International PAL AND OTHER-REGION DVD ANNOUNCEMENTS & REVIEWS (1 Viewer)

[Keith Cobby]

I don't know why the Hammer films have been so badly treated for blu-ray release. I assume it is the budget nature of the films and the quality of the film stocks they used. The only reason I bought the two I have is I doubt any better editions will be along soon. I would have bought Clegg if the general consensus was better. I am keen to get Kiss of the Vampire but will wait for reviews. I don't think the studio have treated the films with enough respect to warrant pre-orders.

 

[youworkmen]

I don't know why the Hammer films have been so badly treated for blu-ray release. I assume it is the budget nature of the films and the quality of the film stocks they used. The only reason I bought the two I have is I doubt any better editions will be along soon. I would have bought Clegg if the general consensus was better. I am keen to get Kiss of the Vampire but will wait for reviews. I don't think the studio have treated the films with enough respect to warrant pre-orders.

By "studio" do you mean Hammer themselves ? They don't have involvement in all of the Hammer releases anyway. Not any of these Universal titles at least.

If you mean Final Cut -I think Final Cut have done a reasonable job on the titles they've released . Their superb 45 minute documentary on the Curse of the Werewolf is worth the price of admission alone - onscreen interviews with the 2 main female cast members and significant excerpts from an audio interview with Oliver Reed . It certainly knocks spots of most of the other Hammer making ofs where all we get is Rigby , Hearn , Gatiss and a few other modern commentators.

I think Final Cut have released the versions they've been given so any imperfections are not down to them and its highly likely that as these Universal titles get released in various countries that the sources will almost certainly be the same anyway.

Kiss of the Vampire is one of my favourites . Its over £18 at the moment but I've pre-ordered on Amazon so I expect a sub £15 price by release date thanks to the Amazon Pre-Order Guarantee

 

[Alan Tully]

The trouble with Hammer is that the studios that own the films (& I'm thinking Universal here) aren't interested in spending any time or money on them, so we get releases from ancient HD masters that are in need of a good clean-up. I hope The Kiss Of The Vampire looks good, it should do, it was the first Hammer film I ever saw in 1963 - well not quite true, I saw Paranoiac first, as it was the supporting feature. But forget those daft prices.

 

[youworkmen]

Universal are pretty useless at most things.
They release sub standard Blurays of their most popular movies and practically all their classic cult movies and tv shows they licence out to other companies who have to make do with what they're given.

To date Universal have not released a single Hammer film on dvd or Bluray in the UK .
Although they released their 8 films on dvd in the US and recently reissued them on a more sensible 4 disc set I believe all the non US dvd's were licenced out.
Most of them never came out on dvd in the UK at all.


Many of their classic sci fi shows like The Invisible Man , The Gemini Man and The Six Million Dollar Man have been released in various countries but never from Universal themselves.

Maybe they don't give a hoot but its fortunate that others realise their archive is filled with interesting content.

 

[Thomas T]

Apparently there is an anamorphic release of King Of The Khyber Rifles available in Italy but the reviews on the amazon.it site are not encouraging. It sounds like an inadequate transfer. I think I'll stick with my Spanish Khyber. I was disappointed, I was so psyched to see an anamorphic Khyber and hoped to upgrade.

 

[Thomas T]

Received three discs from Italy in today's mail.

Untamed (1955) which is indeed anamorphic with a decent but not great picture and what sounds like true stereo sound. Some of the scenes have some minor streaking but not enough to annoy. I haven't watched it all the way through yet, just scanned it to the end.

Sitting Bull (1954) which is also anamorphic and while not an ideal transfer, it's the best I've ever seen the film look. The U.S. public domain transfers have been pitiful and the German wide screen was not anamorphic.

Cousin Bette (1998) excellent anamorphic transfer. The U.S. disc is 4x3 letterbox only.

I looked at them on a 40" HD monitor. I would imagine those who would watch on a larger scale monitor, any flaws would be magnified.

 

[lionel59]

Re UNTAMED from Italy. There is an image flaw in the transfer at around the 1hr 20 mins point of the movie which persists until the end of the film. It appears to be a processing flaw. A pity, as up until this point, it is the best edition of the movie I have yet seen on dvd. The sound is also clearly stereophonic. Let's hope a European Blu Ray release takes place one day.....

 

[Douglas R]

Received three discs from Italy in today's mail.


Sitting Bull (1954) which is also anamorphic and while not an ideal transfer, it's the best I've ever seen the film look. The U.S. public domain transfers have been pitiful and the German wide screen was not anamorphic.

Thomas - Is that the version on Cult Media titled LA STRAGE DEL 7 CAVALLEGGERI?


I saw SITTING BULL when it was first released at the age of 9. I absolutely loved it and never stopped remembering it. Colour, CinemaScope and all those redskins biting the dust (all us kids spent most of our time playing cowboys and indians in those days of course). I wasn't so keen on it when seeing poor quality pan and scan versions on TV years later but maybe I can rekindle my childhood enthusiasm for the film by seeing a decent widescreen version.

 

[Thomas T]

Thomas - Is that the version on Cult Media titled LA STRAGE DEL 7 CAVALLEGGERI?


I saw SITTING BULL when it was first released at the age of 9. I absolutely loved it and never stopped remembering it. Colour, CinemaScope and all those redskins biting the dust (all us kids spent most of our time playing cowboys and indians in those days of course). I wasn't so keen on it when seeing poor quality pan and scan versions on TV years later but maybe I can rekindle my childhood enthusiasm for the film by seeing a decent widescreen version.

