Luis Bunuel (8DVD set) UK January 23
 

I am going to guess that with the recent Studio Canal developments in the UK this will be the same set released in France but...English friendly.

Box Set containing:
That Obscure Object of Desire
Discreet Charm of The Bourgeosie
Diary of A Chambermaid
Phantom Of Liberty
Milky Way
Tristana
La Joven
Belle de Jour

Ciao,
Pro-B

pro-b,

any idea what the french specs for belle de jour and tristana were (hoping for anamorphic widescreen) ?

also, I wonder if this will be available individually?

Odd lineup given past releases in the UK of these films (from Warner Brothers, BFi, etc). Has Studio Canal gained all rights to those Bunuels in R2?

The Warner Brothers set with Chambermaid, Milky Way, and Belle is now OOP. FYI nitin77, all films in that set are anamorphically enhanced, including "Belle de jour" which looks far, far better than Buena Vista's terrible, unenhanced DVD, which I think was an LD port derived from a crappy dupe print with tons of damage (plus that embarrassingly poor commmentary BV tacked on). I presume the new releases will have different transfers than the WB set, specifically, ports of the French set mentioned? Anyone know if these corresponding titles received better transfers in France than WB gave them in the UK?

And what about "Tristana"? The BFI release is, by all accounts, terrible (I never purchased it). Will a port of the French transfer represent an improvement?

And, yeah, the question of individual availability... that's a good one! Wish I knew.

Actually, I think that the entire Studio Canal catalog (and what has been released in the past by WB-UK) is now property of Optimum. But I also know that there a quite a lot of "foreign" Studio Canal titles (some Russian films) that have different rights-holders in the UK.

So, if I had to guess (as i mentioned above) I would think that what the UK is getting is this French set plus a docimentary which I did not menion earlier:

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/...V38563258_.jpg

Also Tristana's transfer should be quite different as the one in the boxset as far as I know isn't the same one BFI used. All of the films that you see in the boxset above were individually released in smaller sets about a year and 1/2 yearlier. I had a thread about them....here are the older covers which I thought looked very classy:

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/...V57038858_.jpg

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/...V57038906_.jpg

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/...V56801528_.jpg


Ciao,
Pro-B

ps
Nitin77, they should be 16/9.

Gosh if this is all true, I'd better start saving up now!! :P

Wow. Thanks for the heads-up! I'm definitely looking forward to this.

if belle de jour and tristana are good 16*9 transfers, I'm all over this :)

Well, I definitely look forward to this one. Thanks for the information.

The guess was correct I suppose. Here's additional info courtesy of the British DVDREVIEWER team (indeed Optimum will be "porting" everything from the Studio Canal boxset, including most if not all of the extras):

Recent StudioCanal acquisition Optimum Releasing is benefitting from its links with its parent company with a significantly increased release slate for 2007. Throughout January and February, the company will be releasing titles both familiar and new to DVD....

1 January: Mediterraneo - Oscar Winner for Best Foreign Film, tells the story of eight Italian soldiers who are sent to occupy a tiny, isolated Greek Island during WWII. In time, they realise the island is inhabited, and after only a few initial run-ins they soon settle very nicely into idyllic island life.

15 January: Diva - Jean-Jacques Beineix's wonderfully stylish thriller was largely responsible for the renaissance of foreign language film in the UK in the early 80s. The story of Jules (Andrei), an opera-obsessed courier whose bootleg recording of a rare concert by American diva Cynthia Hawkins (Wiggins-Fernandez) is believed to be a tape connecting the chief of police with a Parisian vice ring precipitates a frantic search for its whereabouts by two murderous thugs (Pinon and Gerard Darmon).

22 January: Belle De Jour (40th Anniversary) - Undoubtedly Luis Buñuel’s most accessible film, Belle de Jour is an elegant and erotic masterpiece that maintains as hypnotic a grip on modern audiences as it did on its debut 30 years ago.

Screen icon Catherine Deneuve (Repulsion) plays Severine, the glacially beautiful, sexually unfulfilled wife of a surgeon, whose blood runs icy with ennui until she takes a day-job in a brothel. There she meets a charismatic but sinister young gangster (Pierre Clémenti), and ignites an obsession that will court peril.

