I got my copy of this today and was pleased to discover it is fully English-friendly. The film is owned by Columbia (Sony) but only has a "Choice Collection" DVD-R release in the US under its English title.
I am even more pleasantly surprised to discover that not only are both cuts of the film English-friendly, but also, the bonus features from the French Blu-ray have been ported over and subtitled in both German and English, which is not a small task since there are over 70 minutes of video extras to subtitle. I haven't fully checked the discs yet, so I will just leave some partial information, but everything here is in 1080p (the French BD is 1080/50i). On the first disc with the French version is the original French trailer, what is identified as a US "theatrical trailer", but is actually just a cut-down version of the French trailer with a computer-generated English-title card crudely inserted, and a slideshow of posters and lobby cards. Finally, there is also the option to watch a "clean" version of the opening with no titles or credits. Each of these four extras runs between 2-3 minutes.
On the second disc with the English-language version are the three longer extras, including the 51-minute making of featurette and the shorter interview and featurette pieces. And, not listed on the packaging is what appears to be an isolated score (with some effects) track for this shorter cut of the film.
Confirmation: These discs are region free.
BDInfo scan:
Both versions of the film and all extras contain English (non-SDH) subtitles. They are in a small but readable white font.
Disc 1: Le Casse
Code:
Total Video
Title Codec Length Movie Size Disc Size Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track Secondary Audio Track
----- ------ ------- -------------- -------------- ------- ------- ------------------ ---------------------
00002.MPLS AVC 2:05:46 35,201,230,848 37,864,878,676 37.32 33.18 DTS-HD Master 2.0 1016Kbps (48kHz/16-bit)
I watched the French version tonight and I have to say, I really liked this film. I had never seen a Jean-Paul Belmondo film before, buy the guy is just full of charm and charisma, and his apparent penchant for doing his own stunts is something to behold here (although I am certain he was doubled for the epic car chase and the most dangerous stuntwork). He's a perfect French counterpart to Brando or Bronson, or perhaps an earlier version of Stallone or Schwarzenegger, with maybe a pinch of Jackie Chan in there, too.
I watched a little of the English version and Omar Sharif is the only one who is speaking live in both versions. Belmondo is looped and was apparently dubbed by an American actor, but if he was, the guy matched him really well as he is clearly saying the lines, except where the production can get away with a line or two from the French version for the sake of using the same footage twice. Dyan Cannon does the opposite, in that she tries to speak the French lines, but where it is complicated, she is clearly speaking the English lines. What is amusing is that Belmondo speaks French to her in the French version and English to her in the English version, in spite of the fact that she speaks almost all her dialogue in English. Whether Belmondo was dubbed or not, the fact that his dialogue is looped means that Cannon's is, too, as all of her scenes are with Belmondo. Interestingly, some scenes with Sharif have him speaking live and everyone else looped or dubbed, including the scene where he and Belmondo share a meal, which seems to have both live background audio and live dialogue from Sharif.
I didn't notice any major cuts from the English version, yet, but I did go straight to the club scene and noted that while some very brief nudity remains, some of the already brief nude shots have been cut. I'm slightly surprised that the entire scene is there at all, but 70s PG-rated films always delight me with their inappropriateness by modern standards. Interestingly, there is a German lobby card in the extras that shows the main performer (the lady in white) clearly topless on stage, which in both cuts of the film, is obscured by a veil. And that's the pertinent information out of the way...
But yeah, I really enjoyed this. Sharif is awesome as the bad guy, too. And it's really a two-man show, here, with a memorable Ennio Morricone score and supporting characters there to bounce off of, or get robbed or killed. The women don't get to do much except be pretty and lust after Belmondo, and there is also an outrageous slapping scene that must be seen to be believed. I suppose the main showpiece is the car chase, which is incredibly impressive if only for its near-suicidal appearance. I don't know how many guardrails and walls were bashed into and how many people (spectators? crew?) narrowly avoided being run over, but I don't think you could ever do a car chase sequence like this today. Belmondo trying to escape and using the bus is pretty fun, too. I like when you can tell the actor is actually doing the stunts involved. Kudos to him for putting himself in harm's way for his art.
