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The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 12:13 pm
by swo17
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An epic portrait of peasant life in late nineteenth century Italy.

Release date: 7th August

Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival, Ermanno Olmi’s The Tree of the Wooden Clogs is an epic portrait of peasant life in late nineteenth century Italy.

Focussing on four families working and living on the farm of a landowner in the Bergamo region of northern Italy, Olmi presents a year in their lives, charting their daily activities and the natural flow of existence: birth, marriage, death, and the trials and tribulations in between.

Shot on an abandoned farmhouse in Bergamo, The Tree of Wooden Clogs utilised locals of the region to its characters and had them speak in their Bergamasque dialect. The end results are truly remarkable, the apotheosis of Italian cinema’s neo-realism movement.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
• Brand-new 4K restoration by The Film Foundation
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition presentations
• Original Bergamasque and Italian mono soundtracks (uncompressed LPCM on the Blu-ray)
• Optional English subtitles
• Introduction by director Ermanno Olmi
• Two interviews with Olmi from the 1978 Cannes Film Festival, recorded either side of its Palme d’Or win
• Interview with Olmi from Italian film programme Appuntamenti con il cinema
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Griffin

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by David Jenkins

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 4:59 pm
by TMDaines
Saves me importing the Criterion.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 5:00 pm
by domino harvey
Don't worry, I'm sure Criterion's edition will be out in the UK in September

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 5:01 pm
by TMDaines
Stop please.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 7:26 pm
by kekid
Will this be the same encode as Criterion?

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 12:40 am
by Costa
kekid wrote:Will this be the same encode as Criterion?
Encode?
Of course not. (usually Arrow's is better).
Maybe you meant transfer?

I would be curious to know if Arrow would correct the tealing, a color stamp now of Ritrovata.
Hadn't they corrected some colors in another film?

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 8:49 am
by nitin
I very much doubt the colour timing would be changed. Arrow have only done that for their big ticket Argento releases.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 8:33 am
by JSC
I was wondering if anyone has seen Arrow's release yet? Is the color timing
the same as Criterion's?

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 11:19 am
by Telstar
I still haven't seen a single review of this. Anyone able/willing to compare it to the Criterion?

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 11:40 am
by Drucker
Both releases are advertised as being from a Film Foundation Restoration so they are the same.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:45 pm
by Akihiko
To my great surprise (i bough it), I must say that Arrow bluray is absolutely different in color timing. It is, effectively, a restoration from Film Foundation, but yellow tone instead of white, and the excess of greens, of the Criterion bluray are here completely absent. In terms of color grading is another world, browns predominate instead of greens, and keeps more resemblance to the color of existing dvds than with the Criterion bluray. it's the first time I see such a drastic change starting from the same restoration. Outstanding!

From the inner sleeve:
'L'albero deli zoccoli' was restored by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna at L'Immagine Ritrovata with funding providing by the Film Foundation. Additional support was provided by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and the Criterion Collection. 'L'albero deli zoccoli' was restored from the original 35mm camera negative and scanned in 4k resolution. A 35mm vintage print preserved by Cinecittà was used as a grading reference. The original soundtrack, spoken in the Bergano dialect, was restored from this print. The standard italian language soundtrack was also recorded. Special thanks to Ermanno Olmi and Paolo Cottingnola for their consultation.
Technical production: James White
Authoring: Silversun
Subtitling: The Engine House

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 2:35 pm
by Telstar
Akihiko wrote:To my great surprise (i bough it), I must say that Arrow bluray is absolutely different in color timing. It is, effectively, a restoration from Film Foundation, but yellow tone instead of white, and the excess of greens, of the Criterion bluray are here completely absent. In terms of color grading is another world, browns predominate instead of greens, and keeps more resemblance to the color of existing dvds than with the Criterion bluray. it's the first time I see such a drastic change starting from the same restoration. Outstanding!
Thanks so much for your observations. I'm even more puzzled now by the complete absence of reviews/comparisons out there on the interweb.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 2:37 pm
by Drucker
Drucker wrote:Both releases are advertised as being from a Film Foundation Restoration so they are the same.
Well now I look dumb I love that.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 3:54 pm
by Akihiko
Telstar wrote: Thanks so much for your observations. I'm even more puzzled now by the complete absence of reviews/comparisons out there on the interweb.
I believe that everyone (including me) have assumed that starting from the same restoration the result would be the same; that would explain the absence of reviews. Big mistake! In my humble opinion, it is a wonderful edition and very different from Criterion in color timing.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 10:57 am
by Telstar
Akihiko wrote:I believe that everyone (including me) have assumed that starting from the same restoration the result would be the same; that would explain the absence of reviews. Big mistake! In my humble opinion, it is a wonderful edition and very different from Criterion in color timing.
I'm pretty sure I'll be picking this up in the not too distant future but would still love to see some caps comparing the different editions.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 11:11 am
by tenia
I have the Arrow release myself. I'll try and have a look at it in the next days.

To be honest, and with all due respect to Akihiko, I don't expect the color timing to have been corrected, but if it has been, it seems like there has been no advertisement whatsoever (even in the booklet specs) to show it..

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 12:38 pm
by MichaelB
Akihiko is absolutely correct. While the source is the same Film Foundation restoration as featured on the Criterion disc, Arrow had it regraded to match the timing and palette of the original release prints.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 1:45 pm
by tenia
Whoops, my bad then. :oops:
I'll see if I can do a few comparative screencaps then.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 7:07 am
by nitin
Big props to Arrow for doing that. I would love to see comparison caps to easily do back and forths, I have the Arrow disc but cant take screencaptures.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:11 pm
by M Sanderson
Strangely low key release. I must check this out.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:35 pm
by Costa
MichaelB wrote:Akihiko is absolutely correct. While the source is the same Film Foundation restoration as featured on the Criterion disc, Arrow had it regraded to match the timing and palette of the original release prints.
WOW!
A Big Bravo to Arrow then!
I'm looking forward to seeing comparisons, although I don't know this film.

(of course certain someones I believe will insist that the Criterion bluray has the original colors)

Wish they could acquire Fantastic Planet and do the same, and also to other Ritrovata/Eclair restorations of films I was interested in! :(

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:38 pm
by swo17
Costa wrote:Wish they could acquire Fantastic Planet and do the same
Then just buy the MoC.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 6:27 pm
by Costa
swo17 wrote:
Costa wrote:Wish they could acquire Fantastic Planet and do the same
Then just buy the MoC.
The 4K scan has much more detail.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 7:36 am
by tenia
So yup, that's actually a pretty massive timing difference.

Re: The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 7:58 am
by Costa
tenia wrote:So yup, that's actually a pretty massive timing difference.
Thank you very much tenia.
Yes, the film now looks good. Arrow should have pointed out the differences to the public.

By the way, MichaelB, can you please answer me this?
Arrow did the color correction which means by itself that they admit the Ritrovata restoration has a problem.
I'm sure Arrow knows that other restorations by them have color problems too.
Why doesn't anyone say anything to them? (Ritrovata/Eclair)
(to fix their machines or something, I don't know exactly what is the problem and all restorations end up with a blanket teal)