necessarily have the strong blue push. Also plenty of grain to speak of. The only weirdness is in the final shot, there is a sudden shift in color temperature, and the film becomes suddenly paler for a few moments (maybe these were effect shots of some sort?)

Anyway, I thought all in all it looked amazing, and it was by far my favorite experience watching this film. I've seen it several times before but it never clicked like it did this time, and I just found myself more drawn into the film than ever before.

It’s a shame Criterion couldn’t collaborate with/license from Pathé a bit more often. Come to think of it, Pathé’s blu-ray releases of new restorations are so consistently good, and too many of them remained unreleased elsewhere.

The Pathe UHD has Dolby Vision, the Criterion 4K only has HDR if their specs are correct.