New Citizen Kane DVD - actually a collector's edition

[Le Chiffre]

And the confusion continues...

Still playing around with the JVC player, I rented out the Criterion DVD of Fritz Lang's M, which appears to be at an aspect ratio of about 1.24, with windowbox bars on the sides instead of the top and bottom. It also has a translucent line running across near the top of the frame, like the DVDs of Cabinet of Dr Caligari. I wonder if this was some kind of signal to the projectionist to frame the picture on the screen at that point. Whatever the reason, it's an annoying distraction.

Also looked at the DVDs for KANE and LADY FROM SHANGHAI. With windowboxing, one can see that Welles sometimes windowboxed the frame himself! In KANE's montage of Susan's operatic tour (just before she attempts suicide), the frame has been windowboxed by Welles in order to express Susan's claustrophobic domination by Kane. Likewise, the funhouse sequence in LADY was windowboxed by Welles probably to express Michael O'Hara's sense of entrapment. It sure makes a big difference when you can see each image exactly as Welles shot it.

[jaime marzol]

super cool, which deck do you have, and do you recomend it?

i don't care about regions, just the zoom back control. can you bump it a bit at a time, or are they presets and they eat up a big chunk of screen with window boxing?

the tapes from the malata don't waste space, the window boxing is just as big as it needs to be.

is this the jvc that you said eats up too much screen, or is this another deck?

[Cole]

I’m not sure what causes that translucent line at the top of M. I don’t remember seeing one in CALIGARI, but maybe its because I last saw the movie on the Kino VHS, or maybe my memory isn’t good. There’s a translucent line that runs down the right margin of PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, and it’s extremely distracting, yet none of the information that comes with the DVD comments on it. I wrote to the guy at Criterion about the problem, and he never replied. From what I can gather, the line is more conspicuous on a computer monitor, and unfortunately I’m still watching DVD’s on the computer.

I’m tempted to get a DVD player, but it will need to be region-free and be able to convert PAL DVD’s to NTSC. I rented MACBETH again recently, and realized it was a lot better than I remembered. Would like to get that on DVD, but the one that’s currently available is region 2 and in PAL format. If I get a region-free player, I’d also pick up the DVD of DON Q just to see what it’s like (never seen it). I’m thinking that one of the Malatas is the way to go unless there’s a good name-brand model, which is region-free and converts PAL to NTSC, that’s available for sale at major electronics stores. I think the only way to get a Malata in most areas of the USA is by ordering one over the internet.

[Jeff Wilson]

Those of you wanting a cheap, region-free, PAL converting DVD player are in luck, as Best Buy currently sells a player made by a company called Cyber Home (model is the CH-500). Retails for about $120 now, I think, although it may still be cheaper. Several of my friends bought this player after I told them about it, and I was very impressed with the PAL conversion; it's as good as the Malata, from what I saw. If you go to any of the major DVD sites (DVD Talk, etc), you can find info on this player. Best Buy won't tell you it's a region free player because technically, it isn't. The player has a "secret" menu that allows the user to hack the region coding. It does not have a zoom out function, so if you want a player that does that, you'll have to keep looking.

[fantomas]

mteal:

to explain the aspect ratio of M: in the beginning of the sound film era the films used the same frameline as in the full frame silent films. that means that the picture was cropped for the soundtrack. the new aspect ratio was about 1:1,2 - as you found it in M. there are a lot of more movies in the early thirties which are shot in this aspect ratio. german tv once aired THE BLUE ANGEL with windowbox bars on the sides and announced that now you can see marlene dietrich for the first time again from foot to head.
in the midthirties the frameline on the 35mm film was enlarged so that you got back the old aspect ratio of 1:1,33 like in the silent movie days.
unfortunately in the labs the gates of the printing machines are used to do the sound aspect ratio - and produce in the printing process these terrible translucent lines on the top of the films. nobody realizes it as long as the films are projected in the sound film aspect ratio. nowadays it is possible to do 35mm copies without this translucent line, but unfortunately nearly all the duplication negatives (and positives, too) of silent films and early sound movies which were done in the forties, fifties, sixties, seventies and even in the eighties have this line. it cannot be erased, and so far nobody has invented a digital program to repair this damage. the only way to cover this damage is to cut the frame to the sound aspect ratio as it is done very often in cinema projection as well as in the scanning process.

[Welles Fan]

Cole: you may be able to watch multi-region DVDs on your computer. If your DVD-ROM is an older one, there are various firmware hacks that will allow region free playing. Most newer DVD ROM drives, like mine, will only allow 4-5 region changes before you get locked in to the last region you choose. A solution for that problem is Region-Free DVD, which will stop your drive from keeping count of the region changes (if it works for your drive). They offer a trial version to test whether it will work for you. It costs $39.95 for the fully functional version. Also, if your computer's video card ha a S-video out, you can plug it into your TV if your TV has a S-video in.

