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Point taken about 1.33 vs 1.85, I thought it odd that a full frame movie could possibly be chopped up that much without the whole visual design falling apart. I knew that there hadn't been an OAR release in any format up until now, but it's one of those movies where I keep hoping someone will actually turn up the original elements- but if it was composed for 1.85, I can live with the moderate cropping we've got. I'm really excited to get the blu in any case, and it looks like Olive's price points are low enough that it's not going to cost much over $20.

Looks decent enough. Happy I chose to get my pre-order in with that discount code at DD.

It's a pity though that the only extra is the same doc as on the recent Arrow Il conformista, all the DVD extras have been dropped and there is no sign of the extras from the Italian release.

It seems really unnecessary to include an extra disc for the 51-minute documentary on a DVD. There should have been plenty of room for something that length in SD alongside the last 2 1/2 hours of the film on the 2nd blu.

And I'm not sure why the film took up so little room on the two, apparently, dual layered Blu-rays.

Will probably cancel and switch to the Italian release if the transfer looks similar in a comparison between the two. I don't really need the subtitles or I can just use fan ones.

Edit: I've just seen caps of the Italian one and remember why I didn't buy it. DNR'd mess as normal. I'll stick with Olive.

The Italian release is pretty bad from what I've seen. DNR, heavily compressed and no lossless English track.

Calvin wrote:The Italian release is pretty bad from what I've seen. DNR, heavily compressed and no lossless English track.

So I saw. I think I looked at the time and held off for that reason. Italian situation on Blu-ray is really puzzling.

Force of Evil has nothing to do with boxing, but all the same yay I can retire the DVD.

It's great that the Republic library is getting some love; I just hope that the rest of the previously listed Paramount titles that Olive has acquired doesn't fall by the wayside because of this.

Also, the IMDB page lists the 1980s cult horror movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082094/The Boogens has been listed a title that Olive has picked up.

warren oates wrote:Two noirs coming to Blu: Body and Soul and Force of Evil:
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8656" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Goddamn, do they still have a buyer's club thing? These last few announcements are seriously exciting.

warren oates wrote:Two noirs coming to Blu: Body and Soul and Force of Evil:

After false starts by Paramount and Lionsgate, it's so great to see Republic titles finally getting released. There are a ton of them that were never released on DVD in Region 1, and the fact that they're coming out on Blu-ray now is pretty amazing. Love that they're using the poster art too. Hard to believe that over the next year we could possibly get Blu-rays of stuff like Johnny Guitar, Letter From an Unknown Woman, The Quiet Man, The Sun Shines Bright, One of Our Aircraft is Missing, The Bullfighter and the Lady, Welles' Macbeth, and dozens of other must-haves.

The Blus and DVDs of High Noon and Invasion of the Body Snatchers are selling at ridiculous pre-order prices on Amazon: $20.97 for the Blu and $13.99 for the DVD.

Do you mean overpriced?

perkizitore wrote:Do you mean overpriced?

Is it overpriced? I don't buy Blus, but the DVD price is very reasonable in my estimation.

I subscribed to Olive's newsletter multiple times, but I've never received any. Has anyone? :-k

Their prices are OK, it's the same that Criterion charges for no frills blus nowadays.

Jeff wrote:...Welles' Macbeth, and dozens of other must-haves.

I've been on the verge of getting the French version of Macbeth. Macbeth is the only Republic title of Welles' correct?

Drucker wrote:Macbeth is the only Republic title of Welles' correct?

Yes.

AfterTheRain wrote:It's great that the Republic library is getting some love; I just hope that the rest of the previously listed Paramount titles that Olive has acquired doesn't fall by the wayside because of this.

It looks like Fire with Fire (1986) and Firstborn (1984) are also coming on 7/31/12, so worries alleviated.

Announced over at the Home Theater Forum, on August 7th Olive is releasing The Boogens (special features: Audio Commentary by director James L. Conway, star Rebecca Balding and screenwriter David O’Malley) and Bound (both r-rated and unrated on the same disc) on DVD and Blu-ray

Great to see Olive continuing to churn through these Republic titles, and Bound has always been a nostalgic favorite for me from the year I first seriously started watching films.

Are these special features from a previous release?