Apu Trilogy finally coming to R1? (1 Viewer)

[Simon_Lepine]

I haven't seen a thread on this yet ...

DVD Planet has this masterpiece trilogy up on their site, coming our way October 29 apparently, from Columbia/Tri Star.

That's a little scary coming from this studio, but here's hoping for the best, I'm just glad to have a chance to own this on DVD.


www.dvdplanet.com/product_listing.asp?productid=35844&format=DVD

www.dvdplanet.com/product_listing.asp?productid=35852&format=DVD

www.dvdplanet.com/product_listing.asp?productid=35857&format=DVD

 

[Adam_S]

DVD file has these all listed as full frame, I believe they were late fifties early sixties--checks IMDB--and they are 1955, 57, & 59. So all were made after widescreen, but I've no idea if India was using the new format at that time, they could very well have an OAR of 1.33 or 1.37:1. With Columbia there's no assurance that the titles would be OAR (despite the fact that I'd say the vast majority of people potentially buying them would only buy OAR), and I myself don't know theír AR. Anyone else?

Adam

 

[Brian PB]

I hope CTS does right by these three great films. Odd that they don't appear to be selling them as a box set (at least there's none listed at DVD Planet). Tired of waiting for the R1 release, I recently purchased the R2 PAL box set from Artificial Eye. But, no regrets: I'm very pleased with it (there are some fine interviews with Ray & a video masterclass about The World of Apu).

I'm just glad more people will get to experience this extraordinary trilogy, and hope we'll see many more of Satyajit Ray's films on DVD. He was truly a master.

Excellent news. Spread the word.

BTW, the OAR for all three films is Academy ratio (1.37:1); the Artificial Eye releases are all 1.33:1. Pather Panchali was shot--with frequent delays--on a shoestring budget over a 2+ year period, and ultimately completed with funding from the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, and the Government of West Bengal. I can assure you there was no money available for a VistaVision presentation!

I have heard there was some restoration work done on these films (maybe at UCLA?) spearheaded by Ismail Merchant and James Ivory (not sure if the AE transfers utilized the restored elements or not). But keep in mind that the negatives of all three were lost in a fire some years ago.

 

[Brian W.]

That's thrilling news. I'll definitely be buying these --I've been waiting for years.

 

[Ravi K]

Pather Panchali was 16mm, but I don't know about the other two films.

Widescreen did not really take hold in India until the mid 70s to early 80s. Before that films were 1.37:1, with a few films being shot in CinemaScope sporadically. Now all major films are shot with anamorphic lenses. Some lower budget independent films are flat 1.85:1 or occasionally 1.66:1.

Go to sonypictures.com and search for "Satyajit Ray" to find the DVD covers for the Apu Trilogy. I was going to post them here, but I got a message saying I can't post URLs to other sites until I've been here longer. Oh well. The cover art is the same as the VHS, right down to the critics' quotes, but the VHS covers for the first two films were tinted green and the third was tinted red. They still have a still from Aparajito on the Pather Panchali cover.