A Few Words About A few words about...™ 1900 -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

By any stretch of the imagination, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00782O7MA/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=afewwordsabout-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00782O7MAhttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=afewwordsabout-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00782O7MA

 

[NY2LA]

How is a two part film spread across three discs? Any supplements?

 

[Lord Dalek]

Well Beaver seems to completely disagree with you again, Bob. Then again, it's Beaver.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Looks to me that it's from the same source as Paramount's 2006 DVD release. No surprise - Olive can only use what Paramount gives them. The A/V quality on their discs have been generally good.

For whatever it's worth, blu-ray.com's review gives it a 4/5 for picture and 4/5 for audio. http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Novecento-Blu-ray/38516/#Review

Originally Posted by NY2LA /t/320782/a-few-words-about-1900-in-blu-ray#post_3926230
How is a two part film spread across three discs? Any supplements?

The third disc is a DVD with supplements. See the blu-ray.com review above for details.

 

[Lord Dalek]

It does look a bit different from the 2007 dvd in the Beaver caps. Maybe from expanded color space IDK. Way better than the MGM dvd though.

 

[NY2LA]

Looks to me that it's from the same source as Paramount's 2006 DVD release. No surprise - Olive can only use what Paramount gives them. The A/V quality on their discs have been generally good.
For whatever it's worth, blu-ray.com's review gives it a 4/5 for picture and 4/5 for audio. http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Novecento-Blu-ray/38516/#Review
The third disc is a DVD with supplements. See the blu-ray.com review above for details.

Thank you, that was helpful. If we weren't in a financial crisis, Amazon's recent price might tempt me to pick this up. Netflix isn't renting this version, just the DVD.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Lord Dalek /t/320782/a-few-words-about-1900-in-blu-ray#post_3926232
Well Beaver seems to completely disagree with you again, Bob. Then again, it's Beaver.

Hell, I disagree with RAH much of the time. Different equipment, experience, standards and expectations.





Crawdaddy

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Robert Crawford /t/320782/a-few-words-about-1900-in-blu-ray#post_3926251

Hell, I disagree with RAH much of the time. Different equipment, experience, standards and expectations.



Crawdaddy

Careful. Fortunately, you're in Michigan. Illegal in both the great State of Delaware and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

RAH

 

[Peter Neski]

I hope this version isn't what you say,I saw this film many times over the years in the theater,and it remains one of the greatest visual movies ever ,
The DVD proves how great Storaro is,and only a poor Blue Ray would make me agree with Mr Harris,The movie also has some wonderful stuff in it,also
some really horrifying scenes ,and while isn't as perfect as it could have been,its not as good as the Conformist,but few films are
Maybe since you never saw this in a good version in the Theater ,you can't know what it should look like,and how better the last dvd was to
earlier video versions,I only saw one review of this Blue Ray ,and the Guy from DVD Beaver didn't have the reaction you did ,maybe your
right and this is worst than the dvd,But this is one of the Highlights of Storaro's many films ,and looked fantastic no matter what this Blue Ray looks
like,

 

[JoshB]

I wonder if a Criterion treatment is warranted...I'm surprised they didnt do Last Tango in Paris. I was less impressed with how they handled The Last Emperor, hopefully somewhere down the road they might pick it up

 

[Peter Neski]

This of course is a big Problem,who knows if this is even a new remaster,Last tango wasn't really ,and wasn't done by Storaro (no cropping needed to match his format in either film)
Criterion is too busy with Wes Anderson films and endless Japanese films to bother,

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Peter Neski /t/320782/a-few-words-about-1900-in-blu-ray#post_3926392
This of course is a big Problem,who knows if this is even a new remaster,Last tango wasn't really ,and wasn't done by Storaro (no cropping needed to match his format in either film)
Criterion is too busy with Wes Anderson films and endless Japanese films to bother,

In deference to Paramount and Olive, at over 300 minutes, the investment necessary to do this properly is probably not warranted.

Important director, equally important cinematographer. And a lessor film. A pity regardless.

