g

I think a poor business decision to overpay for MGM assets could lead to significant restructuring in their home video department to become more profitable. They do have 2 large catalogues to handle now.

Mountain Biker

Well they can start with Happy Birthday to Me. That coverart is simply awful.

Anyways, I ordered it and Band of the Hand

pro-bassoonist

Must Buys!

The Cuckoo
Nil By Mouth
Dreamlife of Angels
My Wife is an actress
RESPIRO
DARK BLUE WORLD SPECIAL EDITION
BONJOUR TRISTESSE
VANYA ON 42ND STREET
THE LADY & THE DUKE
LE DERNIER COMBAT
EAST/WEST


Ciao,
Pro-B

cfloyd3

Don't like The Vertical Ray of the Sun pro-B?

I will say it once again since no one has seemed to order it but if you want to introduce yourself to the wonderful world of Hal Hartley, Amateur for $5.98 is amazing here. Do give it a try.

slowcloud

Unfortunately, it's misframed and the PQ is horrid, in general. You think they'll improve it?

I only just found out about this sale, and I cannot believe they are allowing so many amazing films to go OOP. Many of these are cult classics and some of the best foreign films of recent years. They have to be re-released. Many of these titles have been on my wishlist. So these are now out of stock on DDD?

FM

There are several that I'd like to order, like Cuckoo or The (Das!) Experiment, but they're reported as 1:85 non-Anamorphic. Is this accurate?

GeoffreyL

I already have The Experiment and the back of the case states that it is anamorphic.

illennium

As another resident film snob, I do recommend this one. I have the Artificial Eye version, which has a half-hour documentary but reportedly lower picture quality.

Hmm, all of the reviews I see of this one are lukewarm at best. I might still get it on your recommendation, though. Of Hartley's films, I've only seen No Such Thing and The Unbelievable Truth, both of which I thought were okay.

Other film-snob-approved films from the list:

Loving
Safe
Broken Wings
The Dreamlife of Angels
The Cuckoo
Nil by Mouth
Va Savoir
Vanya on 42nd Street
The Lady and the Duke
The Man Without a Past
Raising Victor Vargas
Timecode

Jaymole

I have many of these titles already, but i still found ones that I want and ordered over 25...i am nuts!!

DonnachaOne

Graciously appreciated. Guess I'll have to have a gander at some of these now.

I wonder why some of them are going out of print already? California Split and Badassss!!! only came out last year on DVD, I thought.

cfloyd3

It is a bit difficult to call it badly misframed. It is a strange 1:55:1 transfer instead of 1:66:1. I personally don't find it that much of an issue. It is not as I'd like it to be but that is all there is and it is not exactly full frame.

Richard Malloy

I'm a fan of Rohmer's usual fare - haven't seen any of the atypical works like "Lady/Duke". Will I like this film for more than the visuals? Will I be appalled by the politics of it?

slothroplt

Where are you getting that info from? EDIT: Wait. Scratch that. I thought you were talking about Vertical Ray. You meant the Hartley film. My bad.



.

Phibes

I noted that as well but went to other websites to confirm that there were indeed anamoprhic, I think DDD's listings are typos and alot of these listed that way.

slowcloud

I was utterly annoyed when I got the DVD and saw the opening credits. Those lines that slowly bounce around the screen are supposed to be connected, but with this framing you do not see that. It screws up a beautiful visual, esp. accompanied with Ned Rifle's (a.k.a Hartley himself) haunting score. I saw this in the movies and the visual impression of the film was half of it (the other the dead-pan quality of the acting, which is why most people hate Hartley's movies). This DVD is screwed up, yet so damn obscure that I fear this may be the only ever DVD of this movie in R1, but it won’t leave nearly the good impression as a cinematic presentation, or a correctly framed DVD without the hazy PQ.

Jaymole

Just wanted to say thanks to DDD for the great prices...however, I bought quite a few titles based on their post that these are going out of print...I hope this is true, as I wouldn't have spent so much money otherwise.

smurr05

agreed!!! I ordered some titles from the 2 for 1 MGM sale and goofed by not checking IMDB first as a couple were not anamorphic as listed,(ie. misery and others)-
smurr

illennium

As you mentioned, the visuals are the big draw, but the character drama is also interesting. Politically speaking.... eh, what can you say? Rohmer's a conservative and not a very subtle or thoughtful one at that. For better or worse, I just write it off. It's still an enjoyable film.

inDefiance

Thank you for the comments and suggestions above (and OP). Picked up:

RETURNER $ 5.98
MATINEE IDOL/AMERICAN DREAM $ 5.98
DARK BLUE WORLD (SE) $ 5.98

I'll check reviews on some others and may place another order.

pro-bassoonist

A few quick comments:

I own quite a few of the titles listed in this sale (for exmaple I did not mention Va Savoir) and you have to keep in mind that not all of these are top notch quality. The Hal Hartley film is also mis-framed. For those that are concerned...Das Experiment is anamorphic. Also, I can not recommend highly enough Dark Blue World (as well as the director's Oscar-nominated work Kolya)!!

As to Hal Hartley....this is not on the English-speaking forums yet but MK2 are preapring a set of his works that is supposedly coming out this summer. I would strongly recommend that you wait a bit!

Ok, Ciao,
Pro-B

illennium

Interesting, I didn't connect the dots between those two films. Kolya was almost a very good film, but it was dragged down by its sentimentality. In this sense it is the prototypical Best Foreign Picture nominee. Does Dark Blue World share Kolya's "heartwarming" sensibilities?

Jaymole

I agree with you on Kolya. I also was interested in Dark Blue World, but I've seen reviews of the film which mentions that it also gets too sentimentalized. It also uses footage from the film Battle of Britain. Those 2 points makes me apprehensive about buying it.

sandman1

For someone who is unfamiliar with majority of those titles - what would you recommend as a blind buy from re-watchability point of view. I know it's different strokes for different folks, fellows, just asking for suggestions.

Jaymole

There are a lot of good titles here, but my favorite films in this sale are (especially if you are open to independent/foreign films):

Dreamlife of Angels
The Front
Nil by Mouth
California Split
Read My Lips
Fat City

obscurelabel

I will mention one that I haven't seen mentioned in the thread ... See No Evil with Mia Farrow. I think it usually gets somewhat lukewarm reviews, but it scared the bejeezus out of me when I saw it on TV as a teenager in the seventies. And I haven't seen it since, so maybe I can't comment on its re-watchability after all. But I think it's a solid thriller and would hold up to repeated viewings.