25 Alphaville
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- Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2015 11:05 am
Re: 25 Alphaville
An interesting Godard essay with two pertinent paragraphs about Alphaville by Jonathan Rosenbaum:
http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/1972/0 ... uc-godard/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/1972/0 ... uc-godard/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- solaris72
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:03 pm
- Location: Baltimore, MD
Re: 25 Alphaville
If this ever got reissued I would love for Jess Franco's sci-fi ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS (originally titled Cartes sur table) to be included as a special feature. It came out the same year as Alphaville, stars Eddie Constantine (as a detective) and also shares Alphaville's composer Paul Misraki. It was shot in color, but released internationally in B&W. Though hoping Criterion might release a Jess Franco film is probably daft on my part...
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Re: 25 Alphaville
Coming from someone who thinks Jess Franco is without a doubt the worst director I have ever witnessed, I wouldn't be surprised if Criterion released one of his films from a purely business standpoint, as for some godforsaken reason his movies sell really well on Blu-ray
- Boosmahn
- Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2017 10:08 pm
Re: 25 Alphaville
Didn't a boutique label acquire the rights to a ton of Jess Franco movies? Was it Arrow? I remember there being a box-set on the horizon but haven't heard anything about it in a while.
- dda1996a
- Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 6:14 am
Re: 25 Alphaville
Does he not have at least one movie that is worth watching? I disliked Cuadecuc, vampir so I feel less compelled to watch Franco's actual filmdomino harvey wrote: ↑Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:49 pmComing from someone who thinks Jess Franco is without a doubt the worst director I have ever witnessed, I wouldn't be surprised if Criterion released one of his films from a purely business standpoint, as for some godforsaken reason his movies sell really well on Blu-ray
- dwk
- Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm
Re: 25 Alphaville
Kino is releasing Franco's ATTACK OF THE ROBOTSsolaris72 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:44 pmIf this ever got reissued I would love for Jess Franco's sci-fi ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS (originally titled Cartes sur table) to be included as a special feature. It came out the same year as Alphaville, stars Eddie Constantine (as a detective) and also shares Alphaville's composer Paul Misraki. It was shot in color, but released internationally in B&W. Though hoping Criterion might release a Jess Franco film is probably daft on my part...
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- Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:29 am
Re: 25 Alphaville
DIABOLICAL DR. Z is probably his best workdda1996a wrote: ↑Wed Dec 05, 2018 3:59 pmDoes he not have at least one movie that is worth watching? I disliked Cuadecuc, vampir so I feel less compelled to watch Franco's actual filmdomino harvey wrote: ↑Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:49 pmComing from someone who thinks Jess Franco is without a doubt the worst director I have ever witnessed, I wouldn't be surprised if Criterion released one of his films from a purely business standpoint, as for some godforsaken reason his movies sell really well on Blu-ray
- Banasa
- Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2015 12:35 am
Re: 25 Alphaville
Put me on the dr. Z fandom,
Its main benefit is everyone working against Franco. Its main blessing is bettee than good cinematography and a script co-written by Jean-Claude Carrière which makes it less ill to Franco's worse tendacies.
Its main benefit is everyone working against Franco. Its main blessing is bettee than good cinematography and a script co-written by Jean-Claude Carrière which makes it less ill to Franco's worse tendacies.
- solaris72
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:03 pm
- Location: Baltimore, MD
Re: 25 Alphaville
Wouldn't you know it, they're also releasing Alphaville....dwk wrote: ↑Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:27 pmKino is releasing Franco's ATTACK OF THE ROBOTSsolaris72 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:44 pmIf this ever got reissued I would love for Jess Franco's sci-fi ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS (originally titled Cartes sur table) to be included as a special feature. It came out the same year as Alphaville, stars Eddie Constantine (as a detective) and also shares Alphaville's composer Paul Misraki. It was shot in color, but released internationally in B&W. Though hoping Criterion might release a Jess Franco film is probably daft on my part...
