I'd heard so many depressing things about the Jess Franco attempt at assembling the Don Quixote footage. It was still fairly disheartening to see, but mainly because of the audio. Its always great hearing Welles' voice, so that was a main positive for me, and i loved the working in of Welles making a movie of Quixote - which afforded an opportunity to see Orson himself.
In the last half i marked down these things which impressed me. It was a bit like Macbeth - on the whole, the scottish accents were too offputting, but i found at least three or four great sequences and images in it.
1:04: Sancho earned some money as extra in movie.
1:12-1:22ish. letter "grab the fattest man, and don't be put off. They've got pleanty of money". shots through fence of Sancho in village when he doesn't know bulls are about to run through where he's standing. Bull fight. Sancho asking ppl where he can find a television.
1:23:38 shot panning up
Welles 1:25
1:27.50 - 1:29 Sancho finds Welles
1:30 Quixote and Sancho locked up in cage. Welles' voiceover.
1:33 sunset
1:36.55 great shot. Quixote having bath in barrell! Welles' voice.
1:39.50 shot
1:41 music +shot
1:42.50 singing. Sancho dancing.
1:45:50 verandah shots
1:47:25 alleyway marketplace shots.
1:49.50 "he's just recording our adventures. He's something like a magician." "hand me over to the devil"
1:51.05 Sancho looks at camera
1:51.11 Young Orson Welles behind camera when Quixote says "The evil lies in human beings for wanting to be slaves..."
Great images in Jess Franco cut of Don Quixote - still found good things in it
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Sir Bygber Brown
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I agree - a bit! There were many great parts in this cut of the film: Flashes of Orson's talent, lost in a mess. I've always thought that it should have been edited better - less is more and take care!!!
I can enjoy the first hour and (to an extent) the last 30mins - but after the first hour all 'magic' in the film drops and we're left watching a TV documentary-style 'flat' image of Sancho running around looking for Quixote - filler material.
But, as you say - there are some amazing shots which just jump out at you. The dubbing did take a bit of getting used too though.
I can enjoy the first hour and (to an extent) the last 30mins - but after the first hour all 'magic' in the film drops and we're left watching a TV documentary-style 'flat' image of Sancho running around looking for Quixote - filler material.
But, as you say - there are some amazing shots which just jump out at you. The dubbing did take a bit of getting used too though.
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Sir Bygber Brown
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Yes - i thought the television gag, which was only okay to begin with, went on way too long (like Cervantes' novel). After about five minutes of that, i started to think that Welles would have used about four of those cuts back to Sancho saying the same thing about the TV and gone on to another adventure. I started to think that (i know this is obvious to say) its unfair of us to see all this virtually raw footage, which looks like test footage - disregarding how its put together and the soundtrack problems. There's no way Welles would allow his name to go on Jess Franco's edit if he had a say in the matter!
The only moment i started to think: this is a beautiful Wellesian image, and "this could have been a great Welles movie" - was when Sancho first arrives in the village where the bulls are about to come through, and we see him through a fence.
I was never really entertained by Quixote and Sancho wandering about. I liked reading it in the book, for those chapters i did read of the book. Somehow it was much funnier in the book - like Catch-22. Still, its possible that the mutilated Touch of Evil would hardly have grabbed me at all - whereas the version where Welles' editing instructions were applied virtually took my breath away! If Welles had lived another fifty years and made no more masterpieces except finishing properly HALF of his home movie of Quixote - i'm sure it would have been great.
The only moment i started to think: this is a beautiful Wellesian image, and "this could have been a great Welles movie" - was when Sancho first arrives in the village where the bulls are about to come through, and we see him through a fence.
I was never really entertained by Quixote and Sancho wandering about. I liked reading it in the book, for those chapters i did read of the book. Somehow it was much funnier in the book - like Catch-22. Still, its possible that the mutilated Touch of Evil would hardly have grabbed me at all - whereas the version where Welles' editing instructions were applied virtually took my breath away! If Welles had lived another fifty years and made no more masterpieces except finishing properly HALF of his home movie of Quixote - i'm sure it would have been great.
You may remember me from such sites as imdb, amazon and criterionforum as Ben Cheshire.
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blunted by community
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don q has brilliant stuff in it. i never looked at it as a narrative film, expecting the pieces to fit together into a story. i look at it as a search for brilliant images, and on this level welles always delivers. i have found brilliance in everything that welles made, except AROUND THE WORLD WITH OW. it's the only welles item in which i can't find something visual that fascinates me.
