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David, that is most outstanding news! I've had this particular title in my Bookmark page for a few months now. I'm assuming you're referring to this release. Looks like a dependable enough website. This is the title I could have picked up from the dependable Tony Simonelli over at Xploited in the past. Oh well....!

Look forward to looking at your screen grabs .

davidhare wrote:Yes, vale our friend Tony and his very reasonable airmail fees. The disc is only around 12 Euros but postage (for a single disc) to Oz was 14!! It's always the same story with all continental European countries, and I assume similar to postage to the USA.

David, the screen grabs look marvelous, as expected. I am definitely securing myself a copy of this edition. Thanks for posting!

davidhare wrote:Is that THING in the operating table sequence scary or what?

Depends on if you like snails or oysters David . Although, the truth maybe closer to what the Johnny Clay character says in The Killing: "Meh.... what's the difference?"

davidhare wrote: Is that THING in the operating table sequence scary or what?

I see that Wittdsream picked up on the same visual analogy that I did. If Ken Russell were directing, the "thing" would have teeth.

God, I NEED to get my hands on that beautiful DVD! Thanks for the screencaps, David.

Wittsdream wrote:I'm assuming you're referring to this release. Looks like a dependable enough website.

Cost to UK was 23 Euros all in. For the less gifted in Italian, or guesswork, if you click the Home page you get the option of English. Search for the titel as it didn't recognise Max Ophuls, unless I typoed. Thanks for the heads up.

If you'd like to compare prices across Italian DVD retailers, use this link.
To search specifically for LA SIGNORA DI TUTTI, use this link. €12.90+sh seems the best deal at the moment.

This release really looks like a must.

An essay on the film (in French).

Le film surprend par son caractère mélodramatique, son exacerbation des passions, son rythme rapide. Il détone dans le panorama du cinéma italien de l’époque, par son écartèlement entre une comédie dramatique de type traditionnel et une sorte de délire expressionniste – souligné par la caméra virevoltante d’Ophuls qui ne s’attarde que rarement sur des plans fixes, pour suivre le mouvement des protagonistes dans des travellings d’une virtuosité surprenante à l’intérieur de décors aux vastes proportions et d’escaliers monumentaux.

Sorry if I missed this info above, but does this release have the option of English subs?

If so, I'd love to upgrade my VHS copy (from Australian TV). I wish more Ophuls from his pre-Hollywood period were available; I think I have only four titles, all on VHS.

My copy arrived today. For the record, although it says Region 2 on the back it's actually all-regions.

I should be reviewing the two new Second Sight discs for DVD Times next month, so I may as well review this one as well.

Unless there was a retrospective somewhere, I know of only two of Ophuls's pre-Hollywood films which have been available in the UK in the last twenty-six years. La Signora di Tutti had a limited reissue in circa 1982. The other one is Liebelei which had a TV showing in BBC2's film club in 1988 and subsequently had a VHS release.

Even one of his Hollywood films, The Exile, has become very hard to see. The BFI database records the last British TV showing as being in 1974!

Which Italian retailers have the cheapest shipping costs?

The cheapest shipping costs for ordering from Italy I am aware of are at dvdland.it, even though this site could be a real pain if they do not have the DVDs in stock. Then the waiting game becomes really painful - it takes them forever to obtain stock. At this point, they do not have La Signora di Tutti in stock. I placed my order on July 18th and today (July 31st) they still do not have it. I cancelled my order with dvdland.it and placed it with http://www.videociak.net - they have the DVD in stock and the shipping costs are:

€ 8,50 for Europe
€ 11,50 for Africa, Asia, America
€ 14,50 for Australia

Here are the international postal rates at dvdland.it:

ITEMS Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3
1-2 5.99 € 6.99 € 7.99 €
3-5 6.99 € 9.99 € 12.99 €
6-15 9.99 € 12.99 € 19.99 €

Zone 1: Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain , Grece, Ireland, Israel, Letonia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Morocco, Monaco, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Chech Republic, Romania, Russia, Slovacchia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Hungary.

