Pre-Order A Fistful of Dollars (1964) (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

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[Osato]

View attachment 44849

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Very cool news. Some nice new extras?

I have the last mgm release. I’d be more tempted if it was a UHd release.

 

[haineshisway]

I have some release from Italy I think that, at the time a few years ago, was what everyone was yelling to the high heavens was the greatest. I'll take it out and watch again. But there may have been yet another "restoration" beyond that one - who can keep track anymore.

 

[Spencer Draper]

This is from a newer restoration by the same Italian source that did the GBU restoration. And of course it has it's own brand new problems. The previous restored version is available on Italian and German blu-ray releases and looks incredible-especially on 35mm which is the best I've ever seen Fistful look. (Currently the best overall release is the German region free double feature of Fistful and For a Few which uses the Italian 2007 restoration for the former and the MGM master for the latter-but adds back ALL the missing trims!)
Of course it must be kept in mind all Fistful US versions look different to foreign and Italian releases as apparently MGM/UA have only had non-master material due to rights ownership and the 2007 Italian restoration was the first to use the negative.

I'd like to be hopeful but I have seen bits of what the newest restoration looks like and they aren't promising. Plus the same Italian location will soon be doing FAFDM as well.

 

[haineshisway]

My memory of the Italian was that it looked really terrific - why would the German look better if it's the same thing, although I do think I ended up buying that one, too.

 

[OliverK]

I love these movies but it is a real chore to keep track of the different versions.

I ended up watching the two German versions in the end as the German FAFDM was a longer version but frankly it looked quite dated with regard to detail and textures.

 

[Spencer Draper]

The German Fistful has lossless English mono which isn't on the Italian release and is region free.
The German FAFDM uses the MGM master but before it had noise reduction applied. So it is slightly more detailed than the US release but has occasional dirt specks and such. Sadly the edge enhancement seems to have been baked into the master itself. They then obtained the few scenes with bits that have been missing for years and placed them appropriately without causing any sync errors. The first US DVD had a sync problem due to the addition of the scene ending which named Manco as the other bounty killer. (This was cut out of 1967 US prints due to the UA Man With No Name campaign.) The older US laserdisc is the same vintage print I saw screened at a Leone retrospective which has some of the missing bits but was missing others and additional footage. So the German Blu-ray is the best release of the film to date.