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L.A. wrote: Sun Jun 20, 2021 5:11 pm There has been some debate regarding the aspect ratio of Ju Dou. Some people say it’s 2.35:1 but 1.37:1 seems correct.

I wrote about this awhile ago; the long and short of it is that Chinese movie posters at the time would actually mention if a film were in widescreen (and even distinguished between matted widescreen and 'Scope), and the poster for Ju Dou doesn't mention widescreen at all, suggesting that Academy ratio is the correct format. The film itself is enough to demonstrate that 2.35:1 is definitely wrong and I don't know how that myth got started—more understandable is the myth that the movie was shot in the three-strip Technicolor process abandoned in the mid-'50s, which came about because the film was printed using the dye-transfer equipment that Technicolor London sold to China and some people didn't realize that the two processes are completely separate.

Is it region free?

I saw it twice at the ICA and I'm pretty sure I'd have remembered if it was 2.35:1, as that screen isn't especially suited to Scope presentations.

See also the longstanding myth that Ran was 2.35:1, which even found its way into the IMDB at one point. (One of many reasons why I simply don't trust the IMDB for technical matters like this, as that clearly wasn't even slightly fact-checked.)

Elizabeth Corday wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:23 am Is it region free?

I believe all of Imprint’s releases have been region free

I asked Imprint regarding the audio specs and they said that "all titles included will have 24-bit lossless DTS HD-MA 5.1 or LPCM 2.0 audio."

Worth noting that Coming Home played theatrically with a Dolby Atmos sound mix, though I believe that only the Japanese Blu-Ray release has included it.

Can anyone who has ordered directly from Via Vision comment on the packaging they provide when shipping their discs overseas?
Is it like Indicator with nice bubble wrapping or like Amazon where everything slips around in the box and is prone to dings and dents even with sturdy box sets like this?

I’m a stickler for getting my collections in pristine condition and I don’t want to shell out close to 200 US (with shipping) to get something that looks like a truck ran over it.

Well packaged and (knock on wood) everything has arrived to me in mint condition

Thanks swo - that’s good to hear!
Now if I could only convince Arrow to do the same, then I may order from them again (sorry getting off topic here).

swo17 wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 12:22 pm Well packaged and (knock on wood) everything has arrived to me in mint condition

The same experience here

Could someone more knowledgeable than myself explain a possibility of why Code Name: Cugar is not in this set?

Some guesses: no international profile (the only foreign market where it got distribution was Japan and it's almost never been screened at festivals or retrospectives), no evidence of an existing HD master, and Zhang himself has always dismissed it as a rushed piece of hackwork that he did purely as a favor to a friend (who had invested a bunch of money in a completely different project that Zhang abandoned during the scriptwriting phase).

Code Name Cougar is, I think, for obsessed completists only. Not really all that good at all. The continued lack of availability of Keep Cool, however, is a shame. (There was a decent but unsubbed Japanese DVD and a long-ago Spanished subbed videotape -- and that might be it).

Codename Cougar is basically on the level of an American made-for-TV action movie of the time, and even that might be generous. Not at all recognizable as a Zhang Yimou film and really only of historical interest, as a) a rare mainland film on the subject of terrorism and b) a reflection of a political situation that only existed for a few years in the late '80s, when the two parties running China and Taiwan seemed to be moving towards a rapprochement based in part on shared opposition to Taiwanese independence. That all ended by the early '90s, after Tian'anmen made clear that the Chinese political system wouldn't converge with Taiwan's anytime soon and Lee Teng-hui (who had zero interest in unification with China, no matter how long-term) consolidated his position.

This is now available to pre-order at Deep Discount for $169.43 USD. You can knock 10% off with the one-time code 65BT4X2D4 to bring it down to $152.49

Never ordered from Deep Discount before but I think I will now. Does anyone know if they charge your card instantly or do they charge when they ship? Also, how are they with shipping times and packaging quality?

They ship in corrugated cardboard mailers. I've been getting all my Imprint titles from them and haven't had any issues

yoloswegmaster wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 3:26 pm Does anyone know if they charge your card instantly or do they charge when they ship?

I believe they charge instantly- I at least have a hold on my account for the films I pre-ordered a few days ago, but I forget if it goes through immediately or not

That price is not less than Imprint's if you ordered other things as well to make the shipping cost redundant

therewillbeblus wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 4:38 pm

yoloswegmaster wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 3:26 pm Does anyone know if they charge your card instantly or do they charge when they ship?

I believe they charge instantly- I at least have a hold on my account for the films I pre-ordered a few days ago, but I forget if it goes through immediately or not

They only charge when they're about to ship.

(Wish I'd re-visited this thread a couple days ago.)

Wow. I am very thankful for the information and advice here. So, to all: thank you.

I'm a longtime Zhang fan and had mostly given up on hoping we'd get good versions of ALL the early classics. Especially now that the world is moving on to 4K and the future of physical media itself is questionable.

I've seen what I assume are a few of these transfers. A neighbor of mine loaned me "Red Sorghum" from the limited edition (I'm in the US) which I only heard about long after it was sold out. As well, I have a Korean blu ray of Ju Doh from a year or two ago (actually, initially I ordered the Japanese blu ray, which looks identical but did not have English subtitles. I searched and found the Korean blu ray from a US-based Korean movie site; the Korean disc does have English subs). Ju Doh looks great -- if slightly washed out, though that would be easily remedied by adjusting the contrast or black levels I think, and is in some squarish ratio, 1:33:1 or close to it, so I assume this is the same transfer. As well, I bought the US blu ray of "Shanghai Triad" a few months back but haven't looked at it yet. It's such a revelation to see Ju Doh looking so good after so many years of 90s Chinese films looking pretty awful on home video. I also have a French blu ray of "Raise the Red Lantern" from years ago, but I'm pretty sure that transfer is the same as the Taiwanese DVD transfer from many years ago that seemed to be the best available version of that. That French blu ray is a bit sharper than DVD as I recall but noticeably not as good as one would expect from a real blu ray transfer.

(The English subtitles on the Korean "Ju Doh" blu ray are serviceable but not ideal. There are some misspellings and I wonder about the quality of the translation. I'm hoping this Australian set has new and improved subtitles.)

Anyway, I've ordered the set from Deep Discount in the US and am really looking forward to it.

EDIT: FWIW, here is the Korean release of Ju Doh I mentioned.

Zhang Ximou? Really?

They actually misspelled it in the email subject line as well

Hopefully they upgrade the shipping to Super Duper express shipping to make up for misspelling his name.

I'm starting to get worried because I don't know if its region free. Bluray.com and Amazon both list it as Region B/2....