El Kabong

This is the 1972 french film by Barbet Schroeder that features music by Pink Floyd (one of their best albums, Obscured By Clouds, is the soundtrack). With all the talk about Live At Pompei recently I thought I'd hear something about this one. But no Floyd sites that I saw had any extra info. It's anamorphic & French mono (DvdEmpire has a front & back scan), but that's all I know. Mine just shipped (release date is Tuesday) so I'll get it Monday, but I thought with all the Floyd fans someone would have an early review. Now I'll watch for More. There's an awesome looking dvd coming out about Syd Barret with new interviews with Waters, etc. but it's only in the UK. I would love to see that! It even has DTS!! For those in the UK here's the details from braindamage.co.uk-

SYD DVD EXTRAS - MORE DETAIL/CONFIRMED: Direct Video Distribution Ltd have confirmed details of the extras on the forthcoming (in the shops on 24th March) Syd Barrett DVD: there's ten minutes of Roger Waters talking about Syd (including Syd's musical influences, his illness, the last time he saw Syd), 4 minutes of David Gilmour talking about how "Wish You Were Here" was written, Robyn Hitchcock performing "Dominoes" (3 minutes) and "It Is Obvious" (also 3 minutes), Graham Coxon performing "Love You" (3 minutes as well), and the biography of Syd. They also confirm the Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS soundtracks for the DVD

What do you think the chances of a region 1 release are?

Hendrik

...is this The Valley you mean...?... fyi the French DVD features a DD 5.1 soundtrack, an anamorphic transfer, a nicer cover --- and no subtitles in any language, not even French...

. . . . . .

pro-bassoonist

Hey...El Kabong.....would you please post your thoughts of the quality of the disc when you get it.....I am interested in this one as well but would like to hear first what's the treatment the dvd got.

Thanks.

El Kabong

I finally watched it today. The picture quality was pretty good(2:35:1 anamorphic). I'm watching on a 65" HDTV & detail & sharpness were pretty good in most scenes. A few shots that had stripe-patterned shirts, blankets, etc. had some strange shimmering, and some of the darker scenes were slightly grainy, but overall not a bad transfer for this movie. The mono sound was adequate, but the music level was very low. I was cranking the Floyd music during the openening titles & when the narrator came on he was three times louder than the music. Everything was pretty clear otherwise. No extras, just play & scene selections on the main- you have to turn on the subtitles once it starts. As far as the movie itself? Pretty awful. First, if you're getting it because of Floyd's music(like I did)- don't- just get the cd. Besides some instrumental parts during the credits, there were only about 3 or 4 songs in the movie and they were very small bits in the background playing on the radio while they're driving. There was a total of maybe 6 minutes of Floyd music, and all in the background with no relating visuals. The plot was totally ridiculous and barely existent- some nonsense about bird feathers, tribal people, and a lost valley. While this sounded like a possible groovy movie given the Floyd score, it's just horrible. It's not visual or trippy or anything that would make it appealing to the Floyd/drug scene & too awful to be enjoyed for any other reason. And a typically lame 70's artsy ending (or anti-ending) caps it. Somehow, the movie I pictured from the album pictures was better than this. I wonder if 'More' is this bad- same director & time period?

pro-bassoonist

ok....so...after this review....I think I will PASS!!

El Kabong

Yeah, I'd pass if I were you. My wife kept walking in the room while I was watching it & laughing, asking me what the hell I was watching. She was right on her third visit when she said "you don't even want to watch this anymore do you?". After waiting 15 years to see it I was very disappointed.

Hendrik

...fwiw... here's a review of the movie...

. . . . . .