Caligula: The Ultimate Cut (Divisa) --- January 25 2024

[dallywhitty]

Caligula: The Ultimate Cut makes its home video premiere courtesy of Divisa in January.

Trailer
Photo gallery
32-page booklet

[SwatDB]

Based on Thomas Negovan's reconstruction of Gore Vidal's vision rather than Alexander Tuschinski's reconstruction of Tinto Brass Version, I take it?

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by SwatDB

Based on Thomas Negovan's reconstruction of Gore Vidal's vision rather than Alexander Tuschinski's reconstruction of Tinto Brass Version, I take it?

Correct.

[bigrob]

anyone picked this up yet?

[The Admiral]

Originally Posted by bigrob

anyone picked this up yet?

I ordered it a few weeks ago but it hasn't shipped yet. I'll keep this thread posted. Divisa did confirm that there won't be any forced subtitles, as is unfortunately the case with some of their releases.

[dallywhitty]

Need my copy like I need oxygen! I paid for express shipping and they dispatched it a couple of days ago. Estimated arrival is Wednesday but I'm hoping it's sooner.

[dlh]

Spanish subtitles can indeed be turned off. Luckily, the master was not localized either, so all the new credits and text crawls are in English.

Running time of the new cut is about 178 minutes (but the new animated intro sequence including background information about the film and the restoration is quite long, about 5 1/2 minutes).

Bonus is pretty slim (photo gallery - 1 minute / trailer - 1 1/2 minutes / booklet in Spanish).

Only had time to skip through the film. Pictures quality looks alright to me at first sight, given the circumstances of this new cut. Qualitywise it ranges somewhere between the old US blu ray release and the newer French blu ray of the original cut. But I guess it is due to the used film stock. The film never looked shiny and glorious but a bit "muddy" and soft. So, this release retains this known look. While skipping through I did not notice any scene that looked particularly bad (e.g. vhs quality), it was all about the same level (some scenes looked a bit softer though). But I only saw a couple of scenes of a 3 hour cut, may be there is some discrepancy in quality somewhere.

Not sure, if some DNR was applied but my guess would be, grain management on this release is just not the best (they used a BD-50 but left about 15 gigs unused).

Can't say anything about region coding as I only have a region B player. (Cover states region B only but not sure, if this is accurate.)

For a first release of this new cut this seems fine in my opinion, but I would love to see lots of new bonus features and maybe a better encoded version of it. I don't know if a 4K release was announced somehwere (database lists a "4K Restoration and Reconstruction" entry), would be pretty interested in this, but can't figure out the benefit right now due to the film stock.

[The Admiral]

Originally Posted by dlh

[Show spoiler]Spanish subtitles can indeed be turned off. Luckily, the master was not localized either, so all the new credits and text crawls are in English.

Running time of the new cut is about 178 minutes (but the new animated intro sequence including background information about the film and the restoration is quite long, about 5 1/2 minutes).

Bonus is pretty slim (photo gallery - 1 minute / trailer - 1 1/2 minutes / booklet in Spanish).

Only had time to skip through the film. Pictures quality looks alright to me at first sight, given the circumstances of this new cut. Qualitywise it ranges somewhere between the old US blu ray release and the newer French blu ray of the original cut. But I guess it is due to the used film stock. The film never looked shiny and glorious but a bit "muddy" and soft. So, this release retains this known look. While skipping through I did not notice any scene that looked particularly bad (e.g. vhs quality), it was all about the same level (some scenes looked a bit softer though). But I only saw a couple of scenes of a 3 hour cut, may be there is some discrepancy in quality somewhere.

Not sure, if some DNR was applied but my guess would be, grain management on this release is just not the best (they used a BD-50 but left about 15 gigs unused).

Can't say anything about region coding as I only have a region B player. (Cover states region B only but not sure, if this is accurate.)

For a first release of this new cut this seems fine in my opinion, but I would love to see lots of new bonus features and maybe a better encoded version of it. I don't know if a 4K release was announced somehwere (database lists a "4K Restoration and Reconstruction" entry), would be pretty interested in this, but can't figure out the benefit right now due to the film stock

.

Many thanks for this, my friend. Why they wouldn't use the whole of the 50Gb so the film has space to breathe is beyond me but, in all honesty, I was worried they would use a BD-25 (and only use 15Gb!) so I guess it's still better than that scenario. Mine has just been despatched, should arrive some time next week.

[dallywhitty]

Yeah, appreciate the thoughts, dlh. Thomas Negovan did say there'd be much better editions on the way. It's just that the Spanish label weren't willing to wait for extras. Suits me cause I'm gagging to see the film, but I'll obviously double (triple? quadruple?) dip depending on what the other labels offer.

[jimcorenson]

Can anyone say what the difference is between this and the 156 min uncut version ?

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by jimcorenson

Can anyone say what the difference is between this and the 156 min uncut version ?

