Studio Canal / Kinowelt / Optimum

[David M.]

Remember that you need to log in to that site to see the frame grab at full resolution.

If you look especially at the brown outlines around Lady, you'll see that they look a little ragged and noisy. That's almost certainly the filter not being able to differentiate between the original grain, and the drawn outlines + slight lens blurring.

[eerik]

LA GRANDE ILLUSION:
75th Anniversary

Directed by Jean Renoir

Starring Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim, Marcel Dalio and Dita Parlo

Beautifully restored and back in cinemas
April 6th 2012

“Jean Renoir’s masterpiece” The Observer

STUDIOCANAL are proud to announce that in celebration of the film’s 75th Anniversary, a beautiful new restoration in association with La Cinémathèque de Toulouse of Jean Renoir’s LA GRANDE ILLUSION will be released in cinemas on April 6th 2012.

Jean Renoir’s LA GRANDE ILLUSION is a poetic and poignant meditation on class, the nature of war and the death of the old European order. Aristocratic Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay), mechanic Lieutenant Marechal (Jean Gabin) and wealthy Jewish banker Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) are all thrown together, despite their vastly different backgrounds, as prisoners of the Germans in World War I. Separated by a successful escape, they are recaptured and reunited in an imposing fortress commanded by German aristocrat Van Rauffenstein (Erich Von Stroheim). Boeldieu and Rauffenstein strike up a friendship that reflects their belonging to a cultural and social elite that they both know is on the way out. However this rapport soon confuses loyalties and threatens Boeldieu’s allegiances to the others, with tragic consequences.

The title and central theme of LA GRANDE ILLUSION comes from a Nobel prize-winning essay by a British economist named Norman Angell who theorised that the cause for war is usually the pursuit of wealth, but that ultimately war is never of benefit economically, and is therefore futile. The film calls on Renoir’s own experiences as an aviator in WWI, and Jean Gabin even wears Renoir’s uniform in the film.

LA GRANDE ILLUSION was declared the "Cinematographic Enemy Number One" by the Nazis after it won a prize at the Venice Film Festival and was banned. France soon also banned the film, fearing that the anti-war message would be demoralising for troops. The original negative was long feared destroyed in an Allied bombing raid on the laboratory where it was housed, though in reality it had been confiscated by the Nazis and shipped to Berlin to the Reichfilmarchiv. By chance this archive was situated in the Russian zone after the war and the negative thus found its way to Moscow. Despite being returned to France in the 1960s, the negative lay undamaged and unidentified in storage at La Cinémathèque de Toulouse until the 1990s.

Having previously restored the film in 1997, STUDIOCANAL and decided to complete a new restoration utilizing 21st century cutting edge technologies. Scanning the original nitrate at 4k means that the film will be preserved now for at least a century.

An impassioned call for the unity of humankind across class and national boundaries, the film also offers a quietly subversive social analysis of French society. LA GRANDE ILLUSION was nominated for Best Picture in 1939 and is released newly restored and with exclusive extras.

LA GRANDE ILLUSION will be released on DVD, and for the first time on blu-ray, on April 23rd 2012.

STUDIOCANAL are proud to be continuing their programme of restoration and preservation of some of cinema’s most important titles, as well as other forgotten gems from their vast catalogue. Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion is the first of the titles to be re-released in cinemas in 2012, following a beautiful new restoration in association with La Cinémathèque de Toulouse.

[triodelover]

LA GRANDE ILLUSION will be released on DVD, and for the first time on blu-ray, on April 23rd 2012.

Actually, La Grande Illusion will be released on Blu-ray in four days by Studio Canal France. Subs in English and German.

[eerik]

I know, this is the press announcement for UK theatrical re-release.

[triodelover]

I know, this is the press announcement for UK theatrical re-release.

Oops...

[MichaelB]

I know, this is the press announcement for UK theatrical re-release.

Oops...

No need to blush - if someone from Estonia posts a press release that doesn't mention the UK anywhere in it in a thread that's dedicated to a company that operates internationally, how are we supposed to know which country is being referred to? The only clue is the quote from The Observer, but that's hardly a clincher.

[triodelover]

No need to blush - if someone from Estonia posts a press release that doesn't mention the UK anywhere in it in a thread that's dedicated to a company that operates internationally, how are we supposed to know which country is being referred to? The only clue is the quote from The Observer, but that's hardly a clincher.

I should have known because I knew the UK release date was 23 April. (Although I do think the release should have said first time on Blu-ray in the UK. But then that would alert people to the fact that it might be available somewhere on BD earlier and how hard would it be to pick up the English friendly version from France?)

[ellipsis7]

I believe it's actually the same disc across territories, but the booklet & packaging will differ in language in each, being in English for the April 23rd UK/IRL release on Blu & DVD from Studio Canal UK...

[eerik]

Sorry for counfusion. Long story short:
UK gets a theatrical rerelease of La Grande Illusion on 6th April
UK Blu-ray (and DVD) release date is set to 23rd April
It's a new 4K restoration
More theatrical rereleases (and Blu-rays?) of classics coming in 2012

[manicsounds]

Studio Canal UK will release Ealing Studio's "Passport To Pimlico" (1949) on June 18th and "Naqoyqatsi" (1996) on April 16th, BD versions.

[triodelover]

It's as good a presentationa s we'll ever get I think. considering there's never even been an NTSC release of this.

David, thanks for the update. My copies are in the country and will hopefully arrive soon. Just a correction, there has been an NTSC release in Region 1 from Warner back in the pre-Archive days. Judging from the Amazon Marketplace price, I should sell my copy when the SC arrives.

[Peacock]

Bear in mind guys that Criterion are releasing To Be or Not to Be as well... surely not too far away in the future... although I imagine it'll use the same source.

[ellipsis7]

OMG, so lovely, really gratifying transfer of GRANDE ILLUSION! Next up, THE RIVER on BR from Carlotta...

[swo17]

Yowza!

[Drucker]

Will the French and UK releases be identical? Including regarding extras?

[TMDaines]

Will the French and UK releases be identical? Including regarding extras?

Yep, and right now it's at a decent £12.95 pre-order price at zavvi/thehut, when these titles usually sit around £15.

It looks like the only reason I'll be keeping hold of spine #1 for now is because it's worth little on the second hand market.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Will the French and UK releases be identical? Including regarding extras?

If you can't wait the french edition is out with subtitles on all extras.

[manicsounds]

Grand Illusion Blu-ray review

[TMDaines]

That sure looks like it'll be a release of the year candidate come Decemeber. I'll be picking it up before long.

[triodelover]

According to Blu-ray.com, SC UK is releasing Carne's Le Quai Des Brumes this summer (two different dates given depending on which page you are viewing).

[Calvin]

It'll be June 4th as July 4th is a Wednesday.

[triodelover]

It'll be June 4th as July 4th is a Wednesday.

Thanks, Calvin. I didn't even think of actually looking at a calendar.

[connor]

Quick question: is the French version of the Studio Canal Mulholland Drive blu-ray identical to the UK release? (The UK disc is OOP, but the French one isn't.)

I remember there being some concern way back before it came out that they'd use the HD-DVD version for the French release...

[manicsounds]

Quick question: is the French version of the Studio Canal Mulholland Drive blu-ray identical to the UK release? (The UK disc is OOP, but the French one isn't.)

I remember there being some concern way back before it came out that they'd use the HD-DVD version for the French release...

Same disc, but in French language packaging

[Calvin]

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie - July 5th (Germany)