The Immortal Story on DVD & Blu-Ray

[cinescot]

As has been mentioned elsewhere, UK distributor Mr Bongo will be releasing THE IMMORTAL STORY on the 29th June. Unlike their releases of TOO MUCH JOHNSON and CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT on the same date, THE IMMORTAL STORY appears to be a DVD-only release.

Additionally, Gaumont's schedule has the film listed for a Blu-Ray release in early October 2015. It also states that both the French and UK versions of the film will be included. Gaumont apparently have the best prints for the film and I believe they have been restoring their titles before they are released so the film should look great.

[tonyw]

If it matches that 35mm print I saw in the now demolished Manchester Film Theatre in 1970 I'll be happy.

[Wellesnet]

Set to be released in the UK on November 2nd:
http://www.wellesnet.com/the-immortal-s ... -november/

[A Sled in Flames]

Bought this on Amazon UK. But, unfortunately, I won't be able to screen it until I come back home in late December!

Will report findings then, though I can't imagine it NOT being an improvement over the previous DVDs.

[edmoney]

The Immortal Story coming to the Criterion Collection on August 30th:

https://www.criterion.com/films/27672-t ... rtal-story

[Wellesnet]

Great news! Thanks edmoney.

[edmoney]

I also posted in another thread about even bigger news (in my opinion) ... the forthcoming Criterion release of Chimes at Midnight also on August 30th!

[atcolomb]

And it comes with a audio commentary and some nice extras...very nice!

[Le Chiffre]

From the Criterion Forum:

Frau Blucher: Was The Immortal Story initially intended for television?

Roger Ryan: It was, but a 1.66:1 ratio works fine for it...just not the framing that has previously appeared on DVD or on TCM. My main hope is that this issue was handled carefully (astonishingly, when this film was screened as part of a Welles retrospective at Indiana University last year, it was shown in approximately 2.40:1 which was completely inappropriate!).

EDIT: Looking at the excerpt found on the Criterion page for this film, the framing looks more accurate than the old Madman DVD (and the TCM broadcast version). The additional information found on all four sides certainly helps.

I agree with Roger that the film looks fine at 1.66, but I'd like to see it full frame some time. That's why I'm curious as to what A/R Criterion is presenting the French version in, since I believe that was the one that was originally shown on television, and it probably would have been shown full frame.



Also, the Criterion page lists the film at 58 minutes. It's my understanding that the French version was 58 minutes, which makes sense, since TV has traditionally operated by way of one-hour time slots. The English-language version released to theaters, on the other hand, was not only cropped for 1.66, but was also extended to 63 minutes. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

2.40 at Indiana U.? Yikes, I'm glad I missed that.

[Roger Ryan]

...2.40 at Indiana U.? Yikes, I'm glad I missed that.

Completely inexplicable; heads were lopped off left and right! I believe the source was the same "digibeta" copy that I saw screened at Yale in 2006, but the Yale screening was no wider than 1.66:1 (it may have been "full frame"; I can't recall). Fortunately, F For Fake, which was screened with The Immortal Story as a double feature at Indiana University, was shown in the correct 1.66:1 ratio.

[cinescot]

Excellent news that this is being released by Criterion and the extras look good as well. The commentary appears to be the one from the region 4 DVD released by Madman.

[atcolomb]

DVDBeaver review and it's just as positive as Chimes and the screen caps looks much better then the TCM broadcast. August is turning out to be a great month for both releases and i hope Criterion can get the rights to release Ambersons on Blu-ray soon.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-ray_ ... lu-ray.htm

[atcolomb]

A good Blu-ray review from DVD TALK and it does talk about the framing of the image.

http://trailersfromhell.com/the-immorta ... 70ENY-cHIW

[atcolomb]

Just received my Criterion copy of the movie and did quick comparison to my TCM broadcast copy and what a big difference. Both have the same aspect ratio but the Criterion version has a sharp bright crisp picture compared to the vhs looking worn out print TCM used. Very happy Criterion has released this great film with a excellent looking image & sound.

[Wellesnet]

Now on sale at stores and getting great reviews:
http://www.wellesnet.com/reviews-criter ... tal-story/