Godard on DVD and Blu-ray

Discuss internationally-released DVDs and Blu-rays or other international DVD and Blu-ray-related topics.
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Kinsayder
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:22 pm
Location: UK

#326 Post by Kinsayder » Sun Jun 15, 2008 6:38 pm

Trelkovsky wrote:
If you have this, do you know whether the Spanish subtitles are removable? On Intermedio's other Godard set, Histoire(s) du cinéma, they were burnt in.
Unfortunately, the subtitles are forced, although not burnt in.
Actually, on my DVD Player, the subs on the Intermedio set aren't even forced. There is no menu option to remove them but the button on the remote does the job.

This is a very well produced and nicely designed set. The transfers are as good as could be expected and each film has a short video introduction. The compilation looks very much like it's been conceived with a French release in mind: the introductions are all in French, and (as already noted) Lotte in Italia has a French voiceover. I'd be very surprised if this didn't appear as a Gaumont France release in the next year or so. Time to start lobbying them for English subs?
By the way, I'm almost certain that the girl who provides the voice over in 'luttes en Italie' is Anne Wyazemski.
Yes, I'm sure it's her.

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DignanSWE
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:30 am
Location: Sweden

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#327 Post by DignanSWE » Mon Nov 10, 2008 11:31 am

SoyCuba wrote:I'm not sure which release you are referring to, but I Just got the new Nordic release: Studio Canal Godard collection with ten movies on ten discs and a bonus disc. Everything has english subtitles and all the text on the package is in english as well. Image quality is excellent, although there's that usual, slightly annoying problem with the 1.33 PAL transfers with jagged upper and lower edge. All movies are in OAR as far as I know. An excellent package, though I don't know where one living outside of the Nordic countries might purchase it, or if there is a similar release elsewhere.
[...]
You can buy it here (€23.00 + €10.00).

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martin
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Re: Godard on DVD

#328 Post by martin » Sat May 23, 2009 3:33 am

What is the intended aspect ratio for Sympathy for the Devil / One Plus One? I have two DVD editions of this - a very cheap Scandinavian release, which contains both cuts presented in approximately 1.33:1 (open matte), and a R1 release from Abkco presented in approximately 1.75:1 (only the "producer's cut" Sympathy for the Devil is on this release).

The R1 disc - dismissible because it doesn't have the One Plus One cut - does have some advantages regarding the sound because of a PCM audio track. It is also pitch-correct and has correct speed (tempo), whereas the Scandinavian release has PAL speedup and is not pitch correct!

But imagewise the open-matte format seems correct, I think, even if there's sometimes a lot of 'empty space' - especially at the top of the frame. There are some image comparisons at my Sympathy for the Devil page (Danish text, but the images are self-explanatory). Particularly the 4th comparison is revealing, I think, as the bass player's right hand is not seen on the matted version.

IMDb, though not always reliable, suggests 1.66:1. The French Blu-ray is open matte.

Any opinions?

accatone
Joined: Thu May 04, 2006 8:04 am

Re: Godard on DVD

#329 Post by accatone » Thu Aug 20, 2009 2:41 pm

While diggin for some more Nanni Moretti i just found this to be released in August http://www.ibs.it/dvd/8010312084812/pet ... -lear.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Great!

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otis
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2005 11:43 am

Re: Godard on DVD

#330 Post by otis » Thu Aug 20, 2009 5:52 pm

I fear the Italian subs will be unremovable, but it certainly is good news! I also just found an Italian edition of Loin du Vietnam that I was unaware of. Has this been released anywhere else apart from Japan?

accatone
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Re: Godard on DVD

#331 Post by accatone » Thu Aug 20, 2009 6:01 pm

King Lear is imo the first DVD release - not sure about Loin du Vietnam - however great news!

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stereo
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:06 pm

Re: Godard on DVD

#332 Post by stereo » Thu Aug 20, 2009 7:48 pm

Loin du Vietnam had a gorgeous Japanese DVD release; as did Vent d'est; no Eng. subs on either though.

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Sanjuro
Joined: Fri Nov 03, 2006 1:37 am
Location: Yokohama, Japan

Re: Godard on DVD

#333 Post by Sanjuro » Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:11 pm

Loin Du Vietnam just reached the top of my rental queue, so it's good to hear the Japanese disc is nice. Anyone know of any English subtitles floating around the net?