- hearthesilence
- Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
- Location: NYC
Re: 25 Alphaville
Apparently there’s a NEW 4K restoration that’s premiering at MoMA tonight:
“World premiere of new 4K restoration from the original 35mm negative made by Studiocanal at Hiventy, with the support of the CNC.”
Unexpected because Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray (released in July 2019) is also sourced from what was then a “brand-new 4K restoration” that replaced another digital restoration from 2014. Is this possibly the same restoration being shown at MoMA and mistakenly listed as a premiere?
“World premiere of new 4K restoration from the original 35mm negative made by Studiocanal at Hiventy, with the support of the CNC.”
Unexpected because Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray (released in July 2019) is also sourced from what was then a “brand-new 4K restoration” that replaced another digital restoration from 2014. Is this possibly the same restoration being shown at MoMA and mistakenly listed as a premiere?
- hearthesilence
- Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
- Location: NYC
Re: 25 Alphaville
I ended up going to the screening, and it was kind of a big deal - it kicked off the Rialto 25 retrospective (even though there was a 35mm screening of Quai des Orfèvres preceding it in the smaller theater 2). Dave Kehr introduced Bruce Goldstein who himself gave an intro (after stating he has a policy that intros should never last more than 5 minutes). Turns out it is indeed a brand-new restoration, and he says it went straight from the lab to MoMA so we were the "first people in the entire universe" to see it. FWIW, he also added that MoMA granted his request to move this screening from theater 2 to theater 1, and he made that request because apparently theater 1 is the ONLY theater from his childhood that still screens movies in NYC. He recalled his father taking him to see the silent version of Robin Hood there with live piano accompaniment, and the art deco exit signs apparently have not changed since then.
I looked at Kino's Blu-ray when I got home, and it's not going to be a precise comparison because the Blu-ray is obviously going to fall short due to the lower resolution and dynamic range. The DCP had a title card that clearly explains the 35mm OCN was restored, then scanned in 4K, and then restored again digitally. The Blu-ray doesn't have any additional info, much less a title card, about the 4K restoration it used, but it's clear it's not as meticulous - lots more specks and dirt, especially in the dark scenes (like when they walk into a room at night and the lights are still off), and I think the new restoration that was screened tonight also stabilized the locked down shots that had some unintentional shakiness.
The new restoration has one more screening scheduled at MoMA, then it will screen sometime in the future at Film Forum, but I'm sure StudioCanal will release it as a UHD. A side-by-side comparison may show that the look is very similar, but removing the blemishes is no small improvement.
I looked at Kino's Blu-ray when I got home, and it's not going to be a precise comparison because the Blu-ray is obviously going to fall short due to the lower resolution and dynamic range. The DCP had a title card that clearly explains the 35mm OCN was restored, then scanned in 4K, and then restored again digitally. The Blu-ray doesn't have any additional info, much less a title card, about the 4K restoration it used, but it's clear it's not as meticulous - lots more specks and dirt, especially in the dark scenes (like when they walk into a room at night and the lights are still off), and I think the new restoration that was screened tonight also stabilized the locked down shots that had some unintentional shakiness.
The new restoration has one more screening scheduled at MoMA, then it will screen sometime in the future at Film Forum, but I'm sure StudioCanal will release it as a UHD. A side-by-side comparison may show that the look is very similar, but removing the blemishes is no small improvement.
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- Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2005 9:34 am
Re: 25 Alphaville
I had bought a Japanese Blu-Ray of "Alphaville" (with the StudioCanal logo I think, on the back cover); this is the old transfer ? It looked really good though; like "Une Femme est Infâme" which I had bought in Japan too on Blu-ray (not the same editor/label).
- hearthesilence
- Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
- Location: NYC
Re: 25 Alphaville
That new 4K restoration of Alphaville I posted about in April is getting a theatrical run at IFC Center. Opens today.