Orlac wrote:These days, the cuts rarely matter, because you can just go and get the US releases.
And that, in part, is due to Roberto Rossellini...
In 1952, in the case of Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overruled its 1915 decision and held that motion pictures were entitled to First Amendment protection, so that the New York State Board of Regents could not ban "The Miracle", a short film that was one half of L'Amore (1948), an anthology film directed by Roberto Rossellini. Film distributor Joseph Burstyn released the film in the U.S. in 1950, and the case became known as the "Miracle Decision" due to its connection to Rossellini's film.
I'm amazed Masters of Cinema's one and only World Cinema Foundation released wasn't cut. That included a dog being shot (and I'm not sure if it was a clean kill) and a rat being dipped in petrol and set alight.
I can't speak to the MoC release (which I'm equally baffled by) but it's not uncommon for labels to source false statements from film-makers and license holders in order to placate the BBFC. The most recent Arrow release of Deep Red got by uncut with an assurance that the 'pinned lizard' sequence was mechanically faked, which is clearly nonsense.
Contrast seems all over the place.
For Stromboli, the Criterion is much more contrasted than the BFI.
For Journey to Italy, it's the over way around (with the BFI being VERY contrasted, cf cap 5).
And finally, La paura seems not contrasted enough, with plenty washed out grey areas.
It's a mystery to me that Tooze thinks the BFI transfers are superior. The blacks are so deep on the BFI discs that shadow detail is lost compared to the Criterion discs.
Finch wrote:It's a mystery to me that Tooze thinks the BFI transfers are superior. The blacks are so deep on the BFI discs that shadow detail is lost compared to the Criterion discs.
But if you check out Ingrid's leopard-skin coat in the car (and her hair in the same shot), you'll see there's much greater resolution in the BFI.
It's a mystery to me how and why these have turned out so different, despite being from the same restoration, same licensee and presumably same digital files. You could chalk the ultra deep blacks on the BFI up to an authoring error, but then why the comparatively dodgy sharpness on the Criterion, and why are the dimensions different? I can't decide whether the Criterion has been stretched out to 1.37:1, or the BFI has been squashed to 1.33:1!
Have this in hand now & running first FEAR on the BR deck... It's an handsome set notwithstanding the frustrating 12 second excision on STROMBOLI TERRA DI DIO...
I watched Stromboli the other night. I haven't watched Criterion's version so I can't make any comparison, but this looked very nice, if inconsistent (which is more likely down to the production circumstances, also evident in a couple of hairs in the gate and dodgy focus in a few shots).
Of the three extras, two were already available on Criterion discs (the Tag Gallagher essay on the Bergman / Rossellini set and the NFT interview on their Bergman / Bergman release), and the third is an understandable exclusion.
Bergman & Magnani: The War of the Volcanoes is interesting enough, but extremely dubious in its perspective and construction. It basically covers the tabloid feud between Bergman and Magnani and their rival volcano movies. Fair enough, but it's a tabloid feud, and the documentary not only takes it as gospel, but reports obvious speculation as fact (e.g. narrating that "meanwhile, Magnani was crying in her hotel room", or casually narrating what was running through the protagonists minds at any given time). There's no critical distance to reported events which would certainly have been largely beaten up by the press or engineered by publicists. The supposed feud was a promotional goldmine and everybody involved had huge incentives to distort, exaggerate and outright lie, but the filmmakers have zero skepticism about what was reported at the time.
Even worse, they 'support' their account with the 'evidence' of film clips showing the actresses doing what they claim they were doing in real life (e.g. freaking out in a room, weeping and wailing, pining for an absent lover). It can be a cute effect in small doses, but it's obnoxiously overdone here, where it has to stand in for proper research. It's easy to understand that Criterion might have passed on this if they had the option.
Just a note. My vid, "Living & Departed," is not the same as on Criterion. Clips from Europe '51 had to be removed, and I strengthened my argument regarding Journey to Italy.
tag gallagher wrote:Just a note. My vid, "Living & Departed," is not the same as on Criterion. Clips from Europe '51 had to be removed, and I strengthened my argument regarding Journey to Italy.
Oh, that's great to know. I confess I'd skipped it on this disc on the assumption that I'd already seen it.
I didn't see anyone else point this out yet: for some reason on the BFI set, the English cut still uses Italian opening credits and the title "Viaggio In Italia" whereas the Criterion has English opening credits with the title "Journey To Italy."
I've just ordered this from Rarewaves for what seems like a bargain (regardless of any imperfections) £7.66. You can get another 10% off if it's a first order
Has anyone played their BFI Journey to Italy (English version) lately? I just played it for the first time -- the set was still sealed until then -- and the film begins freezing at about 1:06 and continues to do so for the remainder of the film. (Fortunately I could switch to the Criterion to finish watching.) I'm wondering whether it might be an equivalent of the decay problem found on Criterion discs for a while during this period. Has anyone else encountered this problem?
I don't have time to watch the entire film but playing a section around the timestamp you posted, and spot checking other sections, my disc doesn't seem to have any problems.
