The Conformist

[manicsounds]

Awesome. I'll have to get "The Conformist" eventually. But also, I have to eventually get around to watch the Paramount DVD, which has been sitting on the shelf (actually the closet) for so many years...

Also,
I finally finally received a new pressing copy of "Funhouse" with the Region B logo printed on the rear.

[Calvin]

why grainy?

Oh dear...

I think this looks stunning. I've been waiting for most of the Arrow Academy releases to fall in price slightly but I've pre-ordered this.

[TMDaines]

I think this is going to be one of the few times I jump in early too, rather than waiting for a big price drop. Looks great!

[MichaelB]

why grainy?

Oh dear...

So much for me yelping with pleasure when I saw the grain!

In fact, this is one of the very very few Italian-sourced BDs that actually does look like film - and is all the better for it.

[kinjitsu]

Apparently, that someone is an Assistant Mastering Technician at Universal Studios Technical Services.

[MichaelB]

Apparently, that someone is an Assistant Mastering Technician at Universal Studios Technical Services, but resides in Turkey.

...and is in an open relationship.

Let's hope he doesn't graduate to Mastering Technician without learning the basics first.

[Sundance]

I wonder how reliable the DVDBeaver caps are. As it is, it looks to me like Arrow got some older transfer instead of the Cineteca Bologna restoration (or someone filtered it... ).

Is this really the difference between the two (not an exact frame but I do not know if its even the same scene)? Is a piece of the earring missing because of some filtering?)

Is there a reason why a BR transfer couldn't look exactly as the Cineteca caps? Their images are JPG compressed images so small in size that if an entire movie would be made from them at 24fps, it would fit on one DVD disc.

[Calvin]

Blu-Ray.com are not impressed...

[MichaelB]

I've already commented on the "small stability issues" - they're a by-product of sourcing the transfer from the original camera negative.

[Calvin]

Is the reviewer correct in saying it wasn't sourced from the recent Cineteca Bologna restoration? I still think it looks fabulous regardless (and what does it take to get a good score for extras on blu-ray.com?!)

[MichaelB]

Is the reviewer correct in saying it wasn't sourced from the recent Cineteca Bologna restoration?

I'm not sure it is - I don't think Arrow ever said it would be, and of course the one BD release that was sourced from the Cineteca Bologna restoration looks hideous, so it might be the case that Arrow thought that the other master looked better (bearing in mind that they usually have to work with available HD masters, and Italians are notorious for slopping digital "cleanup" over theirs). There are clear differences between the Paramount DVD and the Arrow BD - for starters, the opening credits are in different languages - but there's certainly a possibility that it was from a similar source. Although obviously an Italian one, since Paramount weren't involved with this release at all.

I still think it looks fabulous regardless (and what does it take to get a good score for extras on blu-ray.com?!)

Rating extras was the bane of my life back in the days when I had to come up with numerical scores. In terms of quantity, this doesn't look that impressive - but the Forgacs commentary is one of the best I've ever heard, and the booklet is no slouch either. (The Bertolucci documentary is a bit whistle-stop, but it's fun). Certainly in terms of the volume of relevant background information you get, it's hard to fault.

[Drucker]

It seems to be given a bad rating just because it's not as good as the reviewer wanted it to be.

[ellipsis7]

Guardian piece on THE CONFORMIST marking the Arrow release...

[TMDaines]

Did anyone's The Conformist pre-order get dispatched early or even today? Mine hasn't even left Moviemail yet.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Did anyone's The Conformist pre-order get dispatched early or even today? Mine hasn't even left Moviemail yet.

Received mine today from Moviemail. In France.

[TMDaines]

I admittedly only ordered early on Saturday but looks like I'll cancel now. I presumed they'd be quick to dispatch but maybe they work with low inventory levels ala The Book Despository, or don't have people there on Saturday.

[Der Spieler]

Mine shipped from Amazon last Friday.

[triodelover]

Mine shipped from Amazon last Friday.

Same here.

[TMDaines]

Looks like I picked the wrong retailer. Still wasn't shipped so I just cancelled.

[Der Spieler]

There's a mistake on the front of The Conformist. Berndardo Bertolucci.

On all four panels.

lol.

[domino harvey]

That's his name, you credtin

[tojoed]

There's a mistake on the front of The Conformist. Berndardo Bertolucci.

On all four panels.

lol.

I wonder if it will be worth as much as Rubber Soul with "Norweigian Wood" on it.
Probably not.

[MichaelB]

I'd best not take the shrinkwrapping off mine, then.

If I remember rightly, the BFI got Pete Walker and Peter Watkins mixed up on one of the Flipside titles - which is a mistake so easy to make (especially if a template is recycled, as I suspect was the case given that Walker is 006 and Watkins is 007) that it's all too painfully clear how it happened.

[Calvin]

Not content with the DVDBeaver preview, someone over at AVSForum has zipped together a few Conformist screencaps to compare with these.

[fdm]

Not content with the DVDBeaver preview, someone over at AVSForum has zipped together a few Conformist screencaps to compare with these.

Referring to conformist_new.rar, are the a's from Raro and the b's from Arrow ? [Guess I need to find a copy of Screencap Comparisons For Dummies. Can these websites be any more cryptic?]

Edit: Just to elaborate, the b's look similar to beaver's captures, but there seems to be a lot more grain in the a's. And the b's look way DNR'ed compared to the grainy a's.