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November Criterion releases (1 Viewer)

Jeff Briggs

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Apr 29, 2003
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I just want one issue straightened out please. When Playtime was filmed it was filmed in NTSC, correct?

I hope this question only uses septic spelling. (Australian humour 1)
 

george kaplan

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Playtime was not shot in NTSC or PAL. However, an NTSC dvd of Playtime will run the correct length at the correct speed, while a PAL dvd will go 4% too fast and end too quickly.
 

andrew markworthy

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Gosh, we've never heard about PAL speedup before. This is a new discovery for us all. Please tell us more.


Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
 

Patrick McCart

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FYI, it seems that a Brazilian Playtime DVD is circulating around, especially at libraries. It's absolutely horrible... PAL speedup, non-anamorphic, and has severe interlacing problems (the image bobs up and down, enough to give a headache to the viewer).
 

SteveGon

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Steve Gonzales

Hmmm, maybe I just have dull senses, but I have plenty of PAL DVDs and have never noticed the speedup. Aside from George, I'm curious as to how many people have a problem with it.
 

Lars Vermundsberget

Supporting Actor
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Nov 20, 2000
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There was a rather lengthy thread about PAL speed-up on this forum a while ago. If you find it we may not have to go through that somewhat painful experience again.
 

Elijah Sullivan

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Jun 18, 2004
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I've got Ran in my hands right now and have to just come out and say: my world is so much better for Criterion Kurosawa. Here's a film that's been done, what, three times in R1 and every time came out looking dull and thin?

This DVD is spectacular. It's still a bit soft (soft elements + 160min. on one disc) but the detail has still improved a good deal. Shadow detail is back and the colors are brain-blastingly near perfection. The sound has impressive range and fidelity, too.

The presentation rocks.

Haven't gotten in into the special features, yet, but a 74-minute Chris Marker (La jetee) documentary called A.K. seems like a pretty good place to start!

Such a classy package. Sell your old discs, boys. There's no comparison whatsoever.

Thanks, Criterion!
 

Douglas Bailey

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Agree 100% with Elijah's comments. The Criterion transfer is that much more of a revelation after having seen this film transferred badly to DVD twice before. The colours are just fantastic – the green hills in the opening scene, the red and yellow battle flags, the pale rose sunsets – and the contrast is a huge improvement over the crushed look of the Wellspring "Masterworks" disc. I'm very very happy with this disc; lovely to see the film get good treatment at last.
 

Rob Tomlin

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Looks like the third time is the charm for the great Ran:

Ran Criterion Review

Definitely a double dipper title for me. The Wellspring edition that I own looks like crap. I am ecstatic that Criterion got the rights to this and apparently did it right.



:emoji_thumbsup:
 

Brook K

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I'm almost as excited to finally see A.K. as a properly transfered Ran. However, I have heard it isn't as good as some of Marker's other documentaries like the powerful A Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich.

I ordered Ugetsu in the deepdiscount sale. The last time I checked my order still hadn't shipped.
 

Marko Berg

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Mar 22, 2002
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An old quote from earlier in this thread, I know, but I have to wonder:



I know the comment was made in jest and the percentage was thrown back at the person who originally made a joke using this imaginary statistic, but...

I personally don't know anyone who hasn't seen Playtime at least once in their life. Many have seen this film several times. It's frequently shown on TV here. Is Playtime not a well-known and popular comedy in the US? Criterion releases some obscure films, but in this case, I think the release can be considered mainstream.
 

george kaplan

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No, this is not a well-known comedy here. It is not shown on television at all (with the possible exception of TCM or Bravo), and I can say that, not counting people here at HTF, I have never met anyone outside myself who has seen the film. This is certainly not a mainstream film here in the U.S.
 

Jeff Swearingen

Second Unit
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May 23, 2003
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Jeff
Have any reviews come out for the November Criterion releases? I'm particularly interested in seeing screenshot comparisons between the Wellspring Ran and the Criterion Ran.
 

Rich Malloy

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Apr 9, 2000
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There is no comparison between the Wellspring "Ran" and the Criterion one. Criterion = phenomenal; Wellspring = practically worthless.

I've also got the R2 Warner Bros. PAL release of "RAN" (which includes the Marker doc), and that transfer is leagues beyond Wellspring's, but also comes up short compared to Criterion's. I should add that my monitor doesn't display native PAL, so the PAL>NTSC conversion surely detracts somewhat from the WB transfer, but I suspect Criterion's would still come out ahead with all things being equal.
 

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