Melville: The Essential Collection - September 12th

[Yami]

In a BFI Press Release from a few weeks ago, announcing the Southbank's upcoming season Jean-Pierre Melville: Visions of the Underworld:

STUDIOCANAL will also release of a brand-new boxset of six key films by Jean-Pierre Melville, in celebration of his centenary. Featuring several brand new 4k restorations as well as exclusive new extras, MELVILLE, THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION will include Le Doulos, Bob Le Flambeur, Léon Morin, Prêtre, L'Armée Des Ombres and Le Cercle Rouge and will be available to own on DVD and Blu-Ray for the first time on September 12.

It's not listed, but I would bet on Un flic being the 6th film given that it's the only other Melville SC owns and those 6 films made up the old DVD box set.

Le Doulos, Bob le flambeur and Léon Morin, Prêtre have all had 4K restorations.

[nitin]

oh man, this could be my release of the year!! Fingers crossed SC do them right.

[MeMynonsense]

Le Doulos mofos

[Pyoko]

Already have three of them so this will depend entirely on the price. A new transfer of Le Cercle Rouge would seal it, neither the previous SC or Criterion ones look good, but from that list I guess it won't happen.

[Gerby]

Awesome news! what with already owning the SC releases of Army Of Shadows & Le Cercle Rouge i wouldn't mind separate releases but will definitely get the boxset if that is all they do.

[ParisTexan]

Awesome. Still dreaming about Le Samourai surfacing one day..

[rapta]

I felt this coming on when I saw a poster for Le Doulos somewhere the other day. Reckoned there'd finally be some movement on Melville - still no Le Samouraï though!

Like everyone else, I wonder if Le Cercle Rouge will look any better than the old disc or just be a reissue? I loved that film, so might double-dip on it at the right price. These SC sets do fall in price if you wait a few months so I think I'll try and be patient, unless they're released separately too (probably be pricier that way though...look at those separate Tati and Almodovar titles for example).

Originally Posted by Gerby

Awesome news! what with already owning the SC releases of Army Of Shadows & Le Cercle Rouge i wouldn't mind separate releases but will definitely get the boxset if that is all they do.

I'm basically on the same page. Still need to get that Godard set too actually, but honestly more interested in Melville at this point (and have all but one of the Godard films separately anyway).

[Hoke Moseley]

[Yami]

I don't *think* Le Cercle Rouge and Army of Shadows have had any further restoration since the previous releases, so I'll be surprised if they're not just the same discs. There's certainly nothing been put through the CNC for them - just Le Doulos, Bob le flambeur, Léon Morin, Prêtre and, more recently, Quand tu liras cette lettre, which isn't owned by Studio Canal but will hopefully be licensed by one of the other labels - MoC or Arrow or BFI.

I seem to remember there being rights issues with Le Samouraï in the UK, related to the actual title of the film, but I can't find a source for this right now. There must be rights issues of some kind though - it's definitely not a film that would have gone unreleased on DVD if it was possible to release it. It will be showing at the BFI Southbank in September though, and I'm hoping some other cinemas are able to show it as well.

[Pyoko]

Army of Shadows was a fairly competent OCN restoration anyway. I think it still looks decent for the most part, if perhaps a bit soft. Le Cercle Rouge on the other hand was never properly restored, both existing versions look like bog-standard old transfers with the usual problems, overall just very mediocre.

[javi92]

Fantastic news for sure. Hopefully SC doesn't muck it up with some rubbish encoding.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by Yami

I seem to remember there being rights issues with Le Samouraï in the UK, related to the actual title of the film, but I can't find a source for this right now. There must be rights issues of some kind though - it's definitely not a film that would have gone unreleased on DVD if it was possible to release it.

With Le Samourai it was originally not released on DVD by Artificial Eye (who released it on VHS and licensed it on laserdisc to Encore) because their license was expiring and the rights holders wanted too much money to help pay for the restoration for them to renew. Since then it's apparently down to the terrible restored master that's available for BD, which a number of foreign distributors passed on.

[adamhopelies]

Great news. I'm seeing Le Doulos as part of the BFI season.

[Si Parallel Universe]

Originally Posted by nitin

oh man, this could be my release of the year!! Fingers crossed SC do them right.

Yes and that's the standard i'm hoping for. The Godard set was fine so *fingers crossed*

[djvaso]

French will get twelve movies
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Coffr...lu-ray/183398/

[Yami]

Originally Posted by djvaso

French will get twelve movies
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Coffr...lu-ray/183398/

Looks like two of those will be DVD-only, but it's odd that they're only one film away from making it a complete set. Whichever one that is.

[Si Parallel Universe]

Originally Posted by Yami

Looks like two of those will be DVD-only, but it's odd that they're only one film away from making it a complete set. Whichever one that is.

Or the DVD content is SE TV material that won't upgrade to HD.

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by Yami

Looks like two of those will be DVD-only, but it's odd that they're only one film away from making it a complete set. Whichever one that is.

The actual amazon listing says it's 12 blu-rays.

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by Si Parallel Universe

Or the DVD content is SE TV material that won't upgrade to HD.

Did Melville do anything for tv?

[Yami]

Originally Posted by adamhopelies

The actual amazon listing says it's 12 blu-rays.

The spine of the artwork they have up says 10BD, 2DVD. My guess, based on rightsholders, would be the 6 Studio Canal titles + 3 Gaumont titles (Le silence de la mer, When You Read This Letter, Two Men in Manhattan) + the 2 Rene Chateau films on DVD-only (Magnet of Doom, Le deuxième souffle) + either Le Samourai or Les enfants terribles. Probably the former, given it has already got a Blu-Ray release.