(DVD and Blu-ray producer Bret) Wood informs.... the “elaborate restorations” of Battleship Potemkin and Metropolis.... will be released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber in 2010.

Independent distributor E1 Entertainment has announced that it has acquired all North American rights to 'La Dolce Vita', as well as other classic Italian films by Vittorio de Sica and Luchino Visconti. A theatrical re-release and a 50th Anniversary Blu-ray of Federico Fellini's 1960 masterpiece are planned for later this year.

As part of this new deal with International Media Films, E1 has also acquired rights to Vittorio de Sica's 'Shoe-Shine' (Sciuscià; 1946), plus three important early films by Luchino Visconti: 'Bellissima' (1951), 'La terra trema' (1948), and 'Ossessione' (1943).

Kino Video is set to release the classic of silent cinema Battleship Potemkin, directed by Sergei M. Eisenstein, on April 10. For this 1080p restoration, Kino has joined the Deutsche Kinematek in association with Russia's Goskinofilm, the British Film Institute, Bundesfilm Archive Berlin, and the Munich Film Museum. Dozens of missing shots have been replaced, and all 146-title cards restored to Eisenstein's specifications.

Edmund Meisel's definitive 1926 score, rendered by the 55-piece Deutches Filmorchestra in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, returns Eisenstein's masterwork to a form as close to its creator's bold vision as has been seen since the film's triumphant 1925 Moscow premiere.

The restored film has newly-translated English intertitles as well as original Russian intertitles (and optional English subtitles).

Special features include:

* "Tracing Battleship Potemkin," a 42-minute documentary on the making and restoration of the film
* Photo gallery

I haven't had time to watch the whole thing yet, but a quick glance at the Double Life of Véronique Blu-ray suggests that it really is as gorgeous as I hoped - and I first saw this in a gigantic cinema in Paris back in 1991, so my expectations were pretty high.

It's 1080p, framed at the correct 1.66:1 - and, crucially with this film, the sound is particularly good, especially in the all-important music scenes.

According to the box (I don't have the equipment to confirm from the disc) it's region-free. However, the extras all appear to be PAL, so there may be compatibility issues outside Europe/Australia.