962 Death in Venice

[jsteffe]

I finally had the opportunity to look at the Criterion Blu-ray of DEATH IN VENICE in person, and I don't think it suffers from the same kinds of pervasive and really obvious color balance problems or weird color palettes that we have seen elsewhere in THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES, MURIEL, L'ARGENT, JE T'AIME JE T'AIME, RAN, etc. If you look at the color spectrum across the entire film, some scenes are a bit yellowish or greenish and some are brownish, but I personally think it falls within a range of plausible variability considering the different lighting conditions, interiors versus exteriors, etc.

In most shots where whites are clearly supposed to stand out - such as white shirts- they look reasonably white. It's different, from, say, THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES, where the pronounced yellow-green push means that there are no true whites in the image even where they are obviously required.

Chris Galloway's review mentions the problem of black crush. I can see what he means and I'm not crazy about how the contrast looks overall. But there are also plenty of places where you have, say, a dark or black suit against the dark of night, and you can see the suit clearly and make out some details in it.

It's not the most luminous or inspiring looking restoration of a film that I've seen, but that could well come down in part to the film's original cinematography. Overall, I'd say it looks different from the 35mm print that I saw years ago, but that 35mm print wasn't all that great either. I'd be curious to see an early Technicolor print, if one survives, and compare it with that. In terms of Criterion releases, I wouldn't rank it at the top, but I wouldn't rank it at the bottom, either.

[jsteffe]

David, that's a very telling story about projecting DEATH IN VENICE. I do wonder whether the softness and overall graininess in the film may have do with the heavy reliance on a zoom lens as you suggest, perhaps combined with shooting in relatively low light conditions. For me, Visconti's most beautifully photographed color film is still by far THE LEOPARD, but that's something very special and it was shot in Technirama by Rotunno with robust and carefully designed lighting.

[tenia]

From what I've seen so far (I've yet to sit in front of the full movie), while I believe it is far from being the worst offender regarding Ritrovata's hands-on, the fact that we can still easily guess which lab did the grading remains quite telling.

[jsteffe]

I took a closer look at Criterion's Death in Venice, alongside the HD streaming version which is still available on Amazon.

The black crush problem in the new restoration is worse than I originally thought, and I agree completely with Chris's criticisms of the image in his review on this site. Sampling the image with video scopes, it is similar to Ritrovata's The Color of Pomegranates in that the gain in the green channel is pushed up for most of the film, contributing to a greenish cast to varying degrees depending on the specific content of the shot. The other point of similarity is that the floor of the blue channel is pushed down lower than the other two channels. If there are deep blacks in a particular shot, it results in black crush and information is getting lost. The problem was not as readily apparent with the Pomegranates master because it doesn't have as many deep blacks. On this Blu-ray it is more obvious.

Here are some sample scopes to illustrate what I mean:

Shot beginning 05:56 (Lots of blue in this shot because of the blue sky in the background.)


Shot beginning 54:23


Shot beginning 1:05:43


Here are several frame grabs to compare with the older HD master on Amazon. As you can see, sometimes the older master handles flesh tones better, but it is also quite dated and has a red push in many places.

Criterion 1
Streaming 1

Criterion 2
Streaming 2

Criterion 3
Streaming 3

Criterion 4
Streaming 4

Criterion 5
Streaming 5

Criterion 6
Streaming 6

I think consumers have a right to expect video transfers without obvious technical defects. Between this and the dark and teal Mélo, its as if we are entering a new "dark ages" in digital film restoration.

[M Sanderson]

Wow, I expected it to look great with a little green or yellow pushing, which seems to be the trend of late.

But this is unwatchable. The film looks dark, harsh, underexposed. Definitely, black crush. Not the delicate film I recall from a cinema screening or from Warner’s old DVD. Where’s the greys and browns gone?

Looks weird as some other Italian films restored by this house Ritrovata. Such as several scenes in Arrow’s What Have you Done to Solange & Property is no Longer a Theft. But far worse.

Best Visconti Blu rays for me are still Arrow’s Ludwig & Cult Films’ L’Innocente. (I recall Eureka’s Conversation Piece & Rocco having various issues also).

(Yes I actually have the Blu ray & am not looking at screen grabs online.)

[tenia]

I don't think the older HD master is faithful either. It does look like a master graded following the habits of that time, especially regarding how pink-ish it can get (as James wrote).
It might be better overall compared to the intensity of the direction taken in the new restoration, but I'd be extremely wary in thinking this is more delicate.

I'm not sure about what issues the Eureka releases have. IIRC, Rocco has an incorrect gamma, but I don't think there was anything else, and I'd argue that's relatively negligible.

[Drucker]

I actually just picked up the MOC Conversation Piece since it didn't adopt the obviously incorrect Gaumont color timing. And since the MOC generally is better at keeping audio hiss in tact, it figured to be the one to get.

