Mitchell Leisen boxset in Italy (1 Viewer)

[Miguel M Santos]

Does anyone has any information on an Italian Mitchell Leisen boxset that has the following titles (6 films over 4 discs):

MIDNIGHT
EASY LIVING
REMEMBER THE NIGHT
ARISE MY LOVE
NO TIME FOR LOVE
LADY IN THE DARK

Obviously the first two are already released in R1 and a few other places, but it's the first I hear of both REMEMBER THE NIGHT and ARISE MY LOVE, and since I'm going to Rome in a few days I was wondering if it's worth looking for it.

Collezione Mitchell Leisen in DVD con Teodora - NSC - NonSoloCinema

 

[Miguel M Santos]

I got this in the end, and just saw REMEMBER THE NIGHT. It looked very nice, so I guess some work has been done on it. So it is likely that a R1 release of some of the titles is eminent. Plus, NO TIME FOR LOVE has also been released in Spain along with 3 other Leisen films also available in R1.

I can't do a proper comparison with MIDNIGHT and EASY LIVING as my computer has decided to be temperamental with which R1 discs it reads and doesn't read, and the Universal discs seem to be the majority of those affected. This is despite the fact they all played fine recently. But as much as my awful 12 year old TV and my old DVD player would let me know, at least EASY LIVING seems to be the same transfer.

As for the Italian boxset, it has MIDNIGHT on disc 1, EASY LIVING and REMEMBER THE NIGHT on disc 2, ARISE MY LOVE and NO TIME FOR LOVE on disc 3 and LADY IN THE DARK on disc 4. All discs are single sided. There aren't any relevant extras except for some introductions to the films, should you speak Italian (I don't). Pricewise, although retail price is €50 I saw it at €42 in a B&M shop in Rome after I already had bought it, so I expect online prices will be around that mark.

 

[RafaelPires]

Miguel,
Excellent to find out that Remember the Night is finally available on dvd, even if only in Europe. Also great news about Lady in the Dark. Can you tell us how is this Technicolor transfer?

Thanks!

 

[Miguel M Santos]

Rafael,

I'm afraid I have bad news regarding LADY IN THE DARK. It's much, much worst that any of the B&W films. It is a transfer from an Italian print (although still has the Paramount logo), which is faded and has burnt in subtitles. Unlike all the other films is lacking the Universal logo prior to the Paramount one. I'd say possibly an archive print, possibly a VHS or TV master, but these are guesses rather than anything else. From the little information I managed to gather before I bought the set (and no reviews...), there was a RAI3 season of Leisen films some 10 or more years ago. I doubt that Universal would release that master in the US.

As for the transfers of ARISE, MY LOVE and NO TIME FOR LOVE, although they aren't as good as REMEMBER THE NIGHT, they are ok/good (I'd say depending of your hardware) but never less than watchable.

Universal has an interesting track of licensing Paramount titles in France, and since there was a retrospective of the director last year in Paris and there have been recent releases of MIDNIGHT and HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE, I am curious if they will follow and perhaps release the two Olivia de Havilland films.