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Kinoglazorama are supposedly releasing an English subtitled Blu-Ray of Todo Modo this year

Latest DVD release from Cineteca di Bologna is Assunta Spina (1915). "Sottotitoli in inglese" and available for purchase at Italian Amazon (for example), these two things hope I very much.

From my viewpoint, that's a slightly disappointing choice as Kino released Assunta Spina on DVD in 2003 (with the important feature-length documentary The Last Diva) though it looks like it's OOP now and I expect the Bologna edition may well prove to be superior quality, besides having the original Italian intertitles and other texts (all electronically replaced by English on the Kino).

I keep hoping for more Maciste from Bologna... enough of the damn divas!

Disappointing choice? This is one of the most important Italian silents and, as you allude to, the Kino disc is crap.

Yes, from my viewpoint, given all the films in their archive and Bologna's tiny DVD output, I do find it slightly disappointing that they released a title I already own in an edition which (though far from ideal) I don't consider anywhere near crap. I'd be happy if most of the silents in my collection were as good quality as the Kino edition and replaced intertitles are not a huge issue for me personally, though I know it is for many on here.

In the case of L'Inferno the previous DVD (with Tangerine Dream score) was fairly crap, though even the Bologna edition of that has only a choice of Italian intertitles or replaced English ones, no subtitles for the Italian.

I do understand that given Bologna's self-imposition of centenary releases the choice from 1915 was probably very limited indeed. Of course, this is great news for anyone who doesn't own the Kino - perhaps even for some who do - and if Bologna's Assunta Spina proves to have significant additional footage, I'll happily upgrade mine. I just hope they're still releasing discs when the other extant Maciste films are due!

La vita provvisoria (Provisional Life, 1963), an omnibus film about incommunicability, mass murders, bureaucracy, celluloid dreams, neo-fascism, transgender, space flights and much more...
http://journeys-italy.blogspot.it/2015/ ... -life.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I neglected to mention this disc in my best of 2015 but the Pane e cioccolata English-friendly Blu-ray gets a positive review at Blu-ray.com.

IMO, the screenshots don't look that good

Has anyone ever checked out any of these M6 Video releases on Amazon? They have a terrific selection, although sadly without subtitles. I've been desperate for a copy of The Inheritance for ages and Mauro Bolognini is severely under-represented on dvd.

http://www.amazon.fr/LH%C3%A9ritage-Ant ... +Bolognini

Mustang should include English subs more. As should other Italian DVD makers. This makes no sense anymore. I cant wait my entire life to properly watch or own Girolimoni, Man on his knees, I Mostri, Todo Modo etc... on bluray or dvd. Those things dont cost much. A decent translator could do it for max. 250 euros, I mean that "extra"cost is laughable...

Professional subtitling of a feature-length film (inc. origination, translation and transcription) plus proofing/QCing of timing costs a lot more than €250. And of course they may not be contractually allowed to offer English subtitles in the first place.

If you really know someone stupid enough to offer those services for that little, please put them in touch with me!

If they are offering it for that cheap, they are likely repurposing subtitles found online. The subtitles on the UK Blu-ray of Tabu were apparently suspiciously similar to fan subtitles posted previously online. The differences were far too minor to be anything but a slight refinement of them. Whether this was the label or a third party they outsourced the work too, I do not know.

I tried to save money by originating the SDH subtitles of Arrow's The Seven Minutes myself - including transcription by ear, as for some reason Fox couldn't furnish me with a dialogue list.

By the time I'd finished, I must have been on far less than minimum wage in terms of my eventual hourly rate, given that I obviously couldn't charge more than a professional subtitling house. They earn their money!

The very interesting (almost last) Giuseppe de Santis' Italiani brava gente AKA Attack and Retreat with Peter Falk and Arthur Kennedy is out in 1:37 (is this correct??) and Italian soundtrack. Region 0, Italian subtitles. Amazon list English soundtrack, a mistake because on the back covers we can read only Italian.

https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01MUXBX2L/ref ... M5MDYX1YAF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looking at production stills & frame grabs published in GdS: La trasfigurazione della realtà it does appear to be in Academy ratio... A first major Italo-Soviet coproduction this is a brief clip of De Santis filming in the snows of Russia in early 1963...

If it's a non-Scope Italian-Soviet co-production, 1.37:1 may well have been a desired ratio from the Soviet perspective: back then, if I remember rightly, films were either Scope or Academy with nothing in between.

Although the Italian input may well have allowed for widescreen protection.

Fans elsewhere were working on a hyrbid fan edit of an Italian print and a Russian print that both had unique scenes/frames. That went quiet about 18 months ago though so I'll alert them to this.

rohmerin wrote:The very interesting (almost last) Giuseppe de Santis' Italiani brava gente AKA Attack and Retreat with Peter Falk and Arthur Kennedy is out in 1:37 (is this correct??)

Based on the front and end titles from an old VHS transfer, my guess is it was shot open matte and protected for widescreen projection.

It's a Russian print originally it seems from Mosfilm and in Academy Ratio, with the opening & other titles in Russian, but with the original Italian dialogue as appropriate...

Take advantage of this until ...
C'eravamo tanto amati with C.C inglese

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DroC4ho6QqU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The most beautiful film Italians have made.

Thanks a lot rohmerin. It's so disappointing
that no Blu ray is forthcoming, at least not
that I'm aware of.

Almost as disappointing as that haiku

Montedoro (Antonello Faretta, 2016)
The film is inspired by the true story of an Italian-American woman born in the ghost town of Craco (near Matera) and given up for adoption when she was a toddler to a family in New York.
Available on Amazon.it, with English subtitles.

ellipsis7 wrote:Just on a Blasetti blast, picking up 6 of the RHV discs; 1860, 4 Passi Fra Le Nuvole & 4 of the early sound movies - Resurrectio, Terra Madre, Palio & La Tavola Dei Poveri... Despite stating otherwise in the specs & on the box, there does not actually seem to be Italian subs (per non udenti) available on the Palio disc, but despite this it is a fascinating movie with vivid scenes shot on location in Sienna some 80 years ago...

But keep in mind that the DVD release of Resurecctio' is heavily censored. Just a couple of examples: when Hot Shopgirl joins Our Hero on his bus seat, in the original he (how do I describe this carefully?) repeatedly and rhythmically moves his hand up and down under his coat for quite a while. In the DVD version, that's severely truncated to about a second. Also, in the original, there's a lot of abstract shots that are obviously meant to evoke the female reproductive system, and they are all excised in the DVD.

I did ask if they might consider releasing a non-censored version, but got no reply.

In any case, it's a wonderful (and fairly nutso) movie, even absent the more transgressive bits.

Many thanks indeed for the clarification & information... Note also Blasetti's LA CORONA DI FERRO just released in an new Italian DVD edition...