Italian Films on DVD

[ellipsis7]

Just on a small but significant Vittorio de Seta kick...

His 10 compelling short colour documentaries from the 1950s IL MONDO PERDUTO I picked up from Carlotta, with French subs on the Sicilian etc. dialects...

Spurred on by Martin Scorsese's piece for the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival, On Vittorio de Seta I also sought out BANDITI A ORGOSOLO, his remarkable first feature, dubbed into Italian on the insistence of the distributor, and available in a decent barebones edition from Medusa DVD with Italian subs...

The man has an unique sense of space and environment... A contextualising docu , DETOUR DE SETA, shown @ Tribeca, is now streamed online with English subs...

[Saimo]

His 10 compelling short colour documentaries from the 1950s IL MONDO PERDUTO I picked up from Carlotta, with French subs on the Sicilian etc. dialects...

I don't own this set, but Italian DVD is reported to have several shorts in improper aspect ratio... Does Carlotta box feature 2.35:1 video for Isole di fuoco, Contadini del mare and Parabola d'oro?

[ellipsis7]

The Carlotta box presents a non anamorphic letterboxed image in a 4:3 academy ratio frame... The image throughout the 10 docs looks to be consistently European widescreen ratio (1.66:1), there's nothing at 2.35:1...

The restoration of these was undertaken by Cineteca di Bologna, there's an inlay about them & they are credited in the animations/logos at the head of the collection...

I think De Seta himself was involved in the restoration...

I suspect Cineteca di Bologna supplied the same transfer of the 'new restored master' for this and the Italian Feltrinelli DVD, although I haven't seen the latter myself...

[Saimo]

there's nothing at 2.35:1...

OK, so you have the master from Italian DVD, with all films framed at 1.78:1... This is a highly questionable choice, since some films were originally 1.37:1 or 2.35:1 intended.

[ellipsis7]

The filmmaker himself made the decision, when the films were restored...

Time regained: Vittorio De Seta

by Kent Jones

When Vittorio De Seta worked with the Cineteca di Bologna to restore his colour documentaries of the 1950s – recently released on DVD by Feltrinelli in cooperation with the Cineteca – he decided to think of them as one entity: Il mondo perduto, or ‘The Lost World’. Considering their uniformity of time, place and aesthetic approach, grouping these ten films together makes sense.

He may then have conformed them all to the same aspect ratio, so they could run as a single consistent 35mm scope programme... To be honest, there doesn't look like anything that has been cropped from 2.35:1, the images look well balanced and framed...

Saimo, what is your source? Surely it is the actual filmmaker's prerogative to present the films as he wishes?

One suggestion is that the films were shot in open matte, and then matted in the projector to match the aspect ratio of the features they preceded, leading to confusion as to the intended framing...

That Kent Jones piece with a couple of framegrabs from the Feltrinelli DVD...

[Saimo]

Saimo, what is your source? Surely it is the actual filmmaker's prerogative to present the films as he wishes?
One suggestion is that the films were shot in open matte, and then matted in the projector to match the aspect ratio of the features they preceded, leading to confusion as to the intended framing...

I have a catalogue from a 1996 retrospective, listing original formats. Also, you just have to look at the print in order to check the correct ratio: for example, Isole di fuoco (filmed in december 1954) was shot in Cinepanoramic, a scope format.

[ellipsis7]

Very interesting indeed, I've put the disc on the deck, and, yes, all the films are framed 1.78:1...

However, if you measure your title framegrab above too, it actually is also in ratio 1.78:1 not 2.35:1...

I'd be fascinated to see that 1996 catalogue info (Saimo, any chance you might PM or post me a photocopy/pdf scan?)...

I don't know how much work De Seta did in the restoration, certainly the soundtrack sounds as if it might have been remixed and reworked to an extent...

That title frame (with the words 'En Cinepanoramic') did not survive to the restored version of ISOLE DI FUOCO... In fact all 10 films have the titles in an uniform typeface superimposed over the first frames of each film...

This is the restored version of ISOLE DI FUOCO on Youtube, to give you an idea...

