Raro Video

[Tommaso]

I don't know whether this has been noted before, but in September Raro will release a completely restored version (with a colour sequence) of Pasolini's early documentary La Rabbia. Extras look pretty good, too. But no indication that this is English friendly... but their "Medea" disc was, so fingers crossed.

[bergelson]

Hi,

Does anyone of Minerva's Classics cofanetto Alberto Sordi has English subtitles? I've read contradicting reports about it.

Thanks

[otis]

There's no mention of English subs for the Sordis on the Minerva website, but it does list them for stuff like Dillinger è morto, Il Generale della Rovere and I vinti, which definitely do have them. This would suggest that the answer is no. Where have you read otherwise?

[zedz]

Forthcoming:

The recent restoration of Pasolini's La Rabbia - with English subs, December 08

and an Artur Aristakisian (director of Palms, available on Second Run) box set, though no info yet about what it contains - though I'd guess it's Palms and his only other film, Mesto na zemle.

[Tommaso]

Forthcoming:

The recent restoration of Pasolini's La Rabbia - with English subs, December 08

Oh great (the subs, I mean)! They must have updated the website, because I don't think I read this before:

"Extra:La rabbia I, La rabbia II, La rabbia III... L’Arabia documentario di Tatti Sanguineti (65’)"

That looks like a pretty substantial docu, is that one new or has anyone seen it before?

Now they only need to release Paso's gorgeous 1968 "Appunti per un Orestiade Africana" film, and then more or less the complete Pasolini films would be available on disc with English subs.

[TMDaines]

I received a wonderful surprise from these guys today. After only placing an order late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning, it arrived on Thursday morning – from Italy to England! I bought half-a-dozen releases from their Minerva Classics label and the Fräulein Else release from their Raro Video label. Knowing this forum I’m amazed no-one has posted any comments on the Czinner yet as it is simply fantastic and, as is often the case with Raro, it wouldn’t look out of place as a Criterion or a MoC release.

Fräulein Else has the original German language intertitles with optional Italian or English subtitles. Unfortunately the intertitles aren’t the originals in the sense that they are what the original audience would have seen, but this is because the film was reconstructed from a Danish print, whilst the original German intertitle text was garnered from a “German censorship visa found at Bundesarchiv/Filmarchiv Berlin”. The newly created intertitles are fine although they look a little too “new” and could have perhaps been aged a little to help blend in with the condition of the rest of the film. I can’t help but feel that a gothic font should have been used also. The English intertitle translations are of a very high quality, especially as the translation wasn’t done by an English native speaker. Only once did I feel a translation didn’t quite work and was perhaps a little too directly translated - in fairness I couldn’t think of a better translation of the top of my head.

I’m fairly new to silents so I wouldn’t like to make a matter-of-fact comment on the quality of the picture, but in my opinion it looked great when using some of MoC’s releases as a barometer. There is some damage to frames as one would expect with a film this age but the restoration has cleaned it up well without being too aggressive with digital manipulation. Unfortunately it is picture boxed, but not too heavily, and there is some evidence of combing at times if you look closely (I believe due to the nature of frame speed conversion for a lot of silents?) but it is unnoticeable when played at full speed sitting at a normal viewing distance.

Now the audio is where it gets really interesting. There are three different musical accompaniments; all composed by the Italian band Marlene Kuntz. Each of these were spontaneously improvised and recorded at different concerts. All three were really strong I felt, and after listening to and watching all three, my preference leans slightly towards the second one.

The extras consist of an 18 minute or so interview with the band talking about the project and their intentions for it. It’s in Italian but again optional English subs are available. It's also appears to be interlaced but it looks fine when watched with Yadif in VLC. A quality 70-odd page booklet is also included which features a long essay on the film itself, some press comments from the time of release about the film, an introductory piece on the difficulties of marketing silent film today, an article by a member of the band on why they chose to improvise, a couple of biographies on key members of the band and some more recent newspaper cuttings on the project. All are in both Italian and English, bar the newspaper cuttings.

The release is neatly packaged in the same method as Criterion use for some of their “Digipak + Book” releases e.g. Bicycle Thieves. As there is only a single-disk here, a standard-keep-case-width slipcase houses the book and the Digipak for the single-layer disk.

So, on the whole, I’d strongly recommend this release. It is certainly on par with similar Criterion and MoC releases and either would do very well to do any better with this. As I said now having watched this, I’m really surprised DVDBeaver or the like hasn’t picked this up yet to do a thorough review where it will get greater coverage – it fully deserves it.

