Mr. Bongo Films

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GaryC
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#376 Post by GaryC » Sat Aug 25, 2012 6:12 pm

I've just received review checkdiscs for two of Mr Bongo's forthcoming releases, Don Quixote and the Dovzhenko War Trilogy.

Firstly, the bad news: Don Quixote is in approximately the right ratio (I measured it at 2.40:1) but is non-anamorphic.

Two of the Dovzhenkos are in 1.33:1 as you might expect, though Earth is windowboxed. Arsenal is pillarboxed into a ratio of 1.20:1.

The soundtracks are all mono, which is to be expected. Oddly, Earth has a LPCM soundtrack while the other discs are Dolby Digital 2.0.

No extras on any of the discs.

peerpee
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#377 Post by peerpee » Sat Aug 25, 2012 7:36 pm

It's 2012 and they've released a CinemaScope film as a non-anamorphic DVD?

Jonathan S
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#378 Post by Jonathan S » Sun Aug 26, 2012 1:59 am

Bad news indeed, but I'm not really surprised as their fairly recent issue of Kozintsev's Hamlet (and I assume King Lear) was also non-anamorphic.

Although it was mentioned on here that Hamlet could not be expanded to fill the screen width without losing the subs, I did find on my projector the subs and full picture could still be viewed by shifting the image upwards.

I assume the Dovzhenkos are straight reissues of their earlier individual releases?

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GaryC
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#379 Post by GaryC » Sun Aug 26, 2012 2:10 am

peerpee wrote:It's 2012 and they've released a CinemaScope film as a non-anamorphic DVD?
Transition Digital Media (a new label this year) did one worse - in 2012 they released a Scope film (Rebel from 1985) in 4:3 pan and scan, apart from the opening and closing credits which were letterboxed. That wasn't acceptable in 1999, let alone now.
Last edited by GaryC on Sun Aug 26, 2012 2:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

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GaryC
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#380 Post by GaryC » Sun Aug 26, 2012 2:12 am

Jonathan S wrote:Bad news indeed, but I'm not really surprised as their fairly recent issue of Kozintsev's Hamlet (and I assume King Lear) was also non-anamorphic.

Although it was mentioned on here that Hamlet could not be expanded to fill the screen width without losing the subs, I did find on my projector the subs and full picture could still be viewed by shifting the image upwards.

I assume the Dovzhenkos are straight reissues of their earlier individual releases?
I can't comment as I never saw the earlier releases. I should add that Don Quixote's subtitles are in the picture area, so the picture can at least be zoomed.

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MichaelB
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#381 Post by MichaelB » Sun Aug 26, 2012 4:54 am

Jonathan S wrote:Although it was mentioned on here that Hamlet could not be expanded to fill the screen width without losing the subs, I did find on my projector the subs and full picture could still be viewed by shifting the image upwards.
Fine if your projector/telly can do that, but I've yet to own a 16:9 set that can.

As for Don Quixote, this was what I said about the disc in my upcoming Sight & Sound review - nothing different from what's been said above, but great minds are clearly thinking alike:
Disc: The source print is surprisingly clean, it’s framed correctly in the original Sovscope aspect ratio, and the frequent colour shifts can probably be blamed on the effects of time on the Sovcolor process. But there’s no excuse for releasing a widescreen film in a non-anamorphic transfer well into the Blu-ray era: the only saving grace is that at least the subtitles aren’t cropped when the picture is zoomed to fill the screen.

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hearthesilence
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#382 Post by hearthesilence » Sun Aug 26, 2012 3:58 pm

I just noticed that the new Chimes at Midnight DVD is only £7.99 on Bongo's official website. Shipping to U.S. is £3, so the total (£10.99) would be a little over $17 U.S.

