25 Vampyr

[Rowan]

Gawwwblimey!! That’s beautifully rendered. Correct ratio too. I’d be shocked if Criterion could top those unmanipulated velvety greys (as if). Well done to all involved. Can’t wait!

[HerrSchreck]

So wonderful to see in cap 4 the uncropped shape of those trippy light masks used by Dreyer and Mate throughout this film. The use of lights overlapping shadows/shadows overlapping lights, and acid trippy (almost amoeboid) masks sculpting the light shapes shot onto the walls in darkened rooms.. this is stuff that begins and ends with this film. Utterly original.

Beautiful work Nick. Expected nothing less!

[Kinsayder]

That's certainly the best I've seen it, and the best use that's been made of the Koerber restoration so far. I guess a point of difference between this and Criterion may be the extent to which Criterion reveal the rounded corners, some hints of which are visible above. Since Criterion like to picture-box, they may go for something closer to the Arte broadcast:

[Tommaso]

Disc of the Year, I suppose. Wonderful greyscale, clear and sharp; the image seems to better than MK2's, not even taking aspect ratio into consideration. I can't wait!

[denti alligator]

Beautiful!!

Thank you!

[peerpee]

Just a bit of background on this... Lee Kline supervised the HD telecine which formed the basis of both the MoC and Criterion editions.

Criterion have done their own digital restoration of these materials, MoC have done nothing further except make sure it has a lovely encode in the correct AR. The MoC is a replication of what you'd see if you saw the restored print projected, Criterion's DVD has had further cleanup and will look considerably cleaner in motion (I assume so anyhow, I haven't seen it yet). They should make an interesting comparison for those interested to see exactly what digital restoration can do!

[bollibasher]

It'll be interesting to see if Criterion 'correct' the section in the middle which is from the lower-quality high-contrast print source... if that's even possible. This bit:



(from MK2 version, about 40 mins in) Purely academic I suppose! I can't wait for this to come out in proper edition

xx

[Tommaso]

Aaah, now look at that chopped head in the first capture...

I don't think it will be possible to 'correct' the inferior quality in that section; what of course should be possible is to digitally match greyscale and contrast with the sections from other prints. The caps that Nick posted above all seem to have a very constant look in these respects, so either there's not much difference (or the matching was already done by Koerber) or the caps come from other parts of the film. Purely academic though, as you say.

[wowser]

Have not seen this film, but those beautiful shots of the trees in the last two captures are enough to whet the appetite!

[bollibasher]

The caps that Nick posted above all seem to have a very constant look in these respects, so either there's not much difference (or the matching was already done by Koerber) or the caps come from other parts of the film.

The MK2 is from the Koerber film-resto so def not contrast-matched by him, but it's literally only a couple of minutes footage anyway. Counting down the days...

[mfunk9786]

DVD Beaver review & comparison.

[Finch]

Supposedly, Del Toro's commentary's excellent. If this is confirmed by Gary's own review and other forum members, I might have to double-dip after all. The 80 page booklet sounds very tempting as well. (Pity though that MoC didn't stick with their original artwork of Allan Gray's POV shot of Marguerite Chopin - it's a powerful image and more "timeless"; the new cover with the IMO far too cluttered original poster did nothing for me personally; would have been nice to have had the first artwork on the inside sleeve).

[Bleddyn Williams]

DVD Beaver review & comparison.

Got to love that "far more theatrical feel" line as regards the MoC. The Criterion & MoC to me look very very similar, but each showing some different damage, and in one occasion, the MoC has a nasty splice line near the top.

Looks to me like one would be happy with either.

[denti alligator]

Criterion looks slightly sharper, but only slightly.

MoC looks cleaner, though. Interesting differences. Still psyched to have both!

[jsteffe]

The question I have is whether the Masters of Cinema version adjusted the audio track pitch to compensate for the 4% PAL speedup... I love Zeller's musical score and would probably notice the difference in this case.

Still, why not simply buy both versions?

[Felix]

The question I have is whether the Masters of Cinema version adjusted the audio track pitch to compensate for the 4% PAL speedup... I love Zeller's musical score and would probably notice the difference in this case

I am not so sure you would actually. Linn, of the great Linn Sondek turntable, demonstrated 30 years ago that we are not, IIRC, very susceptible to increased speed at all, though we are to variations in speed. To that effect Linn installed a separate function in the turntable that equalises and smooths the electric from the mains supply to ensure the speed does not vary (don't get on my case if I have the techno details wrong here, it was a long time ago... Some of my friends used to bypass the fuse box altogether for their HiFi to get the purest sound).

I have wondered whether the same is true visually of PAL speed up but I haven't a scooby on that one, and ears and eyes are different.

EDIT: I am not sure how all this would work, if at all, for someone with perfect pitch...

[MichaelB]

DVD Outsider - who has absolutely sold me on the MoC version over the Criterion.