An Italian newspaper article on the digital restoration of IL MONDO PERDUTO... Doesn't cast much more light, but clearly, from your information, some decisions maybe were made to rationalise and regularise the aspect ratio across the 10 films... Making the restoration possibly a partial reworking of the material, albeit following the filmmaker's revised and updated intentions...

[Saimo]

Very interesting indeed, I've put the disc on the deck, and, yes, all the films are framed 1.78:1...
However, if you measure your title framegrab above too, it actually is also in ratio 1.78:1 not 2.35:1...

I found that screenshot on an Italian website, so I don't know if that was in OAR, but surely the film was in Cinepanoramic (also my 1996 catalogue confirmed so).
I also have an unofficial DVD with some De Seta shorts, and for example Parabola d'oro was filmed in CinemaScope (...and stereophonic sound!).

Here a shot from the very beginning: if you grab the same frame from your DVD we can check if the image composition was significantly cropped...

[Saimo]

Additional screenshots from Pescherecci (1.37:1)...


...and Surfarara (Cinepanoramic).

[ellipsis7]

Here a shot from the very beginning: if you grab the same frame from your DVD we can check if the image composition was significantly cropped...

From my DVD...


Certainly it is vastly cropped!... Colour improved however... How strange indeed...

[Hail_Cesar]

For Montrealers, speaking of De Seta

[ellipsis7]

Saimo, why the hell has the reputable and reliable Cineteca di Bologna allowed this ersatz transfer of certain De Seta short flms/cortometraggi?... Extraordinary (& excuse my previous scepticism)!...

[Saimo]

And, by the way, does your DVD feature stereophonic sound?

Saimo, why the hell has the reputable and reliable Cineteca di Bologna allowed this ersatz transfer of certain De Seta short flms/cortometraggi?... Extraordinary (& excuse my previous scepticism)!...

Generally speaking, I am a Cineteca di Bologna supporter, I often find their work amazing. I must admit, however, that I can't properly undestand why they restored all these shorts in 1.78:1. Perhaps, as you suggest, it was in order to run a single 35mm print, and maybe (maybe) the director himself accepted this in order to screen his works for new audiences... And OK, this was surely a high admirable effort, and they succeeded in rediscovering De Seta shorts, but why the hell can't they produce a DVD master in OAR, showing the films as intended? Or, at least, make it clear that the films we are watching are not the films De Seta shot back in the 1950s, but a reworking of his original materials?

For Montrealers, speaking of De Seta

I suppose the screening will be in cropped format too...

[ellipsis7]

No stereo either... Crisp sound, sophisticated mix, but Dolby 1.0!...

[Calvin]

Does anyone know if Cesare Zavattini's La veritàaaa is available on DVD anywhere? It looks like a really interesting film and it's the only feature film that Zavattini directed.

[Hail_Cesar]

Isole di fuoco, Surfarara, Pasqua in Sicilia, Contadini del mare and Parabola d'oro were presented in cinepanoramic/scope not cropped...

Saimo you'll notice that the opening title from the youtube video of those 4 films are not the original ones as they took a frame and wrote the title on that frozen frame while the 35mm I've seen are videos under the titles and looks just like the frames from Isole, Parabola and Surfarara you posted; it was written "in cinepanoramic" (or scope) under the title... E.g. of a remade opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izGW3yGF0mM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My guess is that Carlotta (or the dudes who numerated the films) cropped them all to fit the same ratio and the youtube video came from that same video source...

[Hail_Cesar]

By the way those films are awesome! De Seta clearly inspired the magnificent Le Quattro Volte...

[ellipsis7]

De Seta clearly inspired the magnificent Le Quattro Volte...

Very much so - my exact thoughts too!....

Just wondering, Saimo, is it certain that the Feltrinelli IL MONDO PERDUTO DVD package contains the same flaws as the Carlotta transfer (i.e. as you identified, visuals cropped & sound reduced to mono)?...

BTW did I mention, picked up BANDITI A ORGOSOLO in decent barebones Medusa edition with good Ital subs, which I am happy with - the Producers/Distributors apparently insisted that the Sardianian dialect was dubbed into mainstream Italian for this film...

