Fall of the Roman Empire to be released on April 29 (1 Viewer)

[OliverK]

Hello,

Brent was so nice to send me lots of screenshots of the movie and if somebody does not know it yet I think it is not good to get too spoiled so I will post here two that I think look pretty spectacular.





Before I do not have the DVD in my hands I will careful with my judgement but compared to my French DVD it is obvious that this is again a much cleaner presentation, but contrary to El Cid there is still a lot of detail left in the Weinstein version of Fall.

Form the screenshots it seems to be comparable to other notable classic releases and a very nice surprise. The colors also seem to be more balanced and what is most important: There are practically no color fringes where in my French DVD before there were nasty red lines to the sides of objects. This one is very much improved from the first movie in the collection and from all prior versions of the film from what I can see.

I have been very critical of the picture quality of El Cid and therefore I am so happy to say that this time I like what I see ! Mind you these are screencaps and not moving pictures but I am now very excited to get my hands on the special collector's edition of this one

Thanks again Brent, you definitely made my day

Oliver

 

[Robert Harris]

The two frames look promising, with the exception of cropping.

I would remind everyone that the acid test for a large format film captured to standard definition DVD, obviously is not to recreate the theatrical experience. It simply can't be done.

The concept is to achieve the "flavor" of original exhibition on a miniature scale.

I'm hopeful that FotRE will be more than acceptable.

RAH

 

[RolandL]

By cropping do you mean the sides (original was 2.76:1) or the top and bottom of the frame too?

Does it have directional dialog? Joe Caps mentioned the original did.

 

[OliverK]

Roland,

I have seen a frame from one of the original flat 70mm release prints and the DVD has more information to the sides and is at the same time cropped at the top and bottom of the frame by a bit more than 5%.

As the original negative would have allowed for an aspect ratio of up to 2.76 to 1 it is a bit sad to know that there was additional cropping on the top and bottom of the frame.

Oliver

 

[RolandL]

Oliver,

I did screen grabs from my DVD-R copy of the Japanese DVD to compare to the new dvd. See them at fotre .
It looks like the new dvd has a bit more picture info on the right side.

The original dvd of Ben-Hur (also in MGM Camera 65/Ultra Panavison 2.76:1) had the correct aspect ratio but it was cropped on all four sides too. The new version came from a 70mm print and is not cropped. Maybe in the future we will get the full 2.76:1 on dvd like Ben-Hur, Battle of the Bulge, Greatest Story Ever Told and Mutiny on the Bounty.

 

[RolandL]

The third disc must have:

Rome in Madrid Featurette

Encyclopedia Britannica On The Roman Empire - 5 Featurettes

Original Theatrical Trailer

 

[OliverK]

Roland,

thanks for the comparison, seems like they added a bit on both sides.
I also got the Japanese version and always thought it looked dreadful, almost black and white in many scenes. The French version despite color fringing looked better to me.

Regarding the Ultra Panavision AR: I wouldn't hold my breath. Most will be happy with the current version which indeed seems like a big improvement over all prior versions. Hopefully RAH will really get his hands on the Bronstons and give us the OAR on these, but often things do not work out in a way that is best for an optimal presentation of the movie in question as we all know.

Oliver

 

[Robert Harris]

Please keep in mind THat productions with a 2.76:1 AR were generally screened around 2.55, which is still quite wide for home video.

These appear to be around 2.2, which if the production was protected for that AR should be acceptable, but a bit odd.

I would sorely like to see this release come out well, and nitpicking should be off the critical table.

RAH

 

[Simon Howson]

I cropped the letterboxing off the screen captures, and measured it to be 2.31:1 (851 x 369 pixels).

 

[Brent Avery]

Tried my hand at downloading a few more screen shots - Thank you Howard (and others!) for helping out!

 

[Simon Howson]

Wonderful images!

I think the quality looks very good. I have absolutely no complaints pre-ordering this DVD.

 

[PatrickDA]

Is a reddish brush-stroke-like slash still on the bottom of the scene where
Commodus comes out of the giant hand?

Also, don't start complaining about the deleted scene not being included.
They just found it in December (I think) and I'm sure it was just too late
for this release.

So far, the screen caps look excellent to my eye.

 

[AdrianTurner]

I do hope that the commentary and one of the documentaries finally nail the Gladiator thing. It always annoyed me how coy Ridley Scott and his cohorts were about citing Roman Empire as the source of their own extremely popular and - in my view - outstanding movie. While they were eager to cite Spartacus as an inspiration, the fact that Gladiator was really a remake - often scene for scene - of Roman Empire seemed to be something they were ashamed to admit.

Brent's images above look tremendous!

 

[Douglas R]

Brent said Rome in Madrid and the trailer are on disc 1. I don't believe there is a 3 disc version. Who said there was?

 

[OliverK]

Now you got it

 

[PatrickDA]

Amazon and a number of other places said there was a third disc with the box set only. I don't think anybody has reviewed the box set yet, so a third disc might still be possible.

 

[haroldS]

Yesterday, I saw a press release, listing the extras on the DVDs and it looks like there is a third DVD in the more expensive collector's set, but it will only include the five Encyclopedia Britannica "featurettes", besides the lobby cards and the program/book. Is it because they are a new company, or is there some other reason, why the Weinstein Company is slow in releasing the details of the forthcoming releases?

Beside, based on the set's contents, listed in a prior post, is it right to disclose that there is a deleted scene available, but after buying the set, then telling the buyer it will be included in a later release, which you will have to buy to get? I am getting tired of "double dipping" and this is a gross example of it. An honest company would arrange an exchange program or offer.

 

[Douglas R]

Reported here also: DVD News: The Fall of the Roman Empire Scheduled for April 29 Film.com -

Looks like the Collector's Edition does indeed contain a third disc, despite some on-line retailers referring to it as a 2 disc set.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Ordered

 

[RolandL]

Does it have the original directional dialog?