A Few Words About A few words about...™ Fritz Lang's M (Import) -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[AnthonyClarke]

I had viewed the Criterion extras but most probably would not return to them.
There are times I keep multiple editions but selling this one let me not feel too guilty about the double-dip .. especially since I had just splurged via dvdgo.com on the Spanish 10-disc Blu ray edition of the Jeremy Brett Complete Sherlock Holmes .. which my Oppo confirms is multi-region! A guilty pleasure ......

 

[Oblivion138]

I had viewed the Criterion extras but most probably would not return to them.
There are times I keep multiple editions but selling this one let me not feel too guilty about the double-dip .. especially since I had just splurged via dvdgo.com on the Spanish 10-disc Blu ray edition of the Jeremy Brett Complete Sherlock Holmes .. which my Oppo confirms is multi-region! A guilty pleasure ......

There's no guilt in loving the best Sherlock Holmes adaptation ever. I found those BD releases to be a bit spotty in the PQ department, though still quite a step up from the remastered DVD set from a few years back. Though they forgot to add the day-for-night filter on the boat chase scene in Sign of Four. Apart from that, though, great to have the series in 1080p.

As for M, I kept my Criterion release for the extras, but the Universum release is definitely the disc I pop in when I want to watch the film itself.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

I thought this was region free?

 

[Charles Smith]

Definitely not region free. But what a great design! That's for real, right? I'll have to pop mine in again just to enjoy that.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

Lol - my mistake - the GERMAN Blu-ray was what was being discussed, not the UK Masters of Cinema release - d'oh! I imported the wrong one. Make no mistake that the UK Blu-ray is region B.

 

[Charles Smith]

Right. They both are.

I think!! Almost having doubts now, but I'm pretty sure that's what I changed the player over for the other day!

 

[Oblivion138]

To the best of my knowledge, Eureka's Masters of Cinema releases are always Region B locked.

Germany's Universum release, however, is indeed Region-free. Even the DVD that houses the extras is Region 0.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

MoC only locks when requested by the licensor, they try to release Open Region any time they can

 

[Oblivion138]

MoC only locks when requested by the licensor, they try to release Open Region any time they can

The licensors must request it for every damn MoC release I'm interested in, then. haha Just my luck.

 

[Sgt Pepper]

I watched my Universum release the other night and it was just stunning, but one question I have is that it appears slightly cropped compared to the Criterion/Eureka release?


http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleiche/multi_comparison.php?art=part&action=1&image=1&hd_multiID=29&cap1=810&cap2=859&disc1=82&disc2=86&lossless=&x=521&y=105#vergleich

 

[Sgt Pepper]

Anyone?

 

[Brent Reid]

A search will turn up a helluva lot of in-depth info on the most recent restoration. It isn't cropped as such but some of the framings may be v slightly different as further image stabilisation has been carried out.

 

[Oblivion138]

Correct. There is slightly less information at the edges, in general, but that is due to the image stabilization which has been performed. Which makes a HUGE difference in the viewing experience. Perhaps more than anything else in the presentation, the rock-solid steadiness of the image stands out to me as the greatest upgrade from past transfers. That and the elimination of the jump cuts. But when performing that kind of image stabilization, you do have to determine very clearly where the edges of the frame are...if the element as scanned is jittering, one must compensate for that, and keep the center of the frame at dead center, which sometimes means shaving a bit off the edges. The loss of tiny bits of image from the edges of the frame is quite insignificant when compared to the massive improvement that the stabilization provides in the viewing of the film.

 

[Sgt Pepper]

Thanks for that, it really is a stunning release. Wish I could get an English translation of the Digibook text.

 

[Brent Reid]

I concur wholeheartedly, re the Digibook; ditto for the non-English extras. I am, however, working hard on becoming fluent enough in German for translations to become unnecessary!

 

[Charles Smith]

Concur.


I bought it knowing full well there were no English translations of that material, and I'm afraid my two or three years of high school and college German (in the last millennium) are of scant help.

 

[Oblivion138]

With regard to the digibook, I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived and I found that most of it was devoted to images. It would be nice if I could read Herr Kaiser's notes on the restoration, of course (though thanks to his proficiency in my language, I've already read many of the things he's had to say about it in English), but overall, the bulk of the digibook can be enjoyed by people anywhere in the world, regardless of language barriers (the English subtitles and lack of Region coding were very considerate, as well).


And I can safely say that it is the handsomest digibook in my entire BD collection. A very classy package, for a fantastic restoration of an indispensable piece of cinema.

 

[AshJW]

Yeah. One of the treasures in my collection, without doubt.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

Yes, the quality of the digibook reflects the quality of this outstanding transfer.

Now please put the same effort and expertise into a transfer/restoration of 'Der Dreigroschenoper'!

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Asked this in the other thread, but maybe someone here knows. The extras of the Criterion BD mention that the last two lines of the film, spoken by Elsa's mother, are missing in all known prints. Have those last two lines been restored on this German set?