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Sir Bygber Brown
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What about The Stranger - i haven't seen it in a while. All i remember that was interesting was a few shots in the opening passage where Meinke is at the airport, then at the gym. Generally, i seems devoid of beauty (you know what i mean - Wellesian beauty - that The Trial has) - would love if anyone could point me towards something i've forgotten from it.
You may remember me from such sites as imdb, amazon and criterionforum as Ben Cheshire.
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Glenn Anders
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Once again, Sir Bygber, if we had the full version of THE STRANGER, it would be, I think, a completely satisfying melodrama, with a message similar to that of Huston's KEY LARGO, but with more energy. As it is the film still does remind us in ways, not yet recognized, that the Nazis almost won the Post War. In fact, if we examined the Baron Thyssen, Prescott Bush, also Kellogg, Brown and Root, and now the Diebolt Corporation, we would see a pretty direct line between what the film was dealing with and the people who control the American Government today.
That was the danger which Welles was trying to point out in THE STRANGER and, to some extent, in THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI.
There is certainly no more darkly beautiful and evocative sequence in Welles than the sequence in which he murders Meinke.
Glenn
That was the danger which Welles was trying to point out in THE STRANGER and, to some extent, in THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI.
There is certainly no more darkly beautiful and evocative sequence in Welles than the sequence in which he murders Meinke.
Glenn
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blunted by community
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sorry for this long-ass post, but once i started writting i could not stop, i hate long-ass posts:
there was this guy, a tennis pro named bobby rigs. before he came to prominence, he used to play tennis for money. Not commercial matches, but betting type matches. He was so good that he had to handi-cap himself to get any action. he would play while carrying a bucket of sand, or while he had a dog leashed to his foot, etc.
welles' whole filmmaking career was such a struggle for him, you can look at each film, and like bobby rigs handi-capping himself, you can say, “this is what a genius can do with no studio intervention (KANE), this is what a genius can do after a bunch of idiots recut his film (AMBERSONS), this is what a genius can do with both hands tied behind his back, and contractually penalized for any extravagance, (THE STRANGER), etc.
Even with both hands tied behind his back he was able to insert artistry in THE STRANGER. The most obvious artistry is in the South American sequence with Meineke, and that incredible gym scene. but if you search, you will find more.
In a few scenes welles plays ‘find the camera.’ That scene when rankin enters mary’s room and his shadow is cast on the wall. Where is the camera? The light that casts the shadow is obviously behind rankin, and behind the camera, but there is no camera crew shadow. so where is the camera? The camera is in front of rankin moving forward with him. When rankin nears the bed, the camera moves to the left and rankin passes it, now rankin instead of his shadow is in the frame. Mind you, this was 1945, a film camera was a huge, bulky object. No an easy thing to maneuver around. This is brilliant. Is it brilliance with no meaning? Of course not. Rankin is a shadow of what Mary thinks he is, and this scene tells you that.
In potter’s, a few times while Mr. Wilson is playing checkers, you see a mirror behind potter. Some of those shots are lined up so you can draw a straight line from the camera, to robinson, to potter, and to the mirror behind pottter. If the shot is lined up straight, and there is a mirror at one end of the line there has to be a camera at the other end of the line. So where is the camera? It’s inside a piece of drug store furniture.
Also there are a lot of marvelous crane shots all through the film; when wilson is addressing the war crimes commission there is a TOUCH OF EVIL type crane shot when meineke is at the custons shack outside the ship - the camera cranes from meineke to wilson on an upper deck. a nice crane shot at the wedding reception. Notice every one takes long walks to discuss things, and all those walks are filmed in one shot. Meineke’s strangulation is also one long shot, on a crane also. Welles loved that crane. Most of ambersons is filmed from a crane. These are just a few things, there is much more.
The most audacious paring of scenes in the stranger. Some one asked, “why a paper chase?” the paper chase was an excuse to rip pages out of a bible. Ranking first strangles a praying man (meineke), then rips pages out of a bible to divert a paper chase away from the body, then where do we see him next? In church, standing at the altar, getting married! And he buries the body during his wedding reception. This is great stuff. This is what welles brings to a story. Rankin kills a praying man, and later he kicks a dog. This is great, great writing. Pair all this with Rankin having a clock fetish and meeting his doom falling out of the clock tower. it's like an evil cartoon.
there is a lot more about rankin and clocks in the screenplay. also, in the screenplay, rankin, an escaped nazi, lives in a small town but tools around town in an open roadster.
that long south american sequence that glenn mentions, and welles mentions, I have not found any proof it was ever filmed. Only in james naremore’s book, and in welles’ comment does it exist.
