criterionforum.org

domino harvey wrote: Thu Jul 18, 2019 8:33 pm What are the new extras?

I said this elsewhere, but I originally assumed it was a reissue because the DVD option also says that it's coming in October. However, the description of the DVD cover makes it sound like this is just a BD upgrade, and I don't believe there are any new extras.

Comparing to the DVDTalk review (don’t tell Matt I’m too lazy to check my own DVD in the other room), there is one new extra:

(Blu-ray only) an essay by scholar Chloé Germaine Buckley

Now I have to decide if that is enough to qualify it as a reissue instead of an upgrade in the year-end voting!

Is it a new transfer? Wouldn't that be enough to establish a distinction?

No, it’s extras only that makes the distinction

a new essay, all the others were on the original edition.

For first time viewers like me, there is a 2017 upload of a nice looking Swedish print of the film on Youtube.

That is simply gorgeous!

I had this on DVD but had never watched the extras until the Blu came in the mail this week, and as is already mentioned above, this really is one of the best commentaries in the collection. Withcraft Through the Ages is a hoot, too, and I prefer its score to the Gillian Anderson one. The only thing that doesn't really translate well to HD is the annotated text feature on the woodcuts in the opening act of the film. Not that Criterion doesn't still put out a lot of stellar extras but for whatever reason, going through this stuff made me downright nostalgic for the early DVD era, remembering how exciting it all was then (and how much more time I seemed to have...). Film looks beautiful of course.

Bluray.com... Gorgeous indeed

I have it playing in the background & am extremely impressed with the image (in contrast to Magnificent Obsession), but why oh why couldnt they provide another score (Alloy Orchestra would have been fine). Hearing (often) familiar upbeat classical tunes (that dont even match sequences timewise, much less fit what is going on on screen) that have been used for other things really ruins it. When the music from What's Opera Doc? comes in, I can't help but also hear Bugs Bunny singing in my head. As this appears to have been a complaint about the dvd, I cant believe they didn't fix this.

By “the music from What’s Opera, Doc?”, do you mean Wagner?

That was the original 1922 score, wasn't it?

It was based on the 1922 score, yes

These kinds of "compilation" scores (comprising bits and pieces of well-known compositions) were the norm for features for much of the silent era. That doesn't mean you have to like them, but it's hardly historically inappropriate. Anderson has some interesting comments on the choices for the original score in her essay in the liner notes.