Ellipsis, harking back a dozen or so posts, I think you would find viewing Deserto in full 1080p quite revelatory in terms of how well - indeed how much better than SD - the datacine and the disc can display grain structure. I have already commented to Michael B privately how closely I think the disc from this excellent restoration master resembles the original IB Technicolor prints which were breathtaking. (First saw this in 1966 here.)

One of the things a good telecine technician and producer can do with 2k rez is bring back or keep grain that might well have been scrubbed out in first pass of beauty shopping, often to be replaced with faux grain/digvital noise. With original techni Ib prints the grain was extremely fine because of the separation neg to interneg to imbibution process, and the new medium it seems to me is well placed to replicate it. The upcoming Us and Euro American in Paris BluRays - if they are identical to the Japanese disc - will also knock your socks off.

Thanks, David... You've persuaded me to order the BR and to play it through my system on my other son's PS3, and witness the difference for myself... DESERTO ROSSO is a real favourite of mine and I obviously want to view it at best possible quality... I still stand by my point that I get good grain (not noise, you can see the difference) from quality (CC et al) SDVDs through my system, actually not upscaling but playing on high end machine 480p & 576p through HDMI link to HD projector onto a grey/silver screen... And as 99% of my films only exist in DVD versions, that leaves me happy...

Michael won't like this - the only review posted on amazon.co.uk for the DESERTO ROSSO BR...

The reviewer makes no mention of what equipment he watched the film with. It could have been a postage stamp of a computer monitor. You won't see a difference at that size.

Yes, that review is so out of step with the general consensus that I'm curious as to how the disc was actually viewed. Certainly, on a properly calibrated 42" plasma the differences between the DVD and Blu-ray should be obvious, and there's nothing "banal" about the transfer at all - as David Hare points out with some considerable authority (having seen a 35mm Technicolor print not long after the original release), the BFI went to great lengths to ensure that the picture was as accurate as could be achieved in the absence of either the director or cinematographer.

I remember about ten years ago there was this amateur critic who used to keep praising cheap Hong Kong-label DVDs to the skies while slagging off the British Hong Kong legends label - whose transfers were usually so much better that there was no comparison. Curious as to why he was in a minority of one, I e-mailed him, and it transpired that he'd been comparing non-anamorphic NTSC and anamorphic PAL discs using a 17" 4:3 CRT television.

So not only was he completely unable to appreciate the rather substantial improvement in resolution, but there's every possibility the anamorphic discs genuinely did look worse on his system, as they'd have to have been downconverted to letterboxed 4:3 by what I suspect (given his choice of screen) was a pretty cheap and nasty player!

After the filming of RD...

Harris on Antonioni...


Antonioni on Harris, as told by John Francis Lane....


Michael, or Particle, you should post a contrary and corrective review on Amazon so... As I said, David is indeed authorative and persuasive and I am now picking up the BR... I also said previously, on the basis of the excellent SDVD (from the same HD master) the BFI's transfer is both beautiful and true to my eyes, with colour palette matching the photographs in the original Italian poster, promotional booklet, and published script I have in my possession... Along with Renoir, Antonioni tops my personal pantheon, and some 50 books by and on Antonioni sit on the shelf in front of me along with countless articles etc., and including scripts of all his films, many in several versions (I have 5 for L'AVVENTURA)...

Ellipsis, I have done as you suggested.

Now everyone click on the "Yes" button where it asks if this review was helpful and the "No" button for the other review (you have to have an Amazon account, but who doesn't?).

I doubt anyone is interested, but the Amazon reviewer has shifted his tone, going so far as to change his original review. At least he is more nuanced now.

DVD vs. Blu-Ray discussion moved here.

Sorry to take so long to get back to this: I was waiting for reliable confirmation about the region status of the first BFI Blu-ray release not to be handled by the rightsholder of the old United Artists catalogue (i.e. Red Desert, the Pasolinis and the Woodfall titles).

