The Escapist

I see that Taras Bulba, Solomon & Sheba, & Kings of the Sun are coming out at the same time -- anyone hear about a boxed set with all of these?

baracine

dvdbeaver's comparison is out: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...dvd_review.htm

The new DVD appears satisfactory and seems to have eliminated the washed-out colours and the greyness of the laserdisc edition as well as the preceding Region 0 edition:

Japanese edition (Region 0 - NTSC)




New DVD




It is not clear whether the "new" extras are the ones that were included on the laserdisc as they seem to cover the same subjects: Bronston - Mann - Rozsa.

baracine

Stuart Galbraith IV's review (dvdtalk):
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=32050

Best DVD of the year so far! (Even though the transfer is from the 35 mm reduction and not the Technirama negative...)

Giles

dvd review: El Cid

obviousily Weinstein's have created a HiDef master/hard disc because that's what's being projected at the Silver Theatre next Monday, whether or not it was sourced from the same 35mm or 70mm print is speculative.

baracine

It would appear that no one worked on the 70 mm negative so far. It may be missing in action or simply too damaged. Everything we're going to get is from the 35 mm anamorphic reduction.

Giles

side note, since I mentioned this in the Movie Thread Discussion, El Cid will also be playing at the Arclight in LA (next Monday as well) - it doesn't appear to be in the dome and there's no indication if it's an actual 35mm print or like the Silver Theatre, a HiDef DLP presentation.

Seashellz

I thought the Laserdisc had a dull, washed out look.
Oddly-the restored trailer looked beautiful-rich in color

Douglas R

It's the same on the new DVD. Washed out colors, yet the restored trailer looks much better. The Beaver comparisons only look good because they are compared against the even more washed out colours of the Japanese DVD.

baracine

This is simply false.

I managed to be the first person in Canada (probably) to get the new DVD. The American edition was being rented out at a local video store and they sold me an unused, sealed extra copy tonight (at a premium price).

The Canadian Alliance Atlantis edition is only coming out on February 26 - probably with an exclusive French-language track.

I've only watched 9 minutes so far but I can tell you it's an immense upgrade from the laserdisc. In the opening landscape, a bird can be seen in the distance, which was totally invisible on the laserdisc. The bitrate is very high and the colour saturation has been greatly improved. El Cid is a "red and blue" film and a great deal of its red had been missing in action in the laserdisc. In Heston's first scene, he is introduced by his bloody sword in the left foreground. This same sword never had any blood that I noticed on the laserdisc.

The scene of the freeing of the emirs at Vivar always looked to me like it was shot in the middle of winter. It now looks at least like the beginning of spring.

The walls of Chimene's apartment are once again a lively warm ochre instead of a dull calf's liver brown.

One of the visual splendors of the film is the natural texture of the stones of the many castles shown in all their moss and lichen-covered glory. This version makes that stone almost vibrant and tactile in its detail and colour.

The image may not be as supernaturally crisp and sharp as the DVD of King of Kings but the attention to the colour values alone makes it a very handsome presentation.

Unfortunately, it is not a perfect transfer. I believe all the improvements are electronic and nothing was done to repair the slight horizontal wobble of the film elements, which is not as pronounced as the unrestored Ben-Hur and hardly distracting or a major drain on the bitrate, but still present.

The music surges at dramatic moments, the 5.1 sound and the commentary are top notch.

baracine

I watched many of the extras. In my opinion, they are Criterion Collection quality, relying on a host of scholars, experts, analysts and biographers. The 30 minutes on the life and career of composer Miklos Rozsa are particularly engrossing, thanks to the contribution of conductor John Mauceri.

The preservation and restoration documentary is rather vague and centers on the man who has been responsible for the storage and retrieval of the El Cid film elements for decades. It seems to confirm that the DVD was made from a well-preserved 35 mm reduction genuine Technicolor internegative.

