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I find two editions on amazon.

The Vanguard edition is criticized for a poor quality transfer.

Then there is the Cinema Classics edition which is not reviewed or rated at all. The comments are mixed in from the Vanguard. I like the cover.

... and then there is this region 2 edition from amazon France.

I wonder if the picture quality is better, and if it has English subtitles? Anyone seen these? Which one should I buy?

Having recommended 'La bandera' in the 'foreign legion movies' thread over in the 'other' section, I feel obliged to leave a short answer:

I do not have seen one of the American DVDs yet. I have one of the old French M6 Edition Prestige DVDs (2006), which comprise French subs only and seem to have been replaced by a new edition by now, but, imho, feature a fine transfer.

Edit: Oh, I haven't seen the new French edition, you've linked in your second posting. As far as I know, this disc does also feature French subs only. I can only add, that in my opinion, 'La Bandera', as represented by M6's old 'Edition Prestige', looked even better than MoC's 'Grand Jeu'.

I've seen the Vanguard edition, and even though you already know it's bad, I'd like to stress that it is really bad. I'd say it looks worse than VHS quality.
I'd be really surprised if any of the other editions are worse.

Well it is nice to know a quality transfer is out there. In France.
I'll soon find out what I've bought.
I bought the Cinema Classics edition from Cinema Libre.
It had better be worth the exorbitant price or I'll file a complaint and demand a refund.

Thanks for your input, gents.

Maybe you should just abstain from such speculations if you don't have a clue about how the international market works for these things.

Don't let me forget to thank you for your advice, Knappen.
It so happens I do know something about how the international distribution works.
That's why I speculated.
But you're right, this is not the place.
I will remove it rather than upset you.

The Cinema Libre edition arrived in 48 hours.

I can't imagine the Vanguard edition looking worse than this. This is pretty bad. Worse than VHS. At least the subtitles are a faint yellow, making them distinguishable from the monochrome mud. I bought it "new" but it arrived unsealed and full of fingerprints.

Well, I would recommend the 6-disc "Coffret Jean Gabin" from Warner France which contains the following movies:
Maria Chapdelaine / La Bandera / Le port du désir / La horse / Le miroir and a special disc with a documentary about Jean Gabin.
Picture quality is very good but there is a small problem: the french subtitles for the hard of hearing (no english subs) are in three different colors and often, when there is no dialogue, three small points appear on the lower left side of the screen. Very annoying. And this goes for all of the films. So anyone who needs the french subtitles - like me - should be warned. I still recommend the collection. Costs about $42 at amazon.fr (shipping costs to the US included).

osmin wrote:Well, I would recommend the 6-disc "Coffret Jean Gabin" from Warner France which contains the following movies:
Maria Chapdelaine / La Bandera / Le port du désir / La horse / Le miroir and a special disc with a documentary about Jean Gabin.
Picture quality is very good but there is a small problem: the french subtitles for the hard of hearing (no english subs) are in three different colors and often, when there is no dialogue, three small points appear on the lower left side of the screen. Very annoying. And this goes for all of the films. So anyone who needs the french subtitles - like me - should be warned. I still recommend the collection. Costs about $42 at amazon.fr (shipping costs to the US included).

There is a very good reason for the colour coding as it denotes when the speaker is on or off screen as well as a separate colour for music/sound effects only.
This is after all intended as an aide for people who are hard of hearing and is the standard for french broadcasts so why you should find this annoying is somewhat baffling.

It's also a tad unclear why people can't simply set their screen to greyscale if this is bothering.