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domino harvey
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Godard on DVD

#334 Post by domino harvey » Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:27 pm

accatone wrote:While diggin for some more Nanni Moretti i just found this to be released in August http://www.ibs.it/dvd/8010312084812/pet ... -lear.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Great!
106 mins?! :shock:

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Oedipax
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:48 am
Location: Atlanta

Re: Godard on DVD

#335 Post by Oedipax » Fri Aug 21, 2009 2:44 am

Has anyone in the U.S. ordered from ibs.it before? Or if not, can anyone recommend a good Italian DVD site for U.S. customers? JLG's King Lear has grown into one of my favorites, and I've been desperate for a DVD for a while now.

Edit: Went ahead and ordered from ibs.it. Pretty straightforward, translate.google.com can help you out if you get confused. They do deliver to the U.S. Total came out to 23.40 euros or about $33.31 US.

Forced subs aren't a concern, there's software to deal with that, but I'll be peeved if the transfer is crap or the subs are burned in (or it's dubbed)... But here's hoping for the best!

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vertovfan
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 7:46 pm

Re: Godard on DVD

#336 Post by vertovfan » Fri Aug 21, 2009 1:56 pm

The subs are burnt in (rather than forced) on the Italian Loin du Vietnam. I made English subs for the Japanese Loin du Vietnam and Vent d'est, though, if anyone is interested.

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justeleblanc
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:05 pm
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Re: Godard on DVD

#337 Post by justeleblanc » Sat Aug 22, 2009 12:06 am

vertovfan wrote:The subs are burnt in (rather than forced) on the Italian Loin du Vietnam. I made English subs for the Japanese Loin du Vietnam and Vent d'est, though, if anyone is interested.
I would love them!

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Wu.Qinghua
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2009 4:31 pm

Re: Godard on DVD

#338 Post by Wu.Qinghua » Sat Aug 22, 2009 4:15 am

I'd be interested in the subtitles for both films too. Is it possible to download them someplace?

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Oedipax
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Re: Godard on DVD

#339 Post by Oedipax » Tue Sep 08, 2009 1:53 pm

Well, King Lear arrived from ibs.it today. First, the good news: in terms of transfer quality, this is a big improvement over the VHS. It's not a knockout fantastic transfer, but it's perfectly acceptable with good detail and nice colors (and it's progressive). You have the option of either Italian or English menus, as well as an Italian mono soundtrack and an English stereo track, plus Italian or English subtitles (which are not forced). Running time is 87 minutes, which seems correct. Also, while the DVD case states that it's region 2, it appears to be region 0. It's a DVD5.

Now, for the bad news: it's cropped to 1.85:1. Perhaps this is how the film was shown theatrically, but its true ratio is certainly 1.37:1. As cropped widescreen transfers go, this one is at least 16x9 enhanced. But it seems we have another annoying Nouvelle Vague / For Ever Mozart type situation here. If MGM / 20th Century Fox have plans to put this out in the U.S., it's time to start a letter writing campaign.

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Oedipax
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Re: Godard on DVD

#340 Post by Oedipax » Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:04 am

Some screen comparisons for the new King Lear DVD vs. an old VHS copy.

accatone
Joined: Thu May 04, 2006 8:04 am

Re: Godard on DVD

#341 Post by accatone » Thu Sep 24, 2009 12:01 pm

Thanks Oedipax!

Image looks indeed much better (but i have in mind that my "rip" does not look that bad…hhmmm?).
On the other hand the cropping is of course awfull.

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domino harvey
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Re: Godard on DVD

#342 Post by domino harvey » Sat Sep 26, 2009 8:02 am

Dear lord in heaven, if that DVD wasn't cropped it'd be the most important release of the year. Look at that clarity! GODDAMMIT ALL TO HELL, MGM

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dubrosa
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Re: Godard on DVD

#343 Post by dubrosa » Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:28 pm

I'm currently looking at purchasing the 2-disc Cahiers du cinéma release of 'Passion' / 'Nouvelle Vague'.

In order to justify the 30 euros and postage and conversion to the Australian dollar what Extras do these discs include?
I already have the Studio Canal Region 2/4 'Passion' release with it's meagre special features.

Can anyone who owns this help me out? I assume it has English subs? Does it include the 2 Passion 'Scenarios'?

