Unauthorized Releases & Bootlegs

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HerrSchreck · #176 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 7:33 am

I know, I can't believe nobody's gotten around to this yet. If it's that old sub-Grapvine VHS then, gasp, maybe even (maybe) Facets ("forgive me father for I have sinned, I have mentioned Facets in a salutary sentence..." "GET THE FUCK OUT MY CONFESSION BOOTH YA LOUSY PIECE A SHIT!") could do better. Ugh.

Steven H · #177 Post by **Steven H** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 11:38 am

I know there are people at MOC that love this film, and restored prints are floating around of Crazy Page (and Crossroads), shown in San Francisco last year, I think. Sounds ripe for the picking. There's probably some bizarre Japanese company stipulation holding back a release (and a real or imagined lack of interest for Japanese silents.)

I'll shoot an email off to Digital Meme, which seems explicitly devoted to this sort of cinema, about those titles specifically.

Cineman · #178 Post by **Cineman** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 4:12 pm

I realise this posting may not be looked on favourably by some out there, so apologies in advance, but the site http://www.raredvds4sale.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is selling a number of rare gems from the old BBC "Play for Today" series, the vast majority of which are excellent quality and taken direct from BBC masters (timecoded versions). The site lists a total of 18 rarities from Alan Clarke, plus a number shown on the coming soon page from Leigh, Loach, Frears, Joffe etc.

I know that some folk on here are not happy about sites selling "bootleg" DVDs, but when it comes to rare TV stuff like this, the like of which is highly unlikley to ever see the light of day with an official release then if this is the only chance you can get to see them, then why not!

#179 Post by **Matt** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 4:33 pm

I agree that it's awfully nice to get some of these films that would be otherwise impossible to see, but I'm troubled by this guy selling copies of other films (and CDs) that are readily available in legit versions. I mean, do you really want to take money out of Arvo Pärt's pocket by buying the "unreleased" Gerry soundtrack when you could just buy this?

Even so, Alan Clarke's Christine will be mine.

Gregory · #180 Post by **Gregory** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:32 pm

(I'm not seeing that Gerry soundtrack.)
It's also too bad he doesn't have more description of them that would give some idea about the relative picture quality and so on. For example it's great that a few of the Frederick Wiseman titles are available that way to individuals, but I know at least one of those has forced French subtitles.

planetjake · #181 Post by **planetjake** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 7:29 pm

Wittsdream wrote:Have any of you ordered films from this internet site? I find myself particularly interested in three films they currently have in stock as DVD-Rs.

Mystery of Oberwald (Antonioni)
White Dog (Fuller)
Hitler: A Film from Germany (Syberberg)

Can anyone comment on the quality of any one of these DVDs?

Just got A Film From Germany. The film is indeed spread out over 3 discs. The first disc is about 90 minutes long, the second about 120 minutes and the third is roughly 3 hours long. The quality of the image is watchable. It's a simple VHS rip, nothing more, nothing less. On my TV it seems that a little bit of the subtitles are cut off, but this is generally not a problem. I would think this is about the same quality VHS rip that's available on Syberberg's website (for free no less). SO in the end I would opt for the free download (if you have a couple of days to spare).

Anonymous · #182 Post by **Anonymous** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:14 am

Is Bresson's UNE FEMME DOUCE available anywhere?

Kinsayder · #183 Post by **Kinsayder** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:25 am

Super Happy Fun used to have an English subbed version before they pruned back their Bressons. Might be worth sending them an email.

Awesome Welles · #184 Post by **Awesome Welles** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:32 pm

I don't know if anyone has come across this guy before but his DVDs are pretty good, if you email him and ask him what the quality is like he will give you a pretty good description, i.e. video tape quality, DVD quality etc.

The selection is only of Japanese films. Prices, if memory serves, are $14.99 plus about $5 to the UK, he's in France (but writes perfect English) so I'm not sure on shipping anywhere else.

Scharphedin2 · #185 Post by **Scharphedin2** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 11:02 am

FSimeoni wrote:I don't know if anyone has come across this guy before but his DVDs are pretty good, if you email him and ask him what the quality is like he will give you a pretty good description, i.e. video tape quality, DVD quality etc.

The selection is only of Japanese films. Prices, if memory serves, are $14.99 plus about $5 to the UK, he's in France (but writes perfect English) so I'm not sure on shipping anywhere else.

