International MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (1990) From Spain -- A Quick Look (1 Viewer)

[Dick]

https://www.amazon.com/Mountains-Mo...of+the+moon&qid=1578454501&s=movies-tv&sr=1-2

From Spain comes this very nice Blu-ray (at long-g-g last!) of Bob Rafelson's 1990 epic. This is an extraordinary adventure that tells of 19th Century explorers John Speke and Richard Burton and their quest to find the source of the Nile River. Their trek through a large swatch of Africa constitutes the main focus, and was beautifully shot at 1.85:1 (on disc it is 1.78:1) by Roger Deakins. Back in their native England, things begin to devolve due to treachery and jealousy. More about the film can be found elsewhere. It's always wonderful to view a film with such a literary script and fine acting.

What I wanted to report was the quality of the disc. Bad news first: Although it features an English language track, it defaults to Spanish. This is easily fixable using your remote. What isn't fixable (short of using software to copy the film sans subtitles, which of course I do not endorse) is the fact that Spanish subs are not removable using your player.

If you can get past that, here is the good news: The image quality is very nice, after a reel of somewhat drab, green-leaning colors goes by (I also made minor adjustments to color saturation and tint away from green on my 65" OLED display). Then I settled in for the remainder of the film, which has accurate flesh tones and lush greens in the foliage. The image is consistently sharp, with good black levels that do not crush during night sequences. The film grain is visible but very light, which was probably a good thing for the 70mm blow-up prints (with 6-track mag stereo) that some cities were fortunate to see. The sound on this disc is a reduction to Dolby 2.0, but is good and a bit directional between the front speakers during critical moments. Beautiful, lush score by Michael Small -- quite the polar opposite of his music for such films as KLUTE and THE PARALLAX VIEW. The soundtrack is a bit low in volume, which is particularly noticeable following a very loud StudioCanal logo ahead of the credits.

I owned the Pioneer & Artisan DVD's, which were non-anamorphic. This edition really kicks their ass. I have not seen that this is available from anywhere except via import from Spain, but I can 100% report this is NOT a bootleg, as so many Spanish titles have been. It is Region B locked, and has no bonus material. Hopefully a UK or U.S. edition will emerge so that we can have an edition without forced subtitles. Such a terrific film, and arguably Mr. Rafelson's best.

 

[Ernest]

https://www.amazon.com/Mountains-Mo...of+the+moon&qid=1578454501&s=movies-tv&sr=1-2

From Spain comes this very nice Blu-ray (at long-g-g last!) of Bob Rafelson's 1990 epic. This is an extraordinary adventure that tells of 19th Century explorers John Speke and Richard Burton and their quest to find the source of the Nile River. Their trek through a large swatch of Africa constitutes the main focus, and was beautifully shot at 1.85:1 (on disc it is 1.78:1) by Roger Deakins. Back in their native England, things begin to devolve due to treachery and jealousy. More about the film can be found elsewhere. It's always wonderful to view a film with such a literary script and fine acting.

What I wanted to report was the quality of the disc. Bad news first: Although it features an English language track, it defaults to Spanish. This is easily fixable using your remote. What isn't fixable (short of using software to copy the film sans subtitles, which of course I do not endorse) is the fact that Spanish subs are not removable using your player.

If you can get past that, here is the good news: The image quality is very nice, after a reel of somewhat drab, green-leaning colors goes by (I also made minor adjustments to color saturation and tint away from green on my 65" OLED display). Then I settled in for the remainder of the film, which has accurate flesh tones and lush greens in the foliage. The image is consistently sharp, with good black levels that do not crush during night sequences. The film grain is visible but very light, which was probably a good thing for the 70mm blow-up prints (with 6-track mag stereo) that some cities were fortunate to see. The sound on this disc is a reduction to Dolby 2.0, but is good and a bit directional between the front speakers during critical moments. Beautiful, lush score by Michael Small -- quite the polar opposite of his music for such films as KLUTE and THE PARALLAX VIEW. The soundtrack is a bit low in volume, which is particularly noticeable following a very loud StudioCanal logo ahead of the credits.

I owned the Pioneer & Artisan DVD's, which were non-anamorphic. This edition really kicks their ass. I have not seen that this is available from anywhere except via import from Spain, but I can 100% report this is NOT a bootleg, as so many Spanish titles have been. It is Region B locked, and has no bonus material. Hopefully a UK or U.S. edition will emerge so that we can have an edition without forced subtitles. Such a terrific film, and arguably Mr. Rafelson's best.

