Gypo66

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I've tried searching the archives for out of print titles, and can't seem to find the answer.
So, is this still available anywhere?

slowcloud

Indeed it seems to be. People are hawking it for $89.95 on Amazon's secondary market-- always a good barometer for what's OOP. This might be a hard one to find. Too bad, Image's earlier DVDs often look really good compared to the low budget companies that also jump on the bandwagon to release these titles. I have a copy of God's Little Acre from Image that looks awazing!

Nebiroth

Yes - out of print according to DVDafficianado.

However, there appears to be another edition, under "Milestone Video/Image Entertainment".

I couldn't find this on any of the stores I looked at, but it does have an entry on Image's own website, and it has an active BUY button. It has a release date of 2000.

The synopsis states

Brilliantly capturing the oppressive paranoia of Franz Kafka's classic novel, Orson Welles' "The Trial" is the story of a young clerk, Josef K., who is arrested, tried and finally executed--all without ever knowing his crime. Welles filmed this baroque work of genius in a deserted Belle Epoque railway station in Paris. The strange setting perfectly captures the bizarre and nightmarish world of Kafka's mythical totalitarian state.

It may be that Image have withdrawn one edition, and stores have confused one with another, or just withdrawn all such titles from Image.

Try ordering it from Image directly.

It's here

Image

It's annoying that Image, with their new site, have withdrawn the facility to list all their titles, including "inactive" (ie, out of print) ones. They now only seem to list in-print stuff. So you can no longer call up a titles and see it definitely marked "inactive".

Ambassador

There is only one edition of The Trial that Image has released, and that is the Milestone edition (which is easily the best version released to date). Unfortunately, the Milestone release is indeed now out of print. And the link that Nebiroth has provided won't help you -- Image does not sell directly from their site. That link will merely take you back to Amazon. You have a few options available, though:

1.) Contact Milestone directly via their website. They may still carry a few copies of the DVD, even if it's OOP. If not, you might ask them if they plan a re-release at all. (The people at Milestone are extremely friendly, so don't be shy about contacting them.)

2.) Some e-tailers are listing yet another upcoming release of The Trial in February. I have no idea who's releasing it yet. So it may be some other fly-by-night PD company.

3.) Record it off of TCM next time they show it. TCM always uses the Milestone version.

4.) Investigate releases in other regions if you have multiregional capacity. This is one title that I have no idea how other regions have handled. But my guess is that any French edition would be significantly better than any R1 release currently in print (Milestone excepted).

Nebiroth

Apologies for having given misleading information. I've never bought anything using the Image website (being located in the UK) and had assumed that - in common with many studios - they sold their titles direct.

Also, the title in question had two entries in DVDafficianado, one being released by Image (marked out of print) and this one, marked "Milestone/Image" which was marked as being in-print. They even had different jacket art!

I had thought that Image had perhaps lost the rights to another studio but had re-released it as a co-operative effort, something like that.

It's poor that Image still list it on their website that way.

As I said, once upon a time, Image's site carried listings for ALL their titles, though some were flagged as "inactive" - you could even specifically search for titles with that flag.

Sadly, alongside the pretty (and annoying) graphics, they've actually removed a lot of functionality in their new-look one. Bah.

Johnny Zhivago

Long OOP... Sit tight and for a new release with an anamorphic transfer (the Image version is not). That's what I'm doing... Waiting... Waiting...

Ambassador

Yeah, Image's site is needlessly difficult to navigate. They really seem to be shooting themselves in the foot with this new look -- no matter how you search, you simply can't find a useful way to browse their full catalogue. I've heard that a number of independent labels, including Milestone, are exploring other distribution outlets. So Image's problems may be deep-seated.

BTW, I wasn't meaning to show you up or anything like that in my previous message. So there's no need for apologies. These PD films with their multiple editions can be confusing to track down.

Cameron

I was hoping criterion would lay hands on this one.

Someone at HTF said Universal is releasing both the trial and the stranger on 02.07.06 I am trying to verify this.

the original news came from dvd journal, but i can't find the report.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ghlight=welles

jdrouette

For the record, Studio Canal released a beautiful 2-disc set of this in France with an anamorphic transfer. You can see a comparison of the different versions here:

http://www.new.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare8/trial.htm

Hopefully, a comparable version will make its way here.
jd

mcarver

Focus Films has The Trial listed for 2/7/06 release 1.66:1 (no mention of anamorphic). MSRP $9.98

FilmFanSea

The Focus Films transfer is NOT anamorphic (it was previously released in the--now OOP--"Citizen Welles" 2-disc set). Based on DVD Beaver's screen captures, the (anamorphic) R2 PAL Frernch release from Studio Canal is the one to have.

Cameron

^but it is still unsure if it is the same disc.

dx23

Just for the record, Focus Films is not the same a Focus Features, which is owned by Universal. So Universal is not the one releasing The Trial and the Stranger on DVD. Focus Films is a company that mostly releases public domain films with so-so transfers.

Here are the amazon links to both releases:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...468981-8051252
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...468981-8051252

Johnny Zhivago

:sigh: