The one and only Studio Canal-Optimum thread

[pro-bassoonist]

With so many titles set to arrive in the UK through Studio Canal's offshoot Optimum in 2007 perhaps it is a good idea to have one thread where people post the new additions instead of creating an individual entry for every new disc. If this sounds like a good idea let's keep the thread alive. If not, and if the mods also think that it will jam-up too much info at once, then let me know and I will delete it

Here's the complete line-up until the end of March. Info courtesy of the lads at the UK's ZetaMinor:

January 1st

Night and the City (Robert De Niro version) - RRP: £12.99

Mediterraneo - RRP: £12.99

Honeymoon in Vegas - £12.99

January 15th

Jean-Jacques Beineix's Diva - RRP: £17.99

Aces High - RRP £12.99

23rd January

Belle de Jour - 40th Anniversary Edition (features History of a Film (31m), commentary by Professor Peter W. Evans, and a theatrical trailer). Ties in with a Luis Buñuel season at the NFT. RRP: £19.99

The Luis Buñuel Collection (eight discs packaged in two digipacks, in a slipcase: Belle de Jour, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Diary of a Chambermaid, Tristana, The Milky Way, That Obscure Object of Desire, The Phantom of Liberty, La Joven (The Young One)). The set will feature Making of... documentaries for seven of the films. RRP: £44.99

29th January

Comic Icons - The Leslie Phillips Collection (four disc set containing Please Turn Over, Watch Your Stern, No Kidding and Crooks Anonymous) - with commentary by Phillips (TBC). RRP: 24.99

Comic Icons - The Frankie Howerd Collection (a "three disc" set containing Up Pompeii and Up The Chastity Belt) - there's been some speculation that the mysterious third disc might be The House in Nightmare Park). RRP: £19.99

Comic Icons - The Terry-Thomas Collection (six-disc set containing School For Scoundrels, His and Hers, Private's Progress, Make Mine Mink, Too Many Crooks and The Naked Truth). RRP: 29.99

Comic Icons - The Sidney James Collection (three-disc set containing The Big Job, Make Mine a Million and The Lavender Hill Mob). RRP: 19.99

Luc Besson's Angel-A - Includes exclusive UK interview with Luc Besson, artcards, Making of... documentary. RRP: £17.99

Walter Hill's Southern Comfort - 101m, 2.0 audio, trailer. RRP: £15.99

Nic Roeg's The Man Who Fell To Earth - two-disc set in Amaray case with metallic board slipcase. Features new and exclusive Roeg interview; Watching the Alien documentary; trailer; DVD-Rom featuring pages from the theatrical campaign brochure. RRP: £17.99

February 5th

The Go Between - RRP: £15.99

Stephen Frears' The Grifters (DVD debut) - RRP: £15.99

Polanski's The Pianist - RRP: £17.99

Lovers of the Arctic Circle - RRP: £17.99

Bruce Lee - Martial Arts Master (documentary) - RRP: £12.99

Private Elvis (documentary about Elvis' spell as a soldier) - RRP: £12.99

Bad Boys (Sean Penn) - RRP: £12.99

February 12th

Sleepy Hollow - Special Edition - Special Edition packaging. Features containing two theatrical trailer; behind-the-scenes documentary, Reflections on Sleepy Hollow; director's commentary; photo' gallery; biographies; sixty page book featuring extract from Burton on Burton; career interview with Burton (TBC); interviews with composer Danny Elfman and "some of the UK cast" (TBC). RRP: £17.99

Gilles Mimouni's L'Appartement - RRP: £17.99

Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark - RRP: £15.99

Brotherhood of the Wolf - RRP: £15.99

Narrow Margin - RRP: £12.99

Jacques Audiard's A Self Made Hero (UK DVD premiere) - RRP: £17.99

That'll Be The Day - RRP: £12.99

Stardust - RRP: £12.99

February 26th

Highlander - Immortal Edition - Embossed steel tin including artcards; newly-created extra features (TBC); new hour-long retrospective documentary; new audio commentary by director Russell Mulcahy (TBC); "soundtrack / music video disc" (TBC) - £17.99

David Lynch's Mulholland Drive - Collector's Edition - featuring Making of... documentary and interviews; 20-page booklet extracting Lynch on Lynch; special packaging and artcards. RRP: £17.99.

