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Licensor Information
Video Mercury
Directed by: Víctor Erice
Criterion is proud to present Víctor Erice’s spellbinding The Spirit of the Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena), widely regarded as the greatest Spanish film of the 1970s. In a small Castilian village in 1940, in the wake of the country’s devastating civil war, six-year-old Ana attends a traveling movie show of Frankenstein and becomes possessed by the memory of it. Produced as Franco’s long regime was nearing its end, The Spirit of the Beehive is a bewitching portrait of a child’s haunted inner life and one of the most visually arresting movies ever made.
Streaming Options
14662.
+6537
Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Format:
DVD
Discs:
DVD-9 (1 Disc)
DVD-5 (1 Disc)
Total: 2 Discs
Regions:
1 (DVD)
Aspect Ratio:
1.66:1
Audio Options:
Spanish Dolby Digital Mono 1.0
Resolution:
480p/29.97
Supplements
Types of Supplements Included: Documentary, Interview, Booklet
- The Footprints of a Spirit, a documentary featuring director Víctor Erice, producer Elias Querejeta, coscreenwriter Ángel Fernández-Santos, and actor Ana Torrent
- Víctor Erice in Madrid, an interview with the director
- Interview with film scholar Linda Ehrlich
- Interview with actor Fernando Fernán Gómez
- Booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar Paul Julian Smith
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Film
Picture
Audio
Supplements
Artwork
Release Credits
Producer: Kate Elmore
Artwork: Michael Boland
Artwork: August Boland
Release Notes on Restoration
The Spirit of the Beehive
The Spirit of the Beehive is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1. On standard 4:3 televisions, the image will appear letterboxed. On standard and widescreen televisions, black bars may also be visible on the left and right to maintain the proper screen format. This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a C-Reality telecine with Oliver Electronic Wetgate processing from the restored 35mm internegative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System. To maintain optimal image quality through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9 has been encoded at the highest-possible bit rate for the quantity of materials included.
The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from a 35mm optical track negative, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on 5.1-channel sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.
The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from a 35mm optical track negative, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on 5.1-channel sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.