3 Days of the Condor SE anytime soon? (1 Viewer)

[Brett_M]

I saw on Laser's Edge that this was released on 3/28 with a new cover. I assume it's the same anamorphic widescreen 5.1 disc from '99.

This is one of my favorite films but I never took the plunge in hopes that it would get SE treatment. At around $10, it's not a huge deal but $10 is $10.

Anybody else love this one?

 

[John Hodson]

Yes; excellent film - there's an R2 German release which has, alledgedly, a nicer transfer than the current R1 disc and boasts a Sydney Pollack commentary. See here:

http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASI...A3JWKAKR8XB7XF

I've been hoping for an SE too, but I might cave and go for that soon (especially at the price)

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Funnily enough, I ordered the German edition a few days ago.I have been informed that the German transfer is sharper, with less video noise and a higher bitrate, also. Strange that a UK edition with the Pollack commentary has not appeared in the five years that the German edition has been available. €6.00 plus €5.17 shipping (£8.40 in total) is a decent price, though.

 

[Tim RP]

Excellent movie, difficult to pick a favourite between this and Paramount's other 70s conspiracy/thriller classics, Marathon Man and Parallax View. The early assassination sequence and mailman visit are always favourite sequences to be edited on UK terrestrial tv. I remember reading a news report where Pollack had taken legal action against a European broadcaster for not showing Condor in it's correct aspect ratio. If only he'd seen the UK broadcast version (pan + scan natch).

It is indeed odd that Germany gets a director commentary on their disc which was absent from R1. It hasn't even been released in the UK (whereas Marathon and Parallax have).

And great job on the new artwork. Not. No excuse on this one, even the original had big floatyish heads.

 

[Brett_M]

I have never ordered a R2 disc before. Is the PAL speedup apparent on DVD?

 

[Tim RP]

Technically, from an audio angle, yes. It will manifest itself as a slightly higher pitch. Whether you personally will actually notice the difference is a different matter.

 

[Brett_M]

Thanks, Tim.

If any of you happen to purchase this and watch it soon, let me know how it looks and sounds.

 

[george kaplan]

Brett,

For the most part PAL speedup isn't something you notice on some titles and not on others. If you notice it, you notice it, and it will bother you on every title. If you don't notice it, then it'll never bother you. You probably need to try it for yourself. I always notice it (not just the sound, but the sped up picture), but many others say they do not.

I say "for the most part", because sometimes a person who says they don't notice PAL speedup, will notice it on some song they are intimately familiar with. But in most cases, it seems to have more to do with the perceptual sensitivity of the individual, than the title.

 

[John Hodson]

If it helps, there's a review on this page.

 

[Brett_M]

Thanks. Sounds good. I think I'm in for R2 version.

How about a list of R2 online sellers, besides the one posted above?

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Brett, Amazon.de listing for the German disc is the lowest on the web. Although, THIS site shows cover art similar to the region 1, but with the "Die drei Tage des Condor" title.

 

[Tim RP]

Good find Gordon. That's the cover art you want (even if Max's crew are missing)! I wonder which one is the contempary one and available at Amazon.de?

 

[John Hodson]

For the commentary you are looking at the one produced by Kinowelt; both those covers show the Kinowelt label, so you should be safe ordering either.

I suspect that they've changed the cover art to the one in Gordon's post, but I'll know soon enough, mine's now on its way from Amazon.de

 

[Tim RP]

Thanks John. I've got an account at .de and try to limit the places I throw my cc card details around so will be getting it there anyway - but it would be a nice bonus to have the 'proper' art.

 

[ChristianLiemke]

I've never seen the German DVD with this cover, only with the one you can see at Amazon.de.

Don't buy the SZ-Cinemathek edition. It features the same transfer but not the audio commentary.

The commentary is exclusive to the German disc, because Kinowelt recorded it for their release.

 

[Christian Preischl]

Yup, the cover shown on amazon.de is the one I got when I bought the DVD a couple of weeks ago. Never seen the other cover before either.

 

[Tim RP]

Thanks for the info Christian(s) Gone ahead with the purchase from Amazon.de.