Thanks for posting this! The collection of titles is absolutely incredible.
Is there any way that you could post any comments on the titles that you personally ordered? (I will do the same with respect to a number of discs that I just received from the RareDVDs4Sale site).

Awesome Welles · #186 Post by **Awesome Welles** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 5:24 pm

I only order stuff that is unreleased (when I can afford it) and so far have only ventured as far as Dode's ka den (which I haven't seen, but has good subtitles and picture quality on a very brief look). Dogura Magura and Shura (both Matsumoto) are straight copies of the Japanese OOP DVDs and are good quality in subtitles and picture. That's all I have ordered so far.

Scharphedin2 · #187 Post by **Scharphedin2** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 7:29 pm

FSimeoni wrote:I only order stuff that is unreleased (when I can afford it)

Thanks again for posting this. I have had my moral scruples about trading or buying "unofficial" DVDs, even in situations like this, where the majority of the films are otherwise completely unavailable anywhere on DVD. On the other hand, I also feel that the films were meant to be seen, so I have resolved that I can live with purchasing an unofficial DVD in cases where the films are not available to purchase officially. It is also my resolve that if one of these films later becomes available officially, I will purchase the official release, which is a given any way, because I simply enjoy the booklets and "whole packages" of most official releases too much to not purchase the official releases. But more importantly, I want to support the labels that make a commitment and effort to bring these films out.

Looking over this Japanese film site, there were a number of films that I immediately knew I wanted to see, so I made an inquiry, and received a reply within a couple of hours with details on the quality of the specific films, prices, etc. I ordered a number of the films, and will comment when I receive them.

Similarly, I received a number of DVDs from RareDVDs4Sale in the past week, and received very friendly and quick service, so I feel I can safely vouch for this trader, if anyone is considering a purchase.

The quality on the DVDs varied quite a bit depending on the source of the individual film. Needless to say, almost all of these films are recordings of television broadcasts made over quite a significant period of time (I presume). So, some of the older recordings were originally made on VHS, and may even be second generation. In any event, here are a few brief notes on most of the films that I received (bear in mind that I viewed only a few scenes of each film at this point):

The Nakagawa titles (Mansion of the Ghost Cat, The Lady Vampire, Ghosts of Kasane Swamp, Death Row Woman and The Ceiling at Utsunomiya) all look great, and definitely come from a digital source. Likewise Teshigahara's Basara -- The Princess Goh, maybe one notch down from the Nakagawa titles -- think AnimEigo's samurai titles. Mizoguchi's Gion Festival Music also looks very good, about on par with the FSF releases that I own of several other Mizoguchi films. However, do note that MoC will be releasing this (as far as I remember). Shindo's Children of Hiroshima again looks good -- it is full frame, and I am not sure that is correct, but the image is otherwise strong.

Rosi's Cadaveri Eccellenti also looks very good. I assume this is a recent television recording straight to DVD. Subtitles are yellow, but small font. The image may be slightly cropped -- it is hard for me to be certain with my projector, but I would estimate the aspect ratio to be around 1.70:1. Bertolucci's Spider's Stratagem is a notch down, but still acceptable. The colors are not quite as good as on Cadaveri Eccellenti, and I belive the image is very slightly cropped. IMDB lists the film at 1.66:1, but on my projector it looked standard ratio, however, the framing did not appear to crop anything in the scenes I sampled.

All of the Fuller films (Run of the Arrow, Underworld U.S.A., Park Row, Crimson Kimono, Verboten!) looked good or better -- again, these are television broadcasts of various dates with Park Row appearing to be of more recent date, whereas something like Underworld U.S.A. would be of an earlier date and hence not as strong. Run of the Arrow and Verboten! had the television logo imprinted in the corner of the frame. Included with Park Row is a very nice documentary on Fuller entitled The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera -- the program is from the mid-'90s, and the image quality is very good.

The Devils has been discussed in other threads in the past. The image here is very strong and from a recent broadcast.

Dennis Hopper's The Last Movie also looks very good. Any lack in vibrancy of the colors surely have as much to do with the condition of the film as with the broadcast.

As one would expect, the rarer titles are often from broadcasts of older date, and the image quality rougher. Of these, Howard Hawks' Tiger Shark looks very good, as does Lang's American Guerilla in the Philippines. The Sniper looks fine after some initial video artifacts -- think of some of Alpha's stronger offerings from the '40s/'50s. Intruder in the Dust carries the network logo, but is otherwise good. Run for Cover, Trail of the Lonesome Pine, Sign of the Pagan, Seventh Cavalry and (sadly) Wind Across the Everglades are the weakest of the batch, of older broadcast date, and possibly second generation VHS to DVD transfer. The ratio is also not correct on some of these. Still, to me it is still a comfort to be able to get an idea of what these films look like, until a real DVD release hopefully some day materialises.

