Is Paris Burning? (1966) restored in 4K (1 Viewer)

[Stefan Andersson]

Is Paris Burning? (Réné Clement, 1966) restored (173 minutes) in 4K by James Mockoski:
https://www.lepoint.fr/pop-culture/excl ... or=CS2-239
- The OCN has disappeared
- Restoration is based on a shortened copy of the OCN + a third generation negative
-original French and English soundtracks restored
-Showing at this year´s Festival Lumière in Lyon, France; it is unknown which language version will be shown there.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

I know of a Japanese Blu-ray that came out recently but read no reviews of the image quality. My DirecTV offered a streaming version and was a nice improvement over my old Paramount dvd release. Hope to see a Blu-ray release here in the states soon.

 

[Alan Tully]

"The OCN has disappeared". Well if the restoration is based on a shortened copy of the OCN, it hasn't all gone, & I'd think a third generation is a negative made from a fine grain pos. made from the OCN, which could look very good. Anyway, all good news.

Could it be that we'll have a Blu-ray of Is Paris Burning? before we get one of The Victors...is Sony doing any work on their back catalogue now? It seems like a long time since I heard about anything.

 

[Douglas R]

I've watched the HD version on Paramount+ in the UK. It looks pretty good, complete with overture and intermission.

 

[Thomas T]

Fingers crossed that Paramount will release the roadshow version as part of its Paramount Presents line or perhaps Kino Lorber negotiated the title as part of their Paramount license deal.

 

[Alan Tully]

I've watched the HD version on Paramount+ in the UK. It looks pretty good, complete with overture and intermission.

Ha, I saw it on Talking Pictures TV, a really old transfer sharpened to infinity, the picture just shimmered. What I found a bit off-putting was the very loose lip-sync, a lot (all?) of it was obviously re-voiced, & probably not by the actor onscreen (but then I only saw about 20 minutes of it). I found the same thing with The Train, some small parts were played by Frenchmen & re-voiced after, & the lips didn't always match what was coming out of them.

 

[Ernest]

I know of a Japanese Blu-ray that came out recently but read no reviews of the image quality. My DirecTV offered a streaming version and was a nice improvement over my old Paramount dvd release. Hope to see a Blu-ray release here in the states soon.

I purchased the Japanese version and it is the full length 173 minutes with very good video. It is the audio that presents the biggest problem which has always been the case. The Blu-ray is dubbed in English which is awful. I would much prefer the audio in the language spoken, English, French and German with English subtitles. I really like the movie I really hope they fix the audio if they release it in 4K.

 

[Douglas R]

I purchased the Japanese version and it is the full length 173 minutes with very good video. It is the audio that presents the biggest problem which has always been the case. The Blu-ray is dubbed in English which is awful. I would much prefer the audio in the language spoken, English, French and German with English subtitles. I really like the movie I really hope they fix the audio if they release it in 4K.

The trouble is that whichever language version you play, they all have some of the actors dubbed. At least with the English language version you have the English language speakers using their own voices. But no version is ideal. It’s the same with very many other French made films intended for an international audience.

 

[James Luckard]

Yep, this film has a problem similar to another Paramount film shot in France, The Tenant.

Both films were made with a mix of actors, who each spoke in their native tongues in their scenes. It was common with European international productions at the time. Unfortunately, there is no track for Is Paris Burning or The tenant where all the native languages are used. For each film, there are only dubs existing in a single language, so any track is a compromise.

At least with Is Paris Burning all the actors spoke in the logical native language for the characters. Last time I watched this, I just stayed primarily on the French track and switched to the English track for the few scenes where English is spoken. The only annoying thing is that they didn't include a German track, for the scenes in German. Still, by sticking primarily to the French track, you get what seems like the best experience.

The Tenant is even more difficult, because the characters are all, nominally, speaking French, but about half the scenes are with English-speaking actors, who acted in English.

At least, as far as I remember, most of the stars voiced their own roles in the English dub on Is Paris Burning. The Tenant has some wonky actor choices for the English dubbing, especially the actress who dubs Isabelle Adjani.

 

[uncledougie]

“Could it be that we'll have a Blu-ray of Is Paris Burning? before we get one of The Victors...is Sony doing any work on their back catalogue now? It seems like a long time since I heard about anything.”

I certainly hope the restored Is Paris Burning? gets a first class Blu-ray release here. The last version I had (still have) is the laserdisc. It wasn’t bad for its time, but I’m sure this would be a vast improvement. I agree, also, that The Victors needs a restoration, and it’s surprising that even though it wasn’t a winner at the box office, you’d think it would’ve deserved more respect considering the excellent cast. Maybe it was seen as not living up to The Longest Day, but as far as I can tell, it’s never even been available on a Region 1 disc, and other editions are the cut version, on DVD only.

 

[paul pisano]

the dvd release is now dvd-r.