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Solaris wrote:Some more upcoming releases -

September 06 -
The Elephant Man Special Edition
Viridiana Director's Suite
Wings of Desire Director's Suite

October 10 -
La Commare Secca Director's Suite
Red Desert Director's Suite

I noticed some of these recent Director's Suite DVDs contain audio commentaries from local University lecturers. Has anybody listened to any of them yet? The upcoming Viridiana, Umberto D & Exterminating Angel also feature these commentaries, among many, which are commentary-less in region 1. I'm just curious of the quality of these tracks.

I thought Adrian Martin's commentary was really great on the Vivre Sa Vie disc (one of AV Channels best all-round discs I reckon), heaps of facts, but also the way he delivers it like a conversation - I think James Hewisons was similarly well done on La Chinoise.

September Umbrella Releases include:
Burden of Dreams part of "Distinction Series"
Morricone Conducts Morricone
The Rules of the Game
Cinema Paradiso "Prestige Collector's Edition"

Umbrella will release Godard's Sympathy For The Devil in October.

Does anybody know if the Umbrella release of "Fellini's Magic" http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/788129 is the same doco that appears on the 2 disc La Dolce Vita R4?

Driving through Northcote last week, I couldn't help but notice a number of dead horses being flogged with umbrellas, so I'm 99.99% sure it would be the same doco.

I thought so. Why don't you just give us a single disc release of Dario Argento's Eye For Horror too, Umbrella?

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:

ChrisW wrote:

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:More weird-looking Buster DVDs - these being the upcoming R4s.

Surprised to see these in here, what's the deal? We're just about to start designing the box for the boxset... any design comments would be greatly appreciated.

What I didn't like about them was the odd-colours - the luminous green and blue don't work for me. The complete absence of colour in Buster's face in two of them, and the wimpish look on the College disc. They just don't convey the real Buster to me. Just my personal preference, which is what I thought this thread was about. Having said that, I'm more interested in the content of the DVDs than the covers.

Is the box set going to include just these discs, or are you releasing all of the mk2s? If the latter, I'll buy them even if they just come in a brown paper bag.

So there is a Keaton box-set in the works. ChrisW, where the f*** does Madman get off in all this? Continually individual titles are released to a very small, loyal movie-loving market. But we continually get pissed on when boxsets are released 6-12 months down the track. This has happend with the Jim Jarmusch stuff (two volumes!), the Kurosawa's (I'm sure more sets are in the works), the Tati's and will without doubt happen with the upcoming Wender's, Bunuels, Visconti, Ozu etc. I'm aware this is a common practice in all fields of industry, but it stinks. How about a little respect for your own customer base?

Actaully - don'y worry ChrisW. F*** it. We'll just keep bootleggin' these overpriced discs to keep our friends and family happy. Not everyone is a DVD junkie mug.

Its all about economics really, devlinnn. Our market here is so small compared to US and UK, that local distributors have to milk each title as much as they can to recoup their acqusition, production and marketing costs. The cost of acquiring the whole Jim Jarmushc collection prohibits releasing them just in one massive box-set because it is simply not enough if all three Jim Jarmusch fans buy the box-set while those who may like an odd Jarmusch film will buy that particular film but not the box set. It also doesn't make financial sense to produce both the box set and the individual DVDs at the ame time. Normal strategy is release a couple of title individually and follow them up with more titles and then have a box-set with an additional title and some extras.

What's the new AV Channel Mystery Train like?

Marty, you may not realise how cheap the local guys are picking up the rights to all these films. How else can you explain a release schedule of 30-40 titles a month? Their trains are full of gravy! But with such a small market, they should be respecting their customer-base a little better. I know a few people who were pissed at picking up the first Tati releases, only to find the boxset on the shelf three months later with a saving of $40. Same went with the Jarmusch ($30 saving). Now us Keaton fans have been riddled up the plunker. That's fine - I'll cop it. But will I be going out to pick up the Ozu's, the Kurosawa's, the Wender's etc? Given the option of a set at a decent price, probably. But at $35 a pop, my plunker is all riddled out.

Two upcoming Godard films from Umbrella, Bande A Part on October 9 and Sympathy For The Devil on October 23.