Extras: Histoire du Film documentary about Belle De Jour (30 mins) / theatrical trailer / Commentary from Spanish Cinema expert Professor Peter William Evans

Optimum Releasing continues its impressive slate of releases with its 22nd January release of a Luis Buñuel Boxset featuring: That Obscure Object of Desire / Discreet Charm of The Bourgeosie / Diary of A Chambermaid / Phantom Of Liberty / Milky Way / Tristana / Mort en Ce Jardin / La Joven (Also called La Jeune Fille) / Belle de Jour. The price for the set has yet to be announced.

Born in Spain, Luis Buñuel is widely credited as the founder of surrealist cinema with films such as Un Chien Andalou (made with Salvador Dali) and L’Age d’Or.

That Obscure Object Of Desire
Adapted from Pierre Louys' 1898 novel La Femme et le Pantin, That Obscure Object of Desire marked Buñuel’s final film. Brimming with the subversive wit which characterises Buñuel's finest work, the film takes satiric aim at a decadent, decaying society riddled by political unrest and moral bankruptcy.

Extras: Une Oeuvre a Repriser documentary on That Obscure Object of Desire (26 mins) / theatrical trailer

Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is an ideal introduction to the director’s work. Fernando Rey, Stéphane Audran, Delphine Seyring, and Jean-Pierre Cassel head the extraordinary cast of a film made when Buñuel was 72 years-old. Full of passion and fire, it was the 1972 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film.

Diary Of A Chamber Maid
The second screen version of Octave Mirbeau's novel (originally filmed in 1946 by Jean Renoir), The Diary of a Chambermaid is another of Buñuel’s biting and brilliant attacks on the bourgeoisie.

Extras: Une Ange dans les Marecages documentary on Diary of A Chambermaid (26 mins) / theatrical trailer / Interview with Jeanne Moreau tbc

Phantom Of Liberty
Perversely funny and punctuated with a series of quite brilliant sight gags – The Phantom of Liberty argues against the acceptance of strict moral codes, suggesting that the only way to live freely is to embrace the coincidences of the world.

Extras: Le Celebration du Hasard documentary on Phantom (16 mins) / theatrical trailer

Milky Way
Religious pilgrims Pierre (Paul Frankeur) and Jean (Laurent Terzieff) journey to a shrine in the north of Spain. Their faith is severely tested by some of the irreverent characters they confront in the course of their pilgrimage.

Extras: Bunuel, Athee Grace a Dieu documentary on Milky Way (32 mins) / theatrical trailer

Tristana
A surreal criticism of Catholicism and the modern world, the Academy Award nominated Tristana offered conclusive proof that Buñuel had lost none of his bite. Tristana is a compelling black comedy that offers a characteristically audacious look at sexual obsession and bourgeois sensibilities.

Extras: Rites documentary on Tristana (20 mins) / theatrical trailer

La Joven (Also Called La Jeune Fille)
Luis Buñuel and Hugo Butler (under the pseudonym "H.B. Addis") adapted Peter Matthiessen's story Travelin' Man for this drama about a black jazz musician, on the run from a false accusation of raping a white woman.

Extras: Presentation du Film documentary on La Jeune Fille (5 mins) / theatrical trailer

Belle De Jour
Expertly dramatising the collision between fantasy and reality, and between depravity and respectable bourgeois values, Buñuel, working from the novel by Joseph Kessel, fashions an immaculately designed (the fetishistic interiors and production designs are astonishing) and amoral comedy of manners. Long unavailable, the film won the Golden Lion at the 1967 Venice Film Festival.

Extras: Histoire du Film documentary about Belle De Jour (30 mins) / theatrical trailer / Commentary from Spanish Cinema expert Professor Peter William Evans

This being said, it looks like Optimum pretty much will be uploading some of the major Studio Canal sets on the market. I hope they get around at releasing the Andre Techine set.

Ok, Ciao,
Pro-B

Here's the official specs that confirm what I said above: these will all be direct Studio Canal ports which is great news as they should eliminate all fears that Belle De Jour and Tristana for example will be non-16/9. They will be enhanced. (Cover work):

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=63406

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=63405

Ciao,
Pro-B

Any idea if these Studio-Canal releases will get a Cirterion or some other R1 release? Not so much for me, as I'm all-region capable, but I like to loan out my Bunuel films to friends, and they can only play R1s.

Tristiana is tied up with Rohauer and any US release must ALSO be cleared through them.

Chances are slim!

This is a much larger deal that de facto put Studio Canal on the UK market. Optimum are the UK agent so to speak but the big guys are elsewhere. If you take a look at the massive batch of Studio Canal releases coming as early as January 2 it very much looks like the company (Studio Canal) will be working their French titles for the UK market. Which is a fantastic news for any English-speaker as there are a ton of boxsets and individual releases that are of excellent quality but available only at non-English speaking markets (as of today).

