My point, referring also to an earlier post, was that for people hoping to divest themselves of Melvilles that they own and mop up the vast majority of his output 'd'un coup' with this set looks a pretty bleak prospect. That also goes for french speakers requiring HoH subs.

Well, again, Le samourai, Le cercle rouge, L'armée des ombres, Le silence de la mer, Deux hommes dans Manhattan & Quand tu liras cette lettre at least are likely to be repacking of the existing discs and will thus have French SDH.
It also seems that the movies shared by the 2 sets will share their extras (and even the extra DVD).

Specs for the French Melville set have been updated to include French HoH but no English subs.

From a DVD Classik member :
Le silence de la mer: French SDH
Les enfants terribles (awful DVD): No subs
Quand tu liras cette lettre: French SDH + Eng
Bob le flambeur: French SDH + Eng
Deux hommes dans Manhattan: French SDH
Léon Morin, prêtre: French SDH + Eng + German
Le doulos : French SDH + Eng + German
Le samouraï : French SDH
L'armée des ombres: French SDH + Eng + German
Le cercle rouge: French SDH + Eng + German
Un flic: French SDH + Eng + German
24h de la vie d'un clown: French SDH + Eng + German

That's a very pleasant surprise, which would appear to confirm my suspicions that the overlaps between the French and English boxes contain exactly the same discs. I couldn't see why they wouldn't, given production logistics, but it's nice to be sure.

And since I have the MoC BD of 'Le Silence de la mer', much of 'Deux hommes dans Manhattan' is in English anyway, and 'Le Samouraï' barely has any significant dialogue to speak of (and there's always the Criterion), I think I can order the French box with far more confidence. Many thanks for this.

After the snafu with the new Belle de Jour, I've decided to hold on to my BFI disc of Le Cercle Rouge and other Melville releases including the Crit of Army of Shadows until the new SC set has had a few reviews.

What snafu? (searching older posts didn't provide an answer)

The only thing I could find was davidhare's comments that the color in the trailer looked wrong.

The bluray.com review points this out.

So has there been any word on whether the French box has the Pathé master of Le Samourai?

Of course it does. There's just no certainty whether it's the first or the second pressing, the 2nd being vaguely less DNRed.

It’s definitely the Pathé disc, and it’s unwatchable. I don’t care whether it’s the first or second pressing: I’m replacing it with the Criterion as soon as I get the chance.

Yes there is no other option. After wittering on about a possible third way after seeing clips from Le Samourai on the Tavernier doc I have now seen the full Melville episode from the TV series which without question references the Pathé in all its abhorrent glory. So humble pie for dinner for me and I guess its the Criterion for everyone else.

It's quite saddenning to see such a renowned movie being so poorly treated, between a FUBARed restoration that seems nowhere close to be redone and an old HD master that shouldn't be perceived as providing such a good quality bump.

I don’t have any regrets about purchasing the French Melville box, not least because it’s far more English-friendly than I was anticipating, but I’d personally recommend that people buy the UK box and pad things out with Le Silence de la mer (MoC), Quand tu liras cette lettre (Gaumont - it’s the same disc in the French Melville box), Two Men in Manhattan (Cohen) and Le Samouraï (Criterion). That way you’ll get English-friendly versions of ten out of thirteen features in the best presentations to date. The other three aren’t available anywhere on BD as far as I’m aware.

Having already most of the individual titles already releases, I'm going to buy the UK boxset myself. I'm just hoping that Le doulos, Bob le flambeur and the newer Léon Morin restoration are properly restored / presented.

Does anyone know if the German, Jean-Pierre Melville - 100th Anniversary Edition Blu-Ray (Arthouse / Studio Canal), have English subs on every film. There's 9 discs (10 films) in it. According to websites it does, but could someone confirm it.

The films in the box-set are:

Le Silence de la Mer (1949)
Les Enfants Terribles (1950)
When You Read This Letter (1953)
Bob Le Flambeur (1956)
Two Men in Manhattan (1959)
Leon Morin, Priest (1961)
Le Doulos (1963)
The Army of Shadows (1969)
Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
Un Flic (1972)

Back on the box, there are UNDERTITLE: DEUTCH, ENGLISH.

If it's not a misprint, the German box-set seems to be the best option.

I can confirm that Le Silence de la Mer, Les Enfants terribles, When you read this Letter and Two Men in Manhattan only have (optional) German subtitles while the rest of the films, those which are part of the UK set, have French and English subs in addition.

Unfortunately, Le Silence de la Mer (1949), Les Enfants Terribles (1950), When You Read This Letter (1953) and Two Men in Manhattan (1959) in the German box set don't have English subtitles.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p ... tcount=110

As I said above, the most cost-effective option is to buy the British box and source those four titles from Eureka, the BFI (currently DVD only), Gaumont and Cohen.

Thanks, I bought the UK set (5£ promo on Amazon.uk / iPhone app), even tough the German set is some Euros cheaper. I don't want useless disc's floating around.

I think I wrote about this elsewhere, but I was surprised by how good the Criterion DVD for Les enfants terrible looked. A BD would be great, but honestly, I can't recall a single moment while watching the DVD where it was too obvious that it was an SD upconvert.

Forgot to mention, apparently the re-release of Léon Morin, Priest this past year did indeed have some new, restored footage - is this the version used on the UK Melville set, or is it the previous restoration?

Has anyone spotted any reviews of the UK set?
I can't seem to find any that actually go into detail about the A/V quality.