I have the shooting schedule for the stranger, and welles had a very peculiar way of crossing out scenes. Most writers draw a square around the text of the excised scene, then draw an X from corner to corner. Welles would draw bars straight down the text of the excised scene. This is how a lot of scenes in the shooting schedule were excised; with pencil drawn bars.
The south american scene is in the shooting schedule, and the actors in it are listed on the studio call sheets, so it was intended for the film, till last minute. And I don’t think welles is lying. He probably drew that scene in his mind 60 times before it was yanked from the shoot. And through his life he drew on memory to create. He did this a lot. Things written into an unfilmed screenplays turn up in the films he was able to make.
In the stranger, a crane shot from meineke at the ship shack to robinson on the upper deck. He did it in kane, but when he did it in TOUCH OF EVIL with vargas climbing to a balcony outside tanner’s, that was more from the stranger than from kane. I think welles was sure he made it.
Some of the scenes crossed out of the shooting schedule were filmed, but my theory on that is that when welles was told he could not make certain scenes, in disgust he crossed them out crossing out other stuff that was always inteded. Like meineke’s strangulation was crossed out.
there was this guy, a tennis pro named bobby rigs. before he came to prominence, he used to play tennis for money. Not commercial matches, but betting type matches. He was so good that he had to handi-cap himself to get any action. he would play while carrying a bucket of sand, or while he had a dog leashed to his foot, etc.
welles' whole filmmaking career was such a struggle for him, you can look at each film, and like bobby rigs handi-capping himself, you can say, “this is what a genius can do with no studio intervention (KANE), this is what a genius can do after a bunch of idiots recut his film (AMBERSONS), this is what a genius can do with both hands tied behind his back, and contractually penalized for any extravagance, (THE STRANGER), etc.
Even with both hands tied behind his back he was able to insert artistry in THE STRANGER. The most obvious artistry is in the South American sequence with Meineke, and that incredible gym scene. but if you search, you will find more.
In a few scenes welles plays ‘find the camera.’ That scene when rankin enters mary’s room and his shadow is cast on the wall. Where is the camera? The light that casts the shadow is obviously behind rankin, and behind the camera, but there is no camera crew shadow. so where is the camera? The camera is in front of rankin moving forward with him. When rankin nears the bed, the camera moves to the left and rankin passes it, now rankin instead of his shadow is in the frame. Mind you, this was 1945, a film camera was a huge, bulky object. No an easy thing to maneuver around. This is brilliant. Is it brilliance with no meaning? Of course not. Rankin is a shadow of what Mary thinks he is, and this scene tells you that.
In potter’s, a few times while Mr. Wilson is playing checkers, you see a mirror behind potter. Some of those shots are lined up so you can draw a straight line from the camera, to robinson, to potter, and to the mirror behind pottter. If the shot is lined up straight, and there is a mirror at one end of the line there has to be a camera at the other end of the line. So where is the camera? It’s inside a piece of drug store furniture.
Also there are a lot of marvelous crane shots all through the film; when wilson is addressing the war crimes commission there is a TOUCH OF EVIL type crane shot when meineke is at the custons shack outside the ship - the camera cranes from meineke to wilson on an upper deck. a nice crane shot at the wedding reception. Notice every one takes long walks to discuss things, and all those walks are filmed in one shot. Meineke’s strangulation is also one long shot, on a crane also. Welles loved that crane. Most of ambersons is filmed from a crane. These are just a few things, there is much more.
The most audacious paring of scenes in the stranger. Some one asked, “why a paper chase?” the paper chase was an excuse to rip pages out of a bible. Ranking first strangles a praying man (meineke), then rips pages out of a bible to divert a paper chase away from the body, then where do we see him next? In church, standing at the altar, getting married! And he buries the body during his wedding reception. This is great stuff. This is what welles brings to a story. Rankin kills a praying man, and later he kicks a dog. This is great, great writing. Pair all this with Rankin having a clock fetish and meeting his doom falling out of the clock tower. it's like an evil cartoon.
there is a lot more about rankin and clocks in the screenplay. also, in the screenplay, rankin, an escaped nazi, lives in a small town but tools around town in an open roadster.
that long south american sequence that glenn mentions, and welles mentions, I have not found any proof it was ever filmed. Only in james naremore’s book, and in welles’ comment does it exist.