[jsteffe]

Best Visconti Blu rays for me are still Arrow’s Ludwig & Cult Films’ L’Innocente. (I recall Eureka’s Conversation Piece & Rocco having various issues also).

Both the older Criterion and the now out-of-print Australian Madman edition of The Leopard are my favorite Blu-rays of Visconti color films, followed by Arrow's Ludwig. The Australian Blu-ray of The Leopard is based on the Film Foundation/Bologna restoration, which turned out extremely well even if some have debated the choice of standard 'scope aspect ratio. (I'm fine with it and prefer to watch that restoration, if given a choice.) That said, it seems almost unfair to compare The Leopard to other Visconti Blu-rays because the film is clearly better photographed than any of the other films and benefits from being shot in Super Technirama 70.

[M Sanderson]

I don't think the older HD master is faithful either. It does look like a master graded following the habits of that time, especially regarding how pink-ish it can get (as James wrote).
It might be better overall compared to the intensity of the direction taken in the new restoration, but I'd be extremely wary in thinking this is more delicate.

I'm not sure about what issues the Eureka releases have. IIRC, Rocco has an incorrect gamma, but I don't think there was anything else, and I'd argue that's relatively negligible.

I was watching the old dvd on a 4:3 32” TV. It seemed fairly balanced, at the very least. At the time. Any other issues I wouldn’t have seen due to the smallness of the widescreen within the 4:3 screen.

The Criterion Blu ray is just objectionably strange. I was lucky to see a cinema screening and it wasn’t weirdly murky and dark like the current Blu ray. Lots of shadow & colour details are lost.

[movielocke]

I appreciate seeing the scopes up thread, the out of balance blue channel is glaring.

But I watched the criterion last week and was stunned at how good the actual video on my system looked. Given the context of the scirocco in the film, I soon was able to not expect the skies to look normal.

The entire grade felt balanced and rich, not too blue nor too yellow and definitely not the old school magenta push seen in some of the above caps.

[ellipsis7]

In 1971 at the world premiere of DEATH IN VENICE in London, Italian director Luchino Visconti proclaimed Björn Andrésen, the teen star of his latest film as ""THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOY IN THE WORLD" . Now this new documentary which premiered at Sundance 2021 tells the story of the enduring effect of the film and his newfound fame on Andreson, the 14-year-old Swedish actor playing Tadzio... Looks an absolutely fascinating and not a little disturbing study of obsession, the objectivisation of beauty and its lifelong impact on an often vulnerable human being... Has garnered a range of positive reviews which seem to reflect an incisive & intelligent piece...

[ellipsis7]

More on THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOY IN THE WORLD from The Guardian...

[Mr Sausage]

One of the best books I've read this year is Philip Kitcher's Deaths in Venice: the Cases of Gustav von Aschenbach. Kitcher, a philosopher by training, takes Mann's novella, Britten's opera, and Visconti's film, and dives deep into those works, looking particularly to open up new perspectives on them and see how they address some of philosophy's fundamental questions, like what constitutes a valuable life. Obviously Mann gets most of the attention, but Kitcher has some interesting things to say about the Visconti, finding more worth there than Mann devotees tend to. In particular he raises the idea that the movie is not a direct adaptation of Mann's novella, but fuses Death in Venice with Mann's later Doctor Faustus in order to tackle Mann's characteristic themes. There are also some terrific sections at the end analyzing Mahler, a major presence not just in Visconti but Mann's work as well.

The book has a lot of very keen insights into the story, always trying to find new perspectives and challenge assumptions. For instance, it persuasively argues that Aschenbach does not die of cholera as is generally assumed, but from heart failure. It also unpacks the influence of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche on the book and, again persuasively, shows that people take for granted that Mann is simply reproducing Nietzsche's Apollonian/Dionysian argument from Beyond Good and Evil when Mann is using his philosophical sources in subtle and ambivalent ways. There are also some wonderful sections about the place of philosophy in fiction, arguing contra dualists like Ray Carney (not mentioned in the book, but whom I think of) who too quickly separate head from heart in proclaiming that if they wanted philosophy they'd read a philosopher, by showing how fiction can address philosophy, can engage in its conversations, without itself doing philosophy. And there's an equally good argument for the place and even necessity of emotions in decision making (again, contra those who think we ought to be logical robots to make proper decisions, or who think decision making ought to be left to AI). It's a smart and often wise book.

While written by an academic, it's free of jargon and obfuscation. Any intelligent reader can take it up, although it helps to've read Mann's major works as they're often referenced (tho' Kitcher does not presume you've read them, and will give full descriptions of what he's referring to). If you're a fan of the movie or novella (or I guess the opera), it's a must read. Insights on every page. And if you haven't read Mann's novella yet, it's well worth the small time investment (it's only 80 pages in my Penguin edition).

Kitcher has written a wonderful book. It's a model of scholarship, passion, and careful, non-dogmatic thinking. Highly recommended for film, lit, and music nerds alike.

[denti alligator]

Thanks for the recommendation!