There is a collection of Short Films that includes Kubrick's Day of the Fight, Lamorisse's Le ballon rouge, Lelouch's notorious C'etait un rendezvous and Return to Glennascaul (complete with an intro by Peter Bogdanovich) + a few others. It is a great, fun collection that made me very happy, as I wanted to see several of these shorts for a long time. the image quality is varying with Day of the Fight being comparatively strong, and Scorsese's Big Shave being quite poor. And, finally, there is the wonderful 140 minute documentary on Orson Welles -- Stories of a Life in Film, made for and initially broadcast by BBC in the late '80s. No fan of Welles should be without it! The image quality is late '80s VHS, but who really cares.

I have tried to be objective about the quality of these DVDs. It should be clear that I am overjoyed and very happy with "RareDVDs." I would say that if one is easily disappointed by image quality, and if Â£2.50/disc is a consideration, then the chance of disappointment is present. If, like me, one is excited at the prospect of being able to see a few handfuls of films not otherwise available, and willing to accept that these are not studio transfers of restored prints, then this will be a real treat.

Awesome Welles · #188 Post by **Awesome Welles** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 6:50 am

Scharphedin2 wrote:I have had my moral scruples about trading or buying "unofficial" DVDs, even in situations like this, where the majority of the films are otherwise completely unavailable anywhere on DVD. On the other hand, I also feel that the films were meant to be seen, so I have resolved that I can live with purchasing an unofficial DVD in cases where the films are not available to purchase officially.

I hope everyone here feels like that, I think it's fine buying a few bootlegs just as long as they are rightfully replaced when the release becomes official.

Thanks for your feedback, Scharphedin, there's a few I'd like to pick up, especially The Spider's Stratagem and Underworld USA. I forgot to say about the website I gave that shipping is always safe and quick.

Scharphedin2 · #189 Post by **Scharphedin2** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:31 am

EDIT: As pointed out by other forum members, the business ethics of the web-retailer commented upon, and to a certain extent promoted, in this post are questionable. I have therefore removed the post. Should evidence to the contrary present itself, I will re-post.

yoshimori · #190 Post by **yoshimori** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:17 pm

Scharphedin2 wrote:Several titles by Nagisa Oshima: A Street fo Love and Hope -- digital/DVD sourced, Sing a Song of Sex -- reasonably good VHS quality ...

The likely sources of these are available commercially from Panorama.

The Fanciful Norwegian · #191 Post by **The Fanciful Norwegian** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:32 pm

Yes, and if I'm not mistaken the Panorama Sing a Song of Sex is vertically stretched, which is a dead giveaway. But I do wonder where Three Resurrected Drunkards comes from, since the only English-subbed versions I've seen are dire homemade telecines and the Satori 41 version sounds a lot better (a fansub of the Japanese DVD, maybe?). It's my favorite Oshima and quite possibly his most out-there production, which is saying a lot.

Scharphedin2 · #192 Post by **Scharphedin2** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:35 am

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:Yes, and if I'm not mistaken the Panorama Sing a Song of Sex is vertically stretched, which is a dead giveaway. But I do wonder where Three Resurrected Drunkards comes from, since the only English-subbed versions I've seen are dire homemade telecines and the Satori 41 version sounds a lot better (a fansub of the Japanese DVD, maybe?). It's my favorite Oshima and quite possibly his most out-there production, which is saying a lot.

Just to clarify, I would be very surprised to learn that Three Resurrected Drunkards came from a DVD. It is the weakest of the Oshima titles desribed above, but I am not sure what a homemade telecine would look like...

I really will see, if I can get someone to help me install the needed software to make screen captures next week. It is not my interest to oversell any of these DVDs, but I also want to be fair to Satori, as his service could be a help for people to at least become acquainted with a lot of Japanese cinema that is otherwise not possible to see at all.

Also, I will look into the Panorama releases that you describe above. If they are subbed, I will make a point of purchasing these. Bootlegs never will be an alternative for me to an official release. However, I don't think I ever heard of these titles being available (w. English subtitles?)

yoshimori · #193 Post by **yoshimori** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:47 am

Scharphedin2 wrote:I don't think I ever heard of these titles being available (w. English subtitles?)

