Does new "Spirits of the dead" (HomeVision) include original italian for Toby Dammit? (1 Viewer)

[AlbertAgullo]

Thanks

 

[Jay E]

Yes, it is in Italian. There is no English language track for this DVD.

 

[AlbertAgullo]

Well, I was wondering if it's the same version as the Image DVD, which includes only the French version of the film instead of the Italian version.

I think Toby Dammit is the best of the three stories and it was a shame not to have the italian version.

Are you sure?

The back of the HomeVision DVD says "French with optional english subt.".

Regards

 

[Mark Zimmer]

But Stamp's performance is in English, and it is in English that it ought to be heard. This is a sad misfire of a disc, since it should include the English Toby Dammit (the Fondas performed their segment in French) for a proper presentation. I realize this would result in some kind of mutant presentation that never played anywhere theatrically, but so be it. These are like 3 short films under one banner and they should each be in their original languages.

 

[Jay E]

Sorry, I had a brain lock, It is in French. I was on the English/Foreign Language mindset.

 

[Rich Malloy]

As said, both the French and English tracks are included on the (old) Image disc. The French track is far, far superior in terms of sound quality, but one does miss some of the brilliance of Stamp's performance IMO. I found myself switching between tracks: the French one for the bulk of the film and the English one for Stamp's monologues (particularly the award show) and longer dialog sections. But apart from those, it works quite well in French and I presume the French track is simply the far superior one in terms of sound quality (though I wonder if there's a better recording of the English track somewhere).

IMO, this is a rental anyhoo. "Toby Dammit" is certainly brilliant - a must-see Fellini - but Malle's entry is fairly boring and Vadim's is positively abysmal. Still, that final 1/3 nearly makes up for the lameness of what preceded it (well, except for Vadim's - nothing can redeem that shit).

 

[Ted Todorov]

Still, that final 1/3 nearly makes up for the lameness of what preceded it (well, except for Vadim's - nothing can redeem that shit).

Clearly you're not a Jane Fonda fan -- she falls into the "I'd listen to her read the phone book" category for me. The costume design is also worth a look -- her outfits are the Barbarella look transported back a few centuries.

The Home Vision (Criterion without the spine number) release has a much better, anamorphic transfer. The Image disk is one of their usual non-anamorphic botch jobs. Too bad about the soundtracks.

Ted

 

[AlbertAgullo]

I'm sorry, but Here in Spain I've seen an italian version of the film, and appart from Stamp which is clearly dubbed, everybody else speaks italian (It is noticiable).

IMO, Fellini's films are to be seen in italian. So it was a big bad surprise -when I got the Image version- to discover it was the french one.

So I will have to wait for an R2 version...

And IMO too, let's forget about the other two shortfilms...

Regards

 

[Mark Zimmer]

In the English version of Toby Dammit, most everyone (well, most of the extraneous cast) speaks Italian except him and the close circle of people he's with; this provides a sense that he doesn't belong there and adds to the alienation that he's feeling and fuels his self-destructive tendencies. That is particularly notable at the bizarre awards ceremony. This is lost in the Home Vision disc as well, because everyone's dubbed into French (I think...I speak neither French nor Italian, but it doesn't sound like French to me).

Thanks for the correction on Peter Fonda; I knew that Jane had done her own French but shouldn't have extrapolated that onto Peter.

I expect I'm the only person in the world who misses the Vincent Price bit from the English dub as well. Seems I'll have to keep 2 DVDs of this movie in my collection for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, due to PAL speedup issues you can't play the video of the Home Vision disc married to the audio of the Image disc (taken from a PAL master). Yes, I'm a sick puppy.