Triplets of Belleville DVD (1 Viewer)

[Brian F]

I have been reading some reviews about the region 1 DVD of 'Triplets of Belleville' from Columbia and have become concerned about some things about it. I hope someone has received an early copy and can comment. Here are my concerns:

- The disc supposedly has English and Spanish 5.1 audio. It is a French film. However, all of the reviews I have read say that the dialog (all five sentences) is still in French without subtitles. I will not buy the disc if it is dubbed.

- A review on IGN commented on improper framing of the image, and that there is a "formatted for your TV" notice at the beginning of the film. The disc is 1.78:1, and the review talks about chopping at the top and bottom. I do seem to remember seeing this problem in the theater, especially in certain scenes. I was thinking that the film was shot in 1.33:1, and it was being "tilt-and-scanned" (if that is the term) for the theater. IMDB's tech specs (trustworthy?) lists it at 1.66:1. Does anyone know what the aspect ratio is supposed to be?


If the region 1 disc is dubbed and incorrectly framed, I would be interested to know how the other region discs are presented. Thanks in advance for any comments!

 

[Mark-W]

Brian F-

This was going to be a blind buy for me until I read some of the same things you did. Now I am hoping to hear better news, or, if I must, get another region's version.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I wonder if this 2-disc SE will include English subs... probably not.

http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASI...087645-5340147



Looks good!

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

This RO edition has both French audio, English 5.1 AND DTS along w/ English subs!

Plus a bunch of nice supplementals...

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?page...2&title=144695

I'll probably get both and either swap discs or pick up a triple amaray w/ the swivel disc holder so it can still fit into that beautiful R2 SE packaging.

 

[Njal]

No English subtitles on the French LE.

 

[Sam Davatchi]

Since 99% of my collection is R1 (and also the PAL speedup) I was thinking of waiting for the R1. Otherwise I have easily access to the R2 DVD! Which should I get?

 

[Njal]

If you buy the R2French Les Triplettes LE from Fnac, you'll have the added bonus of Chomets previous short 'La Vieille dame et les pigeons' (The Old Lady and the Pigeons; approx 25 minutes, and very good. No English subs, but not really needed), I believe exclusive to the LE at Fnac.

 

[ChrisBEA]

I saw this in the theater and it was not subtitled, and it wasn't needed, there was so little dialogue to begin with and the actions really spoke for themselves.
So subtitles aren't really an issue, framing on the other hand....

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

The French 2-discer is a limited release?

 

[Njal]

The version with the cover listed above is afaik limited, and I'm reasonably certain the version with the short film on a separate dvd sold at Fnac is an exclusive, and limited.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I hate when companies do that... I have so many DVD's to pick up in the next few months... possibly the most of any yearly quarter to date since I've been collecting and now I have to add this which was a much lesser priority!

aargh..

Thanks for letting me know though, it's ten times worse when you find out the disc is OOP and have to resort to Ebay's exuberant prices...

 

[Tom Tsai]

Hopefully the Alliance version will correct the problems from the Columbia one.

 

[TonyD]

the trailer for it on "the statement" is a "full" frame, widescreen trailer.
i don't know what the correct ar is but it fills the screen on my widescreen set.
and it is anamorphic enhanced.
and it looks amazing.

 

[Brian F]

Did anyone else notice cropping of 'Triplets' in the theater? It was not present throughout, but there were parts that really drove me nuts. The top part of "Grandma's" head was chopped in some parts. The opening sequence was really bad (which was mentioned in the IGN review). It seemed to me to be 1.33 being zoomed to fit theatrical 1.85.

I remember reading that projecting 1.33 films in modern theaters is not accomplished easily, which is why they probably altered it. I guess it could have been 1.66 zoomed to 1.85 but I can't imagine that would be as noticeable as what I saw. I guess it also could have been a bad theater projection; or for that matter, the odd framing could be intentional. I guess we may never know. It seems that this may be one instance where Columbia should have provided both 1.33 and 1.78 versions. Lately, that is not a problem for them

I really like the film and was looking forward to seeing the DVD, but I don't want to buy a formatted version. I also do not really want to get an alternate region version because I have a multi-region Apex, which is a horrible machine.

However, that 2-disc set from amazon.fr looks cool, and it has both the 1.33 and 1.78 formats. I wonder if there are any reviews (in English) of it that compare the two versions? Does anyone know if it is in PAL or NTSC? My Apex does not deal with PAL all that well (i.e. stretched picture on anamorphic ws version without controls to fix it). Although I guess that problem would not occur on the 1.33 version.

What a mess!

 

[Brian F]

I just found a review for the region 2 Triplets DVD at http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=10549

This paragraph provides more information about the framing issue that I have been curious about:

"This DVD is presented anamorphically in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, slightly cropping the image vertically (despite the packaging’s claims that it is presented in its intended ratio of 1.66:1). It looks a little cramped at times, but not to the extent that it did when I saw it theatrically, when it was cropped even further to 1.85:1. The results are overall quite eye-pleasing, albeit with some niggles."

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Also waiting to find what the definitive DVD version is I should buy. My momitsu v880 DVI DVD player is region free and plays PAL so this might end up being a non-R1 purchase depending on how it all shakes out. DTS sounds NICE...

-dave

 

[rob kilbride]

Any news about this release yet? I'm holding off until I get some more definitive info.

 

[Joseph S]

Thanks for the heads up. The copy I just bought is headed right back. I can't believe they would leave the original language off the disk.

 

[MikeM]

The original language *is* on the DVD. When you select the optional tracks, the spoken words are still in French, just with minor (and I mean minor subtitles.) There are very few spoken words, but they are in French and on the DVD.

 

[Scott Ware]

Actually, there is one scene that has English dialogue. It's the scene after the Belleville Rendez-Vous scene. All the other dialogue is in French, however.