PopcornTreeCt

Ok, so after years and years of Region 1 only, I decided to take the leap and finally buy a new DVD player. The main motivation was Masters of Cinema's Diary of a Lost Girl.

Can you recommend some must-have titles outside of Region 1? I'm about to order Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl and Leconte's The Girl on the Bridge. What other great classic films are not available in Region 1?

toddly6666

Popcorn Tree, that's funny because I just ordered Girl On A Bridge from Amazon UK yesterday - it's real cheap now at around 6 pounds.

You have to get the Emir Kusturica masterpieces. I don't know if you have seen any of his movies, but his movies are the most rewatchable entertaining, funny, touching and wacky foreign movies ever with always a great cast, best music ever, and always animals all over the place. He's sort of like a Yugoslavian Terry Gilliam but better than him. Here they are:

Black Cat, White Cat: PAL UK or Australian DVD
Life Is A Miracle: PAL UK DVD
Arizona Dream: PAL France DVD
Underground: PAL UK DVD (It's a bit better quality than the Region 1 DVD)

PopcornTreeCt

Cool, I'll definitely check those out. Yeah I did order Girl on the Bridge from Amazon. I thought that was a pretty good deal and jumped on it. I ordered Lost Highway SE and Kurosawa's The Idiot from cdwow.

Giggles

toddly6666 is 100% right. Although I don't like much most of Kusturica films, Arizona Dream is my all time favourite along with Se7en. Can't understand why it's still not out on R1.

pigmode

Twenty-four Eyes
The Apu Trilogy
1984

Alkaline

Fellini's Casanova lacks a R1 release. There is a solid UK release with an interview with Donald Sutherland (about 45 min). and a Fellini documentary, 'The Magic of Fellini (about 50 min).

Ron G

The Era Home Video release of Raise the Red Lantern, available from YesAsia, is far superior to the other Region 1 and Region 3 releases.

The French release of The Hairdresser's Husband is worth buying.

filmmusicfan

Congratulations !

It's going to open up a new DVD world to you !

Not knowing your tastes I can only suggest that you look carefully at favorite upcoming and past Region 1 dvd's...you will find some interesting differences!
Catching up will be MOST of the fun !

Enjoy !!!!

marty888

I think all of these were from amazon.co.uk:

GONE TO EARTH - rare 1950 Powell/Pressburger with Jennifer Jones, mangled and severly cut by co-producer Selznick for its American release as The Wild Heart.

THE BRAVE - Directed by Johnny Depp, who costars with Marlon Brando.

DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE - classic British comedy starring Dirk Bogarde. Also the sequel Doctor At Sea with Bogarde and Brigitte Bardot.

MAKE MINE MINK - comedy gem with Terry Thomas.

THE AFRICAN QUEEN - I'm sure that eventually R1 will get this (and probably better quality) but it does have a commentary track by photographer Jack Cardiff that will probably not apear on any other release.

THE DEERHUNTER solid commentary track by director Michael Cimino.

SALO - for those of us who are not Criterion completists.

SANTA SANGRE - not included in the recent R1 Jodorowsky set.

JEFFREY BERNARD IS UNWELL - virtually nobody in the U.S. is familiar with this London stage play recorded live at the Old Vic and starring Peter O'Toole in a tour-de-force performance that is wildly comic and strangely moving. Solid DVD release, even with a director's commentary.

d2cheer

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Drive-Mark-D...3654268&sr=1-7

Drive

I bought my region free player after watching this on my computer; I just had to see it on my TV and home theater, fantastic movie and one has to remember this came out before the Matrix and Rush Hour. It can be had for pretty cheap now, no one that I have recommended it to has been disappointed.

toddly6666

Popcorn, here is my usual essential foreign dvd list that I recommend. I saw your list of DVDs and we have similar tastes:

Terrence Hill's MY NAME IS NOBODY: the German PAL dvd is awesome and better than the Region 1.

The underappreciated musical by Alan Parker BUGSY MALONE: The recent UK PAL DVD is better than previous versions, non-anamorphic but good quality.

Japan's BATTLE ROYALE of course: UK NTSC version

One of Russia's most recent and best epic masterpiece movie THE BARBER OF SIBERIA: Russian PAL

France's ASTERIX & OBELIX: MISSION CLEOPATRA: UK PAL. When you are done watching the movie, check out the comic book then. At least watch it for Monica Belluci.

Japan's animated masterpiece - MINDGAME: Japan NTSC. I don't usually recommend every single Japanese animated movie or anime that comes out (such as ones like Ghost in the Shell 1 & 2, Steamboy, Ninja Scroll, or Paprika). But this movie is an essential masterpiece that not too many people know about. Actually the only must own Japanese animated movies that I always recommend buying are just Akira, all of Miyazaki/Ghibli movies, and MINDGAME. All the other Japanese animated movies seem the same and are like repetive knock-offs of each other

Roberto Benini's funny masterpiece JOHNNY STECCHINO: Australia PAL.

Germany's first martial arts movie KAMPFANSAGE: Germany PAL.

Tony Gatliff's hard-to-find musical masterpiece LATCHO DROM: Japan NTSC.

