Mr. Bongo Films

MichaelB · **Posted:** Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:12 am

As I said in the comments, this is pretty crappy by normal standards, but still a fairly huge improvement on The Adversary. The subtitles are burned in, but electronic this time, so they're completely readable throughout - albeit decidedly incomplete. My guess is that it's sourced from an old TV master.

MichaelB · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2009 7:09 pm

I think we'd pretty much settled this already, but I can now confirm with 100% certainty (having just seen a new 35mm print projected) that The Hourglass Sanatorium is definitely 2.35:1, and that Mr Bongo's DVD is therefore cropped.

The grabs on this page suggests that the French edition is too - and there's every likelihood that they're both sourced from the same master anyway. I'm not aware of another edition.

Yojimbo · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2009 7:56 pm

zone_resident wrote:

DVD Times on Two Daughters

I've just watched this now and would largely agree with the reviewer regarding the quality of the print.
As regards the film itself, 'The Postmaster' is for me by far the better of the two, and stands as one of Ray's finest works; 'Conclusion' has some wonderful scenes, and some nice comic touches to add to the usual humanism but, on the whole its rather unevenly paced

dmk_world · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:13 pm

MichaelB wrote:

I think we'd pretty much settled this already, but I can now confirm with 100% certainty (having just seen a new 35mm print projected) that The Hourglass Sanatorium is definitely 2.35:1, and that Mr Bongo's DVD is therefore cropped.

Wow, big statement. Having watched the film twice, the thought of it being cropped never entered my mind at all.

Let's hope the upcoming TVP release (if it happens anytime soon) rectifies that.

Stefan Andersson · **Joined:** Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:02 am **Posts:** 140

MichaelB & dmk_world: if you want to, go to malavidafilms.com and look up their Has DVD releases. There are video excerpts for at least some of the titles. BALTHASAR KOBER looks pan & scan. Has´ 80s version of Hogg´s MEMOIRS OF A JUSTIFIED SINNER is good-looking and could be full scope, I´m not sure. I don´t think Malavida would put stretched footage online. Lionel at Malavida answered my e-mail upfront, there´s only a 1.78 master available of SANATORIUM (like KNIGHTS OF THE TEUTONIC ORDER and the Polish DVDS of Wajda´s POPIOLY and Hoffman´s Sienkiewicz movies, at least the first two ones and the TV version of FIRE & SWORD.)

Lionel usually answers e-mails promptly, in French. Last time he told me Malavida does their own restorations, or words to that effect. Don´t know how extensive the work is. Seems they fine tune subtitle translations also. Lionel also believes their restoration effort on MARKETA is better than Second Run,
but he didn´t elaborate on it.

OT: For reviews in French and screencaps from Malavida´s recent East European releases, check out the recent reviews at www.dvdrama.com. No Eng subs on DVDs.

OT: MichaelB, do you know if the Polish DVDs of the TV version of NOCE I DNIE are pan & scan from 65 or 35mm or full frame TV version? The movie seems interesting and some info on the net (sorry, lost the link) indicates separate versions were shot.

zone_resident · **Joined:** Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:33 pm **Posts:** 213

DVD Times on Ray's Goddess

Jonathan S · **Posted:** Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:02 am

Can anyone comment on the Mr Bongo edition of Huston's Under the Volcano please? According to an Amazon review:

Quote:

the picture 'ghosts' like crazy. Unless my copy was a faulty disc (I doubt it) this is the worst transfer of any film I've seen on DVD

Maybe another NTSC to PAL conversion? I'd buy the Bongo edition if it were a decent transfer but I don't like the film enough to pay three times more to import Criterion.

MichaelB · **Posted:** Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:48 am

I remember it being perfectly watchable, though I watched it on an Oppo 983, which is outstandingly good at filtering out conversion nasties prior to upconverting to HD, so it might well look different on another setup.

Unfortunately, I can't check because I sold my copy - ironically via Amazon, despite that review!

Cash Flagg · **Joined:** Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:15 pm **Posts:** 384

Ray's The Stranger on 12/1. List price of £17.99 seems high for Mr. Bongo. First I thought it might be a 2-disc set, but Amazon says 1.

Ben Cheshire · **Joined:** Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:01 am **Posts:** 242

MichaelB wrote:

OK, I have a checkdisc of The Saragossa Manuscript and...
It also appears to be native PAL, as I couldn't detect any telltale NTSC motion judder.

Try as I might, I could not get this looking good on my Aussie plasma. I appreciate Mr Bongo's distributing it, in that I was able to see it relatively cheaply, compared to what the OOP DVD was going for, and am glad it improves on the other issues MichaelB mentioned in the rest of his post on p2 of this thread; but PQ and AQ upscaled were definitely in the lower half of DVD quality. Great great film to be seen at all costs, though.

