criterionforum.org

swo17 wrote:Obviously this should be a 3-disc set where one disc has the feature viewable two ways (one with the entire triptych squeezed into the 1.78:1 frame and the other with just the center portion) and the other two discs contain the left and right sides of the triptych for those equipped to display it on three screens as intended (which, granted, is probably no one on Earth). This would leave Discs 2 and 3 with plenty of space for the requisite bounteous bonus material.

Actually if you have two friends with the same size laptop screens they could come over and you could have a viewing party no problem. From there you could move up to same size computer monitors and for the real ambitious, bring over your TV's/players.

McCrutchy wrote:My guess is that they'll do what Michael seems to be proposing. Present the film in 1.33:1 (in the 1.78:1 frame of a Blu-ray encode) until the triptych, and then present the whole triptych in 4:00:1, but inside the 1.78:1 frame.

This makes sense. It screws over people with square-ish TVs, but I guess that's almost nobody nowadays.

MichaelB wrote:I assume across a thin band in the middle of the screen.

Very thin. I wonder how much of a detriment it's going to have to the impact of the climax, to have the image shrink to a certain extent.


Day one purchase regardless. This and OUT 1 in one year. \:D/

swo17 wrote:Obviously this should be a 3-disc set where one disc has the feature viewable two ways (one with the entire triptych squeezed into the 1.78:1 frame and the other with just the center portion) and the other two discs contain the left and right sides of the triptych for those equipped to display it on three screens as intended (which, granted, is probably no one on Earth). This would leave Discs 2 and 3 with plenty of space for the requisite bounteous bonus material.

While this would be pretty absurd for a home video release, I would think this would be an option for museums et al that want to rent Napoleon for a screening. Bluray is often used for reperatory screenings now so this would make sense, without necessarily requiring as insane as a setup as the utterly grand screenings that have periodically run.

I am thrilled that we are finally getting the long-awaited blu-ray/dvd release! I hope that it will be released/playable here in the USA; I can't help worrying about that, given all of the problems of opposition from Coppola in the past. Does anyone know?

David

david515mi wrote:I am thrilled that we are finally getting the long-awaited blu-ray/dvd release! I hope that it will be released/playable here in the USA; I can't help worrying about that, given all of the problems of opposition from Coppola in the past. Does anyone know?

David

I would guess that the discs will be contractually locked to Region B (Blu-ray) and 2 (DVD).

That could hardly be more of a total certainty. It's a miracle that the BFI was even able to clear the UK video rights.

McCrutchy wrote:

david515mi wrote:I am thrilled that we are finally getting the long-awaited blu-ray/dvd release! I hope that it will be released/playable here in the USA; I can't help worrying about that, given all of the problems of opposition from Coppola in the past. Does anyone know?
David

I would guess that the discs will be contractually locked to Region B (Blu-ray) and 2 (DVD).

i have a dvd player that can play all regions of pal and ntsc. would it work here then (i hope it will).

Was anybody at the presentation during the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, where someone was supposed to talk a bit about the Cinemathque Francaise/Coppola restoration?

http://www.silentfilm.org/amazing-tales ... tival-2016" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm curious if any that brought any more news...

I was not present at the festival, but I understand that Georges Mourier (the man in charge of the CF restoration) gave a presentation on NAPOLEON and that there was a conversation between him and Paolo Cherchi Usai. I’m not sure if the event was filmed, but a transcript of the conversation/interview is available online here: http://www.telluridefilmfestival.org/as ... -FINAL.pdf

There isn’t much in the way of news, but here is part of their exchange that mentions music and a schedule:

PCU: When do you think you will present the new edition of NAPOLEON? Which musical score will you use?
GM: The restoration in 4K has begun, but this endeavor will take nearly two years, since it entails numerous unprecedented technical feats. So it is too early to announce a place and a date. I think it will be for 2017. Worldwide, primarily with the music score of Carmine Coppola. Francis Ford Coppola wants to honor and perpetuate the memory of his father Carmine, who had composed a score for the memorable screenings at Radio City Music Hall in 1981. However, a great work of adaptation will be necessary, as well as respecting certain tunes that Gance had literally noted when he composed his original montage, and that we think we have finally found.

