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Salo - BFI Blu-ray 09/22/2008

post #1 of 21
6/29/08 at 10:48pm
Thread Starter 
Up for Pre-order at amazon.


Amazon.co.uk: Salo, Or The 120 Days Of Sodom [Blu-ray] [1975]: Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Pier Paolo Pasolini: DVD
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post #2 of 21
6/30/08 at 6:24am

Re: Salo - Criterion Blu-ray 22/09/2008

That's from BFI, not Criterion. They don't distribute in the UK. Also, BFI may not have a good master of the film, and IIRC Criterion announced a new version coming soon that may be worth it to wait for:

Salo Pasolini
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post #3 of 21
7/1/08 at 1:01am

Re: Salo - Criterion Blu-ray 22/09/2008

I remember BFI's DVD release for this film, and the master on it wasn't that bad for a film of this caliber. But the Colombia Tristar release seems to have best picture out of all three.
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post #4 of 21
7/1/08 at 12:39pm

Re: Salo - Criterion Blu-ray 22/09/2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thivanka R. Perera
I remember BFI's DVD release for this film, and the master on it wasn't that bad for a film of this caliber. But the Colombia Tristar release seems to have best picture out of all three.
Wow, you're right! The Columbia version is clearly the best of the three. The Criterion looks hideous by comparison.

Salo DVD Comparison
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post #5 of 21
7/3/08 at 8:28am

Re: Salo - Criterion Blu-ray 22/09/2008

Confirmation and specs from BFI:
Quote:
BFI have announced the UK All-Regions Blu-ray Disc release of Salò or The 120 Days of Sodom on 22nd September 2008 priced at £24.99. Pier Paolo Pasolini’s final and most controversial film has been banned, censored and reviled the world over since its first release in 1975. It did not receive UK certification until late 2000, when it was passed uncut.

The film is a brutal allegory based on the novel 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade.

A two-disc set, features are detailed below…

Disc 1: Main Feature

* Fully Complete & Uncut, telecined from original Italian restoration negatives
* 1.66:1 (1080p, 24fps) / BD25 / PCM mono
* Original Italian language version (with optional English subtitles)
* Original English language version (with optional HoH subtitles)
* Original Italian trailer (with optional English subtitles)
* Coil - Ostia (the Death of Pasolini) The original 1987 track from Coil's celebrated second album, Horse Rotorvator, with a newly created video accompaniment, shot especially for this release, by Peter Christopherson.


Disc 2: Extra Features - A standard definition PAL DVD with the following content:

* On set footage and interviews (1974, 25m) – newly created documentary using full colour footage shot in 1974 by acclaimed film journalist and Pasolini expert Gideon Bachmann.
* Whoever Says the Truth Shall Die (1981, 58m) Philo Bregstein's classic documentary on the life and death of Pier Paolo Pasolini.
* Fade to Black (2001, 25m) – documentary with Mark Kermode exploring the ongoing relevance and power of Pasolini's controversial masterpiece, with Bernardo Bertolucci and other leading directors.
* Ostia (1991, 25m, with optional director commentary track) – Julian Cole's short film about the last days of Pasolini, starring Derek Jarman.


Fully illustrated booklet

* Newly commissioned essay by Sam Rohdie (Italian film scholar and author on Pasolini)
* Sight & Sound article by Gideon Bachmann incorporating his on-set diary
* 1979 review of the film by Gilbert Adair
* James Ferman letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions
* Cast and credits for the film
* Pasolini biography by Italian film specialist Geoffrey Nowell-Smith
* Photographs of Pasolini at work on set
*WARNING!* Link includes DVD cover that is not safe for work! *WARNING*
DVD Times - Salò or The 120 Days of Sodom (UK BD) in September
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post #6 of 21
7/3/08 at 8:41am

Re: Salo - Criterion Blu-ray 22/09/2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jesse Blacklow
Confirmation and specs from BFI:
*WARNING!* Link includes DVD cover that is not safe for work! *WARNING*
DVD Times - Salò or The 120 Days of Sodom (UK BD) in September

Interesting cover. Of course i had to look after your warning, Jesse.
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post #7 of 21
7/3/08 at 9:39am

Re: Salo - BFI Blu-ray 22/09/2008

Best cover ever.
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post #8 of 21
7/3/08 at 12:19pm

Re: Salo - Criterion Blu-ray 22/09/2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Adkins
Wow, you're right! The Columbia version is clearly the best of the three. The Criterion looks hideous by comparison.

From what I hear, both the new Criterion and BFI editions are based on brand new transfers, so those comparisons are meaningless.

I'm sure DVD Beaver will update them as soon as they get hold of the new versions.
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post #9 of 21
8/19/08 at 12:31pm

Re: Salo - BFI Blu-ray 09/22/2008

The new Criterion release is still missing that 25s poem recital sequence.