The John Sayles Collection - three UK DVD debuts: Lianna, Return of the Secaucas Seven and Brother From Another Planet. RRP: £29.99

Early Hitchcock Box Set - Blackmail, Murder!, The Ring, The Farmer's Wife, Rich & Strange, The Skin Game, The Manxman, Number Seventeen and Champagne. RRP: £34.99

March 5th

Fellini's The White Sheik (DVD debut - digitally re-mastered) - RRP: 19.99

The L-Shaped Room - RRP: £15.99

The Raging Moon - RRP: £15.99

Darling - RRP: £15.99

The Jean-Luc Goddard Collection - Volume One - Alphaville, Pierrot le Fou, Une Femme Est Une Femme, Le Petit Soldat, A Bout de Souffle, La Chinoise and Made in the USA. RRP: £39.99

Korean blockbuster The Host - two versions: a single-disc edition, and a double-disc edition with bonus features (TBC)

Johnnie To's Election: Vol.2 - Interview with Johnnie To; Making of... documentary (TBC). RRP: £17.99

Asterix and the Vikings (DVD premiere) - RRP: £15.99

Wanted: Dead or Alive - Series One Volume Two - five-disc set containing twenty more episodes of the Western series featuring Steve McQueen. Features photo' gallery and Life In The Fast Lane featurette. RRP: £49.99

Emmanuelle - Special Edition - featuring interview with director; Emmanuelle - An Erotic Success (52m documentary, "new to DVD"); booklet containing behind-the-scenes stills. RP: £17.99

Fu Manchu Double-bill - The Castle of Fu Manchu and The Blood of Fu Manchu in "double Amaray in o ring". RRP: £12.99.

Classic Horror Collection - The Beast Must Die, I, Monster, Night of the Eagle, Black Sabbath, Circus of Horrors, A Bucket of Blood, Ghost Ship and Doctor Crippin. RRP: £9.99 each.

March 12th

Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth - extras to be created in collaboration with del Toro; twenty-page book containing extracts from The Book of Mexican Cinema, by Jason Wood (TBC); "special packaging option available". RRP: £17.99

Guillermo del Toro Triple Box Set - Chronos, The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth - £29.99

Screen Icons - Julie Christie - The Go Between, Billy Liar, Far From The Madding Crowd and Darling. RRP: £34.99

Screen Icons - Catherine Deneuve - Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Belle de Jour, Donkey Skin, Manon 70. RRP: £34.99

March 19th

Sweeney! and Sweeney 2 - RRP: £12.99 each

Michael Powell's Peeping Tom - Special Edition - slipcase containing Amaray case; The Eye of the Beholder documentary (30m); The Strange Gaze of Mark Lewis documentary (25m); booklet containing essay by Ryan Gilbey and interview with screenwriter Leo Marks; behind-the-scenes production stills; commentary by Powell expert Ian Christie. RRP £17.99

The City of Lost Children - Special Edition - commentary by director Jean Pierre Jeunet (TBC); packaged in mirrorboard slipcase. RRP: £17.99

SUMMER 2007

The Tales of Hoffman
The Jean Renoir Boxset-Boudu Saved from Drowning, La Grande Illusion, La Bete Humaine and Le Crime de Monsieur Lange
Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor-Director's Cut (TBA)




*********

Ciao,
Pro-B

[BuddhaWake]

any reviews for the mediterraneo dvd?

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by DVD King

Does anyone know if Optimum will be doing work on the transfer or are they just using the same Studio Canal transfer that has been on almost every release? Also wondering the same about Tales of Hoffman.

Very unlikely. The French company owns the rights for all of these so whatever it is Optimum will be releasing it must be what Studio Canal provide them with. Also, the restoration work the company did on the Tales of Hoffman was widely discussed on other forums so I think it is a safe bet to announce that Optimum will benefit from it (aside from that Optimum are hardly that big of a distrib, certainly not as financially strong as Studio Canal so I do not think they would invest money into having their own restored print-it does not make any sense).

Angel: no reviews as of yet but the disc is in the proper aspect ratio and anamorphic. It should be a substantial improvement over the Aussie disc.

Also, people should take notice of the brand new and fully restored print for Fellini's White Sheik. This release should beat the Criterion transfer by a mile.

Ciao,
Pro-B

[nitin77]

2 questions.

Is A self made hero a good film, I've liked Read My Lips and Beat my Heart skipped but this is an earlier Adiard film which I havent heard of.

Is the transfer on city of lost children likely to be better than the r1 and will it have 5.1 sound ?

[pro-bassoonist]

For the first question I have no answer! I have not seen or owned this film!

For the second question the answer is YES! A quick look at the current 2DVD SE (a dated one mind you) available in Benelux-France, produced and sold by Studio Canal, reveals the availability of a 5.1 track. I am 99.99% the UK disc will have an upgraded audio.

Ciao,
Pro-B

[nitin77]

cheers pro-b.

Any idea if the video's an improvement too ?

[Tutut]

Originally Posted by nitin77

Is A self made hero a good film, I've liked Read My Lips and Beat my Heart skipped but this is an earlier Adiard film which I havent heard of.

This one is good too, a little review here :
http://www.filmsdefrance.com/FDF_Un_...scret_rev.html

[pro-bassoonist]

Good! As expected Mulholland Drive will be a replica of the French set. Confirmation courtesy of TheTimes:

Mulholland Drive: Extras confirmed appear to match the French Special Edition and include: Making Of, Exclusive interviews with Mary Sweeney (subtitled) and Angelo Badalamenti (English language), Cannes 2001 press conference, Trailer, Inland Empire 10 minute preview (tbc)

Ciao,
Pro-B

[pro-bassoonist]

Spot on!!

