Theo Angelopoulos on DVD

[Murdoch]

It seems there's no Angelopoulos DVD thread, and as I am desperately seeking any editions of his films, I thought we should consolidate any info on him. Does anybody know the quality of this boxset? Also, is the site reliable at all, I'd hate to pass up the chance to own close to his entire oeuvre for under $50.

[menthymenthy]

I think that set is one of those Asian bootlegs that are on eBay all the time.

From what it seems, the best available DVDs of his work are the Greek releases. Unfort, these are hard to find, and since I don't know any Greek Online Stores that are Latin-friendly, the closest I've gone to buying one is looking on eBay (But even on eBay these are selling for $50 each).

Anyone know any reliable, English friendly online DVD stores? I'm interested in finding out when his new film "The Dust of Time" is going to be released on DVD in Greece. It was released theatrically in January, so a DVD release is due.

[Caligula]

You might want to try hkflix. Quite a few of the New Star titles seem to be out of print though. I wish I had jumped at Landscape in the Mist earlier.

[Stefan Andersson]

I think LANDSCAPE is still available on Madman´s site.

[Caligula]

I can only see Eternity and a Day & Ulysses' Gaze on Madman's site. Do you perhaps have a link?

[Murdoch]

I think LANDSCAPE is still available on Madman´s site.

It's a shame Landscape in the Mist isn't more readily available, I'll pick Eternity from hkflix, and then just wait and see if I can find Landscape anywehere at a decent price. I would love to find the Greek boxes, but I think I'll have to settle for hunting down individual releases instead.

[foggy eyes]

The only way to go is the Greek New Star DVDs, which can be ordered easily through eBay (for example, see here for Landscape in the Mist). The transfers are great, and they all come with English subs - do not hesitate to pick up The Travelling Players or The Suspended Step of the Stork! I wouldn't bother with the Madman discs - the transfers are ports of the New Stars but with added yellow subs. The UK disc of Weeping Meadow from Artificial Eye is probably exactly the same as the Greek disc (fine transfer), but much cheaper.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure there's loads of info on the board about Angelopoulos DVDs - try the other threads under his name...

[aox]

The film of his that truly interests me is Days of '36. The plot is intriguing, but I can't find it anywhere.

[foggy eyes]

The film of his that truly interests me is Days of '36. The plot is intriguing, but I can't find it anywhere.

New Star released it as well. Just type the title into eBay's search engine, or click here.

[aox]

thanks

[swo17]

The only way to go is the Greek New Star DVDs, which can be ordered easily through eBay (for example, see here for Landscape in the Mist). The transfers are great, and they all come with English subs

Can anyone speak to how the New Star DVD compares to the OOP New Yorker of Landscape? I'm very tempted to pick this up, but have difficulty justifying spending that much on a title that I can easily pick up (the NYer version anyway) from my local library anytime I want.

Also, stupid question: does "all region" imply that it will play in both NTSC- and PAL-compatible players?

[domino harvey]

No, all region just means it's Region 0. You still have to have a PAL-capable DVD player-- though I'm not sure I've ever seen a DVD player that didn't let you toggle between PAL and NTSC direct from the menu without any code

[foggy eyes]

Can anyone speak to how the New Star DVD compares to the OOP New Yorker of Landscape?

It's loads better!

Some caps:

[zedz]

Just throwing this into the mix:

Somebody here (Barmy, was it you?) mentioned a New Star box set of all the existing (and maybe some forthcoming?) discs. If you're serious about getting your hands on everything, it might pay to wait for this, if it isn't apocryphal. The New Star editions are definitely the way to go. The best international editions are ports of these, and they're the only source for his best films.

EDIT: Here's one (not cheap)!

[swo17]

Re: those caps--Be still my heart!

Are the New Star discs definitely PAL though? It doesn't look like that ebay seller says either way, and despite domino's claim, I've found some talk online that my Panny Blu-ray player is unable to play PAL.

EDIT: Here's one (not cheap)!

For each of those seven films though, it looks like it comes to about half the price of what they go for individually!

EDIT: An answer to my own question, from that ebay seller. I thought I would share it, for anyone interested:

hello ,
thank you
No this will not play in your player .
This dvd will play :
1. Any multy region player
2. Any new generation very cheap players .
3. Many old ones , but not anY SONY , PANASONIC , TOSHIBA

Best regards
stelios

[Stefan Andersson]

Caligula: sorry about LANDSCAPE and Madman, I was thinking about ETERNITY AND A DAY.

[Rich Malloy]

[LANDSCAPE]Re: those caps--Be still my heart!

I don't want to throw cold water here - and it is the best DVD of the film I've seen - but IMO this transfer doesn't measure up to my two other New Star Angelopouloses, namely "Eternity" and "Weeping". "Rife with artifacts" might be going too far, but there's no small amount of digital funkiness here. Color timing and contrast levels look good though. Just don't expect a rock-solid, artifact-free transfer.

[Felix]

Somebody here mentioned a New Star box set of all the existing (and maybe some forthcoming?) discs. If you're serious about getting your hands on everything, it might pay to wait for this, if it isn't apocryphal. The New Star editions are definitely the way to go. The best international editions are ports of these, and they're the only source for his best films.

