Pre-Order Funeral In Berlin (1966) (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

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Although the DVD is very good, I'm delighted this excellent film is now coming out on Blu-ray disc. I've never understood why some people dismiss Funeral In Berlin and insist it's inferior to The Ipcress File. Of the two, I watch Funeral In Berlin far more frequently.

I agree completely. Funeral in Berlin is an under-rated cold war thriller. And although I also love The Ipcress File, I too prefer this follow-up film as pure entertainment. Cold war era Berlin is really shown off to great effect, with intrigue and real suspense, plot twists and a wonderfully convoluted cold war deception game being played out that is memorable. Michael Caine great as always. Guy Doleman returns as droll and dismissive as ever. Eva Renzi is a knock-out. And there's never been a more lovable Soviet spy master than Oscar Homolka. And I hated the Soviets, so that says a lot.

With KL having previously released Billion Dollar Brain, and announcing the forthcoming Ipcress File, it's great news that the whole Harry Palmer trilogy will now be available on Blu-ray in region A.

Just a note/warning. It appears that this (along with the other recently listed Paramount Mod titles) is a BD-R. Spine had BLU-RAY DISC instead of Blu-Ray Logo.

There may be playback issues with certain machines.

So...any reviews?

Not sure why Paramount has decided to finally release some of their catalog to burned rather then pressed Blu ray. Bummer.

I also have a feeling--though I hope I'm wrong--that these are the same dated masters that were used for the DVDs, if the recent release of DANGER DIABOLIK on Shout, which was just a ported over reissue of the Paramount DVD slapped onto a Blu without any readjustments whatsoever, is any indication.

Given the zero promotion of the blu-ray, you're probably correct about it being an old master. Finally found some specs at this site:
Length:102 Minutes
Specs:BD-R Disc
Video Resolution/Codec:1080p AVC/MPEG-4
Aspect Ratio(s):2.35:1
Audio Formats:English: DTS-HD MA Mono
Subtitles/Captions:English SDH

Funeral in Berlin is a first rate, very entertaining Cold War thriller with a lot of charm that I simply must have on disc in the best possible presentation. I'll take this release as is.

David Weicker said:

Just a note/warning. It appears that this (along with the other recently listed Paramount Mod titles) is a BD-R. Spine had BLU-RAY DISC instead of Blu-Ray Logo.

There may be playback issues with certain machines.

Click to expand...

I have it and it does not appear to be a BD-R, Appears to be just a regular old Blu-ray.

Reggie W said:

I have it and it does not appear to be a BD-R, Appears to be just a regular old Blu-ray.

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I wondered about that, just as Warner MOD are not always MOD. But more importantly, how is the audio/video? Any bonus features?

If you have the dvd, it's easy to compare them and tell if it's a new master or not. I have the dvd of "High Commissioner" (another entertaining intrigue film) and the Kino blu-ray. A quick comparison shows they come from an identical source. The blu-ray is sharper, but I'm not sure it was worth the upgrade, especially since they omitted subtitles.

Sadsack said:

I wondered about that, just as Warner MOD are not always MOD.

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But they are always MOD.

People seem to equate "MOD" with "burned disc". But that's not the case. MOD simply means "Made on Demand". It can be made by either pressing or burning. Warner has done this with their Archive Collection DVDs even before they started doing blu-rays. Certain titles would be announced as being a limited run of pressed DVDs. After that run sold out, they'd continue with DVD-Rs.

Sony started an MOD program called the "Choice Collection" which are BD-Rs. After a while, they cancelled the "Choice Collection line" and now issue only pressed MOD discs. Why Paramount should decide to start burning discs for their MOD program after Sony abandoned theirs is anyone's guess.

Reggie W said:

I have it and it does not appear to be a BD-R, Appears to be just a regular old Blu-ray.

Click to expand...

I am glad that this is not a BD-R. I am well aware that MOD does not always mean burned.

I was (apparently mistakenly) taking my cue from the lack of Blu-Ray logo and the "BLU-RAY DISC" labeling, which has, in the past, indicated a BD-R.

Reggie W said:

Appears to be just a regular old Blu-ray.

Click to expand...

With a regular old master?

Sadsack said:

I wondered about that, just as Warner MOD are not always MOD. But more importantly, how is the audio/video? Any bonus features?

If you have the dvd, it's easy to compare them and tell if it's a new master or not. I have the dvd of "High Commissioner" (another entertaining intrigue film) and the Kino blu-ray. A quick comparison shows they come from an identical source. The blu-ray is sharper, but I'm not sure it was worth the upgrade, especially since they omitted subtitles.

Click to expand...

There are no bonus features. I have not yet had a chance to play the disc so this evening I will have a look at it.

Sadsack said:

I wondered about that, just as Warner MOD are not always MOD. But more importantly, how is the audio/video? Any bonus features?

