Thursday, November 3, 2011

#1098: The Conversation

10:36 PM / Blu-ray / Comments8 Comments

BD

(BD, Studio Canal, Region B, UK)

One of the first titles in the UK to be released solely under the Studio Canal banner. Optimum, you will be missed.

 
8 Comments

1. Matthew Mckinnon said:

I've passed on the UK release and gone for the US. Primarily because of the Optimum 'Don't Look Now' screw-up.

(Posted on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 10:32 AM)

2. Count Fosco said:

What's happened to Optimum then? They folded?

Love THE CONVERSATION, one of Coppola's best and that pretty much means masterpiece status.

(Posted on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 6:16 PM)

3. colinr said:

I think Studio Canal is trying to standardise their logos across Europe, or something like that - so no more Optimum, or Kinowelt for that matter.

(Posted on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 8:35 PM)

4. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Matthew:

Actually, after comparing screen captures of the two releases on various review sites, I came to the conclusion that there wasn't enough between them to favour one over the other, so I went with the UK disc for convenience and price. Also, while it doesn't make a huge difference, it's presented in its theatrical 1.85:1 ratio while the US release has the mattes opened up slightly to 1.78:1.


Fosco/Colin:

Yeah, Optimum has basically been rebranded as Studio Canal, so it hasn't gone anywhere as such - but still, the Optimum name had a fair bit of history attached to it. They put out some really good stuff (and some not so good - the aforementioned DON'T LOOK NOW being a case in point).

(Posted on Saturday, November 5, 2011 at 11:28 AM)

5. Paku said:

Looking forward to your impressions of the quality. I've seen all the shots but it's one of those cases where it's kind of hard to gauge how the grain/noise field would be in motion. Still haven't decided if I should get the US or UK one, probably the one that drops in price first.

(Posted on Saturday, November 5, 2011 at 7:21 PM)

6. Thunderbolt said:

would also like to see about comparison to the US version, if possible.

also, they included a mono 1.0 track here, while it was mono 2.0 for the US version (is the 2.0 track here mono as well?)

(Posted on Sunday, November 6, 2011 at 12:06 PM)

7. FoxyMulder said:

With mono 1.0 the track plays through the center speaker, with mono 2.0 i believe it plays through the left and right speakers but is still of course mono, thats how it worked with Jason and the Argonauts although they also give you a 5.1 remix with that film.

(Posted on Sunday, November 6, 2011 at 2:29 PM)

8. bosque said:

I have the US release, PQ isn't the cleanest but I remember seeing this theatrically, a lot of 70s cinema had the same semi-documentary look (French Connection etc). I was surprised to hear on the commentary track, Coppola had to fire the original cameraman Haskell Wexler because he wanted to go for a "romantic" look to the image which Coppola knew wasn't suitable for the storyline.

(Posted on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 10:10 PM)

 
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