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

[David Wilkins]

I was responding to what was obviously Jim_K's reaction to my earlier remark, though I was not quoted.

The matter is quite tedious, really.

Incidentally, I agree with most of the points that both you and Jim_K have made so far in this thread. But what we have, with regard to this particular title, is what we have. Instances of BD not living up to its capacity and promise, are legion. We are all getting yanked along, basically.

Bottom line is: I'm glad to hear RAH's thoughts about this BD release, and I'll keep the pre-order active. My original statement in this thread, is simply a statement (probably ahead of the curve, in what will probably be a mountain of bickering, if history is a guide), about director's intent. That's all.

Ideally, I would like to have had both versions offered as well. What we have, is what we have. I'll buy it. Mine is just another meaningless opinion.

 

[Alex cosmo]

I love this movie and I respect Friedkin's right to alter it and I'm sure it looks cool. But I'm not buying this. This is supposed to be some kind of "ultimate" format in every way, to justify buying all these same movies over again. To not include the original version is just obnoxious.

 

[Bryan^H]

Ditto.

Oh well, my dvd copy looks ok upconverted.

 

[Geoff_D]

For the record, I don't dig what Friedkin has done to his Oscar-winning masterpiece.

Do I respect his right to tinker? Absolutely. But I don't have to like the end result.

Thanks once again for your thoughts, RAH. Have ye seen French Connection II yet? It looked terrific to me.

 

[TonyD]

Is the film itself the same?
As far as I can tell the color tone of the movie is different, right?

Has anything been edited out or into the movie?

 

[Tim Glover]

Excellent summary RAH...excellent. This is one of my Mom's favorites and already have it pre-ordered for her Birthday. She has the Fox 5 Star dvd so it will be interesting to see the comparisons.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

With regard to THE EXORCIST, I too want the original version (which I hope would also include the black WB logo with the orange background, as originally presented).

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

Yeah that color bleeding sounds and from the screen caps I've seen from the UK BD it looks bad and it really laughable. To think you could back this... It has it's faults. I will still buy the BD, but let's not be biased there are issues with this bleeding... it looks really bad.

My guess is French Connection II will look better because he couldn't mess with that film. We'll see i guess.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

I haven't seen FRENCH CONNECTION in years, and my only viewings were via network television and pan&scan VHS, so you could argue that I've never really seen the film at all. Since I'm not all that familiar with this film, the changes probably won't bother me.

Still, I'm not really happy when filmmakers revise their work this way. I agree with JohnMor on Badham's DRACULA. He took a gorgeous looking film and made it into a drab and ugly picture. It would be nice if the studios would give us a choice and release both versions of these revised films.

 

[Robert Harris]

Once again, screen caps do not tell either the entire or true story. The only awkward moment that I noted was the Santa outfit. Other than that, I find it to be a very interesting experiment. -- but still not the Best Picture of 1971.

The dangling participle here is the question of whether Mr. Roizman, one of our great cinematographers was consulted.

RAH

 

[Danny_N]

Watched this a couple of months ago when it was released in Europe. I was very impressed with the picture quality. It felt like I was watching a freshly struck print. It does look very different from the original release but the process that Friedkin applied enhances the cinema verite style of the picture in my opinion and I can understand why he did it.

 

[David Wilkins]

It's interesting to see how the threads from the past 24 hours have knocked this one clear down to page two.

I'll stir the pot again by providing a link to screen grabs from a review at DVDBeaver. While it's true that screen grabs fall short, here is some indication of what RAH has been describing.

The French Connection Blu-ray - Gene Hackman Roy Scheider

 

[JohnMor]

I have to say that I don't get the resistance to this blu-ray just because the color mastering is somewhat different. It's not a different film per se. Paramount just put out Friday the 13th on BR and it's a different cut of the film. No one is balking at buying it if they don't put out the original version as well (which they're not). And they're putting out a less effective cut of the film. (I know it's silly to compare TFC with FT13, but the principal is the same.)

 

[StevenA]

Why? I'm sure I'm not the only person who prefers to see films presented as closely as possible to the way they looked when first released, whether or not I have already seen the film in question. In fact, filmmakers and film students, or anybody wanting to assess a film's place in the context of the aesthetics of its time, would regard such an aim as essential, I believe.

 

[JohnMor]

I disagree with this point. It assumes that the way a film is upon intial release is an artistic or aesthetic choice. Frequently, nothing could be farther from the truth. The way a film is upon release is often the result of (relatively) arbitrary things such as post-production budget and time available and fixed release dates (and even contracted running times). I would MUCH rather see the way the original artist(s) would prefer to see their film if they had the time and funds they needed than the way some studio executive "deems" it should be, however unkowingly or inadvertently.

Again, there is nothing wrong with offering BOTH versions in cases like this, but often the desire for the original is more about our own sentimentality for recapturing the experience of first viewing than it is about what the artists wanted.

 

[Alex cosmo]

This should just be a basic consumer product thing, not an artistic thing that gets debated for years. There's no reason not to offer both versions if this new format is supposed to be so...ultimate. As with Amadeus and The Warriors etc., it shouldn't even be an issue to include the thing that actually played in theaters.

 

[Andre Bijelic]

I certainly wasn't around when say the original "King Kong" appeared in 1933, but I'd like to see it the way that a contemporary audience would have - at least as closely as possible, so I don't see what sentimentality or nostalgia has to do with it.

There's also the issue of when changes are being made. It's one thing for a filmmaker to make changes based on audience feedback in test screenings. It's something else when they make changes decades after the fact - using technology that didn't exist at the time.

I have nothing against filmmakers - or anyone for that matter - making changes to films. Add scenes, remove scenes, colourize, desaturate, remix the sound, what have you - as long as the original version of the film remains available, as well.

 

[JohnMor]

But TFC is. Just not on this same blu-ray.

I guess what I find strange is the resistence to this release when people have not even seen it yet. And it's not like the "original" is no longer available.

 

[Alex cosmo]

Ok... you like the new versions of movies better, that's nice, I do too. Is that really a good reason to not include other versions that exist when selling a product that can easily include them?

 

[JohnMor]

Not NEW versions necessarily. Artists' preferred versions. Sometimes they're even the original versions, before changes were forced on them.

As I said before, more than once, it would be great if they included both. But why should it be a deal breaker if they don't only for this film? Neither Mr. Harris in his review nor any other posters in that thread said they'd forgo the Friday the 13th blu-ray because the original isn't included. Neither Mr. Harris in his review nor any other posters in that thread said they'd boycott the new Sleeping Beauty blu-ray since the original isn't included.

I'm just wondering why it's such a deal breaker on this particular release when no one has seen the blu-ray yet, except for Mr. Harris who called it beautiful and (highly) recommended it, even with its differences. I'm not begrudging anyone's right to pass on it for whatever reason, I'm just trying to understand the extreme positions being taken against this release in particular when others get a pass.