More Interesting Noir In R2 (France) (1 Viewer)

[Dave B Ferris]

While I'd argue Max Ophuls remains best known for films such
as 'La Ronde', 'Lola Montes', 'The Earrings of Madame De',
and 'Letter From an Unknown Woman', (all available on LD
from Criterion; only 'Lola Montes' is available in R1
on DVD), Ophuls was evidently pegged as a noir
director for most of his output for U.S.
studios.

One noir Ophuls directed in the U.S., 'The Reckless Moment'
was recently remade as 'The Deep End', starring Tilda Swinton. I had hoped the remake might spur a
release of Ophuls' original version on DVD.

No such luck, yet; however, I did notice another noir
Ophuls directed in the U.S., 'Caught', starring James
Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes and Robert Ryan, is now
available through Amazon's French store.

Can any of our R2 members comment on the quality of
the R2 DVD for 'Caught'?

 

[Herb Kane]

Hey Dave, is this the version you're referring to...?

Wild Side Video has a number of titles that interest me as well but from what I understand the French subs cannot be turned off, so I've been hesitant to order any... If that's not the case, can anyone please advise...?

Herb.

 

[Moz]

Hi guys...

Haven't seen this one, but WILD SIDE VIDEO is doing a very fine job in France.
People who love movies...
So i guess you can trust them on the quality !
As for the subtitles, i'm going to try to find one and tell you if you can turn them off...

 

[Oliver_Groth]

I have the Wild Side release of T-Men & Raw Deal and you can not turn off the (annoying) french subtitles. Don't know if I am allowed to say this here, but I made copies of the discs without the subs.

However, it seems that Wild Side only put non-removable subtitles on discs that don't have french audio. A friend owns another WS release, Force of Evil, and that disc has a french track and removable subtitles.

Oliver

 

[Dave B Ferris]

Yes, Herb, that is the exact release I ordered - and
received on Saturday (9/4/04).

While I was happy to safely receive the package, I have
yet to find the time to view the DVD, so I am still
unable to address the issue of (possible) forced sub-
titles.

I'll be disappointed if the sub-titles are indeed forced,
but I'll still be happy to have a chance to see another
one of Ophuls' works.

Usually, when I am trying to decide whether to order an
R2 DVD, I try to guess whether a domestic release might
be forthcoming. In the case of 'Caught', the film is
evidently so obscure, or so low profile, I'll be amazed
if there is a domestic release. Thus, I'm still happy
to have the R2 version, even if the sub-titles are forced.

As a side note, I wonder if the folks who formed Wild Side
were big fans of the 60's drama 'Walk On the Wild Side',
starring Jane Fonda and Laurence Harvey, directed by
Edward Dmytryk. Besides the similarity with the name,
the logo used on the Wild Side DVD packaging seems (to me at least) to be an homage to the famous Saul Bass-designed opening credits sequence.

 

[Herb Kane]

I try to do the same thing Dave, although there doesn't really seem to be any rhyme or reason as to how these obscure titles eventually get released. I think in many cases, it boils down to the condition of the source elements since I'm sure the studios don't want to put any (much) money into these types of releases since there isn't likely a ton of cash to be made from them.

Let us know re: Caught. I'm curious to hear how it looks. It seems as though several members here are pleased with their work. And like you, I'll probably order these regardless of the sub issues and I'll be just as happy to own them.

 

[Miguel M Santos]

I have the Wild Side release of LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN and you can't take the subtitles off. Apart from that the picture looks stuning. I'd guess that CAUGHT would be the same. Considering that there's no plans for a non-french release of the film in the near future, I don't regret it in the least.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

I have the Wild Side edition of Anthony's Mann's, Men in War and I managed to remove the forced French subtitles.

I have a Pioneer DV-757ai.

- From the Language Menu chose Original Language (English) with French subtitles

- Press "Stop" ONCE and ONCE only!

- Press "Set-up"

- Find the player's Language default Menu

- Select Subtitle Display and select "OFF"

- Press Enter (do this even if "OFF" is already selected - THIS IS IMPORTANT!)

- Press "Set-up"

- Press Chapter Forward TWICE (in order to cycle to Chapter opinion and avoid the Main Menu of the Disc)

- Press "Enter" (when Chapter option is selected - THIS IS IMPORTANT!)


If you have a Pioneer and you follow these instructions precisely, then the film should now play in English with NO SUBTITLES! Yay!

This type of procedure is similar on many players, so even if you don't have a Pioneer, you should still be able to work somethingout.

Suck it and see, as they say.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Is the Wild Side transfer of Mann's, Man of the West in 2.35:1 anamorphic or is it non-anamorphic?

I love Tony Mann's films and Man of the West is a brilliant Western.

Is Budd Boetticher's, The Tall T available in France or Germany? That's an amazing Western - long overdue from Columbia on region 1.

 

[Dave B Ferris]

Gordon, as far as I can tell, through the use of the search
engine at Amazon's French & German sites (which allows a
consumer to search by director), the only film directed
by Boetticher available on R2 (in France and the U.K.)
is 'The Man From The Alamo', staring Glenn Ford.

Like you, I wish 'The Tall T', as well as the six other
Boetticher/Scott films would be released in R1, or R2,
or - really - any region.

I also wish Boetticher's 'A Time For Dying' would be
released - I've always held out hope 'A Time For
Dying' might be released in Spain. So far,
though, no such luck.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

A Time for Dying (1969, unknown)

Comanche Station (1960, Columbia)
Ride Lonesome (1959, Columbia)
Buchanan Rides Alone (1958, Columbia)
The Tall T (1957, Columbia)
Decision at Sundown (1957, Columbia)

The Killer Is Loose (1956, United Artists)

Westbound (1959, Warner)
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960, Warner)

Seven Men from Now (1956, Batjac/Paramount?)
Bullfighter and the Lady (1951, Republic/Paramount, restored 124-minute version)

Red Ball Express (1952, Universal)
The Man from the Alamo (1953, Universal/region 2 DVD)
Wings of the Hawk (1953, Universal)
Seminole (1953, Universal)

All of which are not on DVD. Scandalous!

Columbia are apparently restoring several of the films they own. Do they ever show up on US TV? UK broadcasts of Budd's films are pretty rare these days.

Paramount bagged (most/all?) of the Batjac films, so Seven Men from Now should be on it's way nest year, hopefully. But Columbia need to get the finger out and do a boxed set... maybe!

 

[John Hodson]

Gordon - do you mean this version from Carlotta? Bad news, I'm afraid...