I'm tempted to get it, but the aspect ratio is wrong, is it not? (1.85 instead of 1.66:1, shaving a bit too much - one reason some believe it's a knock off of the Studio Canal DVD that had to be pulled, correct?) A frustrating deal-breaker, it's tempting to get it anyway if the PQ is really that much better than anything else out there.

peerpee
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#383 Post by peerpee » Sun Aug 26, 2012 4:14 pm

They're not learning from their mistakes. There are anamorphic DVDs of these Kozintsev available in other parts of the world and as a last resort they could force an anamorphic encode from a non-anamorphic Digibeta (there are a number of decent releases that have done this).

Good friends call them "Mr Pongo", but they're such a bunch of clowns I think "Mr Bonzo" is more fitting.

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bigP
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#384 Post by bigP » Sat Oct 06, 2012 4:32 am

Two Boris Barnet films in November: Outskirts & By the Bluest of Seas

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#385 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Oct 10, 2012 12:12 pm

bigP wrote:Two Boris Barnet films in November: Outskirts & By the Bluest of Seas
I wonder what the source is for these (same as Ruscico -- or something else)?

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Tommaso
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#386 Post by Tommaso » Wed Oct 10, 2012 12:23 pm

That explains why those two films in the Ruscico/Hyperkino edition are currently at only 11.99 GBP at Moviemail. Probably the better choice.

Calvin
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#387 Post by Calvin » Sun Dec 09, 2012 10:25 am


Perkins Cobb
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#388 Post by Perkins Cobb » Fri Mar 15, 2013 11:18 pm

Anyone know for sure whether Antonio das Mortes displays the same NTSC->PAL conversion issues that were noted earlier in this thread as afflicting Entranced Earth and Black God, White Devil?

Calvin
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#389 Post by Calvin » Mon May 06, 2013 9:17 am

Mr. Bongo's second Blu-Ray will be Marcelo Machado's documentary Tropicália. It's due out on July 8th.

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knives
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#390 Post by knives » Tue Jul 09, 2013 11:07 pm

bigP wrote:Two Boris Barnet films in November: Outskirts & By the Bluest of Seas
Did the transfers on these turn out well?

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MichaelB
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#391 Post by MichaelB » Tue Dec 03, 2013 10:16 am

MichaelB wrote:So my question is this: given that the film really does look absolutely fine in 1.85:1 (the camera barely stops moving, so any detail that might not be visible in one frame will swiftly appear in the next), might it not be the case that instead of being cropped at the sides, the restoration was actually opened up at the top and bottom? It can't be a Super 35 situation, as the format didn't exist back then - but might Has and Sobocinski have shot the film in matted 1.85:1, and then, for reasons unknown, reformatted it to Scope for cinema screenings? (Possibly because cinemas at the time were more likely to be equipped for Scope than 1.85:1, not a widely used ratio in eastern Europe at the time).
Somewhat belatedly, it looks as though I can finally answer this, thanks to this video interview and an English paraphrase that's just been sent to me by Tom Gordon:
At 7:20 [Sobociński] says that he and Has decided right away that the 4:3 aspect ratio wouldn't work for the film, so he thought of using the full width of the 35mm film (in order to utilise spherical lenses) with the intention of matting to widescreen. He says the soundtrack occupies 2.5 mm, so he decided to utilise this for the image. As such, it was shot open-matte, but an expanded open-matte incorporating the soundtrack strip area for the image, creating a sort of Polish Vistavision (only with the image oriented normally, rather than running sideways).

Normal 35mm film frame is 18 x 24 mm, i.e. 4:3 or 1.33 : 1. With that 2.5 mm extra: 18 x 26.5, i.e. 1.47 : 1.

That's almost exactly the VistaVision negative ratio (24 x 36mm or 1.5: 1). As noted, the 1.85:1 framing standard was not common in Poland at the time of the film's release, so it was presumably cropped to 2.35:1, meaning that the new BluRay transfer actually offers more image vertically than the original matted cinema print. Of course, it would still be very interesting to actually compare the new transfer with the framing of the 35mm copy (and there are still a few unanswered questions: if 1.85:1 was not yet in common usage, surely Has would have composed the frame for 2.35:1 without necessarily protecting for an expanded frame?).
Anyway, this certainly explains why it looks fine in 1.85:1, whereas normally it's only too obvious if a Scope film has been cropped at the sides. And it also means that Sobociński appears not to be Poland's answer to Vittorio Storaro.