France's ATOMIK CIRCUS. I see you like Vanessa Pardis as I do. This movie is pretty wacky, stylish and a bit early Raimi/Peter Jacksonish. It's not a good movie, but it's a genre movie and highly entertaining. Get the Thai PAL DVD.

Marc Dacascos's CRYING FREEMAN (same director as BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF). It's in English but not released on USA DVD: France PAL.

Japan's masterpiece TAMPOPO: Japan NTSC (a much better version than the Region 1).

South Korea's martial-arts epics BICHENMOO and SHADOWLESS SWORD. They come out with a lot of them, but these two are pretty memorable and touching, with awesome well-filmed action as well. Korea NTSC.

France's best movie ever JEAN DE FLORETTE/MANON OF THE SPRING. PAL UK. (there is a new Region 1 DVD coming out this month, but I don't know if it's anamorphic).

Paul Verhoeven's BLACK BOOK. Probably one of the most interesting World War 2 spy movies I've ever seen. PAL UK.

France's Austin Powers/James Bond spoof OSS 117. France PAL.

France's answer to USA's Disney or Japan's Miyazaki - KIRIKOU & THE SORCERESS. France PAL.

Turkey's first decent science-fiction special effects comedy epic G.O.R.A. (the country is famous for making bad sci-fi flicks stealing clips from Star Wars). Turkey PAL.


All the movies listed above are anamorphic (except Bugsy Malone) and English subtitles.

Dr. Forrester

Spaced - Definitive Collector's Edition

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spaced-Defin...3660476&sr=8-1

Minute-for-minute, the funniest television show I've ever seen, and a truly stacked DVD collection to boot.

PopcornTreeCt

I ordered The Brave and Black Book. Thanks for all the suggestions. I will try to seek more of these out as funds become more available.

chris_sc77

I just went region free as well. I already ordered the UK 2-disk Hot Fuzz and the Korean Perfume Premium Edition/Limited Edition Box Set.
I am interesting in picking up Spaced eventually and I also wanted to know if anyone has any info on The 4-disk set of (Region 2 German i think?) My Name is Nobody/Nodody is the Greatest

toddly6666

Chris, well I have the My Name Is Nobody from that set, and the quality is amazing and comes with a lot of extras. I looked at a lot of DVD reviews of these two movies and the German DVD are best.

Ted Kontos

I'll vouch for the German 4-disk set of MNIN/NITG. Excellent quality/extras. The only slight problem is the ending of Nobody Is The Greatest still is not right. If you're not overly familiar with the film, you probably won't notice, but check out the Leone boards for more details. I have no problem with it (although I'd like to see the correct ending someday).

slop101

I love, love, love Spaced! It's not just great, but infinitely rewatchable. It's got gobs of heart, soul and brains, not to mention it's funny as all fuck. No self-respecting cinema/TV fan should be without it. And yeah, it's a stacked dvd set, to boot.

d2cheer

Damn now I am going to have to buy this...

Chris-K

If you're into mysteries, amazon.co.uk has the complete, 24-disc Poirot on sale for GBP65.98, which with shipping, and VAT removed, comes to around $120. Superior transfers than the R1 editions, proper uncut letterboxed versions of the most recent episodes, and the low price make this set IMHO a winner.

Ted Kontos

Amazon.co.uk also has the R2 Marilyn Monroe Diamond Collection for GBP16.00! The set has 10 of her best Fox films plus the "Final Days" documentary (11 discs total). The packaging is far superior to the R1 versions. For $32 this can't be beat! Mine has shipped and I'm selling my 6 movie 80th Anniversary R1 set.

PopcornTreeCt

I already got the Marilyn Monroe sets in R1. But that set looks great.

chente

There are tons of great DVDs out there. Here are a few I can personally vouch for.

Fallen Angels R4 - Accent
Black Narcissus R2 - Network
Punishment Park R2 - MOC
Repulsion R2- Anchor Bay UK
Stalker R2 - Artificial Eye
Rosetta/La Promesse R2 - Artificial Eye

You basically can't go wrong with the MOC's and they've recently announced Dreyer's Vampyr.

bdots48

Lots of great suggestions - let me add Heimat R2 (no comparison with the shoddy region 1).

logboy

Japan's animated masterpiece - MINDGAME: Japan NTSC. I don't usually recommend every single Japanese animated movie or anime that comes out (such as ones like Ghost in the Shell 1 & 2, Steamboy, Ninja Scroll, or Paprika). But this movie is an essential masterpiece that not too many people know about. Actually the only must own Japanese animated movies that I always recommend buying are just Akira, all of Miyazaki/Ghibli movies, and MINDGAME. All the other Japanese animated movies seem the same and are like repetive knock-offs of each other
[/QUOTE]

i agree with what toddly's saying. there's some features in anime that are very worthwhile, whilst 'mindgame' is stunning and certainly one of those films you'll be left wondering why it's not more well known than it is...

slop101

I agree with Mindgame - it's an amazing achievement/work-of-art, that gets better each time you see it. And FWIW, I'm not a huge anime fan, at all.