If you have the dvd, it's easy to compare them and tell if it's a new master or not. I have the dvd of "High Commissioner" (another entertaining intrigue film) and the Kino blu-ray. A quick comparison shows they come from an identical source. The blu-ray is sharper, but I'm not sure it was worth the upgrade, especially since they omitted subtitles.

Click to expand...

You mention ' sub-titles' ........I certainly need them and 'thanks' for mentioning them . Few people ever mention them when reviewing films on DVD/BD.

jayembee said:

But they are always MOD.

People seem to equate "MOD" with "burned disc". But that's not the case. MOD simply means "Made on Demand". It can be made by either pressing or burning. Warner has done this with their Archive Collection DVDs even before they started doing blu-rays. Certain titles would be announced as being a limited run of pressed DVDs. After that run sold out, they'd continue with DVD-Rs.

Sony started an MOD program called the "Choice Collection" which are BD-Rs. After a while, they cancelled the "Choice Collection line" and now issue only pressed MOD discs. Why Paramount should decide to start burning discs for their MOD program after Sony abandoned theirs is anyone's guess.

Click to expand...

People "seem to equate" MOD with burned discs because that IS what they are. If I order a made-on-demand video, the company does NOT press one dvd just for me. As you said yourself, Warner sometimes pressed a bunch of dvds ahead of time and sold them thru the MOD store. They do that with blu-ray. That does NOT make them made-on-demand. Maybe sold-on-demand. That said, I could see even burned dvd-r being made in small batches rather than one disc whenever an order is placed.

There's a small music cd company that makes small quantity pressings, with the caveat that they will keep the cd in-stock "while demand/interest lasts." The word "demand" does not mean they are pressing single copies for single requests, but they probably do a new pressing if they get a certain number of orders.

commander richardson said:

You mention ' sub-titles' ........I certainly need them and 'thanks' for mentioning them . Few people ever mention them when reviewing films on DVD/BD.

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That was for "The High Commissioner." The website "bluray.com" generally has the specifications for releases, so I knew that ahead of time, but the review did not explicitly state it was an old master. Anyway, the analogy was that Paramount probably didn't make a new scan since they haven't announced it.

Sadsack said:

People "seem to equate" MOD with burned discs because that IS what they are. If I order a made-on-demand video, the company does NOT press one dvd just for me. As you said yourself, Warner sometimes pressed a bunch of dvds ahead of time and sold them thru the MOD store. They do that with blu-ray. That does NOT make them made-on-demand. Maybe sold-on-demand. That said, I could see even burned dvd-r being made in small batches rather than one disc whenever an order is placed.

There's a small music cd company that makes small quantity pressings, with the caveat that they will keep the cd in-stock "while demand/interest lasts." The word "demand" does not mean they are pressing single copies for single requests, but they probably do a new pressing if they get a certain number of orders.

Click to expand...

If you want to get pedantic about the "made on demand", I should point out that they don't say "made for one person on demand". Regardless of what you think "demand" means in this context, the fact is that Sony has what they call their "MOD" program that are all pressed, and Warner Archive now refers to the Blu-rays as "MOD". Hell, some of the WAC blus I have (She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is the one that comes to mind, but there are a couple of others, as well) actually say "MOD" on the disc itself, in the "small print" around the outer edge of the label (by the catalog number and running time). If you want to argue that the term "MOD" has changed from what it used to mean, or is being used in a counter-intuitive way, that's one thing.

And, yes, WAC doesn't even burn just one disc at a time. There have been several times that I've ordered DVD-Rs from them. In most cases, it takes several days before they package and ship. Other times, they've gotten shipped out the next day. I doubt in the latter cases that they managed to burn the discs, print the sleeves, assemble the packages, box them up, and ship them out that quickly if they weren't burning multiple copies at a time.

The point I was trying to make, is that it seems inevitable that, when someone sees the term "MOD", they assume it's burned one disc at a time. But the industry has...let's say "reinvented"...the idea of what manufacturing on demand entails, and they don't produce one disc at time. I doubt that they ever did.

jayembee said:

If you want to get pedantic about the "made on demand", I should point out that they don't say "made for one person on demand". Regardless of what you think "demand" means in this context, the fact is that Sony has what they call their "MOD" program that are all pressed, and Warner Archive now refers to the Blu-rays as "MOD". Hell, some of the WAC blus I have (She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is the one that comes to mind, but there are a couple of others, as well) actually say "MOD" on the disc itself, in the "small print" around the outer edge of the label (by the catalog number and running time). If you want to argue that the term "MOD" has changed from what it used to mean, or is being used in a counter-intuitive way, that's one thing.

Click to expand...

I said not all MOD are burned discs, which you would seem to agree with. But saying that "people somehow equate" dvd-r with MOD as if it's an mystery doesn't make historical sense. The MOD system started with burned discs, and the vast majority are still burned dvdrs. Pressed discs are the exceptions which are pointed out by manufacturers. And all the Sony MOD I've bought were burned, not pressed, so I don't know why you claim that.