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GaryC
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#392 Post by GaryC » Tue Dec 03, 2013 2:25 pm

MichaelB wrote:
MichaelB wrote:So my question is this: given that the film really does look absolutely fine in 1.85:1 (the camera barely stops moving, so any detail that might not be visible in one frame will swiftly appear in the next), might it not be the case that instead of being cropped at the sides, the restoration was actually opened up at the top and bottom? It can't be a Super 35 situation, as the format didn't exist back then - but might Has and Sobocinski have shot the film in matted 1.85:1, and then, for reasons unknown, reformatted it to Scope for cinema screenings? (Possibly because cinemas at the time were more likely to be equipped for Scope than 1.85:1, not a widely used ratio in eastern Europe at the time).
Somewhat belatedly, it looks as though I can finally answer this, thanks to this video interview and an English paraphrase that's just been sent to me by Tom Gordon:
At 7:20 [Sobociński] says that he and Has decided right away that the 4:3 aspect ratio wouldn't work for the film, so he thought of using the full width of the 35mm film (in order to utilise spherical lenses) with the intention of matting to widescreen. He says the soundtrack occupies 2.5 mm, so he decided to utilise this for the image. As such, it was shot open-matte, but an expanded open-matte incorporating the soundtrack strip area for the image, creating a sort of Polish Vistavision (only with the image oriented normally, rather than running sideways).

Normal 35mm film frame is 18 x 24 mm, i.e. 4:3 or 1.33 : 1. With that 2.5 mm extra: 18 x 26.5, i.e. 1.47 : 1.

That's almost exactly the VistaVision negative ratio (24 x 36mm or 1.5: 1). As noted, the 1.85:1 framing standard was not common in Poland at the time of the film's release, so it was presumably cropped to 2.35:1, meaning that the new BluRay transfer actually offers more image vertically than the original matted cinema print. Of course, it would still be very interesting to actually compare the new transfer with the framing of the 35mm copy (and there are still a few unanswered questions: if 1.85:1 was not yet in common usage, surely Has would have composed the frame for 2.35:1 without necessarily protecting for an expanded frame?).
Anyway, this certainly explains why it looks fine in 1.85:1, whereas normally it's only too obvious if a Scope film has been cropped at the sides. And it also means that Sobociński appears not to be Poland's answer to Vittorio Storaro.
Interesting - so that means if I understand it correctly that Has and Sobociński effectively made a Super 35 film a decade before the process was devised!

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MichaelB
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#393 Post by MichaelB » Tue Dec 03, 2013 2:52 pm

GaryC wrote:Interesting - so that means if I understand it correctly that Has and Sobociński effectively made a Super 35 film a decade before the process was devised!
Based on the evidence of the transfer, that seemed to me to be the most obvious explanation - but it seemed so wildly unlikely that I discounted it at the time. But it does make sense.

I wonder how the film was screened internationally? The only 35mm screening I've been to was definitely 2.35:1, but the print came from the Filmoteka Narodowa in Warsaw.

shaky
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#394 Post by shaky » Thu Feb 06, 2014 11:05 pm

Anyone had a chance to compare the Mr. Bongo Barnet dvds to the Hyperkinos?

Edit: I already own the Mr. Bongo and am just looking to see if it is worth the double dip.

Calvin
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#395 Post by Calvin » Wed Apr 08, 2015 12:36 pm

A member of Blu-Ray.com has posted that Mr. Bongo will be releasing Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight, Too Much Johnson/The Immortal Story and The Stranger on Blu-Ray on June 29th.

While their record on DVD was spotty, their few Blu-Rays have been of good quality so this is terrific news. It will be interesting to see what sources they use for Chimes at Midnight and The Stranger.