I seldom watch DVDs on my computer, because I have a big-screen TV and a decent entry-level digital receiver with a subwoofer, surround and center speakers, etc for watching epics and action flicks, etc.

[jaime marzol]

i have caligari with line

joan of arc with no line

M with no line

[Cole]

Jeff: Thanks for that bit of info! I knew about the Cyber Home DVD player at Best Buy, and that it supposedly converted PAL to NTSC, but for around $100 I figured it was borderline junk, and I certainly didn’t know that it was region free. Will definitely investigate that one.

Welles Fan: I unfortunately have one of those “bad” DVD-ROM’s on my computer. I may investigate the region-free program you mention, but I really should advance to watching DVD’s on a larger television screen. With a 19” monitor and nice speakers DVD viewing on my computer is relatively enjoyable, but as you well know, it isn’t the best arrangement.

Jaime M: No lines on M and JOAN OF ARC, line on CALIGARI? You have me scratching my head now.

[jaime marzol]

.............
big ugly line on caligary. taped caligary, joan of arc from tcm. no line on M, taped it from ifc.

still looking for a zoom back dvd player for under $200. any ideas?

[Dylan S]

Hi,

All of those who own the version of Caligari with the line through it should look into Kino International's latest restored version.
http://www.kino.com/video/dvd_titles/cabinet_caligari.html

I don't have the earlier Image DVD to compare it to, but I do have this version (this version was taken from a 35mm print and restored by people in Germany), and it looks beautiful...it has been called the finest print that's been seen of this film since it's original release (the same with their remastered Nosferatu, and the theatrical restoration of Metropolis- coming to DVD this Feb.), and it's also apparently longer than previous versions. Just thought I should ad that in case some here were not aware that a better print has surfaced.

Best Regards,
Dylan

[Le Chiffre]

Interesting info Fantomas, thanks. Here's hoping they figure out a way to get rid of the line someday. One would think there must be some way to do it. Of course, you can't even see the line unless all TV overscan has been eliminated. Ironic.

For those that mentioned the line on the side of the frame of Passion of Joan of Arc, i just rented the Criterion DVD of that and yes, it is there, and annoying. On the other hand, it's something of a miracle that the original film exists at all (it was rumored to have been destroyed in a fire), so we must be grateful for that. It's amazing that Welles said he didn't care for this film. Too bad he didn't elaborate as to why.

[Cole]

I also was surprised to read Welles’s off-hand negative reaction to Passion of Joan of Arc. It was one of numerous situations where I wish Bogdanovich followed up with the simple question: why? Of the very few movies that I can think of that compare artistically with a Welles movie, Passion of Joan of Arc is one of them. Didn’t Welles like the low-angled shots, or the artistic compositions? Maybe he felt the same way with it as he did with Ivan the Terrible: “empty demonstrations of the merely picturesque.” I guess we’ll never know.

As far as the miraculous discovery of a print of the original version Joan of Arc in a mental institution, it helps give me that sliver of hope that a copy of the complete version of Magnificent Ambersons will be discovered some day.

[jaime marzol]

.......................

welles didn't seem to like any movie that was anything like one of his movies. he like ford, and renoir. talk about 2 guys that give you static cameras at eye level. in GRANDE ILLUSION the camera is so static, and at such a boring eye levell, that i've only been able to sit through it one time. have completely refused to watch it since then.

[Le Chiffre]

Cole mentioned Eisenstein's IVAN THE TERRIBLE. Dryer said that POTEMKIN was one of the inspirations for JOAN OF ARC. According to Criterion's commentary track, when Eisenstein saw Dryer's film he said it was beautiful, but more a series of photographs then a film. Ironically, Pauline Kael would later describe Eisenstein's IVAN as "a brilliant collection of stills, but as a film it's static and overcomposed".

There may be other reasons that Welles didn't like JOAN, besides the fact that Dryer's visual style resembled his own (many of the compositions in JOAN remind me of both OTHELLO and CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT). Dryer's preponderance of closeups has led some critics to describe the film as "uncinematic". Perhaps also the fact that Joan is glorified in the film as a martyred saint is something Welles might have disagreed with. Shakespeare, in part 1 of Henry VI (which starts with Prince Hal/Henry V's funeral), portrayed Joan as a demon-cavorting witch who was pregnant out of wedlock when she went to the stake in 1431. But to many French, Joan was the supreme symbol of French nationalism, possibly even a substitute of sorts for the Virgin Mary, the way Elizabeth I later became for the English ("The Virgin Queen"). Also, it's possible - even likely - that Welles saw one of the adulterated versions of JOAN OF ARC, such as the 1951 LoDuca version, which adds credits, narration and baroque music to the film (including, interestingly enough, Albinoni's Adagio, which later played under the opening and closing credits of Welles's THE TRIAL).