There are two upcoming Bette Davis boxsets in R4, a five disc set by Fox on September 13 and a four disc set by Warner on Novmeber 1.

Hey Solaris, or anyone in the know-

do you hear anything about the James Stewart box, or Marlene Dietrich box finding an R4 release? Specifically (and exclusively), I really want a copy of Naked Spur, and Morocco-

If anyone knows, please PM me, I'm not online often lately - thanks in advance -

Alice by Jan Svankmajer will be released October 12.
http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/789526

Solaris wrote:Alice by Jan Svankmajer will be released October 12.
http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/789526

Any chance of it being the Czech-language version? The only available DVDs are English dubs.

Perhaps Crterion will get around to this title one day.

The company releasing Alice, Gryphon have not released many titles and this looks like their first 'foreign' film release.

Has anybody reviewed the R4 VIVRE SA VIE yet? What I'd like to know is how much better is the image compared with the R1 Fox Lorber. Are the subs removable? Are they yellow? Are the chapters divided as numbered by Godard [as they are on the R1]? Is the short worth seeing?

I didn't get the R1 LA COMMARE SECCA. The cost of the R4 will be the same once you have converted the greenback and put on shipping. If the doco on the R4 is worth it than I'll go for this one as it seems to be offering more value for money.

Does anybody know why Umberto D is RRP$10 cheaper than all other Directors Suite titles?

Re - Alice I'm assuming this is the same transfer as the R1 edition, which would probably mean it is dubbed. Hopefully that means Svankmajer's short Darkness/Light/Darkness will be included.

Solaris wrote:Does anybody know why Umberto D is RRP$10 cheaper than all other Directors Suite titles?

Because it has sold about 3 units so far....

Includes Secret Agent, The Farmer's Wife, Rich and Strange,Juno and The Paycock, and The Lady Vanishes.

For Peckingpah fans out there THE GETAWAY - DELUX ED. (1972) replete with commentary track [the same bunch on the recent R1 box] is currently at the reduced price of $9.92 from Ezy DVD. This is a reissue and it is not 1:85:1 as listed. It is more like 2:35:1 (as was the previous R4 version).

solent wrote:Has anybody reviewed the R4 VIVRE SA VIE yet? What I'd like to know is how much better is the image compared with the R1 Fox Lorber. Are the subs removable? Are they yellow? Are the chapters divided as numbered by Godard [as they are on the R1]? Is the short worth seeing?

There is a great review here - http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Reviews/Re ... sp?ID=7199

Look for Flix's comment on the bottom of the Michael Review as well.

Highlights from Madman for November -

Audio commentary by Geoff Mayer, Reader & Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, LaTrobe University
Insert essay by Dr Wendy Haslem, Lecturer in Cinema Studies, The University of Melbourne
The Best of Film Noir A chronology of Hollywood Film Noir
Hollywood Remembers: Barbara Stanwyck A profile
Hollywood Remembers: Fred MacMurray A profile
Hollywood Remembers: Edward G Robinson A profile


Audio commentary by Adrian Martin, film scholar and editor of Rouge Magazine
Tous Les Garçons s'Appelent Patrick: a Jean-Luc Godard short film
Insert essay by Dr Adrian Danks, Head of Cinema Studies at the School of Applied Communication, RMIT University, and Co-curator of the Melbourne Cinémathèque
Original poster artwork
Original theatrical trailer


Audio commentary by Adrian Martin, film scholar and editor of Rouge Magazine
Charlotte et son Jules a short film by Jean-Luc Godard
Original poster artwork


The Making of RASHOMON - a documentary
Deleted scenes
Outtakes

Just back from 2 glorious weeks in NY Toots, so still catching up on sources, but I have hazy memories of a post I submitted about 10 pages back on the chances of the Madman+Optimum=Studio Canal marriage, and whether that would lead to anyting. Universal here have missed out big time on this one, and I'm sure questions will be asked at certain levels. Maybe the Strernberg/Dietrich set will happen after all. Heaven forbid - Lubitsch: The Paramount Years. Damn, I've popped my cork! (which reminds me - when the hell is this area going to be a sticky?)