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Posted: **Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:27 am**

So I finally sat down to watch the first episode of AE's Les Vampires.

Off the bat there are two things that disappoint me:

1) There are intermittent jaggies present. These were not visible on the Fantomas release.

2) The image appears to me to have been slightly squeezed horizontally. Am I alone in noticing this? Everything just looks too thin. If you look at Gary's comparison at the Beaver you can clearly see the difference between the older versions and the AE. Evidence that the AE (even though ported from Gaumont's restoration) is inaccurate is that the wheels of automobiles are not entirely round.

Ialsomuch prefer the score on Fantomas and the tinting.

Posted: **Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:01 pm**

I've just been reading the the latest Cinema Scope Global Discoveries on DVD column from Jonathan Rosenbaum and was pulled up by this quote:

The makings of an ideal critical edition of Tarkovsky already exist—namely, Chris Marker’s One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich (1999), made for French TV—and although this is obtainable on DVD, it’s without English subtitles, on a six-disc French set I don’t have, devoted to the excellent TV series it appeared on (“Coffret Cinema de notre temps”)—along with other documentaries on Akerman, Cassavetes, Cavalier, Chahine, de Oliveira, Ferrara, Garrel, Hou, Straub/Huillet, Imamura, Kiarostami, Kitano, Loach, McLaren, Rohmer, and Rouch. And according to Stehlik, the VHS copy of just the Marker film retails for $390, apparently because of its “nontheatrical” status.

I thought I should post here to correct that remark and remind anyone reading that Artificial Eye's Andrei Tarkovsky Companion features the Marker film.

Posted: **Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:09 pm**

Play and MovieMail are indicating that the first two Ray collections are being delayed a month.

Posted: **Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:45 pm**

Beaver on The Devil, Probably. The only extra is a Bresson filmography.

Posted: **Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:03 pm**

Cronenfly wrote:The only extra is a Bresson filmography.

ooh, that's got to be lengthy

Posted: **Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:18 pm**

I chuckled when I saw that included in the DVDBeaver recap, like anyone who seeks this film out isn't already going to be extremely familiar with his oeuvre. Still, I guess it's better than nothing.

Posted: **Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:52 am**

If there is an easier way to find out what other films the director has made I'd like to hear it! (

)

Posted: **Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:10 pm**

Given that they own the DVD rights to much of his output, what they should have done is a combined filmography-cum-clipfest, like the Powell & Pressburger one on Criterion's The Red Shoes.

Posted: **Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:15 pm**

I hope they include a complete filmography for each of the cast as well.

Posted: **Wed Apr 23, 2008 7:59 pm**

DVD Beaver Lancelot du Lac comparison. Nice to see we get another filmography!

Posted: **Fri Apr 25, 2008 12:10 pm**

My copy of A Man Escaped arrived today.
Though the back bizarrely says 'Special features: To be confirmed', the documentary The Road to Bresson is indeed included, and of course a filmography!

Posted: **Fri Apr 25, 2008 12:36 pm**

codam wrote:My copy of A Man Escaped arrived today.
Though the back bizarrely says 'Special features: To be confirmed', the documentary The Road to Bresson is indeed included, and of course a filmography!

That's a relief: I can take or leave The Road to Bresson, but the lack of a filmography would ruin it.

(Trivia note: The Road to Bresson was the very first thing I ever recorded on my first VCR - the BFI database informs me that its first and only British television outing was on 21 October 1985, which sounds right. I've probably still got the tape somewhere, but it's almost certainly unwatchable as I'd have been using an unamplified indoor aerial).

Posted: **Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:48 pm**

codam wrote:My copy of A Man Escaped arrived today.

how does it look transfer-wise?

Posted: **Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:55 pm**

Cabiria21 wrote:
codam wrote:My copy of A Man Escaped arrived today.
how does it look transfer-wise?

Forget the movie, how does the transfer of the filmography look?

Posted: **Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:06 pm**

Cabiria21 wrote:
codam wrote:My copy of A Man Escaped arrived today.
how does it look transfer-wise?

Haven't watched it properly yet, but watching beginning, and it seems like an excellent transfer. To give you some idea, here's a screen capture from the beginning and the a cap from the New Yorker DVD from DVDBeaver for comparison.

Posted: **Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:06 pm**

domino harvey wrote:Forget the movie, how does the transfer of the filmography look?

A little too much (wood)grain.

Posted: **Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:29 pm**

codam wrote:Haven't watched it properly yet, but watching beginning, and it seems like an excellent transfer. To give you some idea, here's a screen capture from the beginning and the a cap from the New Yorker DVD from DVDBeaver for comparison.

sold. thanks.

Posted: **Sun Apr 27, 2008 12:24 am**

Really impressed by the transfer of A Man Escaped. Caps:

Person wrote:A Man Escaped is only £6.79 HERE.

To my pleasant surprise, they honoured this misprice in the end. An amazing deal - thanks!

Posted: **Sun Apr 27, 2008 1:02 am**

I think I might have to pick up several of these...

while I'm at it, can anyone vouch for the quality of AE's Nostalghia set?

I'd really like to pick it up, but unless it's quite good, there's always the chance of a proper R1 release.

Posted: **Sun Apr 27, 2008 1:14 am**

miless wrote:while I'm at it, can anyone vouch for the quality of AE's Nostalghia set?

Pretty crap - a squeezed, cropped and saturated transfer. Not AE's finest hour! The Bressons are great though, and well worth picking up.

Posted: **Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:24 am**

miless wrote:while I'm at it, can anyone vouch for the quality of AE's Nostalghia set?

It's worse than the Fox Lorber.

Posted: **Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:26 am**

Cold Bishop wrote:It's worse than the Fox Lorber.

I wasn't aware those words had ever appeared in that order before

Posted: **Sun Apr 27, 2008 10:59 am**

domino harvey wrote:I wasn't aware those words had ever appeared in that order before

But it's true. It seems that the Fox Lorber is still the best of ALL existing "Nostalghia" discs. A totally unbelievable situation, and it looks like no-one is going to set it right anywhere. I don't care for the crackle and pops on the soundtrack, but Tarkovsky's images must be among the greatest ever committed to celluloid, especially in this films. It's a shame that only three of his films ( "Ivan", "Solaris" and "Sacrifice") exist in dvd editions that do justice to them. And none of these editions comes from AE.

Posted: **Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:59 pm**

Is the Japanese Nostalghia any good?

Posted: **Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:28 pm**

codam wrote:
Cabiria21 wrote:
codam wrote:My copy of A Man Escaped arrived today.
how does it look transfer-wise?
Haven't watched it properly yet, but watching beginning, and it seems like an excellent transfer. To give you some idea, here's a screen capture from the beginning and the a cap from the New Yorker DVD from DVDBeaver for comparison.

Thanks--this is really helpful!

To this untrained eye the Artificial Eye version appears to have less contrast boosting and edge enhancement than the New Yorker. It's more film-like. I'm sold on it.

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