Zone 2: Saudi Arabia, Brasil, Canada, Cile, South Korea, Philippines, Japan, HongKong, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Swaziland, Thailland, Taiwan, USA.

Zone 3: Australia, New Zeland.

Any possibility of this seeing release outside of Italy? Not that it matters all that much, but just wanted to know if there had already been word of release(s) elsewhere before I spend the money importing.

I would think it's a pretty safe bet. I doubt Criterion would do any more Ophuls for at least six months, and in the unlikely event a smaller US label (Kino or Facets) picked it up, they'd just release a poor PAL->NTSC conversion of the Italian DVD master. A UK DVD might be more likely but would probably cost the same as the Italian.

I think it's always worth importing with RHV. I have their Before the Revolution and don't believe that any other company (including Criterion) could have done it so well.

Agreed re: RHV, except that not everything has English subtitles (I'd kill for them on their recent release of Rivette's Merry-Go-Round), so one should verify that before buying. Signora, obviously, does have them.

There appears to be a new version of this disk coming out. All the Italian retailers have the date of release listed as 09/02/2010: http://film-dvd.dvd.it/dvd-drammatici/l ... d-1289301/

If anyone can find out if this new version is different to the last one, let us know!

It appears to be exactly the same, I think it hasn't been available for a while , that's all.
It's simply the best transfer of a 1930s film I've ever seen ( looks like a BluRay), and the film is a masterpiece. My favourite Ophuls.

tojoed wrote:It appears to be exactly the same, I think it hasn't been available for a while , that's all.

Yes, exactly. RHV has just changed his distribution partners and some titles have been unavaible for a few months.

I don't suppose I'm the first to notice this, but there's a jaw-dropping technical goof in this film starting at 26m 7s (on the DVD). For fifteen seconds, as Gaby and Roberto enter the garden from the right, what I take to be the sound man holding a microphone is clearly visible on the left of the shot, initially stationary then walking backwards in front of the couple. At first I thought he was an extra!

Or is it a goof? Given that - like Lola Montes - the film is so self-reflexive about the process and tools of image-creation, including microphones, I wouldn't be surprised if Ophuls decided it was serendipitous and deliberately left it in.

There are several other shots where the shadow of the camera is very obvious, usually as it moves forwards. Are these "flaws" quite common in early sound films from Italy or is it Ophuls slightly overstretching the technical skill of his crew? (I don't know anything about the restoration of this film but given its pristine quality the thought did also cross my mind that it might have been reconstructed in part or whole from outtakes, like the Chaplin First Nationals.) None of this detracts from the greatness of the film - and for me it perhaps even adds to it.

Jonathan S wrote:I don't suppose I'm the first to notice this, but there's a jaw-dropping technical goof in this film starting at 26m 7s (on the DVD). For fifteen seconds, as Gaby and Roberto enter the garden from the right, what I take to be the sound man holding a microphone is clearly visible on the left of the shot, initially stationary then walking backwards in front of the couple. At first I thought he was an extra!

Or is it a goof? Given that - like Lola Montes - the film is so self-reflexive about the process and tools of image-creation, including microphones, I wouldn't be surprised if Ophuls decided it was serendipitous and deliberately left it in.

There are several other shots where the shadow of the camera is very obvious, usually as it moves forwards. Are these "flaws" quite common in early sound films from Italy or is it Ophuls slightly overstretching the technical skill of his crew? (I don't know anything about the restoration of this film but given its pristine quality the thought did also cross my mind that it might have been reconstructed in part or whole from outtakes, like the Chaplin First Nationals.) None of this detracts from the greatness of the film - and for me it perhaps even adds to it.

Shohei Imamura's Intentions of Murder has a wonderful, reflected camerman cameo, during the long scene where Sadako runs through the train.

And adding yet more fuel to a bloopers and goofs split thread - there's the wonderful clear cut camera shadow over Aznavour's white trench coat in the tracking shot where he's summoning up courage for a conversation with the barmaid in Tirez sur le Pianiste.