And I'm delighted to confirm that the Jeff Keen set will indeed be region-free, as will all other BFI Blu-rays where it's not a specific contractual imposition or considered necessary for other strategic business reasons. (For instance, even if the BFI owns the world rights outright, it may be necessary to region-code if that means concluding a licensing deal with a foreign distributor - and since such deals often dictate whether a new HD transfer is affordable in the first place, it's a bit of a no-brainer!)

Peerpee's post was also very interesting, as it proves that compromise of one sort or another is currently unavoidable. If you polemically set out to be region-free (like MoC claims to be with its Blu-ray catalogue), you basically shut off access to a substantial chunk of material: he knows full well that several rightsholders and sales agents are currently unbudgeable on this issue. On the other hand, if you're more pragmatic (as MoC used to be with its DVD line-up), you'll inevitably have to region-code from time to time.

I really hope this makes everything clear. I'm genuinely not seeking to be confrontational over this, which is why I very much appreciated the tone of Peerpee's post. He at least is well aware of the underlying business realities!

(Believe me, despite that unsubtle dig, I do have a lot of sympathy with Nothing's position - even though this is my twentieth year in the business, I'm still a utopian idealist at heart, and the same is true of the vast majority of my colleagues. That's why I go to such lengths to big up my favourite labels, like MoC, Second Run, PWA or Christopher Nupen's largely one-man operation, as I know from countless personal conversations with the people involved just what genuine labours of love their releases are, and what lengths they go to to try to squeeze maximum quality out of less than felicitous budgets or source materials. But we also know that, unlike our armchair critics, we actually have to go out and pitch for production funds, calculate likely returns on investment and negotiate with foreign rightsholders to minimise risk - and, of course, get it right more often than not in order to stay afloat. And that's true regardless of whether you're a huge Hollywood-based multinational or a tiny shoestring outfit.)

A belated but very welcome rave from Glenn Kenny (The Auteurs), in which he says "I rate this at the very top of all the Blu-rays I own".

Someone at amazon wrote this which reads the subtitels are not removable. Is that true?

It certainly isn't true of the SD edition - indeed, you can choose between dialogue subtitles, commentary subtitles, or no subtitles. Can't think why it would be different on the Blu-ray.

Could somebody give a statment on the subject who owns the Blu-ray?

The kids are hogging the HD telly at the moment so I can't check my copy - but DVD Times' separate reviews of the DVD and the Blu-ray both say that the subtitles are removable. DVD Beaver also says that the Blu-ray subtitle options are "English" and "none".

So that's three different authors reaching the same conclusion - and if subtitles are optional on one format, there's no conceivable contractual reason why they'd be compulsory on another.

Ok, thanks for your answer! In this case I might consider bying this title.

OK, I've now had a look at the Blu-ray myself, and I think I can see where the confusion lies - when you play the film, it defaults to Italian with English subtitles, and there's no subtitle option on the menu. But where our Italian friend went wrong is that he didn't think to try the audio and subtitle buttons on the remote. I've just done this, and am happy to confirm that everything's switchable on the fly.

Audio options: original Italian soundtrack/David Forgacs commentary
Subtitle options: English (film)/English (commentary)/no subtitles

Any combination is possible, so if you fancy watching the film with its original soundtrack and the commentary presented as onscreen text, that's absolutely fine.

I hope that's a definitive answer!

Thanks for the clarification!

I watched it for the first time with English subs last night; I also have the Carlotta French-subbed which I'd watched a year or two back.
I watched this time with the commentary track on and glad to hea that I hadn't missed too much when depending on my almost 40-year old Leaving Cert French.

I think its probably his greatest achievement, even greater than the concensus 'L'Avventura' , although its quite a difficult watch.
As for the DVD itself: excellent quality; stunning colour reproduction

Dual format coming next week(October 17th)

Actually, it's October 24th.

all the sites at that time had it as 17th most still do but show 1-3 week dispatch.

At least it's finally listed on Amazon. But still no listing for loneliness of the long distance runner.

I already have both the DVD & BR in separate packaging, but no chance of obtaining just the box and the cover of the new dual format edition to make my own combo...

UPDATE: However just sorted, thankyou...

RED DESERT getting a timely theatrical release by the BFI to mark the Centenary of Antonioni's birth...