Well, there you go. What more could possibly be said about The Film?

Oh, we could talk endlessly about its elaborate and symbolic colour schemes, that GLORIOUS technicolor (not so glorious on the CC, though), the first 'composed film'-sequence in Powell's work, the possible reference to Cocteau's "La belle et la bete" (remember those winding curtains when Byron flees from the monastery?), the conflicting approaches to love and religion as embodied by Sister Ruth, Sister Clodagh and Kanchi (and how great Jean Simmons is in that role!), and so on...

"Black Narcissus" is hardly an underrated film, though. Not at the time of its release nor here in this forum. I haven't met anyone who has seen it who wasn't absolutely stunned by the experience.

Scarier than Nurse Ratchet? She gave me nightmares as a kid!

I'm so torn on what to do with BN....i've wanted it for years but the CC disc is just so, well....crappy. revisiting the beaver comparison it's embarrassingly inferior to the euro releases...the French 2 discer looks incredible, even better than the ITV blu disc. I have to believe this has to be near the top of their blu to do list, no? of all the films in the first 100 or so I can't imagine one that would benefit more than this technicolor glory. This and the Red Shoes disc are preventing me from completing my P&P collection!

The Criterion Contraption on the film.

New DVD and Blu-ray editions announced.

I think i'm going to need to get a night job this summer to pay for all these wonderful blu rays.

Anybody have an idea about whether the Criterion Blu will be an improvement on the ITV Region 0 Blu? I bought the ITV recently, and it looks great, so I'm hesitant to double-dip here. I guess I'll have to wait for Beaver to weigh in with screen captures...

You answered your own question.

Bye bye ITV blu-ray, the Criterion is a winner!

What a beauty!

The ITV blu is the only disc I own outside Region 1/A and it looks so good I worried Criterion wouldn't match it- but it looks like they've bettered it by a large margin. Tightly wound nuns! Nothing better.

Apart from the fact Beaver's caps for the Crit are larger, why is it I cannot see any real difference with the ITV? Logic tells me doubling the bitrate should make some difference but I just cannot see it? I definitely don't see higher color saturation for instance in the red lippy micro CU.

Am I going blind?

I would be surprised if Crit's Blu of Red Shoes doesn't improve on the handful of shaprness issues in some wide shots - bring it on Gazza!

David, the reason why you can't see any real difference is because the differences are so subtle as to be almost negligible. When I compared the full size jpgs, I could spot a *very* slightly warmer tone in the Criterion screen cap of Deborah Kerr, and a *slightly* livelier brightness and contrast range. There are also very subtle differences in the other full-sized screen caps I compared closely. Perhaps these improvements are more evident in playback, where the larger bit rate might really pay off. Since this is one of the Beaver's favorite films and he's seen it multiple times, I'm sure he'd be sensitive to any such improvements.

At any rate, it looks to me as if the folks who already own the region "B" ITV Blu-ray can be quite happy with what they have, and those of us who will be buying the region "A" Criterion can be more than happy with what we're getting. They both look lovely.

But after seeing the digital restoration of The Red Shoes, that's the one I'm aching for in my veins. That film is a drug.

As a recent inductee to the perverse joys of Borowczyk's Behind Convent Walls, I'm inclined to agree. Wish that film were on Blu-ray, too.

I'll leave Borowcyk's nuns to those of you who appreciate such things. (Vale "Diana Monti" in Franju's Judex.)

Vis a vis Red Shoes, I think there's always a payoff between grain and sharpness which only high bitrates can probably resolve. So - as long as the 4k (or 6k) master of Shoes actually HAS the inherent sharpness in those few wides (notably the opening shot of Lady Neston's party, and the first exterior of Vicki in blue princess gown and tiara going to the waiting car in Monte Carlo) then I'm hopeful the Crit will pull those back up. Things like the travelling mattes and dissolves and superimpositions in the ballet sequence were all inherently "grainy" and I can't see them getting better. And I thought the color saturation and the absolutely stunning blues and reds in the ITV Shoes were flawless. The film IS a drug, every time you put it on for a bit you have to leave it on and play to the end.

I still have small niggling reservations about the master the Tavernier/Institut people made which is now the basis for all these recent BN discs. I still really like what Criterion and Cardiff were trying to achieve with the old SD Crit and the 35mm BFI interpositive, despite the obvious flaws in both print and telecine (the fade to blue and chroma bug.) The reds particularly in the Kathleen lippy CU and the shock cut to the flame tree always used to draw gasps from theatrical audiences viewing the IBs.

I'll actually miss the fade-to-blue. I came to know this film only through the Criterion laserdisc and DVD and I always thought that it was a bold, conscious choice, that the moment preceding it was so delirious that no mere fade-to-black was appropriate.

Matt, despite my bemusment all those years ago when I bought the Criterion SD, I too have great affection for the fade to blue. It feels like the happiest accident, given it divides Kathleen's appearance from flaming red dress and lips, to a face drained of color with only the black eyeliner. Then the snatched kiss of Dean's shoulder!! Sublime!!!

DVD Talk seems to like it.

If anyone has time could they please do the following:

1. Go to the DVD Talk review
2. There is a comparison between the itv and CC version shot
3. Highlight one of them
4. Look at the arc that holds the bell
5. Look at the left edge of the arc
6. Do you see edge-enchencement?

Most certainly do in both. Ouch!

Ditto, on both versions .

They're too close to identical to be digital edge enhancement. It's likely the source, a result of the matte work and lighting.

This "EE" has been discussed at HTF. It boils down to an issue with the actual telecine. This EE or (what is) far more likely a color bleed issue with the three strip alignment is discussed at length there in a BN thread (I think) started by Robert Harris.

It's inherent in the resto and the telecine and will remain there unless someone does another (totally wasteful and totally unlikely IMO) resto in the future.

Get over it.

Glenn Kenny talked about this issue a couple of weeks ago, and includes comments from Harris.