 

[Ernest]

I own Blu-Ray players manufactured by Oppo and LG that include the feature "subtitle shift" which allows you to move the subtitles up or down. In most cases subtitle shift will allow you to move the subtitles off the screen. The subtitles are still playing you just don't see them. Great movie I have hoped for a long time would be released on Blu-Ray. Thank you for advising all of us of this release.

 

[john a hunter]

Being able to push subtitles off the screen is a great advantage!
In addition my new Panasonic UB420 has this feature although I haven't tried it yet.
Will have to double check!

 

[Alan Tully]

Studiocanal seem to do unremovable subs a lot on their European releases, it's always worth checking.

 

[Dick]

Being able to push subtitles off the screen is a great advantage!
In addition my new Panasonic UB420 has this feature although I haven't tried it yet.
Will have to double check!

Except that you are chopping off a fair amount of picture area at the bottom of the screen, especially if you need to hide two-line subtitles. Subtitles never sit directly on the bottom edge of the picture...they are somewhat raised above that, so you might lose a fair chunk. The 2.35:1 movies would work out better, as you could push subtitles down and still maintain the full image. But for MOTM and other 1.78:1 titles, this would definitely be a compromise. I suggest an inexpensive all-region player!

 

[Ernest]

Except that you are chopping off a fair amount of picture area at the bottom of the screen, especially if you need to hide two-line subtitles. Subtitles never sit directly on the bottom edge of the picture...they are somewhat raised above that, so you might lose a fair chunk. The 2.35:1 movies would work out better, as you could push subtitles down and still maintain the full image. But for MOTM and other 1.78:1 titles, this would definitely be a compromise. I suggest an inexpensive all-region player!

Moving the subtitles is just that you are not moving the picture at all. The picture remains steady no movement at all as you move the subtitles off the screen. I have a few BluRay titles I move the subtitles off the screen, The Mechanic, Barabbas, MacKennas Gold which are international releases

 

[Dick]

Moving the subtitles is just that you are not moving the picture at all. The picture remains steady no movement at all as you move the subtitles off the screen. I have a few BluRay titles I move the subtitles off the screen, The Mechanic, Barabbas, MacKennas Gold which are international releases

Hmm. Interesting feature I'd not known about. But it seems as though such a player would also permit you to simply nix the subs altogether. Anyway, nice to know, but is that feature mentioned in the specs of players on sale?

 

[john a hunter]

Except that you are chopping off a fair amount of picture area at the bottom of the screen, especially if you need to hide two-line subtitles. Subtitles never sit directly on the bottom edge of the picture...they are somewhat raised above that, so you might lose a fair chunk. The 2.35:1 movies would work out better, as you could push subtitles down and still maintain the full image. But for MOTM and other 1.78:1 titles, this would definitely be a compromise. I suggest an inexpensive all-region player!

Was thinking about Scope titles which form the vast majority of my collection.

 

[Ernest]

Hmm. Interesting feature I'd not known about. But it seems as though such a player would also permit you to simply nix the subs altogether. Anyway, nice to know, but is that feature mentioned in the specs of players on sale?

No you can't nix the subtitles you can only move then up or down which is a necessary feature with front projectors. For me it is very useful because I prefer the subtitles at the very bottom of the screen.

 

[Worth]

There were some players that could be modded via firmware to ignore user prohibitions like forced subtitles and unskipable ads and trailers. I considered getting one years ago, but around the same time it became easier to just rip the disc. I did have an old DVD player that would immediately start playing the movie when the disc was inserted, bypassing the various warnings, ads, menus etc.

 

[Ernest]

https://www.amazon.com/Mountains-Mo...of+the+moon&qid=1578454501&s=movies-tv&sr=1-2

From Spain comes this very nice Blu-ray (at long-g-g last!) of Bob Rafelson's 1990 epic. This is an extraordinary adventure that tells of 19th Century explorers John Speke and Richard Burton and their quest to find the source of the Nile River. Their trek through a large swatch of Africa constitutes the main focus, and was beautifully shot at 1.85:1 (on disc it is 1.78:1) by Roger Deakins. Back in their native England, things begin to devolve due to treachery and jealousy. More about the film can be found elsewhere. It's always wonderful to view a film with such a literary script and fine acting.

