1900 (Bernardo Bertolucci)

[discking]

Originally Posted by BaseGR

Wow, I certainly don't hope those screenshots are very accurate. They look quite bad.

Boo hoo. Only 224k for the English Dolby track?

The film looks much much "better", but it may be sourced from a cleaned up version of an existing transfer, not a new 2k or better transfer from the negative or a master inter positive. It has definitely lost the Vittorio Storaro tints that are so typical of his work from that era. Better than the miserable DVDs that have been available? Absolutely. Great? Hard to say from those samples. English DTS would have been very nice.

[RDA]

The blu-ray screenshots look a lot better imo. The level of detail is massively improved. I've seen 'Novecento' the R1 DVD in Italian with English subtitles, only to learn the best audio version is the English version. If this isn't released in the UK or US soon, I'll be tempted to pick this up.

[shanethemain]

It's startling how much better the image is on the blu! The colors especially stand out by comparison. If a US version is announced, I would be pleased if it looked anywhere near as good as this Italian release. Thank you for posting the comparison shots!

[TedK]

This will be a definite buy for me when I'm in Rome next month! Screenshots look fabulous and true to the original showing of the film.

[discking]

Having just received, and viewed, my BD copy of Novecento, from Amazon IT, I can report that the screen shots that have been quoted in this thread don't do justice to the image. It looks even better.

But, ah, but... it looks as good as one could expect for a five hour film squeezed onto a single BD50, or in other words like a very good example of what a normal length film on a BD25 would look like. Bit rates average around 10-15 Mps. The subtitles use a rather heavy bold type face. There are only Italian subs, and only Italian audio in DTS-HD MA stereo and English audio in Dolby 2.0.

It's a shame that they cut corners, and on a two disc set, where the second disc is nothing but extras. It would have made much more sense to spread the film, and the extras, over two BD50s.

Oh well, it could have been even better. But this version is so much better than any DVD that has ever been released of this film to date, I'll take it.

Looks great. Could have looked even better.

Maybe if it ever gets a US release they'll go for that little extra bit, and also include a DTS version of the English track, instead of just the Dolby 2.0 version on this disk...

In the meantime, a solid buy for anyone who admires this film...

[bugsy_pal]

Thanks for the update on the new bluray. It's been a very long time since I've seen the film, and I was wondering... What is the English soundtrack like on this film?

I can't remember if it had original English voices or was dubbed-over in English. Does the English soundtrack cover everything in the film or are there bits that are Italian only?

[maruko]

Originally Posted by discking

The French and Italians seem to feel that the US and UK business models are backwards, and everything should cost as much as possible. That and the breath of the gnats and rats in the warehouse have to be taxed and the cost passed along, with a markup.

I like this line. I shared it on my Facebook.
I agree with you. I'm Italian and I first liked to see an Italian version of Amazon, but in the end I turned out buying most of my goods from Amazon UK as usual. Italian movies too.

[indiana]

Originally Posted by discking

Having just received, and viewed, my BD copy of Novecento, from Amazon IT, I can report that the screen shots that have been quoted in this thread don't do justice to the image. It looks even better.

But, ah, but... it looks as good as one could expect for a five hour film squeezed onto a single BD50, or in other words like a very good example of what a normal length film on a BD25 would look like. Bit rates average around 10-15 Mps. The subtitles use a rather heavy bold type face. There are only Italian subs, and only Italian audio in DTS-HD MA stereo and English audio in Dolby 2.0.

It's a shame that they cut corners, and on a two disc set, where the second disc is nothing but extras. It would have made much more sense to spread the film, and the extras, over two BD50s.

Oh well, it could have been even better. But this version is so much better than any DVD that has ever been released of this film to date, I'll take it.

Looks great. Could have looked even better.

Maybe if it ever gets a US release they'll go for that little extra bit, and also include a DTS version of the English track, instead of just the Dolby 2.0 version on this disk...

In the meantime, a solid buy for anyone who admires this film...

Could you give me some information about packaging? is it a standard blu-ray case?

[Riki333]

Originally Posted by indiana

Could you give me some information about packaging? is it a standard blu-ray case?

It's a slipcase.

Saluti

[bugsy_pal]

Can someone tell me about the English soundtrack version on this bluray? I am wondering if it was re-dubbed in English, or an English language version was made during shooting, as they do on some films, particularly where, as in this case, there are a number of English-speaking performers.

I ask because I don't speak Italian. I have seen this film twice in the cinema, and I honestly can't remeber whether I saw the Italian version with subtitles or the English. Although i have a vague recollection of Burt lancaster's voice being dubbed by and Italian voice that didn't sound at all like him.

I am really keen to see this film on bluray, and I'll settle for a half-decent dubbed English track if there are no English subtitles.

[Novecento]

Originally Posted by RDA

I've seen 'Novecento' the R1 DVD in Italian with English subtitles, only to learn the best audio version is the English version.

For me the best audio is easily the Italian version. If this BD release had english subs for the Italian, I would have snapped it up.

Originally Posted by bugsy_pal

Can someone tell me about the English soundtrack version on this bluray? I am wondering if it was re-dubbed in English, or an English language version was made during shooting, as they do on some films, particularly where, as in this case, there are a number of English-speaking performers.

I ask because I don't speak Italian. I have seen this film twice in the cinema, and I honestly can't remeber whether I saw the Italian version with subtitles or the English. Although i have a vague recollection of Burt lancaster's voice being dubbed by and Italian voice that didn't sound at all like him.

I am really keen to see this film on bluray, and I'll settle for a half-decent dubbed English track if there are no English subtitles.

For me this is very much like Visconti's 'The Leopard' - better overall in the Italian dub in spite of the presence of one or more English speaking actors dubbing themselves in English.