Yes it is but let me reiterate ... the transfer is less than ideal. It's very soft with faded colors so I wouldn't go so far as calling it "decent". But it is anamorphic wide screen and the best I've seen it look on home video but still a long way from being a truly adequate DVD so don't get your hopes up. Still, for me, until something better comes along, it will suffice. I watched it on a 40" HD monitor and I would imagine the larger the screen, it would probably look even worse.

 

[Thomas T]

Got three discs from Germany the other day, two blu rays and a DVD.


The blu rays (both unavailable in blu in region one) are Sliding Doors (1998) with Gwyneth Paltrow (the R1 disc was non anamorphic) and Charlie Chan And The Curse Of The Dragon Queen (1981) (the R1 disc was full frame) with an all star cast: Peter Ustinov as Chan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Angie Dickinson, Roddy McDowall, Brian Keith, Lee Grant, Rachel Roberts. The DVD is a western Cave Of Outlaws (1951) with Macdonald Carey and Alexis Smith.


The two blu rays are nice transfers with both German and English soundtracks though to get the English track to Sliding Doors you have to go to the Extras. Cave Of Outlaws is a very nice Technicolor transfer.

 

[Robin9]

I recently bought the German DVD of The Secret Ways, a not especially well-known film produced by Richard Widmark and starring himself. The source novel, The Last Frontier, which I haven't read is by Alistair MacLean. The Secret Ways is a fairly good suspense thriller with a few twists and a Hitchcock-type high tension finish involving escaping against the odds. At the beginning of the film Senta Berger has a small but noticeable part. I believe this was her first English-speaking role.

The DVD is adequate but nothing more. As far I know, this DVD is the only available disc of The Secret Ways.

 

[lionel59]

I can endorse the following European releases:

THE STORY OF DR. WASSELL (Spanish SD. De Mille/Gary Cooper)

Blu Rays (Spanish):

UNTIL THEY SAIL (Jean Simmons, Paul Newman)

BORN YESTERDAY (Judy Holliday- probably the same as TT transfer)

SUEZ ( Tyrone Power. Looks to be the same master used by Fox Archives. Window-boxed titles. Reportedly a BD-R but it looks fine to me nonetheless)

(German)

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS (2 versions , General Release and Restored Premiere cuts)

THE BENNY GOODMAN STORY (Wide Screen. SD releases are Pan/Scan)

MAN WITHOUT A STAR (Wide Screen. Asian releases are Pan/Scan)

WESTERN UNION (Fritz Lang. Great transfer albeit taken from Eastman color preservation negatives taken from Technicolor originals)

 

[Robert Crawford]

I just bought The Naked Prey and Thieves Highway from Amazon UK. I'm really looking forward to watching both of these Blu-rays.

 

[Thomas T]

Received two discs from Germany not available in Region 1. One blu ray and one DVD. The blu ray is The Corrupt Ones (1967), an action adventure film with Robert Stack, Elke Sommer, Nancy Kwan and a nice title song by Dusty Springfield. Very nice looking in its proper scope ratio and I'm happy with it.

The DVD is Mayerling (1968) with Omar Sharif, Catherine Deneuve, James Mason and Ava Gardner and directed by Terence Young. It's a handsome anamorphic 2.35 transfer.


Both films give you a choice of German or English soundtracks. The English track to Mayerling is a bit hollow sounding but not annoying.

 

[Thomas T]

Got The Maverick Queen (1956), a minor Republic western with Barbara Stanwyck and Barry Sullivan in from Germany. The titles are in anamorphic scope but then the film reverts to anamorphic 1.85! It's an adequate transfer if soft looking in certain spots. I would imagine the larger your monitor (I watched it on a 40" HD) the image quality would deteriorate.

 

[Thomas T]

Got two movies from Germany, one blu and one DVD. The blu is Don Siegel's Charley Varrick with Walter Matthau which looks very nice and has a 72 minute documentary on the making of the film in English with German subtitles. I would imagine a U.S. release would include this doc. The DVD is The Golden Horde (1951), a Universal exotic programmer with Ann Blyth, David Farrar and Richard Egan which looks quite nice in vivid technicolor.

 

[Robin9]

Got two movies from Germany, one blu and one DVD. The blu is Don Siegel's Charley Varrick with Walter Matthau which looks very nice and has a 72 minute documentary on the making of the film in English with German subtitles. I would imagine a U.S. release would include this doc. The DVD is The Golden Horde (1951), a Universal exotic programmer with Ann Blyth, David Farrar and Richard Egan which looks quite nice in vivid technicolor.

Thank you for that. I've been playing around with the idea of buying Charley Varrick and you've helped me make a decision.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Thank you for that. I've been playing around with the idea of buying Charley Varrick and you've helped me make a decision.

Yeah, I bought it back in July and thought it looked very good.

 

[Robin9]

Thank to a tip-off from another HTF member, I bought a French DVD of Mark Of The Renegade, a film I've been seeking for ages. I'm a Cyd Charisse completist.

Unfortunately this disc is a double whammy. Being French, it has forced sub-titles. Neither my Oppo HD981 DVD player nor my Zone B Blu-ray player can block them. It's also a Universal film, and the transfer was done when Universal were using DNR without skill or restraint. Faces are unnaturally smooth and I thought at first the transfer might have been from a VHS tape.

As Cyd Charisse is one of my four favorite female film stars, I'm glad to have this film but I wish the disc was better.

Robert Harris has assured us that Universal has a new attitude, and anyone who has seen the new Spartacus or Remember The Night Blu-ray discs will be inclined to agree. Universal however will more likely revisit the Douglas Sirk and Anthony Mann films and Day Of The Jackal than a very minor film like Mark Of The Renegade.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Who are the other three?