FilmFanSea

On September 18th, 2006 Second Sight Films Ltd in the UK is releasing four of Max Ophüls' films on DVD under the rubric The Max Ophüls Collection. It appears they are only available separately (i.e., no box set), at a retail price of £19.99 each. Links are to the listings at Play.com.

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

• Video essay by film historian Tag Gallagher

The Reckless Moment (1949)

• Introduction by film director Todd Haynes
• Commentary by Lutz Bacher, author of `Max Ophuls in The Hollywood Studios'
• Region 0 (PAL)

Le Plaisir (1952)

• Introduction by film director Todd Haynes
• 'Les Chemins du Plaisir': documentary feature
• 'Moments from Le Plaisir': a photographic short story
• 'From script to screen': featurette

Madame de… (The Earrings of Madame de...) (1953)

• Video essay by film historian Tag Gallagher
• 'Working with Max Ophuls': by film director Alain Jessua

Absolutely brilliant news since Ophüls is terribly underrepresented on DVD outside of France (the sole exception in the US is Fox Lorber's crappy non-anamorphic 1998 release of Lola Montès). None of these has been released yet in Region 1, though Criterion holds the rights to Le Plaisir and The Earrings of Madame de... (as well as the 1951 film, La Ronde). Paramount had originally scheduled Letter from an Unknown Woman* for a May 16th release, but it was cancelled and has yet to be rescheduled. AFAIK, Sony should own the rights to The Reckless Moment , which was made for Columbia.

* Wild Side Vidéo in France has released a decent DVD of Letter from an Unknown Woman (R2 PAL) under the title Lettre d'une inconnue

pro-bassoonist

Thanks for posting Brian. I had the info for some time now and just like you am very excited about these discs. I do own a few of his films so hopefully this will offer better solid transfers. Let's see how things pan out....

Ciao,
Pro-B