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No info on what region the Napoleon release is?

It's confirmed as Region B/2 on their website. Also, if you pre-order direct from the BFI, they'll give you a free copy of one of the following (your choice):

A Cottage on Dartmoor
Piccadilly
The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands

Anyone who thought that Napoleon would be anything other than firmly region-locked is living in a dreamworld. It was hard enough prising the UK-only rights out of Francis Coppola!

And here's a 1080p clip.

I thought the 2015 Criterion newsletter clue included a Napoleon reference. Or did that turn into something else?

That 1080p clip looks stunning. November can't come soon enough!

criterionsnob wrote:I thought the 2015 Criterion newsletter clue included a Napoleon reference. Or did that turn into something else?

Maybe this?

criterionsnob wrote:I thought the 2015 Criterion newsletter clue included a Napoleon reference. Or did that turn into something else?

Criterion could very well be releasing it, but the BFI disc will likely be the only one with the Carl Davis score.

Reiterating this:

Asked restoration expert Robert A. Harris if BFI's plans affect the previously-announced NAPOLEON restoration he is undertaking with Francis Coppola and Cinematheque Francaise. His reply:

"The two are not connected. We donated the UK rights to the BFI and Photoplay (Kevin Brownlow and Patrick Stansbury) back in the early days of the project, in recognition of the work they had done over the years.

Zoetrope/Film Preserve [Coppola and Harris' companies] own all world rights with the exception of the UK and France, which was donated to the Cinematheque by Claude Lelouch.

A few years ago, the Cinematheque did an inventory of Napoleon elements, many unseen since 1971, and discovered portions of the original camera negative, as well as other missing elements.

While we applaud the BFI's latest efforts, we have been working with the Cinematheque toward the preparation of a more cohesive, and higher quality presentation, based upon Abel's Apollo version of the film.

We anticipate to be complete in 2017."

Drucker wrote:

criterionsnob wrote:I thought the 2015 Criterion newsletter clue included a Napoleon reference. Or did that turn into something else?

Criterion could very well be releasing it, but the BFI disc will likely be the only one with the Carl Davis score.

Criterion has a phantom page for Gance, plus Kim Hendrickson did talk a little about Napoleon during a Wexner talk (don't recall which year).

But the BFI sounds like it's going to be an awesome release. \:D/

MichaelB wrote:

This definitive restoration (with music recorded in 7.1) presents Gance’s masterpiece in all its glory and is a must-see for cinephiles throughout the UK and beyond.

That's unexpected.

I've pre-ordered my copy. Very interesting to hear this "recorded in 7.1" business--who's idea was that? Does it mean we can assume that there will be a 24-bit DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless audio track on the Blu-ray release?

Because I do happen to have a 7.1 system...

I'll be seeing this at the premiere screening on November 6th, and will be curious afterwards to see how my 7.1 system compares to the real thing.

McCrutchy wrote:I've pre-ordered my copy. Very interesting to hear this "recorded in 7.1" business--who's idea was that? Does it mean we can assume that there will be a 24-bit DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless audio track on the Blu-ray release?

Because I do happen to have a 7.1 system...

That's certainly what I'm assuming. If the track exists in digital form, there's no technical reason why it can't be ported straight over to the BD, and this would be a lot simpler than downmixing it.

One of the most exciting releases of this or any year. I wonder if we might get either of Nelly Kaplan's documentaries as extras? Or the Gance episode of Cineastes de notre temps?

Not too surprisingly, we're getting Kevin Brownlow's documentary Abel Gance: The Charm of Dynamite.

Any word on how the polyvision sequence will be presented? The version i saw floating around back channels seems to have simply pared the sequence down to a single screen.

That's most likely sourced from one of the Channel 4 broadcasts, which used the single-screen version of the ending.

But it would be astonishing to the point of incredulity if the BFI didn't present the triptychs properly on this release.

It's a 3-disc set so clearly they are following my advice.

My bets/wishlist for extras:

- Documentaries on the music recording (confirmed), restoration, Abel Gance, and so on...

Now, on the film itself, it would be great to have the following:

- The triptych on a single video (letterboxed as we all expect) which will be the standard viewing way
- The triptych as three separate videos on the 3 discs, as swo17 has pointed, and which I think is a must (if someone ever has the chance of setting 3 projectors/screens for it is a different matter, also they should be 4:3 screens, as 16:9s would have a lot of black between frames)
- The single screen finale, which has a totally different editing (known thanks to the Channel 4 broadcasts available)

Obviously I have already preordered the thing. But I actually preordered it mentally back in late 80s, when I first watched it on a TV broadcast of the Coppola version here in Spain. It then took me almost 25 years to discover the Davis version, when I went to London to watch it in the RFH in 2013 (none of my friends understood why on earth I would want go to London just to watch a near to 6 hours long silent movie, poor fellows... and they call themselves movie fans :D :D :D ).

Cheers!

New specs on Amazon:

- New 2K restoration
- The Charm of Dynamite (Kevin Brownlow, 1968, 51 mins): BBC documentary on Glance's silent films, narrated by Lindsay Anderson
- Composing Napoleon - An Interview with Carl Davis) (2016, 45 mins)
- Feature-length commentary by Paul Cuff
- Napoleon digital restoration featurette (2016, 5 mins)
- Stills and Special Collections Gallery
- Alternative single-screening ending
- Individual triptych panel presentations
- Illustrated 60-page book with writing by Paul Cuff, Kevin Brownlow and Hervé Dumont, an extensive interview with Carl Davis; and full film, music and restoration credits

We get a feature-length commentary by Paul Cuff!? As if this wasn't a joy to behold in the first place (knew about Davis's involvement). Has anyone read his Revolution for the Screen, from which I'd imagine the commentary track will draw heavily. Very pleased to see The Charm of Dynamite as well.

Assuming it's fully running over the entire film, will this end up being the longest single-film commentary track?

It depends if you'll consider Soderbergh's Che a single film.

The two parts only run 4 1/2 hours, so this should still best it, no?

They run for about 270 minutes and I thought this was 240? Also no?

BFI lists this as 330 minutes. DVDBeaver confirms each part of Che runs for ~135 minutes, meaning this is longer by an hour

Well, there goes that.