I have the shooting schedule for the stranger, and welles had a very peculiar way of crossing out scenes. Most writers draw a square around the text of the excised scene, then draw an X from corner to corner. Welles would draw bars straight down the text of the excised scene. This is how a lot of scenes in the shooting schedule were excised; with pencil drawn bars.
The south american scene is in the shooting schedule, and the actors in it are listed on the studio call sheets, so it was intended for the film, till last minute. And I don’t think welles is lying. He probably drew that scene in his mind 60 times before it was yanked from the shoot. And through his life he drew on memory to create. He did this a lot. Things written into an unfilmed screenplays turn up in the films he was able to make.
In the stranger, a crane shot from meineke at the ship shack to robinson on the upper deck. He did it in kane, but when he did it in TOUCH OF EVIL with vargas climbing to a balcony outside tanner’s, that was more from the stranger than from kane. I think welles was sure he made it.
Some of the scenes crossed out of the shooting schedule were filmed, but my theory on that is that when welles was told he could not make certain scenes, in disgust he crossed them out crossing out other stuff that was always inteded. Like meineke’s strangulation was crossed out.
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Glenn Anders
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Dear Blunted: You may be right that the "South America Sequence" of THE STRANGER was never shot, but the cutting continuity and some stills from the sequence do exist.
I refer you to the excellent little publication, a labor of love known as VIDEO WATCHDOG. Here you will find evidence of missing scenes from both THE STRANGER and THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, as well as an interesting memoir from Welles' OTHELLO shoot. I give you the Table of Contents:
#23 May/June 1994:
Orson Welles' "Lost" Ghost Story • THE STRANGER [This article is on Page 28, according to their Issue Index] • THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI • Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee Reunited • Alfred Hitchcock's WWII Shorts • Harriet White Medin Remembers Orson Welles in OTHELLO • PEEPING TOM • DRESSED TO KILL • BARBARELLA
I had the actual publication, but in a misguided fit of house cleaning before finding Wellesnet, I threw all my VIDEO WATCHDOG's out (while retaining some real junk).
Hope this reference helps.
Glenn
I refer you to the excellent little publication, a labor of love known as VIDEO WATCHDOG. Here you will find evidence of missing scenes from both THE STRANGER and THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, as well as an interesting memoir from Welles' OTHELLO shoot. I give you the Table of Contents:
#23 May/June 1994:
Orson Welles' "Lost" Ghost Story • THE STRANGER [This article is on Page 28, according to their Issue Index] • THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI • Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee Reunited • Alfred Hitchcock's WWII Shorts • Harriet White Medin Remembers Orson Welles in OTHELLO • PEEPING TOM • DRESSED TO KILL • BARBARELLA
I had the actual publication, but in a misguided fit of house cleaning before finding Wellesnet, I threw all my VIDEO WATCHDOG's out (while retaining some real junk).
Hope this reference helps.
Glenn
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blunted by community
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if there are stills of the missing scenes then they were filmed. where are these stills at? only one i've been able to find is one of welles as rankin looking out a window when meineke's body was found.
the south american footage is not in the continuity, it's in the scene breakdown sheets, and it's in the shooting schedule which are both typed before any filming is done. maybe who ever wrote the article you read mistook the scene breakdown sheets for the continuity. though the scenes not being in the continuity does not mean that it was not filmed, that just means that it was not in the film when the continuity was written. i saw the continuity, it's just like the release version.
the south american footage is not in the continuity, it's in the scene breakdown sheets, and it's in the shooting schedule which are both typed before any filming is done. maybe who ever wrote the article you read mistook the scene breakdown sheets for the continuity. though the scenes not being in the continuity does not mean that it was not filmed, that just means that it was not in the film when the continuity was written. i saw the continuity, it's just like the release version.
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Sir Bygber Brown
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Every time i watch the Stranger i'm half asleep - i guess its b.c i think of it as lesser Welles, and therefore the kind of thing that's okay to watch when you're half asleep.
After reading your posts, i'm just sticking The Stranger in my computer and will give it a viewing now i'm totally awake.