As expected we have an exact replica of the French disc:
http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/Reviews/A-D/belle.htm

Thumbs up Optimum (Canal)!!

Now...load up the Techine boxset.

Ciao,
Pro-B

[nitin77]

what about Tristana in the box set, is that 16*9 too ?

[pro-bassoonist]

When I get the set I will report! It is announced as being 16/9. I am sure someone else will bring the news before me.

Ciao,
Pro-B

[drpie]

Does anyone know what the transfers will be like for the godard set? I heard that a bout de souffle will be a big improvement -- but any news on the others?

I'm loving the prices as well as the titles coming out of this merger!

[Richard Malloy]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Spot on!!

As expected we have an exact replica of the French disc:
http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/Reviews/A-D/belle.htm

Thumbs up Optimum (Canal)!!

Extras aside, does anyone know how the R2 WB transfers of "Belle de jour" and "The Milky Way" from the Bunuel boxset stack up against this release? That is to say, do I need to upgrade?

[Jaymole]

I'm really excited about Night of the Eagle & The Go-Between.

Thanks pro-bassoonist!!!

[cgray]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

With so many titles set to arrive in the UK through Studio Canal's offshoot Optimum in 2007 perhaps it is a good idea to have one thread where people post the new additions instead of creating an individual entry for every new disc. If this sounds like a good idea let's keep the thread alive. If not, and if the mods also think that it will jam-up too much info at once, then let me know and I will delete it

Ciao,
Pro-B

Just my two cents: I don't like this conglomerated thread as much because I can't easily see if there is news I care about. I'm excited about the Bunuel set, and some others, but skimming posts in here rather than just seeing the Bunuel threat kicked to the top of the list is a pain. Maybe I'm the only one... anyway, thanks as always to pro-b for having and sharing so much information.

[pro-bassoonist]

I understand. Then in the future we shall consider individual threads perhaps for the really big titles.

This being said (to address some of Richard's notes above) Volger, a member from the Criterion forum has posted some early screencaps from the Bunuel set and he has mixed feelings. He believes that there might be an audio glitch with one of the discs. I am yet to receive my set so I can not comment. From the screen caps however it is evident that La Joven looks substantially better and it is in teh proper ratio, The Milky Way I am going to disagree with him does not look like it is the same transfer WB used, Tristana is the big toss-up here as from what I see it is anamorphic but it uses the same rather tarty print I have seen before (to be honest I begin to doubt whether or not a better print exists). Either way I can not make a final judgement yet but from what I see I shall be pleased marginally (granted the audio glitch is only on his set).

Screen caps are at the very bottom:
http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/...5015&start=150

Ciao,
Pro-B

[Richard Malloy]

I'm pretty happy with the WB transfers, but I'd upgrade for even a slight improvement (especially if all of these are released separately).

Pro-B, do you think "The Milky Way" transfer looks better or just different than WB's? Also, I didn't see any discussion about an audio glitch in Volger's post... do you know which title is affected?

[pro-bassoonist]

Richard, it is in this thread:
http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/...=4288&start=50

There are some pretty strong words there but again since I do not have the set in my hands I can not comment. From what I see...the answer is YES, Milky Way looks better here. I also do not buy the Tristana dismissing comments. As I said above, I am YET TO SEE a different transfer for this film (the French print considered) and the fact that the disc offers only a French audio is not a surprise for me. Obviously some prefer the Spanish mix. All things considered once we find out more about this audio glitch I will have to report again.

Finally: as far as Belle De Jour and Milky Way are concerned, and if these are the titles that put you on the fence whether or not to upgrade, I would say wait to hear about the glitch and then upgrade.

Or you could conisder the innevitable "Criterion is better" review at DVDBEAVER.

Ciao,
Pro-B

[Seashellz]

im just happy with them for making ONE MILLION YEARS BC a 16x9 enhanced disc.

[Scott Connors]

Originally Posted by Jaymole

I'm really excited about Night of the Eagle & The Go-Between.

Thanks pro-bassoonist!!!

I picked up Night of the Eagle as part of a three volume "Horror Classics" from Warner UK (the set also included the Corman/Price Masque of the Red Death and Zoltan, Hound of Dracula ). I hope that this release is better, since the picture quality on this version really, really sucked, with huge drop-outs and pixellation. Be nice if there were some good extras as well.

Best,
Scott

[drpie]

I wonder why the Godard set has been bumped back to June...

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by drpie

I wonder why the Godard set has been bumped back to June...

update:

June 4:



Pro-B

[nitin77]

dvdtimes has specs for the godard collection, doesnt seem to include all the titles originally mentioned

[drpie]

I think I read somewhere that there will be two volumes.

[pro-bassoonist]

a second set will be out shortly!

Pro-B