This is what he has to say about the Del Toro commentary:

A major coup for the Masters of Cinema series, given that no such track appeared on the recent US release by Criterion, who must be kicking themselves for letting this one slip by. One of the leading fantasy filmmakers working today – his films include The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth, as well as two genre-advancing vampire movies, Cronos and Blade 2 – del Toro has both a passion for and an extensive knowledge of the genre he works in and has a particular love for Vampyr, which he believes is Dreyer's masterpiece. As with all of the best del Toro commentaries this is both bristling with detail and entertaining – up front he describes his contribution as "the equivalent of inviting a fat Mexican to your house, feed him, and then you have to listen to him for mercifully a short time and then disagree, agree, insult or share any of my opinions." Del Toro sees the film as a cinematic memento mori, and don't worry, he provides a full history of that particular artistic genre, along with a detailed examination of the film's style and complex substructure, particularly, as a Catholic, its religious reading. There are some lovely moments in here, particularly his assertion that Jean Cocteau was a magician but Dreyer was a prophet, and his gorgeous description of the surrealists as "beautiful savages of the id." Wouldn't you have loved to have said that? I was also amused (although perhaps a little deflated as I thought I'd scored a minor coup) that I was not the only one who'd spotted the similarities between the village doctor and Professor Abronsius in Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers and the death of a bad guy in Peter Weir's Witness to the manner in which the doctor meets his end. The great thing about both of these commentaries is not only are they completely pause free, but there is almost no duplication of information, a rare an much appreciated thing for multiple commentary discs.

[Felix]

This is what he has to say about the Del Toro commentary

I did think some of the posters here were very harsh about Del Toro when the commentary was announced. I don't really like his films apart from Cronos, in parts, but both it and Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth are well made and good films.

I was thinking that if we still had a repertory scene in the UK at least, and this were being released through that route, it might see the blossoming of its reputation in the same way the restoration of L'Atalante did back in the early 90's, and likewise the rediscovery of his Joan. I wonder if the Internet can have the same effect?

With so many films now restored and more easily obtainable, the 2012 Sight and Sound poll could be very interesting.

[MichaelB]

I was thinking that if we still had a repertory scene in the UK at least, and this were being released through that route, it might see the blossoming of its reputation in the same way the restoration of L'Atalante did back in the early 90's, and likewise the rediscovery of his Joan. I wonder if the Internet can have the same effect?

Actually, Vampyr played pretty regularly in rep in the 1990s - I booked several screenings myself. In fact, it was just about the only Dreyer film available for UK theatrical bookings for many years.

[Felix]

Actually, Vampyr played pretty regularly in rep in the 1990s - I booked several screenings myself. In fact, it was just about the only Dreyer film available for UK theatrical bookings for many years.

I can see it being the only film of his available though I don't recall seeing it listed when I used to buy Time Out (even though I could never see the films), and I certainly don't recall it ever playing Scotland, but I did have a few years where I never watched films. I recall what little chance it had of gaining a reputation in the 90's through video being destroyed by the hideous Redemption release and the mispromotion and critical misreading of the film; in the media I saw anyway.

[sir karl]

DVD Times

[jsteffe]

I am not so sure you would actually. Linn, of the great Linn Sondek turntable, demonstrated 30 years ago that we are not, IIRC, very susceptible to increased speed at all, though we are to variations in speed. To that effect Linn installed a separate function in the turntable that equalises and smooths the electric from the mains supply to ensure the speed does not vary (don't get on my case if I have the techno details wrong here, it was a long time ago... Some of my friends used to bypass the fuse box altogether for their HiFi to get the purest sound).

I have wondered whether the same is true visually of PAL speed up but I haven't a scooby on that one, and ears and eyes are different.

EDIT: I am not sure how all this would work, if at all, for someone with perfect pitch...

I suspect there are actually quite a few people who can discern the audio pitch differential from PAL speedup if they're already familiar with a film or the music in it. The first time I became aware of the issue was when I saw Angeloupoulos' Landscape in the Mist on VHS after seeing the film a couple times in the theater. It made a huge impression on me, and I especially loved the score. The New Yorker VHS was apparently an NTSC copy converted from PAL, and I could tell right away that the pitch wasn't right. It also had the shorter running time, of course.

So... has anyone figured out what is the story with the MoC soundtrack for Vampyr? Just curious.

[MichaelB]

I suspect there are actually quite a few people who can discern the audio pitch differential from PAL speedup if they're already familiar with a film or the music in it.

That's certainly true. I don't believe I have perfect pitch (though I've never put this to the test), but I can certainly tell if Don Giovanni (an opera whose opening chord is an emphatic D minor) is out of tune, and found Artificial Eye's VHS version of the Joseph Losey film to be pretty intolerable as a result.

Nostalgically, that soundtrack is also included on the new Second Sight DVD, though thankfully it shares disc space with two pitch-corrected alternatives. And the fact that one can switch soundtracks on the fly serves to emphasise how noticeable the difference is - though of course if you have nothing to compare it to it's clearly far less of a problem.

[Tommaso]

Very happy to have the MoC "Vampyr" in hand now. I didn't watch the film again yet, but watched the Roos documentary and the Gunzburg extra for a start. The Roos docu will not be of much help to those who haven't seen any Dreyer yet, as it basically consists of a run-down of Dreyer's films with comments by the man himself on some aspects of the making of all of them, delivered in his usual very restrained and magisterial manner. But it's interesting to see, for example, that he almost dismisses "Michael" for having a 'wrong look', referring to the set designs (which I personally find rather gorgeous). The piece on Gunzburg is very interesting, though sadly far too brief with its 15 min., as it tries to cover all of his life. I had hoped it would focus more on his early years and the collaboration with Dreyer, but I assume this will all be covered in the audiocommentary and the booklet. The booklet looks absolutely gorgeous, as we have come to expect. I especially like the collection of all the known production stills at the end of it. Also nice to see that the booklet is actually glued (a la "Nosferatu" and "Tabu") and not stapled like the recent Mizoguchi booklets; it simply looks more 'valuable' this way.

[Knappen]

The disc arrived today for me too.

Beautiful booklet and photo from the premiere at the verso of the cover.