Django – Limited Edition Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[t1g3r5fan]

With the release and success of A Fistful of Dollars (1964), the spaghetti western genre began to take hold a few years later with more and more companies on both sides of the Atlantic seeking to cash in. However, it wasn’t until The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) that the genre would begin to reach its apex internationally; one of those films outside of Sergio Leone’s films was Django, which in turn would spawn innumerable “sequels” and imitators from its own success. Released several times on home video over the years, Arrow Films has picked up the movie for its latest Blu-ray release, a limited edition paired with one of the loose “sequels”, Texas, Adios (1966).



Django (1966)



Released: 01 Dec 1966
Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 91 min




Director: Sergio Corbucci
Genre: Action, Western



Cast: Franco Nero, José Bódalo, Loredana Nusciak, Ángel Álvarez...

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[Scott Merryfield]

Thanks, Mychal. Will you be reviewing the 4K UHD release of Django, as well?

 

[t1g3r5fan]

Thanks, Mychal. Will you be reviewing the 4K UHD release of Django, as well?

I haven't decided yet; it took about two years from the time this was announced to the time I first published this review. As you know, there was a rights issue that held up the release for that time and then I had to remove the review and thread when said problems continued at the time (of course it's now resolved between Arrow and Blue Underground). Right now I'm leaning towards no, but never say never.

 

[titch]

Continue reading...

Has Fidelity In Motion mastered the disc for Arrow?

 

[t1g3r5fan]

According to the booklet, Django was scanned, graded and restored by L'Immagine Ritrovata and Texas, Adios was scanned and restored by L'Immagine while while grading was done by R3store Studios in London. Hope that helps!

 

[haineshisway]

Can someone tell me exactly how many Blu-ray releases this has actually had???

 

[B-ROLL]

Can someone tell me exactly how many Blu-ray releases this has actually had???

Since we can only talk here about legitimate releases here we may not be able to give you a legitimate answer -

Django (1966 film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Home media​

Django was first released on DVD in the US as a double feature with Django Strikes Again on September 24, 2002. This release, by Anchor Bay Entertainment, is mostly uncut and presented with a remix of the English dub in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, and was limited to 15,000 copies. Included as special features are trailers for the two films, exclusive interviews with Nero about their production histories, an arcade-style interactive game and an illustrated booklet with essays on the films. This release, which is currently out of print, was criticized for its hazy, washed-out transfer.[40] Prior to the original DVD release, Anchor Bay had released both films on VHS in 1999.[41][42]

On January 7, 2003, Blue Underground, having acquired the distribution rights to Django from Anchor Bay, released a second DVD of the film as part of The Spaghetti Western Collection boxset, which also included the films Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot!, Run, Man, Run and Mannaja: A Man Called Blade.[40] A standalone two-disc limited edition version was released on April 27, 2004, with the first disc containing the film and the second containing Alessandro Dominici's The Last Pistolero, a short film starring Nero in a tribute to his Western film roles. A third DVD release, made available on July 24, 2007, omitted The Last Pistolero.[43]

Blue Underground's DVD releases utilize a high quality (albeit mildly damaged) transfer based on the film's original camera negative, which was subject to a complex two-year digital restoration process that resulted in many instances of dirt, scratches, warps and deteriorations being removed and corrected.[44] The DVD, which presents Django completely uncut with Dolby Digital mono mixes of both the English and Italian dubs (as well as English subtitles translating the Italian dialogue), includes the film's English trailer, Django: The One and Only (an interview piece with Nero and Ruggero Deodato), a gallery of poster and production art compiled by Ally Lamaj, and talent biographies for Nero and Corbucci.[44] A Blu-ray release, featuring a revised high definition transfer of the negative and DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mixes of the English and Italian dubs, was released by Blue Underground on May 25, 2010. Unlike most of Blue Underground's releases, which are Region 0 or Region Free-encoded, the Django Blu-ray is Region A-locked.[40] The original DVD was included, along with Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot!, Keoma and Texas, Adios, as part of a four-disc set titled Spaghetti Westerns Unchained on May 21, 2013.[43]

In the UK, Argent Films released Django on DVD in 2004.[34] This release, which features exclusive interviews with Nero and Alex Cox, was re-released on September 1, 2008, and was later included in Argent's Cult Spaghetti Westerns boxset alongside Keoma and A Bullet for the General, released on June 21, 2010.[45] Argent later released its own Blu-ray, also taken from the original negative, on January 21, 2013, alongside a remastered DVD based on the same transfer.[45]

On September 1, 2018, Arrow Video announced that they would release Django on November 19 (later pushed back to December 11) in the US and Canada as part of a two-disc Blu-ray set with Texas, Adios, with the films having received new 4K and 2K restorations respectively. The special features for the film include an audio commentary by Stephen Prince, new interviews with Nero, Deodato, Rossetti, and Nori Corbucci, archival interviews with Vivarelli and stunt performer Gilberto Galimberti, an appreciation of Django by Spaghetti Western scholar Austin Fisher, an archival introduction to the film by Cox, and the theatrical trailer. Two versions of this release were revealed in this announcement: a standard edition that would also include an illustrated liner notes booklet featuring a new essay by Spaghetti Western scholar Howard Hughes and reprintings of contemporary reviews of the film, as well as a double-sided poster; and a steelbook edition that would not include the poster.[46][47] Prior to their intended release, Arrow withdrew both editions from their catalogue pending the outcome of a rights dispute between Blue Underground (who claimed to still have sole ownership of the film's US distribution rights, and had sent cease and desist letters to consumers who had pre-ordered the titles) and the film's Italian rights holder Surf Film (from whom Arrow obtained permission to release both films in February that year).[48] After 2 years, the Arrow edition will finally see release on June 30, 2020.

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