THE DAVID LEAN COLLECTION (1 Viewer)

[Lord Dalek]

MAR or not, Summertime could use a new transfer and some extras (not sure if Criterion has this on their list of early dvds that need work).

 

[Jon Martin]

Just wanted to mention, I watched the new Lion's Gate DVD of THE SOUND BARRIER. Great film. Good transfer. No extras.

It is on the DVD set THE WORLD WAR COLLECTION which doesn't even have a description listed on Amazon.

 

[John Hodson]

And some HTFers may find this useful:

The David Lean Centenary Box Set is part of the current HMV box set sale at £25.99 in the UK, and I received mine this morning.

I had not long bought the nine disc set when this new 10 film set was announced. Every film has undergone a spanking new restoration, in partnership with the David Lean Foundation, The BFI, Granada Ventures and Studio Canal, and boy, does it show. A brief run through shows these new transfers to be utterly gorgeous, from the totally unmarked BBFC certificates to the end credits. The Technicolor splendour of 'Blithe Spirit' is revealed at last, the gorgeous mono cinematography of 'Great Expectations', 'Oliver Twist', 'Hobson's Choice', 'The Sound Barrier' et al rendered eye-wateringly clear with hardly a mark to be seen anywhere.

The extras from the old discs all appear to be present and correct - I've managed to watch 'In Which We Serve' (a truly beautiful monochrome transfer) and 'This Happy Breed' (breathtakingly beautiful Technicolor) through and couldn't see a mark - not one - of any significance on either.

It's packaged up much the same as the old collection, but with new fangled disc holders making them much easier to remove. There's also a booklet, something of a beginner's guide, but nice to have nonetheless.

I managed to unload my old set some weeks ago in preparation for this new box entering a sale; no doubt it will drop a few quid cheaper at some point, but I'm more than happy to have this now. Beautiful, beautiful work and highly recommended.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Thanks John

Just might go for this

 

[Richard--W]

Well, you've sold me. The price dropped to £14.98 on amazon.coUK, and I'm the verge of buying it together with the Powell and Pressburger Collection which has dropped £17.99.

Are there any supplements or commentaries, John? Now that you're more familiar with the collection, do you spot any drawbacks?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/i...n=283926&s=dvd

 

[Dick]

I just bought the 9-title set (which does not include IN WHICH WE SERVE) from an eBay seller from Korea. This is a legitimate commercial release that contains removable Korean subtitles. The image quality equals what I would have imagined the MGM box would have had it made it to the U.S. I am quite happy with BLITHE SPIRIT, which has much better color than the OOP U.S. edition, and THE SOUND BARRIER. I despise PAL speed-up and so will miss out on IN WHICH THEY SERVE in the British set, unless one of the many public domain editions out there actually looks half-way decent.

 

[Richard--W]

Thanks for the tip on the Korean edition of The David Lean Collection. I'll look into it.

Unless I'm mistaken the restored In Which We Serve is now an individual release in region 2, but you'd have to put up with the PAL speed-up. I think the film is more than worth it.

I'm also uncomfortable with PAL speed-up. I can't explain why, but it is more noticeable in some films than in others. I never know until I play the DVD's. I looked at The David Lean Collection (9 discs) in region 2 that you describe and decided against buying it because The David Lean Centenary Collection is an upgrade from that.

The point is I'm not getting any younger and I'm tired of waiting for a decent release on some of these titles in the USA. The BFI restored all the films: these are entirely different transfers from different sources than the Criterion editions of Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, for example.

There are some fine Korean (region 1 and O) releases, however. I bought the Korean edition of Orson Welles' Macbeth which is the fully restored, uncut version equal in quality to any American release by a major label.

 

[John Hodson]

There are some supplements - previously released featurettes (Profile of Brief Encounter, Profile of Oliver Twist, Casting Appeal for Oliver Twist, Profile on In Which We Serve, stills galleries, trailers, etc), no commentaries, a rather nice but flimsy booklet. But it's a well put together set, from the box, to the menu designs to those glorious transfers. Some have had a pop at the interlaced transfer of This Happy Breed, but I honestly can't see a problem with it.

If I have to be picky, I must mention a very slight authoring glitch in Hobson's Choice at around the 69 minute mark; video slows for a millisecond and slightly interrupts the line 'at your age', but you'd have to be some kind of obsessive to allow it to spoil your enjoyment of the set.

 

[felipenor]

What's MAR?

 

[Lord Dalek]

Modified Aspect Ratio, which Summertime isn't.

 

[Richard--W]

Dick, do you have a link to where I can check out the Korean collection?

 

[Richard--W]

I appreciate your good reply, John. Ordered the set. How nice to have all ten of David Lean's first ten films fully restored in one box-set. Next is Summertime, an individual DVD release, followed by Bridge On the River Kwaii, etc.

Have you seen the region 2 edition of Summertime? Can you comment on its quality and its aspect ratio? I doubt if it's the same transfer as the Criterion, but I don't know for sure. My thread below has not prompted a response.

 

[John Hodson]

No, sorry Richard, I've been waiting for a supplement laden Criterion do-over; I suspect the transfer is from the recent (not quite as recent as the box set) restoration, but I can't be sure. It has become quite cheap of late - might pick it up myself!

 

[John Hodson]

Ah; not from the restoration then...

 

[Richard--W]

Thanks for that link. I guess I'll stick with my Criterion. I was hoping the UK edition would be a new restoration since it is released on time for the director's Centenary, but every indication is that it's a port of the Criterion. Odd thing about DVD Times is that it shows no interest in Lean's early films and fails to review any of the new releases from last year, but it does review Summertime the most over-looked and under-rated of the maestro's films.

By the way, you can buy The David Lean Centenary Collection, with restorations of all ten of the directors early films, for the cost of one Criterion DVD, or just under $30.

 

[ccfixx]

Being a UK release, I'm going to need a region-free DVD player for this set, correct? Thanks.

CC

 

[John Hodson]

Yes; and a PAL capable display.

 

[ccfixx]

Thanks. It doesn't look like I'll be getting this stuff over in the US anytime soon, and you can't pass up Amazon UK's price.

CC