Spring in a Small Town

[Tim]

Not sure whether this has been noted before, but Fei Mu's celebrated Spring in a Small Town (1948) is due to be released on DVD in February 2015, according to this press release from April:

The film has been newly restored, which is really something to look forward to, because the print used for the Cinema Epoch DVD is pretty challenging, to put it kindly.

The new restoration is also currently available on BFI Player.

[EddieLarkin]

I'll be very disappointed if this doesn't come to Blu-ray (the "announcement" seems quite preliminary, so "DVD" may just be referring to home video in general). To those who have seen a screening of the restoration, does it look "good enough" for HD?

[videozor]

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/ ... -04-30.pdf

According to that press release: "A second major Chinese classic will be released in cinemas nationwide this summer".
Any idea what it might be? Thanks!

[whaleallright]

the Cinema Epoch DVD (like all of their DVDs of pre-1949 Chinese films) was a boot taken from the existing Chinese VCDs, with some added filters that eliminated some of the most obvious pixelation at the expense of whatever detail was still present on the VCDs. the subtitle translation was also poor. there are much better versions—in picture and subtitle quality—in the torrentosphere. so this is most welcome.

new 35mm prints and DCPs from the China Film Archive, advertised as being from a recent restoration, have been playing festivals and cinematheques (including UCLA in October). I can't find any details of this restoration; can anyone find any? I know that the prints I saw of the film (in France and the USA) in the 2000s were both struck in the 1980s and left a great deal to be desired.

also, what is this? -- it came up on a Google search.

[RobertB]

I find a document saying BFI has The Godess as well. It sounds like the obvious choise to me.

[Shrew]

Jonah, Shanghai Restoration Project is a Chinese-American band blending electronic/hip-hop and traditional Chinese music. I think that's just a song they did inspired by the film. No actual film restoration involved.

Anyway, this release is certainly good news, and I hope we finally get some decent releases of classic Chinese films.

[artfilmfan]

I hope they will release Spring River Flows East.

(Edit: I had not read the document that RobertB referred to when I posted the above statement. After reading it, it seems that The Goddess will indeed be the second title that BFI will release)