Waterloo (1970) now available on Blu-Ray! See Post #59 (1 Viewer)

[Brian McP]

I'm flabbergasted that "Waterloo" is not on dvd in the US -- it came out through Columbia here in Australia and was one of the early dvd titles and has stayed in print for years (I saw it for sale at supermarket checkouts for an eternity -- can remember Rod Steiger's scowl as Napoleon in between Snickers bars and magazines with Britney Spears' latest exploits on the cover....who would have thought?)

For those in the US who have region free players and haven't got "Waterloo", it's time to bite the bullet and get this picture -- it is 'as cheap as chips' down here and if your player can handle region 4 discs, you've got it made -- try eBay or JB HiFi websites if you can't find it elsewhere.

I love this movie for many reasons -- Orson Welles getting third billing for two scenes in the movie (one of which has him walking down a flight of stairs), Rod Steiger upstaging thousands of extras and hundreds of explosions (lets face it -- who but him could do that?), Christopher Plummer as suave as Wellington here as he was in "Return of the Pink Panther" a few years later.

Also -- the relatively brief running time -- all killer, no filler, so to speak -- pretty sure the studio would have been at Sergei Bondarchuk to keep the budget down and the pace up -- sadly, in the middle of the Vietnam War, not as many people thought sitting through "Waterloo" would have been such a great night's entertainment -- also I'm sure people would have thought they'd have to sit through a 4 hour movie without ever knowing that it ran just over two hours.

Probably this is also why it has had a long run on television over the years -- just scraping in as a G rated movie to this day, despite all the carnage on screen.

On bluray, this would be sensational -- saw this movie on dvd wearing my Sony 3D headset, with the quad sound blasting away -- quite an experience, still.

 

[JoeDoakes]

in particular, the helicopter shots of the charge by the French cavalry on the British squares is mind-blowing in a way that any modern CGI recreation could never emulate.

Definitely true. A lot of CGI is just boring. Even at the best of CGI battle scenes, which to me would be The Lord of the Rings or Kingdom of Heaven, it is no where near as effective as Marshall Ney's charge in this film.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Regarding the running time: This movie was originally a nearly 4 hour movie that reportedly only played briefly in Europe before being cut down to 121 minutes for the US. The Import DVD of this runs 132 minutes. The full version is considered lost. I would love to see it if it were ever discovered. It contained the Battle of Ligny which we see the aftermath of in the current version. Seeing this battle and defeat of the Prussians would add more impact to the ending with the Prussians arriving to save the day. The movie is now praised for the great battle scenes but criticized for the narrative and some consider it to not do Napoleon justice. More than likely both of these criticisms were greatly improved in the complete version. I like it for what it is now but think the complete version would improve it.

I'm flabbergasted that "Waterloo" is not on dvd in the US -- it came out through Columbia here in Australia and was one of the early dvd titles and has stayed in print for years (I saw it for sale at supermarket checkouts for an eternity -- can remember Rod Steiger's scowl as Napoleon in between Snickers bars and magazines with Britney Spears' latest exploits on the cover....who would have thought?)

For those in the US who have region free players and haven't got "Waterloo", it's time to bite the bullet and get this picture -- it is 'as cheap as chips' down here and if your player can handle region 4 discs, you've got it made -- try eBay or JB HiFi websites if you can't find it elsewhere.

I love this movie for many reasons -- Orson Welles getting third billing for two scenes in the movie (one of which has him walking down a flight of stairs), Rod Steiger upstaging thousands of extras and hundreds of explosions (lets face it -- who but him could do that?), Christopher Plummer as suave as Wellington here as he was in "Return of the Pink Panther" a few years later.

Also -- the relatively brief running time -- all killer, no filler, so to speak -- pretty sure the studio would have been at Sergei Bondarchuk to keep the budget down and the pace up -- sadly, in the middle of the Vietnam War, not as many people thought sitting through "Waterloo" would have been such a great night's entertainment -- also I'm sure people would have thought they'd have to sit through a 4 hour movie without ever knowing that it ran just over two hours.

Probably this is also why it has had a long run on television over the years -- just scraping in as a G rated movie to this day, despite all the carnage on screen.

On bluray, this would be sensational -- saw this movie on dvd wearing my Sony 3D headset, with the quad sound blasting away -- quite an experience, still.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I have the Russian DVD which is fine but this one really would be amazing on blu-ray.

 

[Paul_Warren]

Just saw it on BBC2 in Standard Definition. It was also on BBC2 HD but I do not have access to that channel. It looks quite a bit better than the DVD so a HD scan has been made its not perfect at the start there are a few waxy faces & a couple of grainy damaged shots on the main titles then it goes away & looks quite decent for a 1970 movie.

Lots of detail on the uniforms & faces (this movie has a lot of extreme closeup zooms into the characters face) so if they press a BD from this HD master it will look decent. There are a few shots which exhibit print damage & require repair work & only last a few seconds but overall its a decent looking transfer.

Now the waiting game as someone must have paid for the HD scan who will put it out on BD (surely most of the cost is in the HD scan not the physical distribution!).

If this was just a bare bones release I think it would be well received

 

[AdrianTurner]

The BBC print was utterly gorgeous, as good as one might hope for a Blu-ray release.

 

[SultanOfWhat]

Here's a 6-minute clip of the battle that is selectable up to 1080p:

 

[David_B_K]

I bought my first region-free DVD player 10 or more years ago just so i could watch the region 2 DVD of Waterloo. I am a history buff in general, but my particular favorite area of interest was always the Age of Napoleon.

One corner of my office area at work:

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So with Kino,Twilight Time, Olive, Criterion and some possible other avenues I wonder if anybody can rescue Waterloo to blu-ray. Somebody really should get this one out!

 

[Paul_Warren]

Wonder if they are waiting for the Spielberg produced (based on Stanley Kubrick material) Napoleon TV series to go ahead before someone bids for the BD rights......I suspect the actual rights would be quite expensive I doubt whoever owns the copyright is going to let this go cheaply somehow its such an epic movie & deserves an epic BD

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I'd be happy if they are waiting to release it in conjunction with the mini-series to give it a boost as long as somebody gets it out on a blu-ray. It is a gorgeous looking film and the battle scenes are magnificent and we will never see anything shot like that again. It is also in part the reason Kubrick's film never came out because investors were scared off when Waterloo did not perform well at the box office.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Seriously, there are no computer graphics that could match this:

 

[Paul_Warren]

Seriously, there are no computer graphics that could match this:

To recreat that entire battle in CGI would cost an enormous amount of money even today....and still look fake! I think this movie had the greatest battle scenes ever filmed live action & for that alone it should get a decent BD

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Agree with you completely, Paul.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

A nice article on Waterloo:


http://hopelies.com/2014/03/11/the-limits-of-glory-sergei-bondarchuks-waterloo/

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, Kino's Paramount deal does not include this film but maybe somebody else will bring this to blu-ray.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Years have passed, this remains on my wish list. Criterion? Kino? Arrow? Bueller? Anyone?

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Jack posted this in the Kino release thread but I am posting here too as the video appears to show that Mosfilm has done a restoration of Waterloo and so there does appear to be hope that there could be a good looking blu-ray of this released if someone has the ability to license this from Mosfilm.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Been a long wait but here it comes...

• Worldwide first release on Blu-Ray from a brand new 2K scan

(thanks to Billy Batson for letting us know!)

 

[usrunnr]

Netflix has a nearly unwatchable non-anamorphic DVD they send renters. Ahem.