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EddieLarkin
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#396 Post by EddieLarkin » Wed Apr 08, 2015 1:41 pm

So we're getting two new Blu-ray releases of The Stranger in the same amount of months? Mr Bongo would be bonkers to licence the same source as the Odeon Blu-ray, surely? I guess we can hold out hope they've got it from MGM, but you just watch it be the abomination Film Chest used instead.
GaryC wrote:Interesting - so that means if I understand it correctly that Has and Sobociński effectively made a Super 35 film a decade before the process was devised!
Sort of, but Alfred Hitchcock got their first by another decade. All of the Universal films starting with The Birds were shot just like The Hourglass Sanatorium, with full aperture in use. I watched The Hourglass Sanatorium recently and found the 1.85:1 framing to be perfect, with no attempt made to compose within the internal 2.35:1 area. I wonder why Has and Sobociński seemingly didn't realise that the film would have to be anamorphised for prints and be shown cropped to 2.35:1 in Poland?

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John Hodson
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#397 Post by John Hodson » Fri Apr 10, 2015 10:23 am

Their press release runs:

To celebrate the centenary of Orson Welles’ birth, Mr Bongo Films is delighted to announce the release of a brand new restored 50th Anniversary Edition of his masterpiece Falstaff Chimes at Midnight.

One of the most radical and groundbreaking of all Shakespeare adaptations, Chimes at Midnight was Orson Welles’ favourite of his films and will be in cinemas from 1 May 2015 as part of the 100 years of Orson Welles celebrations. This will be followed by a DVD and Blu-ray release on 29 June 2015 alongside the first UK release of Welles’ debut feature Too Much Johnson which was amazingly rediscovered and restored in the last decade, the superb Immortal Story starring Jeanne Moreau and Orson Welles and the gripping thriller The Stranger, the first film after World War II to show footage of concentration camps starring Edward G Robinson, Orson Welles and Loretta Young.


If I read it right, the latter two are DVD only.

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Drucker
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#398 Post by Drucker » Fri Apr 10, 2015 10:41 am

To chime in: Criterion also has the US rights to Immortal Story. Throwing that on as an extra for a Chimes at Midnight release would make a whole lot of sense.

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Roger Ryan
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#399 Post by Roger Ryan » Fri Apr 10, 2015 11:05 am

Referring to TOO MUCH JOHNSON as Welles' debut feature is a real stretch.

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rapta
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Re: Mr. Bongo Films

#400 Post by rapta » Fri Apr 10, 2015 11:16 am

John Hodson wrote:Their press release runs:

To celebrate the centenary of Orson Welles’ birth, Mr Bongo Films is delighted to announce the release of a brand new restored 50th Anniversary Edition of his masterpiece Falstaff Chimes at Midnight.

One of the most radical and groundbreaking of all Shakespeare adaptations, Chimes at Midnight was Orson Welles’ favourite of his films and will be in cinemas from 1 May 2015 as part of the 100 years of Orson Welles celebrations. This will be followed by a DVD and Blu-ray release on 29 June 2015 alongside the first UK release of Welles’ debut feature Too Much Johnson which was amazingly rediscovered and restored in the last decade, the superb Immortal Story starring Jeanne Moreau and Orson Welles and the gripping thriller The Stranger, the first film after World War II to show footage of concentration camps starring Edward G Robinson, Orson Welles and Loretta Young.


If I read it right, the latter two are DVD only.
Where does it say the latter two (or three) are DVD-only? It just says "alongside", but doesn't specify if they're on DVD, Blu-ray, or both. In fact since it says "DVD and Blu-ray release" for Falstaff, surely it would imply the same for the others? Either way, I'm definitely considering Falstaff if it's a restored edition, and will think about getting the others if the transfers are equally as impressive!

EDIT:

This post on their site confirms Falstaff on Blu-ray and DVD, Too Much Johnson on Blu-ray and DVD, and The Immortal Story on DVD only. However, there's no mention of The Stranger...which is odd. I thought The Immortal Story was going to be coupled with Too Much Johnson? Maybe they meant The Stranger will be DVD-only?

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