La Dolce Vita - is it coming? (1 Viewer)

[Gordon McMurphy]

Any reviews yet?

 

[Mark_vdH]

I just got a shipping confirmation from CD-WOW, so copies should be out there.....

 

[JPCinema]

I found a copy yesterday. The transfer is as good as the Medusa Italian version. Surprisingly the Dolby 5.1 sounds very good. I am most pleased with the fact that I cannot notice any PAL speedup which is what I was very concerned about.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Excellent!

Thanks, Ken.


Ciao!

 

[DanRevill]

I can't wait. As much as I'm looking forward to getting Star Wars this week, ever since I received 8½ for Christmas I've been awaiting this film.

 

[Victor M]

DVDBEAVER review/comparison for Dolce is out

ADDITION: (Koch Lorber - Sept 2004) - The Koch Lorber looks quite good. I think it is as sharp as the Medusa if maybe a little softer, and also a shade weaker in contrast. Most will find the differences negligible and as the Koch has a reasonable price and no PAL speedup it is a decent buy for those that reside in North America. I dislike the gaudy yellow subtitles, but the Extras are quite stacked with an audio commentary and a whole second disc of featurettes and interviews etc. The Koch has a bumped 5.1 audio track as well as the original mono. This is a good buy folks... and for lovers of the film - a reason to replace your alternate DVD copy, if only for the extras.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Report Card:

Image:
Medusa (Italian) but Koch is very close

Sound:
Koch / Lorber

Extras:
Koch / Lorber

Menu:
Universum (German)

 

[Mark_vdH]

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare5/dolcevita.htm

Looks great. Shame about the yellow subtitles though, I like 'm white....

 

[Victor M]

On our future tentpole releases we will be offering both whie and yellow subtitles

 

[ArthurMy]

Tentpole? What is a tentpole release, dare I ask.

 

[Dom]

I am so bummed! Yellow subs are quite distracting so am not buying the set. Will rent the discs I suppose..

Damn

 

[Simon Basso]

A tentpole release is one that, if it doesn't sell, the company goes out of business.

And yellow subs on a b&w film? What eejit thought of that? I've never said this before, because I'm generally not discriminating when it comes to films I love, (I couldn't care less about sound, anamorphic and in some rare cases ratio), but I'm not buying this with yellow subs.

 

[PaulP]

What's wrong with yellow subtitles?

 

[Brian PB]

[diatribe]

Jeez, you folks are sure picky. So you would rather purchase the Medusa (Italian) release with an extra disc without any subtitles or do without the film in your collection entirely than to buy an otherwise exemplary release because of the color of the (removable) subtitles?

The producer of the disc, Tim Hinsley, has said in another forum that Koch Lorber reluctantly decided to go with the yellow subtitles because the white subs with black borders "were continually get[ting] washed out and were hard to read." The company also plans to offer an innovation in upcoming releases: a choice (!) of subtitle colors.

The Koch Lorber release of La Dolce vita was greeted with skepticism and derision from the get-go:

1. We complained about the potential problems of using a PAL master (4% speed-up; altered pitch of the soundtrack; ghosting) and Koch Lorber fixed it (something that established companies such as Kino, Warner Brothers*, Wellspring, and New Yorker can't seem to do properly).
2. People doubted that Koch Lorber could match the quality of the Medusa, and they did.
3. The company has had to endure all sorts of unkind comparisons to Fox Lorber (to which it has no relationship), or sarcastic misspellings of its name (Crotch Lorber, Kock Lorber).

They've worked incredibly hard to put out an excellent 2-disc special edition of a beloved Fellini film, at a reasonable price, yet some still find fault and refuse to buy their product. What sort of message do you think you're sending? That foreign film fans are spoiled brats who will accept nothing short of perfection (the definition of which seems to constantly shift)?

I say: Let's give credit where it's due. If you love this film, I'd encourage you to set your quibbles aside, and reward Koch Lorber's strong efforts with a purchase.


* see the R1 Chaplin collection

[/diatribe]

 

[Thomas T]

I prefer yellow subtitles for the simple reason, especially on B&W films, white subtitles are very difficult to read on white backgrounds and yellow subtitles are simply easier to read.

I couldn't care less if the subtitles were green, purple, blue or pink!!! The excuses some people will come up with to justify not buying a film.

 

[Ike]

Ordered my set. Can't wait. Yellow subs aren't my first choice, but it wouldn't stop me from buying it.

 

[Seymour Uranowitz]

I agree.

This kind of discussion generally comes with the territory when it involves any kind of enthusiast community. You think this is bad, check out the Star Wars discussions. You'd think George Lucas was a convicted rapist/child molester for changing a few special effects in the Original Trilogy. "Greedo shoots first? NO SALE!"

People who are passionate about something will always find all manner of minutiae to examine critically. (Of course, it's not minutiae to the enthusiast.) Same thing happens on car discussion boards, antique discussion boards, home appliance discussion boards, you name it.

Me, I ordered La Dolce Vita for $16.73 back on June 10, using DDD's "unofficial" 20% off coupon. I'm happy just to have it, and if the subtitles are yellow, so be it.

 

[Mark_vdH]

Since you've also addressed me, I'd like to mention I never said it would keep me from buying it. It's a minor annoyance, just a little frustrating because it seems so easy to do it "right".

Maybe it's just a "cultural" thing: In the Netherlands, where we have an awful lot of subtitling on TV and DVD, most, if not all, subtitles are white.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Me too (on B&W). I'm not buying this for the simple reason that I got the Medusa a long time ago, but come on... To the person who said that they would accept the wrong AR but not yellow subs... I am speechless.

I am glad that Koch has figured out good PAL to NTSC conversion. I'd still prefer either getting the native PAL or NTSC from a HD master, but a dedication to quality is always appreciated, and I look forward to future Koch releases.

Ted

 

[PaulP]

If I'm not mistaken, all R1 Disney releases have yellow subtitles. So you wouldn't buy any Disney-released film?

 

[ArthurMy]

Just to be perfectly clear: The Medusa's SECOND disc (the extras) doesn't have subtitles. The film, on the first disc, does, and they're not yellow. That said, yellow is fine.