There is rather an awkward moment when French viewers might want to avert (or at least roll) their eyes during the "making of" documentary... An interviewee recalls that the film's script was going nowhere until someone suggested using the first scenes from Corneille's French play Le Cid as a starting point for the script ("a play every French schoolboy knows by heart", as the narrator proudly entones). What is meant by that are the scenes establishing that Roderigo and Chimene are in love and are to be married until Chimene's father insults Roderigo's father publicly and the ensuing duel between Chimene's father and Roderigo, the film's pivotal scene. Unfortunately, the director and editor, not being familiar with the play, assume that the interviewees are referring to the first scenes that are actually seen in the finished film and superimpose Herbert Lom as Ben Youssef riding into the frame and lecturing his fellow Muslims on the sandy shores of Morocco, a scene that has nothing whatsoever to do with the play, of course. Oh well... Another missed opportunity where they could have hired someone who had actually researched the subject (and/or with a college education) and they didn't... At least, no one refers to Chimene as "a Moorish princess", as they do on the AFI Silver Theater website.

Douglas R

The DVD may well be a huge improvement to the laserdisc but to my eyes the color looks dull and washed out compared with other films of that era. The reds, for example appear as orange, not red, and there is far too much contrast in the picture. That said, it is certainly much better than versions issued in other regions and the extras are excellent.

baracine

More than in any film I can name, the art direction of El Cid displays the most amazing variety of reds I have ever seen. Whereas all the Castile court regalia is deep red and gold, including many of the women's dresses and the standards, which are naturally deeper in interior scenes and lighter in the bright sunshine, the colours of Emir Moutamin's army are burnt orange and ochre. The turbans in Valencia and many of the Muslim women's dresses are also ochre. Rodrigo wears a reddish copper riding suit. Then again, many of the long, luscious, lingering Spanish sunsets are deep orange. You also have an inexhaustible variety of all shades of leather and suede ranging from bright red to terracotta to brown and gold. And Sophia Loren's lipstick is red bordering on orange, anachronistic but before its time by a few years, since it would become the favourite shade of the swinging sixties. Orange is also one of the colours most often associated with Spain in popular imagination.

As for the contrast, the colour timers sometimes have trouble deciding whether some outdoor dramatic scenes (Sancho's assassination, Alfonso arriving at the monastery, the massing of Ben Youssouf's army, reminiscent of Helm's Deep) are day-for-night or sunrise/sunset and those scenes appear too dark for their own good, which may or may not have been the filmmakers' original intention.

thursdaynighter

I've never seen this but I think it is a safe blind buy. I love Heston and epics, so how can I go wrong? Hopefully there will be some decent deals on this Tuesday.

baracine

If you want to see ratty, grimy, contrasty and oversaturated, see both the 1961 and 1993 re-release trailers of El Cid in the extras. If you want to see washed-out colours - complete with aliasing - check out the trailer for Fall of the Roman Empire on the same disc. Ugh!

bigjim25

I can't wait to see it. I ordered El Cid and Sydney White for $9.98 shipped at ch.com.

thursdaynighter

Anyone have an idea for the best price on El Cid? I will check out Costco later. Thanks.

slop101

My Best Buy didn't have this at all. Which is weird, because they have so much of the most obscure shit. For example, they have 3x the anime dvds than they do in their entire drama section. Does that seem weird to anyone else?

JOE29

My Best Buy didn't have this at all.

Neither did mine. I even went to FYE and they didn't have it either. It's a bummer because I waited until today to go in and buy it and it wasn't there. I had to come back home and order it from Amazon. It's going to take a few more day's before I can see the movie when I could of orderd it alot sooner and possibly had it by tomorrow at the latest. UGGGHHH!

MBoyd

Plano Best Buy had multiple copies of the regular edition and one copy of the Limited which is now mine.

Limited is in the same box as the limited Cinema Paradiso it looks like.

JiM T

Didn't see it at Costco...

Gerry P.

My Best Buy (Littleton, CO) had both versions stocked.

thursdaynighter

Costco in Sacramento (Cal Expo) did not have it.

Apone

From Amazon:

"Unfortunately,we are unable to ship the item(s) as soon as we expected and need to provide you with a new estimate of when the item(s) may be delivered:"

OH NOS! All my plans are ruined.

Cosmic Bus

Apone, did you order the 2-disc or the LE? I placed an order last night for the regular 2-disc edition with free shipping and haven't received any delay e-mails from Amazon (yet).

chris_sc77

They have this at Wal-Wart along with the 2-disk DD title Fatal Contact for those having trouble finding these in stores.