101 / BD 8 City Girl

[Oedipax]

Thanks to Eureka, I just received this disc in my grubby American hands today, 12 days before the UK street date.

Well, it's official. My local mail delivery stinks. I'm on the east coast and haven't received mine yet!

[TMDaines]

Shouldn't someone delete 86 from the title of he thread since this didn't get a DVD release?

The 86 has been 86ed, but I wasn't quite sure how to number this now since MOC 8 is Metropolis. The "b" is both for Blu-ray, and in honor of Criterion laserdiscs which used to designate spines with "b" for CLV/CAV versions. If Nick/Craig/Jon have a preferred nomenclature, I'd be glad to change it.

Thanks to Eureka, I just received this disc in my grubby American hands today, 12 days before the UK street date. Scanned the booklet and watching the disc now. Both are as impressive as I expected. Congrats on another job amazingly well done!

8b is really uneasy on the eyes at a glance. Wouldn't just an asterisk be better? For dual releases like Tokyo Sonata thread titles could be "81 & 3* Tokyo Sonata".

[peerpee]

8 CITY GIRL (BD)

might be best

[jbaart]

or "BD 8 City Girl"

[skuhn8]

8 CITY GIRL (BD)

might be best

I don't know, peerpee--the combination of all-caps and parentheses make my molars ache. And then there's that rash--well, let's not even go there. How about something like ou8 City Girl 2?

[Jeff]

or "BD 8 City Girl"

I like that, but it looks like a headline from a Variety story about Law and Order SVU star B.D. Wong going down on Mary Duncan, which is unlikely for a variety of reasons.

How about 8 (BD) City Girl

I feel like an optometrist. Better here, or better here. One or two?

[tajmahal]

8 CITY GIRL (BD)

might be best

City Girl 8: Grain is Good

[swo17]

I like dashes. Either BD-8 or 8-BD. I call for a forum vote!

[domino harvey]

There's no Wong answer, but I do prefer Jeff's first instinct of BD 8 City Girl

[Tommaso]

Seconded.

[peerpee]

BD 8 City Girl

makes sense.

--

Why everything needs to be on Blu-ray forthwith:

[HerrSchreck]

Gasp!

Jesus H Christmas... you could frigging fingerprint, and pull up a yellow sheet on Mary Duncan simply popping in the frigging Blu.

Amazing.

[Jeff]

Watched it twice last night (once with the great Kalat commentary). It is truly a thing of beauty. My favorite purchase in a looooong time.

[perkizitore]

Nick, can you post some more pictures?

[peerpee]

[HerrSchreck]

Good god, man.

I guess this is an appropriate a time as any to reveal I got an all-region BD player for Xmas... and a to-be-ordered HD TV of my choice for my just passed B'day. So prepare for-- if BD's like this keep coming out-- my impending quiet alliance with aox......

[tajmahal]

Jesus, that is some sales presentation, Nick. Any chance you might be planning to give Caligari the same treatment, print condition permitting?

[Matt]

Poor Jack Pennick. Was there ever an uglier man? And HD certainly does him no favors.

[triodelover]

Poor Jack Pennick. Was there ever an uglier man? And HD certainly does him no favors.

He's not an actor, but let's not forget Don Mossi.

[wllm995]

Wow!

ANOTHER wonderful release by MOC - terrific transfer; great commentary by David Kalat; a keeper!!

[triodelover]

Well you know what they say about guys with big noses.

No, David, what do they say? Are the ears an "enhancement"?

[bollibasher]

Any chance you might be planning to give Caligari the same treatment, print condition permitting?

Is there a print of Caligari good enough for HD?

My understanding is that the clearest print is the russian-derived one with frame line printed in (released in a Shepard edition by Image with cropped/zoomed-in scenes), and the alternative is the colour-tinted restoration by Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv (released by Kino with anglicised intertitles), in which some of the earlier scenes look quite appalling due to using 2nd/3rd/?-generation bleached out 16mm sources to eliminate the frame-line issue.

Presumably unless some major restoration effort is embarked upon to use the russian print and digitally magic away the frame-line (not simple due to the upper half of the picture being slightly mis-aligned with the lower), we're unlikely to see a beautiful picture for Caligari.

If there has been some progress on this front and I have missed it please forgive me!

Chris

[RossyG]

Well you know what they say about guys with big noses.

They use big tissues.

Those pics look amazing. Can't wait to get my copy.

[tajmahal]

Any chance you might be planning to give Caligari the same treatment, print condition permitting?

Is there a print of Caligari good enough for HD?

My understanding is that the clearest print is the russian-derived one with frame line printed in (released in a Shepard edition by Image with cropped/zoomed-in scenes), and the alternative is the colour-tinted restoration by Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv (released by Kino with anglicised intertitles), in which some of the earlier scenes look quite appalling due to using 2nd/3rd/?-generation bleached out 16mm sources to eliminate the frame-line issue.

Presumably unless some major restoration effort is embarked upon to use the russian print and digitally magic away the frame-line (not simple due to the upper half of the picture being slightly mis-aligned with the lower), we're unlikely to see a beautiful picture for Caligari.

If there has been some progress on this front and I have missed it please forgive me!

Chris

Thanks for the update. I watched the eureka edition recently, and wondered aloud how wonderful it would be to see those sets in hi-def. As it is a bona-fide classic, perhaps interested parties might pool resources and attempt a restoration.

[Forrest Taft]

Received this marvelous blu-ray today, and spent the evening watching the film twice, the second viewing with the commentary track. I hadn´t seen the film before, and after the first viewing I was so taken with the film I was ready to declare it my favourite Murnau. After hearing David Kalat ridiculing certain aspects of the ending, I´m not so sure. I agree with much of what he´s saying, but still thought it an emotionally satisfying ending. Maybe I´m just more sentimental than him; I also love the ending of The Magnificent Ambersons. Anyway, this is certainly no minor Murnau, and I really enjoyed all the performances, Mary Duncan in particular.

Although I didn't expect it to happen, it would have been a treat if there had been a different score. I always found the hillbilly-tones of the Caliendo - which is also on the Fox disc- slightly inappropriate.

Also, I loved the score, and find it hard to imagine the film without it. Though I´m still pretty much a newbie when it comes to silents, I can´t recall being this impressed by silent score since watching Jeanne d´Arc with the Richard Einhorn score.

The disc itself is obviously terrific, with a truly gorgeous transfer. After hearing, and enjoying, the John Bailey track on Sunrise, I was hoping he´d contribute to this release. After all, he worked on Days of Heaven, and hearing his thoughts on how City Girl influenced the Malick flick could have been interesting. Hardly worth complaining about though, as the track by David Kalat is one of the best I´ve heard. Very well researched and informative. My favourite bit of trivia: Elliott Lester, author of the play in which the film is based, was the father of Richard Lester.

Halfway through the film, I paused it, went to amazon and ordered Tartuffe and Phantom/Die Finanzen Des Großherzogs, as well as reserving the Lotte Eisner book at the library. Good work, MoC.
By the way, has anyone here seen the sound version?