John Francis Lane recalls...

Like Luchino Visconti's La Terra Trema (The Earth Trembles, 1948), it was acted by non-professionals who spoke in dialect.

Though we all admired De Seta's film at the 1961 Venice festival, where it won best first work, I remember that it seemed a pity that it had to be dubbed into regular Italian. This had been a condition for finding finance from a distribution company to finish postproduction, after Federico Fellini's short-lived distribution outfit had declined to give support to De Seta. It was De Seta who introduced Fellini to the Jungian psychiatrist Ernst Bernhard, whom De Seta visited for analysis, and who had a significant influence on Fellini's life and work.

[rohmerin]

Saluti from Italy!
I've had got in my hands this morning the Vittorio de Seta beautiful feltrinelli DVD. What a pity your complains about its ratio. Anyway, I write to say that Amazon.it is cheaper than buying on any physical stores. Perhaps I'll find a 2nd hand DVD store but I doubt it.

Good bookstores chain: Melbookstore, Feltrinelli and beautiful small one.

Saimo: is there a bookstore dedicated to cinema in Bologna / Milano? Grazie.

[Saimo]

Welcome to Italy!
Feltrinelli is a nice place for a walk, but usually their prices are not that friendly...
In Bologna you can find the Cineteca bookstore, with the books and DVDs they publish. Also, some friends of mine talked very nicely about this bookstore.

[Saimo]

@Hail_Caesar
Nice to hear that, at least, a 35mm print in correct ratio does exist. But the screening you attended used Bologna restoration or were older Cineteca Nazionale prints?

Just wondering, Saimo, is it certain that the Feltrinelli IL MONDO PERDUTO DVD package contains the same flaws as the Carlotta transfer (i.e. as you identified, visuals cropped & sound reduced to mono)?...

I don't own this, but two friends of mine have confirmed the Feltrinelli DVD is cropped too.

[Hail_Cesar]

@Hail_Caesar
Nice to hear that, at least, a 35mm print in correct ratio does exist. But the screening you attended used Bologna restoration or were older Cineteca Nazionale prints?

In the description they clearly say "RESTORED COPIES" and «La Cineteca di Bologna a travaillé avec Vittorio de Seta à la restauration de 10 courts métrages documentaires en couleur qu'il a tournés dans les années 1950 dans diverses régions d'Italie....» (The Cineteca di Bologna worked with V. de Seta to restore ten short films filmed in color during the 50's in different regions of Italy....)

[Saimo]

Two more subtitled DVD by Italian Ripley's Home Video:

L'amore e basta (aka Hymn to Love, 2009, boxset also featuring L'uomo flessibile and Futuro. Comizi infantili) by Stefano Consiglio.
Screened at Venice 2009, drama/documentary/animated film about gay and lesbian couples. Filmed in Italy, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona.
Available on Amazon.it



Nel gorgo del peccato (1954) by Vittorio Cottafavi
Available on Amazon.it

[rohmerin]

My tips. I am only interested on OOP books, fuori di catalogo, and I have discovered for the moment two paradises, amazing both:

-Ferrara
Libreria Mercatino del Libro e del Fumetto
Via delle Scienze, 12, 44100 Ferrara, Italia
+39 0532 205804 ‎
It's smells to old books, it looks a cemetery for books. Charming family runs the business. It looks chaotic but it's all in order by subjects. I bought a long and old Venice film festival book about HAYS code for 13 euros !!!

-Bologna
http://www.melbookstore.it/libreria_bologna_outlet.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Almost new and real OOP books.

Bologna is a paradise for finding books. In Brescia I found another incredible outlet but I can not remember the name or the street using google (sorry).

In Padova I found discounted DVDS just in front of the Cathedral.

[TMDaines]

It looks like we're finally getting more stuff from the Cristaldi catalogue. Most of it's really quite unknown too with the majority of the films not having five votes on iMDB nor being currently available on the likes of KG. The first Blu-ray in Ferreri's L'udienza is more than welcome and it's nice to see Camerini's Due Lettere Anonime finally coming out on DVD too.