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Sorry to be so naive on such matters, but just how soon should we hear about the quality of this set? (I am VERY pumped about the possibility of 7 "quality" Renoirs for such a low price.)

sherlockjr wrote:Sorry to be so naive on such matters, but just how soon should we hear about the quality of this set? (I am VERY pumped about the possibility of 7 "quality" Renoirs for such a low price.)

We'll just have to wait until someone gets their hands on an advance or review copy.

Well I think we can start judging from the Hitchcock set, no? That should be a pretty good indicator how faithful they are to the PAL sources, the compression they use, etc. etc. I think the flooding of the market with these cheapo boxes could just turn out to be the big DVD story of 2007 (and all for the better).

Y - if the Lionsgate HITCHCOCK set stinks, we should all jump down their throats and let them know.... ie. if they're shitty PAL > NTSC conversions with yellow subs, let's ink our quills.

peerpee wrote:Y - if the Lionsgate HITCHCOCK set stinks, we should all jump down their throats and let them know.... ie. if they're shitty PAL > NTSC conversions with yellow subs, let's ink our quills.

maybe we should let them know what we expect right now, and see if anyone fromt their company can comment. There is a bunch of contact information (email and phone) on this page. Could someone from one of the three cities give them a ring and see what's what?

Let's also not forget the contact info at the bottom of this press release:

Peter D. Wilkes
310-255-3726
[email protected]

I'm going to call the 877 number (i think it's toll free) and that number on monday.

SncDthMnky wrote:I'm going to call the 877 number (i think it's toll free) and that number on monday.

Any luck?

The Lionsgate Hitchcock set turned out to have the best transfers of any current release (well, to most eyes at least), so I wouldn't worry too much about the quality of the transfers on this set. I certainly wouldn't hassle a publicist about it.

Elsewhere it's referred to that Optimum R2 UK is releasing a 7 discer Renoir set early June... Minus NANA and the other silents on Lionsgate combo... But plus GRAND ILLUSION, BETE HUMAINE, ELENA AND HER MEN (aLL ALREADY BETTER ON cc) and importantly DEJEUNER SUR l'HERBE, LE CAPORAL EPINGLE and LE TESTAMENT DE DOCTEUR CORDELIER and Eng subbed LA MARSEILLAISE!... Suspect these transfers will be more reliable than Lionsgate set...

Great, Matt, respect to John Inman - lovely obit on C4 this evening... Just didn't mention Mrs Slocum's Pussy... Must also be free!..

carax09 wrote:Charleston Parade... Some other winged disembodied heads appear...

The one on the right is Renoir. The others that are credited are producer Pierre Braunberger (top middle?), screenwriter Pierre Lestringuez, and André ("sur une idée de") Cerf.

The Studio Canal version runs without the usual accordion accompaniment by Marc Perrone that's on the other silent Renoirs. It'll be interesting to see how it's presented on the R1 set. I do hope they carry across Marc's music for the other titles: he gets some remarkable noises from that squeezebox.

ellipsis7 wrote: Suspect these transfers will be more reliable than Lionsgate set

I guess I'm confused at the continual worries about what Lionsgate will do to the transfers... despite the same worries, the Hitchcock set turned out to be from correctly converted masters, and even bested the Euro issues by jettisoning the annoying foley effects added to those issues. Of course if they don't issue those other desirable titles in a (hopeful) subsequent issue, then carp away...

Kinsayder wrote: I do hope they carry across Marc's music for the other titles: he gets some remarkable noises from that squeezebox.

All accordion? Yikes, seems a bit much, but I'll keep an open mind! Certainly, it's better than an all bagpipes or xylophone score!

Strangely I heard this joke from a former accordionist today:

An accordionist left his instrument in the car while he went shopping... when he returned there was a policeman there investigating because his car window had been smashed and all signs pointed to a burglary... at first he was hopeful, but with much chagrin he discovered that there were now THREE accordions in the back seat of the car!!

Play.com announces that Optimum set as "Vol.1". So one might guess that the missing silents will show up in a second volume. Which doesn't make the decision any easier, as the only film in Vol.1 not already (i.e. after the release of the Lionsgate set) available with English subs is "Dejeuner". I guess we will have to wait for reviews of the Lionsgate set to see whether it matches the French releases.

For an Optimum Renoir Vol2 they would have the silents (incl NANA), MADAME BOVARY and LE CRIME DE M. LANGE for a start from the Studio Canal catalogue... And they could also include the existing BOUDU...

It's worth mentioning, though, that Optimum's "Grande Illusion" (which, incidentally, includes the two shorts from Renoir box-set) has burnt-in subtitles, so presumably other French-language films in the set will suffer from the same phenomenon. (What's more peculiar, is that the Optimum Grande Illusion is apparently the same transfer used on the OOP French disk (which, presumably, didn't have burnt-in English subtitles,) so Optimum must have made a deliberate choice to add those.

Personally, I don't speak French, but once I've seen a film a few times, I prefer to watch it without subtitles. Forces one to focus so much more on the image and the subtleties of the performances.

Darth Lavender wrote:What's more peculiar, is that the Optimum Grande Illusion is apparently the same transfer used on the OOP French disk (which, presumably, didn't have burnt-in English subtitles,) so Optimum must have made a deliberate choice to add those.

The digipak edition may be OOP, but the keepcase reissue by Studio Canal is still available and has optional English subs.

I agree about the annoyance of burnt-in subs. Some of Optimum's titles have them (La Haine, Eloge de l'amour), others don't (Notre Musique, La Chinoise). I guess it depends on the terms of their license.

Four significant early Renoirs that Studio Canal, Optimum and Lionsgate do not appear to have rights to but which are available in France in beautifully restored editions are Catherine, Tire-au-flanc, La Chienne and On purge bébé. Now if some enterprising publisher could get those together in a box with English subs...

Darth Lavender wrote:Personally, I don't speak French, but once I've seen a film a few times, I prefer to watch it without subtitles. Forces one to focus so much more on the image and the subtleties of the performances.

Exactly my feeling, too. My French isn't really good, but good enough to READ it . So a great factor with the Lionsgate set for me will be whether they include the original titles for those silents (and make the subs removable). Otherwise I will probably go for the French discs for the silents and get the sound films from Optimum (despite the three films already available from Criterion) . The French "Nana" package seems quite impressive: two discs with loads of extras and a 120-page book. But it costs more on its own than that whole Lionsgate set.

A fabulous irony is that the source print used for the restoration of LA FILLE D'EAU on the Studio Canal disc had English intertitles, which were then replaced with new French intertitles in the restoration!...

Who owns the rights to La Chienne, Kino? I wonder if Criterion does.

Cinephrenic wrote:Who owns the rights to La Chienne, Kino? I wonder if Criterion does.

Kino owns the VHS rights, but I thought I read on this forum that Chienne was Janus. Correct me, someone, if I'm mistaken.

I asked my contact at Kino about this a couple of years ago and she said that LA CHIENNE is one of those titles where Kino owns the VHS rights but not the DVD rights. (Several older Kino titles fall into this category.) However, she didn't specify who the DVD rights holder is.

And I believe Kino licensed their vhs thru Interama as well. Isn't there a very nice R2 of CHIENNE floating around already?

Yes there's an excellent box set from France (no subs) containing LA CHIENNE, ON PURGE BEBE, TIRE-AU-FLANC & CATHERINE...

Is from G C T H V (and credits also - Tous Publics © Les Films du Jeudi - Les Films de la Pleiade)...

This'll be out on Tuesday, already got my shipping notice from Amazon... any early reviews yet?

I'm surprised Gary at the Beaver hasn't reviewed this yet.