Theo Angelopoulos on DVD

[J Adams]

Chinese DVD of "Dust of Time" is available [url-http://i.ebayimg.com/10/!BoOFYbg!Wk~$(KGrHqUOKkUEu!b9RyZMBLmpY!Z,nQ~~_12.JPG]on eBay[/url].

[otis]

I've just had this reply from Stelios, the guy selling the New Star Angelopoulos DVDs on eBay, to my question of whether the remaining films were ever going to be released:

thank you for your message .
New Star owner is a friend of mine . Te last 3 years he tried to produce the rest of the movies but Angelopoulos was asking too much . Also New star was facing economic problems and could not release any DVD at all. A few months ago the lisance for the 7 new star titles which were in the market was expired ...they are only avilable now from my own stock.
Untill now there is no any news regarding the release of any Angelopoulos DVD from New Star or any other Biger producing co..
If any news I will let you know immediately
best regards
stelios

[perkizitore]

I think he is exaggerating a bit, i know New Star is facing problems, but the DVDs are still available in Greece:
Landscape in the mist
Eternity and a day
Days of 36
Ulysses Gaze
They have all the titles but the rest cost more than 20 euros each. The good news is that they ship worldwide, if you need any help ordering PM me.

[jsteffe]

I just received the Artificial Eye DVD of The Beekeeper, and it looks nice. It's licensed from MK2, and the transfer looks at least as good as the Greek New Star DVDs. An initial glance suggests that the encoding is better--fewer artifacts than what I've observed on the New Star titles. The disc is dual-layered. The only special feature is the theatrical trailer.

[alfons416]

Check my review of The Beekeeper on DVDBeaver

[lubitsch]

Has anyone had a problem with the Beekeper DVD where the film jumps back to the chapter menu while entering the 7th chapter? I tried it on different players, always the same problem.

[Titus]

Has anybody ordered the New Star DVDs from the stelios guy on ebay? Are they legit? He lists them as Region 0, but I bought three of them from xploitedcinema before they went under that are definitely Region 2. And several people have left him negative feedback, accusing him of selling bootlegs. But there don't seem to be many alternatives at the moment.

[domino harvey]

I've ordered something from him before-- if you're an American, he sends you a DVD-r copy of it and only sends the real disc if you complain. So, he's fine but specify in the comments that you want the real thing

[bios]

Ladies and Gentlemen, please, be patient. I've heard from a _very_ reliable source that those Artificial Eye DVDs are on the way in 2011/2012. What this means is that we can _finally_ see nice prints of his great films, no washed out muddy garbage that ruins the delicacy of his images.

I'd love to see Alexander The Great and Voyage To Cythera restored properly.

[McCrutchy]

I've ordered something from him before-- if you're an American, he sends you a DVD-r copy of it and only sends the real disc if you complain. So, he's fine but specify in the comments that you want the real thing

I had not realized that Stelios ever sold bootlegs, but the number of negative/neutral transactions seem to prove that he must be doing so with many "Greek DVDs". I had ordered the New Star Ulysses Gaze DVD successfully from him some months ago (and have not gotten around to watching it, yet ) but I checked my disc in AnyDVD and it is R2 PAL with an appropriate volume label and appropriate numerals etched into the inner ring on the data side (I won't mention either detail by name because they can be forged by some, a la OOP Criterion fakes) and the jacket is dual-sided, correctly sized for the case and has been printed on glossy-finished paper. Again, from reading the feedback, it seems that Stelios' bootlegs are obvious to many, so I don't think he would take the time and effort to produce fakes with such exactness.

Looking at his neutral/negative feedback for the last twelve months, it doesn't look like he ever tried to sell a bootleg of one of these New Star DVDs, so it might be safe to order those from him no matter what.

[accatone]

From Swiss with French & German subs only

[Perkins Cobb]

I ordered three or four of the Angelopoulos New Stars from Stelios a few years ago ... Domino's post panicked me and I rechecked them, and they're all real DVDs. Puts me in a bind if I want to pick up Suspended Step of the Stork or Ulysses' Gaze now though.

Meanwhile, have we given up all hope of any more Greek releases of Angelopoulos?

[Titus]

Given Domino's advice, I contacted stelios prior to ordering and he said the owner of New Star (a Mr Velissarios) was a friend of his, and he sells the copies on ebay as part of an arrangement with New Star. He said I could call the number on the sleeves of the New Star DVDs and verify it with them directly -- I didn't bother, as I figured the suggestion alone was enough to confirm that the DVDs were legitimate.

I ordered The Suspended Step of the Stork and Landscape in the Mist from him and they both arrived in a little over a week. They were pressed DVDs and matched the three New Stars I bought from exploitedcinema.com a couple of years ago in every way. And they're definitely Region 2, despite him listing them as Region 0.

[Perkins Cobb]

...despite him listing them as Region 0.

Well, the DVD-rs he sends to everybody else would, of course, be Region 0!

[linfor]

If you read and understand Spanish there are 3 boxed set made by Intermedio, a boutique company in Spain... No english subtitles but very decent releases...

[RossyG]

The Theo Angelopoulos Collection Volume 1, containing Reconstruction (1970), Days of '36 (1972), The Travelling Players (1975) and The Hunters (1977), is being released by Artificial Eye on the 24th of October.

[Giap]

Vol. 1 implying a Vol. 2, plus The Dust of Time on the same date - great news!

[ellipsis7]

Vol. 2 on November 7th...

Contains Alexander the Great (1980), Voyage to Cythera (1984), The Beekeeper (1986) and Landscape in the Mist (1988).

[jegharfangetmigenmyg]

Volume 1 is released on Monday. Anyone's gotten hold of promo editions of this release?

According to the artwork on amazon.co.uk, Volume 2 contains Suspended Step of the Stork as well.

[alfons416]

Got my Angelopoulos Collection Volume 1 today.

It looks good but there is one thing that looks strange to me.

The Hunters is only 143 minutes long, alla other versions of it seems to be close to three hours (168-171 minutes), do anybody know if this is a different cut or why this is ~30 mins shorter?

[Perkins Cobb]

That's not good. Angelopoulos's website claims 165 minutes, and PAL speedup would only take off 6.6.

[lubitsch]

The Greek NTSC DVD is 171 minutes and I have an old TV recording that's 163 minutes which fits exactly the PAL speedup.

[ellipsis7]

Whoops, an own goal by AE rather spoiling the whole set...

[isakborg]

Clutching at straws perhaps, but has anyone actually timed the AE disc?

[antnield]

Clutching at straws perhaps, but has anyone actually timed the AE disc?

The Digital Fix review contains the individual runtimes.