Many thanks for the information, McCrutchy! Having owned the French release, this is definitely an improvement with the films at the correct frame rate and everything subtitled! Belmondo usually did all his own stunts and it's easy to see how he influenced people like Jackie Chan when you go through his filmography. The car chase is insane and was filmed amongst real traffic and pedestrians(!). I highly recommend this release to anyone contemplating a purchase!
Have read in the North America sub-forum thread about the Sony Blu-ray release of The Burglars, and subsequently about the two-disc German Blu-ray release (thanks for making the above posts McCrutchy).
Have read in the North America sub-forum thread about the Sony Blu-ray release of The Burglars, and subsequently about the two-disc German Blu-ray release (thanks for making the above posts McCrutchy).
Does the U.S. cut look desaturated compared to the international one?
The new Sony disc is a mess.
Yes, the US cut is unwatchable and also horribly (!!) encoded. The international cut is slightly better encoded but not by much - at least the colors are right. This is a terrible release.
The car chase and párticularly the greek food scene is what i most remember about this movie, which according to my entry in the EMDB software I really, really enjoyed. In fact its my second highest rated belmondo movie, only surpassed by le professionnel
I have the explosive media german release but Ive never seen it in HD, I was thinking of selling it to finance the sony, but now Ill keep it
Yes, the US cut is unwatchable and also horribly (!!) encoded. The international cut is slightly better encoded but not by much - at least the colors are right. This is a terrible release.
Sorry, are you referring to the German release or the recent Sony one?
I was wondering if the German Blu-ray also has a messed up transfer on the US cut?
Sorry, are you referring to the German release or the recent Sony one?
I was wondering if the German Blu-ray also has a messed up transfer on the US cut?
I was referring to the Sony release.
I don’t know how the US cut looks on the German BD and never bought it due to the atrocious encoding as revealed by caps-a-holic. The Sony appears to be slightly better in motion but all three Blu-ray options (the French BD included) are sadly flawed.
Thank you for the screenshots. It seems that this is likely due to incorrect correction when converting HDR material to SDR. It is not due to the fading of the original film.
I used a LUT I have on hand to perform a simple conversion from HDR to SDR.
By the way, I don't own the US edition (Sony) of this movie, but I do have the French and German editions on Blu-ray. Since the French edition is 25fps, I recommend the 24fps German edition for those considering a purchase in the future. Furthermore, the German edition includes English subtitles in addition to German subtitles. This also applies to interviews and documentaries, of course.
Thanks @nicwood and @JHUJG789 - managed to cancel my Amazon order for the US Sony release just in time, going to switch to the German edition. Cheers!
I’m not sure if the German edition is any better than the Sony in terms of encoding if you look at caps-a-holic. I would’ve done a comparison if I had the time right now but the German caps look really bad to me. The Sony is a deeply flawed release, no matter you put it but it seems to me that it’s the one to take if you’re only interested in the longer cut. I’ve also debated taking the German version due to the color space error but I don’t see myself ever watching that shorter cut in the near future.
I’m not sure if the German edition is any better than the Sony in terms of encoding if you look at caps-a-holic. I would’ve done a comparison if I had the time right now but the German caps look really bad to me. The Sony is a deeply flawed release, no matter you put it but it seems to me that it’s the one to take if you’re only interested in the longer cut. I’ve also debated taking the German version due to the color space error but I don’t see myself ever watching that shorter cut in the near future.
The German release having the correct color on the shorter cut plus the subtitled extras puts it over the line for me, I can’t bring myself to reward Sony for a flawed, barebones release and asking a premium price for it. The German version is slightly cheaper for me once I add shipping and do the currency conversion.
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Le Casse (1971)
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