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Blue Velvet



Home from college, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) makes an unsettling discovery: a severed human ear, lying in a field. In the mystery that follows, by turns terrifying and darkly funny, David Lynch burrows deep beneath the picturesque surfaces of small-town life. Driven to investigate, Jeffrey finds himself drawing closer to his fellow amateur sleuth, Sandy Williams (Laura Dern), as well as their prime suspect, lounge singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini)—and facing the fury of Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper), a psychopath who will stop at nothing to keep Dorothy in his grasp. With intense performances and hauntingly powerful scenes and images, Blue Velvet is an unforgettable vision of innocence lost, and one of the most influential American films of the past few decades.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray, both supervised by director David Lynch
• Alternate original stereo soundtrack
• "Blue Velvet" Revisited, a feature-length meditation on the making of the film by Peter Braatz, filmed on-set during the production
• The Lost Footage, fifty-one minutes of deleted scenes and alternate takes assembled by Lynch
• Mysteries of Love, a seventy-minute documentary from 2002 on the making of the film
• Trailer
• More!

Criterion wrote:“Blue Velvet” Revisited, a feature-length meditation on the making of the film by Peter Braatz, filmed on-set during the production

Well, that answers the "Why?" question, definitely not another pointless Lynch rerelease like FWWM, more footage of Lynch at work is very welcome in my book.

Again, new 4k restoration.

solaris72 wrote: Fri Feb 15, 2019 9:58 pm

Criterion wrote:“Blue Velvet” Revisited, a feature-length meditation on the making of the film by Peter Braatz, filmed on-set during the production

Well, that answers the "Why?" question, definitely not another pointless Lynch rerelease like FWWM, more footage of Lynch at work is very welcome in my book.

Indeed; I hope that Criterion also decide to include Braatz's contemporary use of the footage, No Frank in Lumberton. In this interview with Braatz, he says that Revisited is the "quiet sister" to No Frank in Lumberton's Dennis the Menace.

Every time Criterion announces a popular classic movie that isn't a UHD release in 2019, take a drink.

This looks fantastic, I'll be curious as I'm sure everyone else what the "more!" means here.

solaris72 wrote: Fri Feb 15, 2019 9:58 pmWell, that answers the "Why?" question, definitely not another pointless Lynch rerelease like FWWM, more footage of Lynch at work is very welcome in my book.

I think Sheryl Lee's interview was a substantial addition to that release, and maybe one of the best special features I've ever seen on a Criterion.

Given that cover, this should really come in a case covered with crushed velvet, like the original release of the Bee Gees' Odessa.

fifty-one minutes of deleted scenes and alternate takes assembled by Lynch

Is this new? Is it like the assembled outtakes he put together for FWWM? this seems pretty big.

No, they were already included on the previous Blu-Ray. They were a big new addition to that release.

Thanks!

whaleallright wrote: Fri Feb 15, 2019 11:40 pm Given that cover, this should really come in a case covered with crushed velvet, like the original release of the Bee Gees' Odessa.

fifty-one minutes of deleted scenes and alternate takes assembled by Lynch

Is this new? Is it like the assembled outtakes he put together for FWWM? this seems pretty big.

As I recall a rough cut of Blue Velvet was about four hours long and when Lynch cut it the film to it's final length the cut footage was put away and Lynch assumed most of it had been lost to time. A couple and years ago they found the footage and the fifty mintues listed here are are from those original two cut hours. These are probably the same fifty minutes that were on the previous Blu-Ray release. One particularly amusing scene involves a woman lighting her nipple on fire (Not joking.)

Weren't there audio synch issues with the deleted scenes on the previous release, or am I thinking of Twin Peaks?

Twin Peaks, but not everyone experienced them. I never experienced those issues myself.

Makeup supervisor Jeff Goodwin was recently interviewed on the Second Sticks Podcast. He's pretty tight-lipped about the upcoming release (unfortunately) but they do talk a little about "Mr. Ear" and the impact Blue Velvet has had on Goodwin's career.

Full specs have been posted:

New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray, both supervised by director David Lynch
Alternate original 2.0 surround sound­track
The Lost Footage, fifty-three minutes of deleted scenes and alternate takes assembled by Lynch
“Blue Velvet” Revisited, a feature-length meditation on the making of the movie by Peter Braatz, filmed on-set during the production
Mysteries of Love, a seventy-minute documentary from 2002 on the making of the film
Interview from 2017 with composer Angelo Badalamenti
It’s a Strange World: The Filming of “Blue Velvet,” a 2019 documentary featuring interviews with crew members and visits to the shooting locations
Lynch reading from Room to Dream, a 2018 book he coauthored with Kristine McKenna
PLUS: Excerpts by McKenna from Room to Dream

Am I reading correctly that one extra is about the making of, so it's an extra about an extra ?
Also, looks like the new Lynch book is practical and will be the new Lynch by Rodley automatic booklet content.

No, it’s just a bunch of making-ofs for the movie itself.

Re-reading the specs, I indeed got lost in translation. My bad.

tenia wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 2:59 pm Also, looks like the new Lynch book is practical and will be the new Lynch by Rodley automatic booklet content.

It's a pretty great book and an even better audiobook, as Lynch expands on his segments further, particularly earlier on. The Elephant Man segment Lynch does is particularly delightful, as is the one for Dune.

It is indeed (though I still haven't read it completely). My remark was just a jest because they were mostly drawing their booklets from the Rodley book (since they seemingly can't include specific newly written material), and the Room to Dream book will allow for an alternative source while still not including specific newly written material.

As I faintly recall, there were some colour manipulations for the initial 2011 Blu-ray. Since this is a new digital master (as for home video viewing), I can accept this.

Also, keep in mind that the 2011 Blu-ray had no menu screen what so ever. The main feature would play in a loop and accessing the other features meant using the "Pop-Up Menu" button, selecting it and then it will resume playing the film upon completion. Furthermore, the Mysteries of Love featurette was still in a native 720p while the main feature was 1080p. (I think the additional footage may have also been at 1080.).

So if nothing else, you get a less manipulated image and a more consistent home video presentation and navigation.

And they didn't teal-ify it very much! Criterion must be conscious which movies their little curators can get away with fucking around with, and which ones they can't, in this shitty world.

Randall Maysin wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 8:02 pm And they didn't teal-ify it very much! Criterion must be conscious which movies their little curators can get away with fucking around with, and which ones they can't, in this shitty world.

So if I understand, the biggest advantage over the MGM blu is that the 50+ minutes of "lost" footage has been remastered into HD?