BFI just posted a good rundown on the history of this film's creation, through it's butchering to the multiple restorations. It'll be interesting to see how next year's Cinematheque française restoration from different materials will compare, but it's too bad it will only feature Carmine Coppola's maligned score.

Seeing the history of it ... makes me think Stanley would have ended up only *less* crazy compared to Abel Gance had he realised his own take of Napoleon =D

hearthesilence wrote:BFI just posted a good rundown on the history of this film's creation, through it's butchering to the multiple restorations. It'll be interesting to see how next year's Cinematheque française restoration from different materials will compare, but it's too bad it will only feature Carmine Coppola's maligned score.

Certainly is an amazing history!

Kevin Brownlow gave a fascinating talk a week or so ago at the BFI about his restoration and was somewhat pessimistic about whether the CF had even started on a restoration-or found any of the missing material that they had talked about!

We shall see of course but interesting to note that the CF are thanked on the BFI set for supplying some material for the triptych.

Not had the time to watch anything of it yet though as I only got in yesterday!

I am thoroughly hooked though-I was at the performance with orchestra at the RFH a few weeks ago and i was seated a long way back and the screen seemed small and had a shadow across the bottom. I have now decided to go to one of the screenings at the BFI over Christmas-all for that glorious moment when the triptych appears-a spine tingling moment unsurpassed in cinema.

When I first read this, I was thinking CF = Criterion Forum.

News about the french restoration including interviews with Mourier.

It seems to be finished around 2020. My french is pretty bad though, so I'm not sure about exactly what they are saying...

low87 wrote:News about the french restoration including interviews with Mourier.

It seems to be finished around 2020. My french is pretty bad though, so I'm not sure about exactly what they are saying...

Thanks for this link!

The above link doesn´t work anymore -- I googled it and found the same link, now working, though for how long I don´t know:
https://www.lci.fr/culture/a-la-decouve ... 81022.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This French TV news clip has a wonderful glimpse of the restored "Shadows of the Convention" scene.

There is also a brief glimpse at 02:03 of how a few seconds of film are reconstructed, cutting from a print from the Cinematheque to one from New York (for just three frames) and back to the Cinematheque print. Chief restorer Georges Mourier talks about using 4-5 different sources for the scene shown on the PC screen.

Yes, work should be finished in 2020.

Otherwise it´s mostly a recapitulation of the 10-year restoration work, 1 000 reels catalogued, over 100 sources consulted (it doesn´t say if it is 100 prints or 100 various sources).

https://www.franceculture.fr/cinema/abe ... -restaures News about the restoration.

If I translated it correctly, Mourier says it will screen in two parts during the next year (hard to believe it's even possible to screen it earlier) and that it's about 7 hours in running time. That's about 90 minutes longer than the BFI restoration.

https://vimeo.com/385970899

.. And here's a video (in french) of Mourier talking about the restoration and with a lot of examples of the restoration of scenes, mostly the Marseillaise scene.

Incredible to think about the possibility that a five and a half hour silent film might come to Netflix.

They'll probably do what they did for Out 1 and break it into episodes to actually attract viewers, though they even went so far as to label the Rivette a TV show!

I don't know French, but this appears to only be a European deal based on my reading of the above? The rights should still be with Coppola in the US.

That'd certainly be disappointing for all that effort to go into getting it out in France and having it languish over here because Coppola won't allow it to be shown. The history of this film and it's many iterations is absolutely insane.

Big Ben wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 6:05 pm Incredible to think about the possibility that a five and a half hour silent film might come to Netflix.

Actually, this restoration should be, IIRC, 7hrs long.

tenia wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 7:50 pm

Big Ben wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 6:05 pm Incredible to think about the possibility that a five and a half hour silent film might come to Netflix.

Actually, this restoration should be, IIRC, 7hrs long.

So would that mean that the terrific BFI blu would be antiquated?