I do not see how such a deal could be worked up in the US. There are other rights-holders here and more importanly many films will have to be dealt per title (read: if in France/Benelux Techine's name is property of Studio Canal...hence all of his films are to be had through Studio Canal...in the US different films by Techine will be at different distribs...).

As I noted above, this is an amazing deal for the UK market!! I was not aware how large its scope would be but from what I have heard so far Studio Canal-Optimum will make A LOT, a lot of noise next year (plenty of solid catalog releases).

Ciao,
Pro-B

ps.
Note that with the new deal all previous releases that were negotiated by BFI, WB, etc..."per-title" as mentioned above, are now gone!!

On top of this, some individual StudioCanal titles have been released by two different R1 distributors at the same time. (Think Criterion's and Anchor Bay's overlapping editions of KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS and THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY.) Doesn't seem like StudioCanal has ever been interested in working with only one R1 distributor, so I doubt we could predict that all StudioCanal-owned films will eventually be released by "X."

Received the Bunuel set today - a very nicely-packaged collection, with each DVD getting its own slim case, and the overall box looks very nice. Each film comes with a postcard, and "Belle de jour" also has a booklet.
As far as extras go (repeating some info mentioned in above posts), all films come with a documentary (between 20 - 30 mins length each) and trailer, except for "The Young One" which just has an introduction as its sole extra. "Belle de jour" also has a commentary track.
I have only watched "Belle de jour" so far but was impressed with the overall quality, although (unsurprisingly) the original mono isn't that fantastic. Although the film played fine, I noticed that after the layer change my player got a quite bit noisier - curiously, the only other time I can remember that this has happened was with "Last Year at Marienbad", another Optimum disc - I hope the other 7 discs in the set don't do this!
Anyway, I'm pleased with this, especially as it was a good price for the 8-disc set; also makes me glad I held off from buying that BFI disc of "Tristana"...

Dazza.

Wow, sounds fab!! Thank you for the quick note~ Can't wait for it to arrive!! :D

I am still waiting, waiting, waiting....for my set to arrive....

Dazza: Could you please let us know if your disc of Obscire Object of Desire is fine? There has been some talk that there might be an issue with the audio separation (or lack there of) as only one of the channels is active.

I will report as soon as my set arrives which hopefully should be any moment now...

Ciao,
Pro-B

dazza,

please also post oyur impressions of the Tristana disc.

OK, I have just taken a quick look (and listen) at these two discs...


Pro-B: The audio separation issue you mention does unfortunately seem to exist; having quickly checked the "Obscure Object" disc, only my left speaker was active.

Nitin77: This is the only DVD version I've seen of "Tristana", so while I can't really compare it to the BFI disc, all I can say on first impression is that pic quality seems satisfactory (not too sharp, mind you) but the audio sounds fine and clear (and put it this way - it comes through both channels on this disc!).


Oh, and having played "Chambermaid" in its entirety, it still makes my player noisy once it moves the the second layer. There's obviously something my player doesn't like about the way these discs are authored...

Dazza.

Thank you for the confirmation. I am waiting for my package to arrive and as soon as it does and I confirm that the same issue appears on my disc I am going to contact Optimum.

Ciao,
Pro-B

DVD TIMES has a review up of the "Belle de jour" disc. Their conclusion is that it's the same transfer as appeared on the now OOP Warner Brothers Bunuel boxset that I referred to way up near the top of this thread, albeit with a slightly improved encode. They have a couple of comparison grabs from both discs. And they really lambaste the commentary track.

I'm not sure whether to buy or not. Is "Belle de jour" the only title available separately?

I think "Belle de jour" is the only one Optimum are doing separately for the moment. Originally, it was this film plus "Tristana" that I wanted, but the cost of the 8-film set was little more (if anything at all) than buying these two separately.

Dazza.

dazza,

thanks. I think I will get it, only after belle de jour and tristana in 16*9 modes, already have the criterion versions of most the others.

I have a noise problem with "Belle de Jour" as well. Even loading the disc is quite noisy. This never occurred to me with any other disc before (haven't checked the rest of the box set yet).

I get the same problem with Optimum discs on my PC's DVD-Rom. (Not my DVD player, though.) So you and Dazza aren't alone. Optimum must be doing something funny with their layer changes.