What I wanted to report was the quality of the disc. Bad news first: Although it features an English language track, it defaults to Spanish. This is easily fixable using your remote. What isn't fixable (short of using software to copy the film sans subtitles, which of course I do not endorse) is the fact that Spanish subs are not removable using your player.

If you can get past that, here is the good news: The image quality is very nice, after a reel of somewhat drab, green-leaning colors goes by (I also made minor adjustments to color saturation and tint away from green on my 65" OLED display). Then I settled in for the remainder of the film, which has accurate flesh tones and lush greens in the foliage. The image is consistently sharp, with good black levels that do not crush during night sequences. The film grain is visible but very light, which was probably a good thing for the 70mm blow-up prints (with 6-track mag stereo) that some cities were fortunate to see. The sound on this disc is a reduction to Dolby 2.0, but is good and a bit directional between the front speakers during critical moments. Beautiful, lush score by Michael Small -- quite the polar opposite of his music for such films as KLUTE and THE PARALLAX VIEW. The soundtrack is a bit low in volume, which is particularly noticeable following a very loud StudioCanal logo ahead of the credits.

I owned the Pioneer & Artisan DVD's, which were non-anamorphic. This edition really kicks their ass. I have not seen that this is available from anywhere except via import from Spain, but I can 100% report this is NOT a bootleg, as so many Spanish titles have been. It is Region B locked, and has no bonus material. Hopefully a UK or U.S. edition will emerge so that we can have an edition without forced subtitles. Such a terrific film, and arguably Mr. Rafelson's best.

https://www.amazon.com/Mountains-Mo...of+the+moon&qid=1578454501&s=movies-tv&sr=1-2

From Spain comes this very nice Blu-ray (at long-g-g last!) of Bob Rafelson's 1990 epic. This is an extraordinary adventure that tells of 19th Century explorers John Speke and Richard Burton and their quest to find the source of the Nile River. Their trek through a large swatch of Africa constitutes the main focus, and was beautifully shot at 1.85:1 (on disc it is 1.78:1) by Roger Deakins. Back in their native England, things begin to devolve due to treachery and jealousy. More about the film can be found elsewhere. It's always wonderful to view a film with such a literary script and fine acting.

What I wanted to report was the quality of the disc. Bad news first: Although it features an English language track, it defaults to Spanish. This is easily fixable using your remote. What isn't fixable (short of using software to copy the film sans subtitles, which of course I do not endorse) is the fact that Spanish subs are not removable using your player.

If you can get past that, here is the good news: The image quality is very nice, after a reel of somewhat drab, green-leaning colors goes by (I also made minor adjustments to color saturation and tint away from green on my 65" OLED display). Then I settled in for the remainder of the film, which has accurate flesh tones and lush greens in the foliage. The image is consistently sharp, with good black levels that do not crush during night sequences. The film grain is visible but very light, which was probably a good thing for the 70mm blow-up prints (with 6-track mag stereo) that some cities were fortunate to see. The sound on this disc is a reduction to Dolby 2.0, but is good and a bit directional between the front speakers during critical moments. Beautiful, lush score by Michael Small -- quite the polar opposite of his music for such films as KLUTE and THE PARALLAX VIEW. The soundtrack is a bit low in volume, which is particularly noticeable following a very loud StudioCanal logo ahead of the credits.

I owned the Pioneer & Artisan DVD's, which were non-anamorphic. This edition really kicks their ass. I have not seen that this is available from anywhere except via import from Spain, but I can 100% report this is NOT a bootleg, as so many Spanish titles have been. It is Region B locked, and has no bonus material. Hopefully a UK or U.S. edition will emerge so that we can have an edition without forced subtitles. Such a terrific film, and arguably Mr. Rafelson's best.

I received my copy today and I am playing the Bluray on a Panasonic UB 420 Region A player. The Bluray is "Region Free" and the UB 420 does a nice job displaying the video which is a big improvement over the letterbox DVD. As reported the Spanish subtitles cannot be turned off. The UB 420 includes the feature subtitle shift, subtitle position, which set to position to 11 resulted in the subtitles disappearing. OPPO and LG also include the subtitle shift feature.