Alas, this is a pretty unseen film even in Italy. Raffaele Andreassi made a number of beatiful shorts and documentaris, but he just shot three feature films in fifty years, so he remains an unknown for general audience. He died in 2008.


I don't think we'll see it soon on DVD...

I have started a new topic about Vittorio Cottafavi on DVD:

I can’t find these two anywhere. Are they out of print by any chance?

RHV is changing distribution partnership, so perhaps some titles will be unavailable for a while (two months?).
You can buy 1860 and Quattro passi from Amazon.com, where RHV has his own marketplace.

Il sapore del grano (The Taste of Wheat), screened at Venice 1986, is an independent, little seen film with a subtle gay subtext. A very unusual work by Gianni De Campo, who describes his film as a "Death in Venice in reverse". I am not sure how much I liked it, but it surely has its moments (including a special appearance by Marina Vlady), and the camera work reminded me of Ermanno Olmi's early works.

Looking for some advice: I am teaching US students in Italy this summer and really want to show them Paisa. I likely will not have a region-free player (I'm checking with the tour company but am not holding my breath). So the issue is that we need to see the film in Region 2 with English subtitles, and I think the DVD marketplace is bereft from what I can tell. The newer blu ray seems to have Italian subtitles only. What about VHS? Anyone with insight on this? Even if I find something, I'm sure the quality would be very poor. But I would rather have them see a poor version of it than drop it entirely. How I wish I could just take my Criterion with me.

Can you just bring a laptop? Changing regions is easy enough, and a lot of modern laptops have HDMI ports.

Just make an avi or mkv rip of your DVD with Handbrake or something. Why do anything else when you own the thing anyway?

Thanks for the advice. It actually isn't my responsibility to provide the film (though I often do in my classes here) which is why I wanted to verify that there are no Region 2/Region B English subtitled editions for Paisa. But if I could create a rip to a file from the Criterion, carry that over on a flash drive, and run it from their PC (assuming that's what they have linked to a projector), that would work? I'm not sure my 2007 Macbook will have the adaptability to plug in over there (no HDMI port), but I'll check on this. PMs welcome--don't mean to derail the thread.

Does anyone know if Cesare Zavattini's La veritàaaa is available on DVD anywhere? It looks like a really interesting film and it's the only feature film that Zavattini directed.

Two more subtitled DVD by Italian Ripley's Home Video:

L'amore e basta (aka Hymn to Love, 2009, boxset also featuring L'uomo flessibile and Futuro. Comizi infantili) by Stefano Consiglio.
Screened at Venice 2009, drama/documentary/animated film about gay and lesbian couples. Filmed in Italy, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona.
Available on Amazon.it



Nel gorgo del peccato (1954) by Vittorio Cottafavi
Available on Amazon.it

Ripley's Home Video has just released L'invenzione di Morel (Morel's Invention, 1974), a science-fiction "fantasy", starring Anna Karina. The disc features a new HD transfer, with both English and French subtitles. As soon as I receive my copy I will post some screenshots.

David Cairns talks about the film here:
http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/the-forg ... land-discs

Wow, thanks for that piece of news - I never even realized this had been filmed. A simultaneously obvious and somehow impossible book to adapt; very eager to see how they've managed...

If someone here doesn't know that book yet, I'd venture to say it's absolutely required reading for anyone with even a passing interest in either film or sci-fi - and a hell of a good read in any case. Chris Marker, when asked how he would describe his career to someone who didn't know about it, said "I'd tell them to read The Invention of Morel."

Ripley's Home Video has just released this science-fiction "fantasy", based on Adolfo Bioy Casares' novel and starring Anna Karina. The disc features a new HD transfer, with both English and French subtitles.

Some screenshots:

Interestingly there was also a prior version for French TV L'invention de Morel (1967) an opening clip of which can be glimpsed here...

For all the Milano caliber 9 lovers, another novel I've read from the same author.

DEATH OCCURED LAST NIGHT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoMHUU-_4Ow

Zampa's neorealist To live in Peace (amazing quality, it's the DVD)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F50pcxDfouI

Bolognini's La corruzione

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihVfgPV8ABU

Pietrangeli's masterpiece Io la conoscevo bene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVkGVdG8Ktk

I have just started a new blog, covering English-friendly DVDs from Italy. Subscribe, please!
http://journeys-italy.blogspot.com

Is Ermanno Olmi's two-discer (released by Instituto Luce) of The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978) possibly still available?

I fratelli Dinamite (The Dynamite Brothers, 1949)
http://journeys-italy.blogspot.it/2013/ ... thers.html

I am afraid the first edition with English subs is now hard to find.

^ Thanks for the info. And very nice blog you have there, Saimo!

A new copy is up for sale for €19.90 + shipping currently on Ebay.it here (but hurry)...

Thanks for your kind words. I' ll try to keep it updated on a weekly basis... Meanwhile, spread the word

Il gabbiano (The Seagull, 1977) by Marco Bellocchio
http://journeys-italy.blogspot.it/2013/ ... -1977.html

I've meant to do a blog on English-friendly DVDs from Germany and Italy for ages to highlight all the good stuff. I'm glad to see you're doing one. RHV have put out quite a few English-friendly Bellocchios.

If you have any contribution or question, you are welcome.
Most Italian labels don't subtitle their DVDs because they wouldn't recover their cost. As far as possible, RHV tries to include English or French subtitles, but for many of their most obscure titles this would be simply too expensive...