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Scarface



Blazing across the screen in a spray of bullets, the gangster-film sensation Scarface helped set the standard for the genre for decades to come. Swaggering, scary, and unexpectedly charming, Paul Muni gives an iconic portrayal of criminal sociopathy as Tony Camonte, the ruthless, machine-gun-toting mobster who rises through the ranks of a bootlegging empire atop an ever-increasing body count, but whose possessive relationship with his wild-child sister (Ann Dvorak) threatens to be his undoing. With rat-a-tat command of editing and dialogue, and his trademark panache, director Howard Hawks creates an unstoppable sense of dynamism while pushing on-screen violence to new heights of brutality.

4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• Alternate ending, from the censored version of the film
• New conversation between author Megan Abbott and actor Bill Hader
• New interview with film scholar Lea Jacobs on director Howard Hawks's innovative use of sound and editing
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by critic Imogen Sara Smith

aox wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2011 1:46 pm For those who care, Universal has announced DePalma's Scarface for BD in September.

It comes with a copy of the 1932 Hawks film, but not in high definition; it arrives once again on DVD. This is terribly disappointing.

Additionally, those with money to burn can spend $999 on a cigar box humidor to house the Blu-Ray. #-o

I don't know about you, but I'm planning on just paying $25 for the blu-ray and spend the other $974 on cocaine. I'm no dummy, I'm not just gonna flush money down the toilet.

The cigar box is a pretty brilliant move though, because once Master P or another rapper has it displayed in his home theater, many other successful rappers will follow suit, to keep up with the Joneses, as it were.

For those concerned:

The non-US/UK editions of the Scarface Blu-ray, don't have the English text screens from the original print, and instead have electronic subtitles pop up. Kind of like the non-US "Bourne Trilogy" having locations and such on the screen in electronic subtitles, while the US version has the text burned in, which is more prefered, I'd say.

I've seen that on quite a few BDs, and it's very annoying. Why does filmmakers accept this?

I don't think filmmakers really have a say in it. Just Universal's decision not to cramp up the screen with English+one more language subtitles on the screen.

I put this as the same argument of having the original language intertitles on non-English silent movies. I'd rather 'see' the Russian intertitles on "Battleship Potemkin", even if I can't read them.

My Japanese DVD of Zhang Yimou's "Hero" is also the same, with the opening and closing credits translated into Japanese, as opposed to the original Mandarin with Japanese subtitles.

I remember the same thing happening with a lot of the MGM discs. For example another reason why the Criterion edition of The Silence of the Lambs still remains collectible is that that has all the location titles preserved in their correct, theatrical font, while at least the first UK MGM disc of the film when the rights reverted changed those evocative subtitles into the generic electronic ones.

I also remember that the Universal released Atonement has the theatrical subtitles for the one scene in French on the US disc, whilst the UK one has the generic player generated subtitles, presumably because a Region 2 disc has had to be authored to cover the whole of Europe I suppose.

I would definitely prefer the film to be presented in the format of the country of origin with the correct titles, and then have the optional subtitles available on top of that. It just seems less intrusive somehow!

I know Criterion has done this a couple of times before on their site, but I really wish they wouldn't just use production stills in place of frame enlargements from the actual film transfer. It feels like an attempt to hide the condition of the existing materials the restorers had to work with.

That Criterion could only scare up two new extras for a film that is widely considered one of the best and most influential of its kind is telling, but I feel like this is the new normal for this label

Transfer aside, the Imprint looks superior

Finally! I had been hoping for this ever since the (Wexler?) talk where it was mentioned that a pre-code was coming (name recognition & de Palma film made me think this was most likely candidate). However it's been so long, I had given up on it since a few precodes have been released since then. And you're all welcome, as I had just bought the UK blu, which I didnt even know about but popped up in the suggestions while making an impulse order of Radiance titles that disappeared from their site during the sale last weekend (so it hasnt even arrived yet) - makes me wonder if Amazon UK had advance warning and wanted to unload stock. I was prompted to add it without researching because it mentioned 2 cuts (& my last edition was the sngle dvd included with the dePalma blu-ray), I assume this is the same as the alternate ending mentioned on this release.

Yep, it’s been on every physical release from Universal as an extra

therewillbeblus wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2024 4:56 pm Transfer aside, the Imprint looks superior

However that release is currently Out of Stock if not OOP so for those that missed out the Criterion should suffice especially because it is 4K.

I would have that at this point we would have at least gotten at least one substantial extra on either Hawks, Gangster films or Pre-Code with this release. Guess I am starting to feel a bit nostalgic for the old Criterion, though a stellar 4k presentation would be welcome.

This edition is so skimpy, it doesn't even have the customary excerpts from Peter Bogdanovich's audio interviews with Hawks from the 1970s found on all of Criterion's other Hawks releases.

Joseph McBride (Hawks on Hawks) could deliver a solid commentary and they've used him many times before.

Lea Jacobs is actually very good on Hawks, so I’m reasonably sure those of you looking for a scholarly take will be happy with her contribution. But yeah, this is embarrassingly skimpy for such an important film.

According to Blu-ray.com’s review, the alternate ending here runs 3+ minutes longer than the version on Universal’s disc

domino harvey wrote: Fri Nov 01, 2024 9:23 am According to Blu-ray.com’s review, the alternate ending here runs 3+ minutes longer than the version on Universal’s disc

I've checked and it's just because Criterion adds even more of the normal film prior to the actual alternate ending, otherwise the content of the ending is exactly the same between them. The actual alternate ending is only 3 minutes long, but for some reason both companies feel the need to tack on a whole lot of the normal film prior to the ending.

However, what is actually different is the framing. The framing is basically the same all during the part that's just the normal film (with the Criterion being slightly zoomed), but once you get to the first shot of the actual alternate ending, the framing between the 2 discs becomes quite different, with the Criterion having more image on top & less on the bottom while the Universal has more on the bottom and less on the top. Here's some examples.

I wonder why not simply seamless branch it and call it a day.

Matt wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2024 11:33 pm Lea Jacobs is actually very good on Hawks, so I’m reasonably sure those of you looking for a scholarly take will be happy with her contribution. But yeah, this is embarrassingly skimpy for such an important film.

This was an okay extra (and it has to do some additional heavy lifting by touching on some general notes on the film), but I could never really meet her on the thesis level of finding the film’s use of sound all that remarkable, and I didn’t find her examples all that convincing. There is, however, a relatively long scene included from Twentieth Century, so I wonder if that’s coming in the next eight years from Criterion