Ambersons on DVD - current availability

[maxrael]

Does anyone know the catalogue number for the Japanese DVD of Ambersons? i finally found a company that exports Japanese DVDs (that is written in English!!) at:

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp

but in order to get F is for Fake to come up i had to enter the catalogue number found at wellesnet.


Also i was shocked to see the US Amazon site listing Ambersons on DVD... closer inspection brought up the following message:

"NOT YET RELEASED: The studio is currently not producing this title on DVD, but to be notified when it is available, enter your e-mail address at right. You'll also be voting for this release; we'll let the studio know how many customers are waiting for this title."

to sign up, follow the link below.

http://www.amazon.com/exec....3266568

all the best,
max!

[Jeff Wilson]

I've ordered from CD Japan before, and their service is excellent. I don't have the catalog number, but they might be able to find it if you give them the title. The maker of the disc is IVC. I've given them titles before without catalog numbers and they came up with it. I assume you have a region free DVD player? I am hoping to get my Ambersons DVD from France soon, and once I do, I will post about it here.

[Jeff Wilson]

For those who have the capability, the new French release of Ambersons is very good. Picture quality, while certainly not up to that of Kane, looks clear and solid. Sound is presented in the original mono, Dolby 5.1, and a French dub. Extras include a slick, well-illustrated booklet; on-disc extras include the trailer, 45 minutes of Ambersons-related excerpts from This is Orson Welles (recordings, not text), and interviews with Bill Krohn and Jean Dolivet (both in French, no subtitles). The whole package comes in a box similar to the earlier Kane release in France. Why American companies don't do more nifty packaging like this is beyond me.

[O J Radok]

That should read "Jean Douchet", not Dolivet. I haven't compared yet, but the 51 minutes of Bogdanovich/Welles audio material could well include portions NOT on the audio cassettes which were published as "This Is Orson Welles".

Nice packaging? I could do without. Did you read the booklet? Ridiculous, especially coming from Cahiers du Cinema. All in all, I was extremely disappointed by this DVD edition, done by people who have clearly not grasped the full potential of the medium. Why include two short on-camera interviews with film historians instead of having them do a full-length audio commentary? For a propper audio commentary track, they could also have used Welles' own commentary as heard in the Bogdanovich interview and edit it to match the sequences they are discussing. It is indeed used like a commentary track now, only without any relation to the picture, and they just stop the film when the interview stops. Also: Why didn't they include storyboards and stills from the lost sequences? In this respect, the Criterion laserdisc is unsurpassed.

The trailer (of which we only had excerpts in the Laserlight documentary) is the only "new" asset.

Nice touch: Bill Krohn's (love that accent) interview was filmed by Gary Graver.

[Jeff Wilson]

Geez, who pissed on your breakfast? :p You're right about the Douchet mistake, I was typing it from memory. As for the booklet, it was, as I said, "slick and well-illustrated," but I didn't say it was in-depth or comprehensive. The set is a perfect edition by no means; the film was what mattered to me, and it looks fine. Considering that the producers of this disc may not have had access to the materials Criterion did, they did an okay job. I don't really care one way or the other about the interviews, as my understanding of spoken French is poor at best, even with Bill Krohn's atrocious accent, or lack thereof.

Why didn't they have a commentary? Maybe they weren't paying enough, or the guys didn't have time, or whatever. From what I've heard, most commentary tracks pay virtually nothing, and I doubt most people would want to go through the work to put together material for a decent track (and not just what comes off the top of their head) if they were getting a pittance for it.

I'm not surprised that this wasn't a real special edition, as very few, if any, American films get the Criterion treatment overseas, whether from lack of budget, studio politics, or whatever else.

[jaime marzol]

commentary tracks don't pay squat. you are right, the commentator doesn't have the motivation to devote weeks of his life to research.

the best commetary tracks are by the director; he needs to research nothing. the midnight cowboy commentary track by director John Schlesinger is excellent. Scorsese of course shines on any commentary track he does; he's so passionate about films how could he not be good. and i just got the Godfather part 2 dvd with copolla commentary track. it promises to be a monster; 3 minutes in and francis is already badmouthing everyone. the first Godfather disc is on the way. copolla mentions on this part 2 disc how much he hated making that film. can't wait to hear it.

and what does this have to do with the Ambersons dvd? absolutely nothing.

[Welles Fan]

Jeff, can you post a link to a site that offers the French Ambersons?

[Jeff Wilson]

I got mine at Amazon France, and here is the link:

http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005Q2TN/402-7636136-6741763

[Welles Fan]

One more question: Do they simply take a credit card # like the Spanish website DVD Go?

[Jeff Wilson]

The Amazon France site works exactly like the US site, if you've used it. They do accept all the usual cards.

[nathan_h]

Any word on whether the "This is Orson Welles" material on the French DVD is the same as what appears on the "Book on Tape" in the US? Or did they use other material from the interviews?

[jaime marzol]

last few times i looked for THIS IS ORSON WELLES audio book part 2, it didn't exist. had not heard of any new welles tapes coming out. more of THIS IS OW would be great. really enjoyed what is out now.

in the BBC killer docu with welles made in 1982, they taped for 9 hrs. there are 6 1/2 hrs of un used conversations somewhere.

[Jeff Wilson]

I haven't been able to compare them yet myself, but I will check. I don't recall there being that much material on Ambersons on the tapes themselves, but it's possible they used other, non-Ambersons related topics from the tapes on the French DVD.

[nathan_h]

last few times i looked for THIS IS ORSON WELLES audio book part 2, it didn't exist. had not heard of any new welles tapes coming out. more of THIS IS OW would be great. really enjoyed what is out now.

I don't think there is a part II or more tapes. But the mention of the extras on the French Ambersons DVD of extended excerpts from the Welles/Bogdonovich conversations about Ambersons (from the This is OW recordings) sounded promising -- in that it might contain audio that wasn't on the original & only & abridged commerical book-on-tape version.

(Apologies for any confusion.)

[Jeff Wilson]

Nathan, I didn't go fully into it on the Home Theater Forum board, but the Ambersons reconstruction discussion I mentioned was lost when I upgraded this board about two months ago, along with hundreds of other posts. I do have a printed out copy of that thread, and somebody here may have saved it to disc as well. If no one has it on disc, I can mail you a copy. It has all the details and so on of what to do. It's also possible that one of the involved parties here will trade you a copy of their version, but I'll leave that up to them to respond.

Edit: It occurred to me that no one here would know the context of what I was talking about, so let me say that nathan_h and I were participating in an Ambersons thread at the Home Theater Forum board, and I mentioned that people here had done their own reconstructions of Ambersons. If anyone saved their original comments and wants to paste them in or start a new thread or what have you, please do so.



Edited By Jeff Wilson on Jan. 22 2002 at 16:54