CHIMES at MIDNIGHT on VIDEO

Chimes at Midnight (aka Falstaff) is probably the hardest of Welles’ major films to find on video. It has never been widely available, that is to say, in stores, but the Internet has made acquiring a copy relatively easy if sometimes costly, depending on where you go. Chimes has seen a couple US releases, one from Arthur Kantor Films, and another from Balzac Video. The former retails for around $40-60, and has a non-letterboxed print. The same goes for the Balzac Video version, which is truly abysmal in terms of picture and sound. There is no US DVD release, and none is soon forthcoming, although there is occasionally talk of Miramax releasing a restored version in theaters, but I tend to be dubious of that ever happening. One can acquire a letterboxed copy of the film from at least one source on the web, made from the 1988 Japanese laserdisc edition. This version has Japanese subtitles running down the right side of the print, but this only occasionally intrudes on the picture. In much better news, a Spanish special edition DVD was released last year that features the best picture quality I have yet seen, and exceptionally clear sound that has been re-mixed to Dolby Digital 2.0. Click the link below for more details.

	Chimes at Midnight (Campanadas a Medianoche) Spanish DVD. Released by Suevia Films, 2000. Click here for a review.
	US Video Release from Arthur Kantor Films.
	Bootleg U.S. video release, taken from Japanese laserdisc.