It's a totally different cut of the film, edited from scratch without a single frame used from the unrated theatrical version. It ain't just a case of them taking the existing cut and adding in some additional scenes. The audio is entirely different, too, with a new score, new sound effects, and the original on-set vocals as opposed to the ADR of the 1979 version. It probably goes without saying, but it discards the hardcore inserts. There's also a new animated title sequence based on a dream of Caligula's which was supposed to open the film (but was never shot).

I'm finally watching The Ultimate Cut tonight so if you've got any further questions, let me know.

[bigrob]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

It's a totally different cut of the film, edited from scratch without a single frame used from the unrated theatrical version. It ain't just a case of them taking the existing cut and adding in some additional scenes. The audio is entirely different, too, with a new score, new sound effects, and the original on-set vocals as opposed to the ADR of the 1979 version. It probably goes without saying, but it discards the hardcore inserts. There's also a new animated title sequence based on a dream of Caligula's which was supposed to open the film (but was never shot).

I'm finally watching The Ultimate Cut tonight so if you've got any further questions, let me know.

have you got your waterproof sheets fitted?

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by bigrob

have you got your waterproof sheets fitted?

All over the house. I'm anticipating a flood...

[avmdeluca]

Approximately 33GB, 5.1 and PCM 2.0 audio.

You can see some banding/macroblocking in a couple of scenes, it's very rare but it's there. Grain structure could be resolved better.

It's vert watchable, but not ideal. I'm sure there will be much better releases.

Extras are a screenshot gallery and the trailer you'll find on youtube.

The "photos" in the booklet are just screenshots.

[The Admiral]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

All over the house. I'm anticipating a flood...

What's your verdict, Dally? Still waiting for mine but at least it's reached England.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by The Admiral

What's your verdict, Dally? Still waiting for mine but at least it's reached England.

I've posted my review in the movies sub-forum, but suffice to say... I loved it!

I'm with avmdecula regarding the disc itself, though. The encode is naff and there's macroblocking in darker scenes. It's always gonna look a bit soft because of the photography, but I'm interested to see how much better it could look. I was talking to Thomas Negovan about it and he said releases in other territories will have plenty of extras. He's mentioned commentaries several times, which makes me think they've been recorded already.

[avmdeluca]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

I've posted my review in the movies sub-forum, but suffice to say... I loved it!

I'm with avmdecula regarding the disc itself, though. The encode is naff and there's macroblocking in darker scenes. It's always gonna look a bit soft because of the photography, but I'm interested to see how much better it could look. I was talking to Thomas Negovan about it and he said releases in other territories will have plenty of extras. He's mentioned commentaries several times, which makes me think they've been recorded already.

There's a couple of 4k screenshots on senscritique and they definetely have additional detail. A bit soft and grainy, but I'll dip again for a release that looks this good and includes deleted material.

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

It's a totally different cut of the film, edited from scratch without a single frame used from the unrated theatrical version. It ain't just a case of them taking the existing cut and adding in some additional scenes. The audio is entirely different, too, with a new score, new sound effects, and the original on-set vocals as opposed to the ADR of the 1979 version. It probably goes without saying, but it discards the hardcore inserts. There's also a new animated title sequence based on a dream of Caligula's which was supposed to open the film (but was never shot).

I'm finally watching The Ultimate Cut tonight so if you've got any further questions, let me know.

Basically this version has been disowned by Tinto Brass as he had NOTHING to do with this.

He issued a statement in response to the Cannes Screening, that had Helen Mirren on hand:

Brass has issued a statement distancing himself from this new version of the film and announced that he is taking unspecified legal action.

“After numerous and fruitless negotiations that have followed over the years, first with the Penthouse and then with other unclear individuals, to edit the material that I shot and which had been found in the Penthouse archives, a version has been created on which I did not take part and which I am convinced will not reflect my artistic vision,” Brass, who is 90, said in the statement.

“As is well known, the editing process is what shapes my very personal directorial style. If I can’t edit a film, I don’t recognize it, and I have not acknowledged authorship [of the new ‘Caligula’ cut]. There are numerous versions of ‘Caligula’ edited by others, including Bob Guccione. But none of them correspond to my original project. The Cannes audience will therefore be misled by the arbitrary use of my name,” the director, who is 90, went on to note.

The statement ends with :”For now I won’t add anything else. My lawyers are dealing with the matter.”

[BobSimms]

No hardcore inserts? Pffft!

[The Admiral]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

I've posted my review in the movies sub-forum, but suffice to say... I loved it!

I'm with avmdecula regarding the disc itself, though. The encode is naff and there's macroblocking in darker scenes. It's always gonna look a bit soft because of the photography, but I'm interested to see how much better it could look. I was talking to Thomas Negovan about it and he said releases in other territories will have plenty of extras. He's mentioned commentaries several times, which makes me think they've been recorded already.

Cheers mate 👍🏼