[Tommaso]

Thanks for this thorough review! I always felt completely happy with my TV recording of the film (from your description, definitely the same print), but it seems Raro have put together another outstanding edition and I feel very tempted to put this on my list for my next order from Italy now. Three different soundtracks! And Marlene Kuntz are certainly one of the best Italian bands as far as I can see. How are these soundtracks stylistically? You say they are improvised, but does that also mean 'free form'/avantgarde?

[TMDaines]

Thanks for this thorough review! I always felt completely happy with my TV recording of the film (from your description, definitely the same print), but it seems Raro have put together another outstanding edition and I feel very tempted to put this on my list for my next order from Italy now. Three different soundtracks! And Marlene Kuntz are certainly one of the best Italian bands as far as I can see. How are these soundtracks stylistically? You say they are improvised, but does that also mean 'free form'/avantgarde?

Here, I added some screengrabs and found this on YouTube which will help give a better idea of the music style used. Advant-garde is certainly a term I'd use to describe it, whether it is correct or conveys the right message or not. I listened to a couple of their pieces on YouTube after watching the film with the different soundtacks and the compositions are very similar to some of the instrumentals in their songs.

[Awesome Welles]

Two gems have arrived from Minerva, meant to post this earlier but slipped my mind. Both hand English subs and dual language booklets. They seem to have dropped in price since I last saw them so that's a bonus!

Elio Petri's La classe operaia va in paradiso
Francesco Rosi's Uomini contro

[TMDaines]

Two gems have arrived from Minerva, meant to post this earlier but slipped my mind. Both hand English subs and dual language booklets. They seem to have dropped in price since I last saw them so that's a bonus!

Elio Petri's La classe operaia va in paradiso
Francesco Rosi's Uomini contro

They've both been out for ages. I've got them both. I've only watched the Petri so far. Highly recommended as is (nearly) always the case with Raro.

[Awesome Welles]

Then the lack of discussion of these films is criminal! What did you think of the Petri, TM? I thought it was (with a hazy memory now, I saw it a few years ago on a ropey VHS) a very good but quite dense film (nothing against it, quite the contrary, his wonderful Citizen Above Suspicion is equally loaded). It wasn't easy for me to watch the film unsubbed as my Italian is quite basic but I though Volonte gave a great performance. What's the booklet like? I hope to pick both up soon and trash my unsubbed copies finally!

[zq333zq]

I recall viewing the uncensored version on VHS ages ago, and I was mesmerized by the scene where two men were play-fighting in the nude in some body of water(nope - I did not mention water sports. Please!! ). I've seen the only current DVD available, and it seems that part of the action was cut off(pardon the pun), due to the aspect ratio chosen. On the VHS you could enjoy the whole picture. I have sold my VHS player and all my videos. Is there someone here who might direct me to a DVD that would leave nothing to be desired? =P~

[Matt]

Gratingly coy, yes. Risqué, no.

[zq333zq]

Gratingly coy, yes. Risqué, no.

Phew! I'm relieved it was taken the way I intended. In the interim I've found a DVD from down under that may satisfy my bodily needs from DaaVeeDee(I failed to find it on eBay Australia). I am most anxiously waiting for it to pop up in my mailbox! O:)

[zq333zq]

I've done a little research that may prove superfluous to part of the membership, but I'm including it here, just in case this is news to some of you guys, it's quite a fun quote. From IMDb: "In order for Sebastiane to be shown on British Television, and indeed to gain a rating from the BBFC, the censors required an excision of footage from a love scene in which an erection is very briefly glimpsed. The erection would have been unacceptable to the BBFC. When submitting the film to the Board, Jarman quietly arranged for the screening to be shown in the wrong aspect ratio; this effectively masked the bottom of the image, and resulted in the erection itself being removed from sight. After receiving the rating, the film was publicly premiered in the correct aspect ratio. Jarman had effectively hoodwinked the censors, as he describes in his autobiographical Dancing Ledge. A documentary called Sex and the Censors shown in the 1980s featured a segment on Sebastiane. A mistake caused the "erection" scene to be shown behind Jarman while he was being interviewed.[1] This same scene was later repeated in full during Channel 4's "Banned" season on the programme X-Rated: The TV They Tried to Ban, where it was preceded by a verbal warning about graphic content."