Thanks,
V

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Oedipax
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Re: Godard on DVD

#344 Post by Oedipax » Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:54 am

Passion and Nouvelle Vague are both subtitled in English on the Cahiers release. The only extras are PDFs of some interviews/articles on each film taken from various Cahiers issues - all of it in French; video scenario for Passion not included.

Also, Nouvelle Vague is presented in a 16x9 enhanced widescreen transfer, whereas the film is really meant to be (like all post-67 Godard) academy 1.37:1. But it remains, to my knowledge, the only way to see Nouvelle Vague on DVD. It's still worth it, IMO.

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dubrosa
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Re: Godard on DVD

#345 Post by dubrosa » Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:04 pm

Thanks for your info. I suspected as much. At least the texts are on a PDF and not crappy on-screen text like the Optimum titles.

I've found a decent US source for this with better bang for my Aussie $ so I'll bite the bullet and get this package. Only because 'Nouvelle Vague' might fall off the edge of the DVD world much like 'For Ever Mozart' seems to have.

Also the 16:9 aspect cropping is highly infuriating in all cases but after watching the new Italian MGM 'King Lear' release (www.ibs.it did fantastic job getting it too me BTW) I realised that it isn't completely hopeless and better than my 3rd gen VHS dub and the chance of another release by a good studio like Criterion or MoC is very unlikely in the near to far future.

Cheers, V

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dubrosa
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Re: Godard on DVD

#346 Post by dubrosa » Sun Oct 18, 2009 8:02 pm

Madman Australia look to be re-packaging old titles in the new designed "Director's Suite" format

'Vivre Sa Vie' being the first instance in their Godard titles:
http://www.madman.com.au/actions/catalo ... ethod=view

Nice, I still like the older version too though. Looks to be exactly same disc contents (from memory) and the 2006 release date quoted would confirm this. A very nice PAL edition BTW.

James
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:11 pm

Re: Godard on DVD

#347 Post by James » Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:15 pm

Why not just hold out for the inevitable Criterion? I would have to guess it is even going to be released on Blu-ray.

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dubrosa
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Re: Godard on DVD

#348 Post by dubrosa » Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:04 am

Unless Criterion actually release some post-'68 Godard I don't give a damn about Criterion releases IMHO. Especially Region-coded Blu-Ray discs.

Madman's 'Vivre Sa Vie' is simply lovely. The transfer is perfectly fine and the subs and translation excellent. I don't need another disc of extras which will invariably only be a Colin MacCabe introduction and an essay and some interviews. And I don't need it in Blu-Ray either (especially not in the wrong Region).

Here's few essential non-obvious Godard films Criterion NEED to release to get me excited:

- A Dziega Vertov Project boxset
- Ici Et Ailleurs
- Numero Deux
- Soft And Hard
- King Lear (w/ Meetin' WA)
- Soigne Ta Droite
- Nouvelle Vague
- JLG/JLG
- For Ever Mozart
- Moments Choisis

That's what I would love to to expect Criterion will "inevitrably" release. Instead it will be another '60's film probably. Hopefully 'Weekend' if anything.

.V

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justeleblanc
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:05 pm
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Re: Godard on DVD

#349 Post by justeleblanc » Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:08 am

I'd be happy with a new MY LIFE TO LIVE as long as it contains ANTICIPATION. I'd also be happy with a new ALPHAVILLE as long as it contains SLOTH and GERMANY YEAR 99 ZERO.

ECM, who already produced a DVD/Book with four of his later video shorts, apparently owns the rights to many of his other films, or at least can get the rights from Godard without too much trouble being that a) they have a close relationship with Godard and b) they own the rights to the music he uses in those films. This also includes NOUVELLE VAGUE.

accatone
Joined: Thu May 04, 2006 8:04 am

Re: Godard on DVD

#350 Post by accatone » Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:09 pm

justeleblanc wrote:ECM, who already produced a DVD/Book with four of his later video shorts, apparently owns the rights to many of his other films, or at least can get the rights from Godard without too much trouble being that a) they have a close relationship with Godard and b) they own the rights to the music he uses in those films. This also includes NOUVELLE VAGUE.
Sorry Juste, but where do you have this info from? I never heard something like ECM is holding rights to JLGs films? What films by the way? The cooperation on the sound is exeptional (just take a look on who wrote the opening text to the 40 years of ECM book Horizons Touched and what Eicher himself is pointing out in the following text…). Gimme some kind of proove for your suggestions - because even though i have been in contact with someone from ECM - none of these rumors occured to my ears…

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