RAh

 

[Peter Neski]

Is this the first time you saw the film?? Its a better film than Reds IMHO and also better looking ,and its not a lesser Film,sure its not a hit
of course the music is great
Looking at the BR of "New York Stories" hardly shows how Storaro's work( &Lab) jumped out from the screen from the two other great DPs work (not sure what lab They used)
But the Blue Ray doesn't look like that at all ,So 1900 on Video could be redone maybe at some time from a remastered version in 4k ,Only then will it come close

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Peter Neski /t/320782/a-few-words-about-1900-in-blu-ray#post_3926418
Is this the first time you saw the film?? Its a better film than Reds IMHO and also better looking ,and its not a lesser Film,sure its not a hit
of course the music is great
Looking at the BR of "New York Stories" hardly shows how Storaro's work( &Lab) jumped out from the screen from the two other great DPs work (not sure what lab They used)
But the Blue Ray doesn't look like that at all ,So 1900 on Video could be redone maybe at some time from a remastered version in 4k ,Only then will it come close

I've seen it before, and far prefer Reds. So many technical issues that get in the way.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by Peter Neski /t/320782/a-few-words-about-1900-in-blu-ray#post_3926392
Criterion is too busy with Wes Anderson films and endless Japanese films to bother,

Criterion can't license EVERYTHING.

Besides, of the 43 mainline released/announced 2012 titles, only 6 are Japanese (with no Kurosawa) and 1 is Anderson. That leaves 36 releases which are quite varied.

 

[owen35]

This is one of those "desert island" films for me. No one in my immediate circle likes this film and i would never subject my poor helpful wife to it. But it does hold a special place for me as I have vivid recollections seeing it when it was originally released @ 4 hours. I then saw it a few more times in its full 5 1/2 hour version. The longer is substantially better in many ways, though still somewhat overindulgent in certain scenes.
I am disheartened at this release. At times, it looks wonderful, but mostly it appears to be a shoddy version of what could have been. I do recall on the big screen it looked much much better and presented Storaro's cinematography and fluid camera work wonderfully. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it remixed to 5.1 surround when it was released years ago as a "restored" print?)
Also, I am curious as to why the opening titles are letterboxed? The film was shot at 1.66:1 (via IMDB) but it does look like it is "blown-up" on this version with many shots feeling cramped. Also, some shots look ghastly, as if someone hit the wrong button and decided to oversaturate the shot.
I think I have to go with RAH's impression and disregard Beaver and Blu-Ray.com. Maybe they got a different copy than me, but this is less than I had hoped.

 

[bosque]

As Owen35 says above, at times the Blu-Ray release looks wonderful. The winter scenes look dreadful, grey and wasted. Maybe they are supposed to, due to the rise of facism and Bertolucci's connection of winter with facism, but it still looks awful. The last 45 minutes of this movie seem a lot longer, like the opening twenty minutes of Heaven's Gate, both are obstacle courses in two curate's eggs of movies. Watching 1900 again, I wondered if it had influenced Cimino's western and in particular his depiction of the European immigrants (maybe not in a good way).

 

[Peter Neski]

"it appears to be a shoddy version of what could have been"
well other than Reds and a few others ,These transfers are the best we get,the Last Tango was "better" but only so so,Last Emperor has the cropping
and others aren't available or not yet on Blue Ray
So maybe I didn't get my hopes up,I knew it was Olive ,but what does that mean?
They didn't do anything on Chinatown but I just thought 1900 was a little better than the dvd,am I wrong??? I haven't got mine Yet
its funny Reds looks great ,and these other films looked even better in the theater,1900 had incredible sharpness and color
the Browns were stunning ,

 

[Peter Neski]

"Criterion can't license EVERYTHING.
Besides, of the 43 mainline released/announced 2012 titles, only 6 are Japanese (with no Kurosawa) and 1 is Anderson. That leaves 36 releases which are quite varied."
Maybe I am thinking of all the Japanese films they did already,and I am sure money has something to do with everything,
They only have two Bertollucci film and one on BR they clearly can't get everything they want to get

 

[owen35]

well other than Reds and a few others ,These transfers are the best we get,the Last Tango was "better" but only so so,Last Emperor has the cropping
and others aren't available or not yet on Blue Ray

I do agree that is does have to be stated that, yes, these films probably have inherent problems that would never be fixed due to the costs associated with "perfecting" them. So, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that the quality is not equal to a BR release of Chinatown or a similar commercially successful film from that time. This film, especially, is an oddity that appeals only to the slimmest of film aficionados.