Ken Hicks(cast in the role of Adrian) is the one captured in a heightened state of arousal, according to a British source. I did manage to find a photo of him on the net in a relaxed state, just in case you are curious.

NSFW: (PS - tinypic is known for deleting any photo with nudity as soon as some spinster may complain, so you better be quick about it.)

Last edited by zq333zq on Tue May 25, 2010 11:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Jonathan S]

When I interviewed Jarman in 1986, he talked at some length about that scene, not only hoodwinking the censor but the difficulties of shooting it in the first place as Ken Hicks didn't fancy his original partner in it. When Jarman arranged things to suit Hicks he was faced with "a total revolution" and accused of making pornography by others in the cast/crew, some of whom were straight. If there's any interest I could post a direct quote in the Jarman thread, but perhaps it has already been covered in his autobiographical books or in documentaries?

[zq333zq]

When I interviewed Jarman in 1986, he talked at some length about that scene, not only hoodwinking the censor but the difficulties of shooting it in the first place as Ken Hicks didn't fancy his original partner in it. When Jarman arranged things to suit Hicks he was faced with "a total revolution" and accused of making pornography by others in the cast/crew, some of whom were straight. If there's any interest I could post a direct quote in the Jarman thread, but perhaps it has already been covered in his autobiographical books or in documentaries?

You interviewed Jarman?? Incredible! Oh, and speaking for myself, I would LOVE any elaboration that you can offer, please!

[gelich]

Does anyone know how the transfers of the films Kadosh, Yom Yom and Devarim in the Amos Gitai set 2 on Raro compare with the transfers in the Kino editions?
Are the Raro transfers anamporphic?
Thanks,
Greg

[TMDaines]

Lattuada's Venga a prendere il caffè da noi is either upcoming or already released on their Minerva Classic line.

[Perkins Cobb]

Lattuada's Venga a prendere il caffè da noi is either upcoming or already released on their Minerva Classic line.

Interesting ... English subs, or no? That page lists "n.d." in the subtitle section, and I don't know what that means.

Minerva loaded a clip from the film to Youtube back in 2007, but the DVD isn't listed on their site. Is it OOP or what?

[Ashirg]

Raro Video USA is starting North American releases in February, to be distributed by E1 Entertainment. On February 22, first releases will be Federico Fellini's Clowns and 4-disc Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection.

[knives]

How does Clowns rate? I despise when Fellini goes goofier like with Variety Lights, but if it's done with the same touch as La Strada I'd be willing to go blind. The Fernando Di Leo set though sounds fun. Hope it's eight films, not four.

[Ashirg]

There will be only 4 Fernando Di Leo titles in the crime collection - the same ones released in Italy.

March 15 will see releases of The Perfume of the Lady in Black and Michelangelo Antonioni's The Vanquished (I Vinti). The last title will be released in both DVD and Blu-ray.

[rohmerin]

n.d means "non disponibile" = zero subtitles, not even in Italian.

[Ovader]

Raro Video USA is starting North American releases in February, to be distributed by E1 Entertainment. On February 22, first releases will be Federico Fellini's Clowns and 4-disc Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection.

More details of those releases:

RaroVideo US's restored version of Fellini's The Clowns, one of the director's final masterpieces will arrive on DVD for the first time ever in the US on February 22. The DVD extras contain a rare and exclusive short film by Fellini, a video essay on the genesis of the film and a 40 page booklet with exclusive Fellini drawings. Hard-to-find, this 1970 film melds memoir and documentary into a circus of fiction and reality where Fellini delights in the role of ringmaster. The carnival-sounding score composed by Nino Rota, and an appearance by Anita Ekberg (star of Fellini's 1960's masterpiece La Dolce Vita), enhances the Fellini-esque experience.

RaroVideo US collects some of his finest work in The Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection, a four-DVD set that includes Di Leo's highly influential "Milieu Trilogy" - Caliber 9 (Milano Calibro 9), The Italian Connection (La Mala Ordina) and The Boss (Il Boss). The set's final disc includes 1976's Rulers of the City, which stars Jack Palance as a mob boss. All four films were digitally restored and remastered in collaboration with the Venice Film Festival. Each is presented with a number of extras, including a documentary about each film. The Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection will arrive on DVD February 22.

"The two killers in The Italian Connection inspired me to conceive of Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield for Pulp Fiction," says director Quentin Tarantino. "The Italian Connection is work of a genius."