I can assure you that they are commerically available with English subs.

Here are links to a legitimate e-tailer: Song and Street.

Most, though not all, of Satori's English subbed dvds are available commercially, either as r3hk or r2jp discs.

Scharphedin2 · #194 Post by **Scharphedin2** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:51 pm

Thanks for the comments Norwegian and Yoshimori.

I was not aware of those two Oshima titles being out from Spectrum. I briefly did a little more checking, and apparently Kinoshita's Tragedy of Japan has also received a commercial release with English subs from Specturm. I also noticed that they have at least one more Imai title with subs (not amongst the ones I ordered from Satori).

I should probably have done more checking, before ordering the unofficial releases. In any event, as mentioned above, this simply means that I will order these Spectrum titles within the next couple of weeks.

If any of the other films that I mentioned above are available commercially, please do comment.

Norwegian, I am fairly sure that the DVD of The Resurrected Drunkards is what you have already seen. I took it to be a rough but viewable VHS presentation transferred to DVD, but it could very well be a "fan-telecined" transfer. And, yes, the film looks absolutely outrageous in the best sense of the word. Happy to have a chance to see it at all

shirobamba · #195 Post by **shirobamba** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 4:35 am

Most, though not all, of Satori's English subbed dvds are available commercially, either as r3hk or r2jp discs.

That's not the whole picture: he sells a lot of MOC clones (Naruse, Yamanaka), Criterion (Ichikawa, Ozu), Tartan (Ozu), Fantoma (Masumura), KIM STIM/Kino Video (the complete Taisho Trilogy), and lots of other clones of R2E and R1 discs. I think it's not fit to recommend him in this forum. (Though no offence meant Scharpendin).

Scharphedin2 · #196 Post by **Scharphedin2** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 1:50 pm

shirobamba wrote:
Most, though not all, of Satori's English subbed dvds are available commercially, either as r3hk or r2jp discs.
That's not the whole picture: he sells a lot of MOC clones (Naruse, Yamanaka), Criterion (Ichikawa, Ozu), Tartan (Ozu), Fantoma (Masumura), KIM STIM/Kino Video (the complete Taisho Trilogy), and lots of other clones of R2E and R1 discs. I think it's not fit to recommend him in this forum. (Though no offence meant Scharpendin).

No offense at all, Shiro. I am happy that you bring this up. I saw some of the titles you mention offered, and figured he was retailing the real thing, as he mentioned that some films come in keepcases with cover art, and also prices vary according to the quality and rarity of the specific film (I am paraphrasing from memory).

Are you sure, he is in fact bootlegging the releases of these labels? In that case I agree that he should not be recommended in this forum, and I will immediately delete my post above.

postmodern-chuck · #197 Post by **postmodern-chuck** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 4:26 pm

Does anyone know where I can find any of Nagisa Oshima's film output? I've just spent the better half of an hour scouring through the SuperHappyFun website, as I remember they used to carry many of his films, but could not find anything even tenuously connected to the director. It just looks like all of those films -- disappeared quite suddenly.

If I can find these anywhere, I would truly, truly appreciate it.

Faux Hulot · #198 Post by **Faux Hulot** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:25 pm

Does anyone have any experience ordering from this site? They have a couple things listed that I've never found anywhere else, but after an initial quick email reply, I've not received an answer to subsequent queries. (NOTE: I'm NOT saying that I sent money and got nothing in return). Just wondering if anyone knows if this "Bob" is trustworthy or not.

Faux Hulot wrote:Does anyone have any experience ordering from this site? They have a couple things listed that I've never found anywhere else, but after an initial quick email reply, I've not received an answer to subsequent queries. (NOTE: I'm NOT saying that I sent money and got nothing in return). Just wondering if anyone knows if this "Bob" is trustworthy or not.

Not that anyone cares, apparently, but for the record I ordered some DVDs from this fellow and got them quickly, and in much better quality than I'd been expecting. So, buy with confidence...

Kinsayder · #199 Post by **Kinsayder** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 5:23 am

For those with access to Usenet, these TV rips may be of interest:

Out 1, noli me tangere (Jacques Rivette, 1971) - Italian subs only (8 episodes - ep 6 is included in the file for ep 4)
La Nuit du carrefour (Renoir, 1932) - no subs

Awesome Welles · #200 Post by **Awesome Welles** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:26 pm

Did anyone ever buy the David Lynch stuff from Revok? And would they be interested in swapping for some Imamura?