Btw, v excited to hear about this VIDEO WATCHDOG article. Would love to see stills from excised portions of Shanghai and the famous South America sequence. Enjoyed your long post very much, Blunted. Am noticing these things as i watch it. I'm really learning to appreciate this movie.
The whole opening sequence is very impressive. I remember loving it when i first saw it. But i expected as much - b.c i'd just seen Kane and Stranger was my second Welles. There are a couple of great dissolves. Meinke's face reflected in what looks like some kind of window or projector. Close-ups of Meinke's face. The crane up to Mr Wilson after Meinke says to customs agent "i'm travelling for my health." I also love Mr Wilson's pipe.
In a few shots right after the War Crimes Commission scene the frame is too dark on the DVD transfer i have, so a lot of things in some great shots are hard to make out. Does anyone have a widescreen version of The Stranger, with a nice and clear image? Does such a thing exist? The version i've got has been made on the cheap.
I still think that the greatest thing The Stranger lacks is subtletly, but this goes along with Welles' belief that movies had to be larger than life to be entertaining. On narrative and thematic terms, The Stranger does not stand among other Welles works, but i think we all agree with that: my belief is that if Welles hadn't believed that any member of the Nazi party was "evil" and that such a thing as "evil" exists, then The Stranger would have had as much depth as any other Welles movie. But we're not here to talk about Narrative and Themes - but images and direction. I totally agree with what you say Blunted - there's no other way to think of Welles movies than by taking into consideration the pressures which made them less than Kane (or The Trial, Chimes or the restored Touch of Evil). What we have to look at in The Stranger, considering the conditions (on budget, on time, submitting to studio control), is a joy.
More good stuff i found: Death of Meinke and Rankin's attempts to divert boys from trail - very great scene. Crane shot looking down on Rankin burying body with furious music - also great scene. Composition in Wilson's first visit to clocktower. Composition on Rankin's dog-walk. Wilson's second checkers game with Potter + entrance of Rankins. Half Rankin's face in shadows during revelation scene that Rankin killed the dog. I can tell there'll be more, but i'll just post now.
After reading your posts, i'm just sticking The Stranger in my computer and will give it a viewing now i'm totally awake.
Btw, v excited to hear about this VIDEO WATCHDOG article. Would love to see stills from excised portions of Shanghai and the famous South America sequence. Enjoyed your long post very much, Blunted. Am noticing these things as i watch it. I'm really learning to appreciate this movie.
The whole opening sequence is very impressive. I remember loving it when i first saw it. But i expected as much - b.c i'd just seen Kane and Stranger was my second Welles. There are a couple of great dissolves. Meinke's face reflected in what looks like some kind of window or projector. Close-ups of Meinke's face. The crane up to Mr Wilson after Meinke says to customs agent "i'm travelling for my health." I also love Mr Wilson's pipe.
In a few shots right after the War Crimes Commission scene the frame is too dark on the DVD transfer i have, so a lot of things in some great shots are hard to make out. Does anyone have a widescreen version of The Stranger, with a nice and clear image? Does such a thing exist? The version i've got has been made on the cheap.
I still think that the greatest thing The Stranger lacks is subtletly, but this goes along with Welles' belief that movies had to be larger than life to be entertaining. On narrative and thematic terms, The Stranger does not stand among other Welles works, but i think we all agree with that: my belief is that if Welles hadn't believed that any member of the Nazi party was "evil" and that such a thing as "evil" exists, then The Stranger would have had as much depth as any other Welles movie. But we're not here to talk about Narrative and Themes - but images and direction. I totally agree with what you say Blunted - there's no other way to think of Welles movies than by taking into consideration the pressures which made them less than Kane (or The Trial, Chimes or the restored Touch of Evil). What we have to look at in The Stranger, considering the conditions (on budget, on time, submitting to studio control), is a joy.
More good stuff i found: Death of Meinke and Rankin's attempts to divert boys from trail - very great scene. Crane shot looking down on Rankin burying body with furious music - also great scene. Composition in Wilson's first visit to clocktower. Composition on Rankin's dog-walk. Wilson's second checkers game with Potter + entrance of Rankins. Half Rankin's face in shadows during revelation scene that Rankin killed the dog. I can tell there'll be more, but i'll just post now.
You may remember me from such sites as imdb, amazon and criterionforum as Ben Cheshire.
