Bitter Rice (1949)

[pro-bassoonist]

Our review will be up shortly

Bitter Rice Blu-ray PRE-ORDER











Pro-B

[RiFiFi1955]

Can't wait to get this in the mail. That mini poster at its fantastic. I usually don't hang up at from the booklets as I like to keep the booklets with the disc but in this case I may make an exception

[pro-bassoonist]

Bitter Rice Blu-ray REVIEW



The new transfer is very, very good. This is a major upgrade over the old Italian DVD release

***

On the disc that I was sent to review, there appears to be a small mastering defect. At the moment I do not know if it is only on my disc -- I have only one disc with me -- but I have contacted Criterion with a request for additional information. The video score is left unset at the moment.

I will update the review/thread when I have proper information.

Pro-B

[spanky87]

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-r...ce_blu-ray.htm

http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/bitter-rice

Two more reviews for the blu-ray. Neither made mention of this video glitch.

[toddly6666]

There's a good chance that the other critics didnt notice it. I trust Pro-B's word the most and im not buying it until we get some news.

[AaronJ]

I'm SO torn on this. I want to see it, and it sounds like an excellent package (assuming that glitch is just on ProB's disc or that they fix it).

But yikes. If I don't put anything else on order, by the end of March I will have spent over $250 already.

Decisions. Decisions.

[spanky87]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

There's a good chance that the other critics didnt notice it. I trust Pro-B's word the most and im not buying it until we get some news.

Possibly.

Well, I hope we get some confirmation before Tuesday. I went ahead and pre-ordered from Amazon.ca anyway because they typically raise the prices after the release date and it's already expensive as it is.

[MifuneFan]

Okay, this really isn't a great example, but I couldn't get a direct feed of the Hulu stream so I just filmed it with my camera. You can still see some of the obvious skips and dropped (or missing) frames in this sequence. It's the same sequence that Pro-B describes in his review as being problematic.

WP 20160111 001 - YouTube

Do the frames drop (or are missing) at the same spots for you Pro-B?

[pro-bassoonist]

1. I just received an email from Criterion and it states that there are missing frames in the original film element.

2. Unfortunately, as I stated earlier, somewhere, something must have gone wrong, because the entire sequence appears without any of these issues that I have described in the review on the Cristaldi Film DVD release distributed by Fox Italia, which was also promoted as a "restoration" at the time when it was released, and which I own.

3. I don't want to speculate, but if I had to guess, I would probably say that the issue is on the master that was struck -- whether it was a long time ago or more recently is anyone's guess.

4. The fact of the matter is this: The frames are not missing. They exist. If they were missing and the issue was inherited, they would not have appeared on the Italian master from Cristaldi Film. Franco Cristaldi produced the film.

Pro-B

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

1. I just received an email from Criterion and it states that there are missing frames in the original film element.

2. Unfortunately, as I stated earlier, somewhere, something must have gone wrong, because the entire sequence appears without any of these issues that I have described in the review on the Cristaldi Film DVD release distributed by Fox Italia, which was also promoted as a "restoration" at the time when it was released, and which I own.

3. I don't want to speculate, but if I had to guess, I would probably say that the issue is on the master that was struck -- whether it was a long time ago or more recently is anyone's guess.

4. The fact of the matter is this: The frames are not missing. They exist. If they were missing and the issue was inherited, they would not have appeared on the Italian master from Cristaldi Film. Franco Cristaldi produced the film.

Pro-B

This is quite unfortunate. Thanks for letting us know their response, so as to not anticipate a replacement.

Also unfortunate is that I watched the CC last night, came here and saw your post, then went to find my Italian DVD. Spent over an hour looking for it, I think it's gone

[RiFiFi1955]

Originally Posted by kuro_sawa

This is quite unfortunate. Thanks for letting us know their response, so as to not anticipate a replacement.

Also unfortunate is that I watched the CC last night, came here and saw your post, then went to find my Italian DVD. Spent over an hour looking for it, I think it's gone

Don't you hate that! That happened with my The Big Sleep DVD, still can't find it but hey it don't matter anymore!

[RiFiFi1955]

and yes thanks Pro-B for the information and research!

[SkyAntoine]

If Summer with Monika was re-edited as an sexploitation film, then was the same ever done for this? I haven't watched this yet, but I'm getting a racy vibe from all of the photos so far.

[tenia]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

1. I just received an email from Criterion and it states that there are missing frames in the original film element.

4. The fact of the matter is this: The frames are not missing. They exist. If they were missing and the issue was inherited, they would not have appeared on the Italian master from Cristaldi Film.

Unfortunate they don't seem to want to go looking deeper in the matter.

[memoryshuffle]

The only thing I can think of is that the R2 DVD was mastered from a different source or multiple sources, like the Metropolis blu-ray. Maybe an alternate take was used?

[nitin]

Originally Posted by tenia

Unfortunate they don't seem to want to go looking deeper in the matter.

they would have to start from scratch and create a new master etc, maybe inserting that scene from a different source? I'm guessing would be way too expensive.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by nitin

they would have to start from scratch and create a new master etc, maybe inserting that scene from a different source? I'm guessing would be way too expensive.

1. The Criterion release isn't sourced from an unknown element -- their master comes from the original 35mm film negative. The information is quoted in the review.

2. I would assume that all other current elements in circulation come from the OCN. I would be surprised if Cristaldi Film restored/remastered the film from some different element -- possibly an internegative or an interpositive -- which happens to be in better condition and more complete than the OCN because the DVD release has its fair share of age-related issues. It is not an impossible scenario, but someone would have to show some evidence that these frames are indeed not found on the OCN. At the moment it appears that something went wrong during the mastering process.

3. A Spirit DataCine was used to create the master. Currently, the overwhelming majority of new masters -- 2K or 4K -- are done on ARRIs, Northlights, Oxberrys, etc. So, as I noted earlier, one can only guess whether the current master was done a long time ago or more recently, and whether someone would have actually noticed that something was missing.

Pro-B

[ElliesDad]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Okay, this really isn't a great example, but I couldn't get a direct feed of the Hulu stream so I just filmed it with my camera. You can still see some of the obvious skips and dropped (or missing) frames in this sequence. It's the same sequence that Pro-B describes in his review as being problematic.

[Show spoiler]

WP 20160111 001 - YouTube

Do the frames drop (or are missing) at the same spots for you Pro-B?

So the discussion is about a couple of skipped frames in a ten-second sequence that weren't apparently noticed by other reviewers? If the presentation generally is as good as indicated I can live with that! Just adds to the sense of authenticity in viewing a vintage, classic, sixty-six year old film.

[ArnoldLayne56]

Now that the missing frames issue is exhausted, there have been no posts or user reviews since the release date ;-)
Did anyone actually buy and watch this film yet?
I'd be interested to hear some of your thoughts before buying (having nothing to do with missing frames)
Cheers

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by ArnoldLayne56

Now that the missing frames issue is exhausted, there have been no posts or user reviews since the release date ;-)
Did anyone actually buy and watch this film yet?
I'd be interested to hear some of your thoughts before buying (having nothing to do with missing frames)
Cheers

It's a great film, think neorealism with a dash of pulp