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

[JoeDoakes]

Note should be made that the functions are not short-cut into the original, but rather, like films such as Giant!, run the entire length of the transitions.

Please forgive my ignorance, but what does that mean?

 

[haineshisway]

It means the dissolves are not cut in short - cut in short means the dissolve only lasts exactly duration of the optical and therefore cuts away from and back to original footage, resulting in a slight "bump" as it does so. But in other cases dissolves last the entire duration of what comes before and after them - and in the case of certain films like Giant, that can be for a VERY long time.

 

[Oblivion138]

To their eternal credit they over-rode the ludicrous Chaplin Estate's insistence on the "priority" of the appallingly bad 1942 reissue sound version of Gold Rush as "preferred" version over the far superior '25 Silent original. All other Region B discs including UK Park Circus only render the '25 in SD. Only Criterion delivers it in 1080p.

Hear, hear! There is no comparison...the 1925 version of The Gold Rush is The Gold Rush. I have enormous respect for Chaplin as a filmmaker, but he shouldn't have second-guessed one of his greatest films. A huge shout-out to Criterion for rescuing the original version from total obscurity, and presenting it in such fine quality.

 

[haineshisway]

A propos of this release, it's worth mentioning Universal Italia has released a Blu Ray of Chaplin's last film from 1967, A Countess from Hong Kong in which a charming Sophia Loren in reality plays the Chaplin role by default in this movie without Chaplin as a star (apart from a tiny walk on) and a still young and quite prim Marlon Brando of all people plays the foil. It has the slower pace of classic Chaplin feature comedy but I have always liked it very much. It opened in 67 around the same time as Ford's last great masterpiece, the incomparable Seven Women and both movies seem to have suffered the slings and arrows of total abandonment by all but a dedicated few who appreciate these final work of two masters at such a refined and elevated level. I would kill to see a BD upgrade of the Ford. (Very much a minority view I know.)


This transfer appears to be a direct scan from a quite good Technicolor IB release print, complete with some emulsion damage over the opening credits and bits here and there but nothing untoward.


I simply can't imagine it coming out anywhere else in HD so here's your chance, for completists and fans!

Just finished watching Countess from Hong Kong - want to know what IB Tech looked like in the mid-1960s, check out this disc. Gorgeous and vivid - wait for it - BLUES. Greens. Reds. Golds. My favorite kind of color.

 

[BarryR]

I'm glad I (unwittingly) waited until 62--the same age as Chaplin in the film--to fully watch this. It has far more of an impact than if I saw it at 25. I'm more attuned to the melancholy aspects.