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Jeff Wilson
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blunted by community
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Sir. BB:
glad you found some good stuff in the stranger. i'm aslo from the school that thought it was just an ok, interesting film, after aquiring paper materials of the production i started to look deeper. and welles is always deep. the meat is never on the surface. you look past the surface to fing the real tresures. like in touch of evil, and the trial. i found the beauty of the stranger blow the surface, it has meat. you just gotta look for it. and it has more than i expected
there is a guy named david bordwell that wrote 2 books about film analysis, FILM ART, and INFERENCE AND RHETORIC IN THE ENTERPRETATION OF CINEMA. these 2 books directly teach you a new way to look at film. and it's wonderfull with some old films you love to rewatch.
after being armed with this new cinama language reading techique, you find cool, and obvious stuff in your favorite films that you never saw before. so it gives you new appreciation, and more joy rewatching a film you have already watched 18 times.
glad you found some good stuff in the stranger. i'm aslo from the school that thought it was just an ok, interesting film, after aquiring paper materials of the production i started to look deeper. and welles is always deep. the meat is never on the surface. you look past the surface to fing the real tresures. like in touch of evil, and the trial. i found the beauty of the stranger blow the surface, it has meat. you just gotta look for it. and it has more than i expected
there is a guy named david bordwell that wrote 2 books about film analysis, FILM ART, and INFERENCE AND RHETORIC IN THE ENTERPRETATION OF CINEMA. these 2 books directly teach you a new way to look at film. and it's wonderfull with some old films you love to rewatch.
after being armed with this new cinama language reading techique, you find cool, and obvious stuff in your favorite films that you never saw before. so it gives you new appreciation, and more joy rewatching a film you have already watched 18 times.
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Glenn Anders
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Dear Jeff: I stand corrected, if what you say is the case. However, it is strange that publicity stills would have been created with sets, etc, for a sequence which had already been nixed.
One other note: I have noticed people write about "widescreen versions" of films produced before the introduction of Cinemascope and other processes dusted off by the studios to combat the lure of Television for the moviegoing audience. Aside from a handful of experiments in the 1920's, 1930's, and 1940's, widescreen did not exist in the period THE STRANGER. What is termed full screen was essentially what we call "full screen" now.
I'm off to visit my daughter and her family in Reno.
Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, Gang.
Glenn
One other note: I have noticed people write about "widescreen versions" of films produced before the introduction of Cinemascope and other processes dusted off by the studios to combat the lure of Television for the moviegoing audience. Aside from a handful of experiments in the 1920's, 1930's, and 1940's, widescreen did not exist in the period THE STRANGER. What is termed full screen was essentially what we call "full screen" now.
I'm off to visit my daughter and her family in Reno.
Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, Gang.
Glenn
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blunted by community
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when they say wide screen i think they actually mean window boxed. they want to see the whole frame.
welles' films make a huge difference seeing the whole frame because he used the whole canvas to paint his image. get a dvd player that zooms back, and window box everything yourself. imagine the pleasure of watching KANE and seeing the whole frame for the first time. and THE MALTESE FALCON. TRERASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE looks incredible. all films look better. THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY once you finish zooming back till you can see all 4 corners of the frame the image is like a ribon across your screen. it looks tremendous on a big screen, and even very, very passable on a 19in tv.
i'm sure several malatas beside the 520 zoom back also; all the image of the film is on the disc, you just can't see it till you zoom back on the picture till you can see where the image ends.
(here we go with the oversan mess again?)
welles' films make a huge difference seeing the whole frame because he used the whole canvas to paint his image. get a dvd player that zooms back, and window box everything yourself. imagine the pleasure of watching KANE and seeing the whole frame for the first time. and THE MALTESE FALCON. TRERASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE looks incredible. all films look better. THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY once you finish zooming back till you can see all 4 corners of the frame the image is like a ribon across your screen. it looks tremendous on a big screen, and even very, very passable on a 19in tv.
i'm sure several malatas beside the 520 zoom back also; all the image of the film is on the disc, you just can't see it till you zoom back on the picture till you can see where the image ends.
(here we go with the oversan mess again?)
As far as DQ goes, I have yet to see Jess Franco's cut. Although, thanks to a Wellesnet member in Europe, I was able to see the scene (apparently not in Franco's) of DQ attacking a movie screen while Sancho looks on helplessly and the crowd, or rather some kids in the balcony, appear to be cheering (can't really tell as the scene has no sound). Anyway, an excellent scene!
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