It will be present in the Uk BFI DVD and Blu-ray releases.
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post #10 of 21
8/20/08 at 9:18am

Re: Salo - BFI Blu-ray 09/22/2008

The UK are getting some nice old flicks--I say they're releasing 'Starw Dogs' there as well. I mean, I never thought this would be released on BD so soon.
Good signs, I guess.
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post #11 of 21
8/20/08 at 9:24am

Re: Salo - BFI Blu-ray 09/22/2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by vidmarc
The new Criterion release is still missing that 25s poem recital sequence.

It will be present in the Uk BFI DVD and Blu-ray releases.
Wow, you would think they would know their previous release was cut after all these years. Looks like BFI is the way to go.
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post #12 of 21
8/20/08 at 11:13am

Re: Salo - BFI Blu-ray 09/22/2008

Are we sure the Criterion release is still missing that 25s poem recital sequence? Is there a review or something that states this?
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post #13 of 21
8/20/08 at 11:24am

Re: Salo - BFI Blu-ray 09/22/2008

DVD Beaver mentions it in their comparison.
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post #14 of 21
8/20/08 at 11:53am

Re: Salo - BFI Blu-ray 09/22/2008

Oh wow. I didn't even realize Criterion released a new SD-DVD. I wonder what reason they have for leaving it out.
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post #15 of 21
8/21/08 at 8:42am

Re: Salo - BFI Blu-ray 09/22/2008

I suppose Criterion is not interested in reissuing the reissue to fix the missing footage?
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post #16 of 21
9/8/08 at 6:06am

Re: Salo - BFI Blu-ray 09/22/2008

This is just to confirm that the new BFI edition does feature the extra 25 seconds (sourced from a 35mm print as opposed to the original negative, so the picture quality changes slightly at that point) - but also that the Blu-Ray is definitely Region B.
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post #17 of 21
9/8/08 at 8:50pm

Re: Salo - BFI Blu-ray 09/22/2008

Criterion says the missing scene doesn't appear in the interpositive or in any of the archival material they checked, including the Pasolini Foundation's prints -- which would make sense, given that it isn't in the negative either. They don't explain why the UK version ended up with the scene (it seems to me a call to the BFI would sort that out) or why it wasn't included as an extra on their release.
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post #18 of 21
9/11/08 at 6:18am

Re: Salo - BFI Blu-ray 09/22/2008

The BFI sourced its original DVD of Salo from an unsubtitled 35mm print that subsequently ended up in the BFI National Archive. As a result, when mastering it to HD for the Blu-ray and new SD-DVD it was relatively straightforward to telecine that print to HD and drop the scene in - the only downside is that despite extensive efforts to get the colours to match the rest of the transfer (sourced from the original negative), the scene is noticeably contrastier. However, because it's 35mm-sourced, we're emphatically not talking a Wicker Man situation - this footage is as high-resolution as everything else.

As to whether or not the footage should have been included, there's no obviously correct answer to this. True, it's not present in the original negative - but it was present in a 35mm print, presumably struck in the late 1990s, and no-one seems to know where it came from or why it was removed. (Or who removed it). And since the original BFI release featured it, albeit unwittingly (no-one noticed until someone did a comparison with the Criterion), it made sense for the new BFI release to follow suit. It certainly doesn't unbalance the film in any way.
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post #19 of 21
9/12/08 at 6:53am

Re: Salo - BFI Blu-ray 09/22/2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by Profanisaurus
This is just to confirm that the new BFI edition does feature the extra 25 seconds (sourced from a 35mm print as opposed to the original negative, so the picture quality changes slightly at that point) - but also that the Blu-Ray is definitely Region B.

Wow, the region B thing is disappointing.
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post #20 of 21
9/12/08 at 10:52am

Re: Salo - BFI Blu-ray 09/22/2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by Profanisaurus
As to whether or not the footage should have been included, there's no obviously correct answer to this. True, it's not present in the original negative - but it was present in a 35mm print, presumably struck in the late 1990s, and no-one seems to know where it came from or why it was removed. (Or who removed it). And since the original BFI release featured it, albeit unwittingly (no-one noticed until someone did a comparison with the Criterion), it made sense for the new BFI release to follow suit. It certainly doesn't unbalance the film in any way.
I don't think it's just a coincidence that the 25 seconds removed involve a copyrighted poem. That almost certainly had something to do with its removal no matter what Criterion says.

I'm glad I found out in time about the region code to cancel my order. I would've been sorely disappointed to find that out after it had already arrived.
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post #21 of 21
9/13/08 at 8:23pm

Re: Salo - BFI Blu-ray 09/22/2008

I didn't buy that explanation when it first surfaced after the original BFI release, and I don't buy it now: the use of the Gottfried Benn poem (which amounts to all of three lines) is more than defensible as fair use, other copyrighted works (e.g. Pound's Canto XCIX) still appear in the Criterion version, and Godard's films -- which are positively loaded with quotations, to the extent that it's not always easy to tell where the quoting ends and the "original" dialogue begins! -- have never posed any difficulty for Criterion. If the scene only appears in a single mysterious UK print, which seems to be the case, then it's perfectly plausible that there was an elements issue, with Criterion being unable to use the BFI's print (the clip on the website looks like it was sourced from the old BFI disc).
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