EDIT: Here's one (not cheap)!

Thanks for the heads up Zedz. Just received this today, good seller, week to arrive. They are listed on the ad as 4:3 full frame but only the first two are, the others are 16:9, most 1.78:1. They come as separate discs rather than a box (I wonder what he does with the non-subtitled ones and how I would love to see them with subtitles...) There is a seller doing a port of The Beekeeper on E-Bay as well.

The thread prompted me to watch the video of Eternity And A Day which had been sitting on my shelves for an embarrassing amount of time and I was very impressed indeed. Stunning composition, everything beautifully balanced and so pleasing to my eye (and Karaindreou's beautiful music as well). And I found it captivating, not slow at all as I had feared. I had previously seen Ulysses Gaze years ago and been less impressed but images from it kept coming to mind, the statue of Lenin sailing down the river (not laboured, like the tail fin of the plane in Apocalypse Now after they had left Vietnam), the crowds coming out onto the streets of Sarajevo when the mist came down, so I thought it was about time I tried more.

I remember a few years ago when I first started followoing film threads online there was word of a major Angelopoulos series coming from Canada I think (I believe it was referenced on the old pre-Eureka MoC website) which would offer the films plus extensive extras. Anybody know or able to offer anything on that score. AE have been on the verge of releasing a lot of his stuff for years now but that never comes either.

[swo17]

As I recently went region-free and decided to pick up the New Star DVD of Landscape in the Mist, and I haven't found a good side-by-side comparison with the New Yorker DVD anywhere on the internet, I've made some comparisons of my own, and posted them in the Screen Captures thread here. I wasn't surprised to find that the New Star looks better, but I thought that showing how much better might help instill confidence in anyone considering plopping down for the New Star, which isn't exactly cheap.

[denti alligator]

Any word on whether New Star has abandoned their plans to release the rest of A's work?

[jsteffe]

As mentioned on the Artificial Eye thread, they're releasing The Beekeeper this June. Great news!

Perhaps this means Artificial Eye will make good on their old promise to release more Angelopoulos? Would it be too much to hope for The Hunters, Voyage to Cythera and O Megalexandros?

[bigP]

Absolutely. I'd buy any of those releases in a heartbeat.

Do you recall how many Angelopoulos films AE claim to hold - I've got a vague memory from a couple of years ago that they said they had seven (on top of the already released The Weeping Meadow) that they were planning to release. Does this sound right?

I'd also hope that The Beekeeper will be completed with Voyage to Cythera and Landscape in the Mist to fill out the Trilogy of Silence though a UK release of any more Angelopoulos is long overdue and very welcome in my eyes.

[jsteffe]

OK, I did some digging around... Back in 2006 this list was on the "New Forthcoming Foreign/Art/Independent Films" thread:

Angelopoulos, Theo: Reconstruction / Anaparastassi (1970) Artificial Eye / UK
Angelopoulos, Theo: Days of 36 / Meres Tou 36 (1972) Artificial Eye / UK
Angelopoulos, Theo: The Travelling Players / O Thiassos (1975) Artificial Eye / UK
Angelopoulos, Theo: The Hunters / Oi Kynighoii (1977) Artificial Eye / UK
Angelopoulos, Theo: Alexander the Great / Megaleksandros (1980) Artificial Eye / UK
Angelopoulos, Theo: Voyage to Cythera / Taxidi sta Kithira (1984) Artificial Eye / UK
Angelopoulos, Theo: The Beekeeper / O Melissokomos (1986) Artificial Eye / UK
Angelopoulos, Theo: Landscape in the Mist / Topio stin omichli (1988) Artificial Eye / UK
Angelopoulos, Theo: The Suspended Step of the Stork / To Meteoro vima tou pelargou (1991) Artificial Eye / UK
Angelopoulos, Theo: Ulysses' Gaze / To Vlemma tou Odyssea (1995) Artificial Eye / UK
Angelopoulos, Theo: Eternity and a Day / Mia aioniotita kai mia mera (1998) Artificial Eye / UK

That was four years ago--who knows what Artificial Eye's actual plans are now. Besides the forthcoming The Beekeeper (yay!) the only Angelopoulos title they ever released was Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow.

[bigP]

Wow, thanks for the info jsteffe, I didn't realise they held as many as this. It certainly gives hope that we may be seeing his two big trilogies (...of History & ...of Silence) pick up a UK release. I'm wondering if, by this stage, we may see a release of Dust of Time appear in the near future too.

Just as a quick (slightly irrelevant) note, AE did release Eternity and a Day on VHS a decade ago but it never materialised - for whatever reason - on dvd, so The Weeping Meadow has been his only real torch-bearer in the UK for far too long. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that their plans have not changed and we will see that list appear over the next year or two.

[Awesome Welles]

OK, I did some digging around... Back in 2006 this list was on the "New Forthcoming Foreign/Art/Independent Films" thread ...

That was four years ago--who knows what Artificial Eye's actual plans are now. Besides the forthcoming The Beekeeper (yay!) the only Angelopoulos title they ever released was Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow.

I expect this might have been Robert Beeson's work, lets hope he carries that intention over to New Wave, though no hope for Blu-ray.