Person · **Joined:** Sat May 19, 2007 3:00 pm **Posts:** 852

Ben Cheshire wrote:

MichaelB wrote:

OK, I have a checkdisc of The Saragossa Manuscript and...
It also appears to be native PAL, as I couldn't detect any telltale NTSC motion judder.

Try as I might, I could not get this looking good on my Aussie plasma. I appreciate Mr Bongo's distributing it, in that I was able to see it relatively cheaply, compared to what the OOP DVD was going for, and am glad it improves on the other issues MichaelB mentioned in the rest of his post on p2 of this thread; but PQ and AQ upscaled were definitely in the lower half of DVD quality. Great great film to be seen at all costs, though.

I have the Image Ent edition and the French edition (can't recall who distributes it). The former is cropped to 2.00:1 as the Bongo is. The French DVD is 2.35:1 and also has English subs. You might want to try the French edition if you can get it at a reasonable price, but frankly, it deserves a new HD transfer and Blu-ray edition... from Criterion, hopefully.

Ben Cheshire · **Joined:** Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:01 am **Posts:** 242

Person wrote:

Ben Cheshire wrote:

MichaelB wrote:

OK, I have a checkdisc of The Saragossa Manuscript and...
It also appears to be native PAL, as I couldn't detect any telltale NTSC motion judder.

Try as I might, I could not get this looking good on my Aussie plasma. I appreciate Mr Bongo's distributing it, in that I was able to see it relatively cheaply, compared to what the OOP DVD was going for, and am glad it improves on the other issues MichaelB mentioned in the rest of his post on p2 of this thread; but PQ and AQ upscaled were definitely in the lower half of DVD quality. Great great film to be seen at all costs, though.

I have the Image Ent edition and the French edition (can't recall who distributes it). The former is cropped to 2.00:1 as the Bongo is. The French DVD is 2.35:1 and also has English subs. You might want to try the French edition if you can get it at a reasonable price, but frankly, it deserves a new HD transfer and Blu-ray edition... from Criterion, hopefully.

Who knows when that might happen... At least now I know I love the film and want it on blu ray...

Cash Flagg · **Joined:** Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:15 pm **Posts:** 384

From DVD Outsider:

Quote:

Directed by Humberto Solás in Cuba in 1968, Lucia tells three stories of three periods of Cuban history, from the vantage point of three women, each called Lucia. Directed by the world famous Humberto Solas (Manuela, Simparele) this tri-partite feature melds Cuban revolutionary fervour with feminist and social politics, catapulting Solas into the international spotlight. Lucia will be released in March by Mr. Bongo.

Focusing on women from different classes – aristocracy, the bourgeoisie and peasantry - with each participating in the struggle for Cuba’s liberation, this two-an- half hour political allegory is segmented into three episodes, with each set in seminal historical periods during Cuba’s beleaguered history – the independence war against Spain, the Machado dictatorship and post-Revolution.

As each woman confronts the specific historical dilemmas - personal liberation in the face of class and sex discrimination and the decolonisation and reformation of Cuba - their stories provide an accurate and illuminating historical survey of an emergent national consciousness, leading up to and following the Revolution.

With a unique and stunning documentary style that insists on showing, rather than telling, the filmmaking itself bears testament to the struggle, detaching itself from imposed styles of Western filmmaking to become a pioneering piece of Latin American cinema. It is easy to see why critics site Lucia as a landmark in Cuban cinema, as well as the most important film in the nascent feminist cinema of the period.

Lucia will be released on UK DVD on 1st March 2010 by Mr. Bongo at the RRP of £12.99. No extras have been listed.

zedz · **Joined:** Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm **Posts:** 3661

Lucia is a fantastic film, with three sections in three distinct styles (approximately Rocha, Visconti and - I dunno - Les Blank?), but I'd wait to hear what Mr Bongo's transfer is like before taking the plunge.

Awesome Welles · **Posted:** Mon Jan 18, 2010 6:30 pm

Lots of Bongo films £5.99 at HMV, now which ones weren't awful?

MichaelB · **Posted:** Mon Jan 18, 2010 6:45 pm

Company Limited is the best Mr Bongo Satyajit Ray release by a fair margin - it's the restored version with optional subtitles (a first), and while you still have to make a few allowances for dodgy Indian film preservation, when compared with the dreadful disc of The Adversary it's like night and day.

The Stranger is also not bad - much more recent film vintage means the print is in pretty good nick, and while the subtitles are compulsory they are at least electronically generated and clearly readable.

perkizitore · **Joined:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:29 pm **Posts:** 648

Company Limited isn't available from HMV.

TMDaines · **Posted:** Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:44 pm

Awesome Welles wrote:

Lots of Bongo films £5.99 at HMV, now which ones weren't awful?

They've all just gone up in price it seems. Most of the Italian releases were around £5.40-5.50 odd.

MichaelB · **Posted:** Tue Jan 19, 2010 2:11 am

perkizitore wrote:

Company Limited isn't available from HMV.

It's not out yet: I've just reviewed it.

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