Les Misérables (Lino Ventura)

[The Driver]

I see the 3 hour cinema version (35-40mins missing?) is only €9,41 at the moment http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B001NHRW78/ (also in the 3 for 2 offer)

Quite fancy this. Anyone know why there's no longer version on Blu-ray? There is a DVD. Technical reasons maybe?

Always love this classic story and never seen this version. It's listed with English subtitles.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084340/

[Kaminari]

Many people hate it, I'm not sure why. In my book, this is the most faithful and silently dramatic adaptation of Hugo's work. Considering this was a project by Hossein and Decaux, this is not surprising. This is a sordid yet beautiful film with a very Technicolor-like palette and a brilliant cast. This adaptation was primarily designed for a serialized TV broadcast, which explains why the OAR is 1.37. The edited cinema version was framed at 1.66 but doesn't look crippled.

Unfortunately, the BD is one of the worst discs I laid my eyes upon. I was very disappointed with this transfer, which doesn't appear to have been remastered at all. Worse, it suspiciously looks like an upscaled DVD with very poor level of detail, murky blacks and a lot of banding/blocking artifacts in the darker scenes. The publisher website (LCJ Editions) says this is a high definition remastering -- but on the look of it, this is impossible.

The resolution of this cinema edition is 1080i50. I can't verify it right now, but the back cover mentions French/English audio and NO subtitles.

[McCrutchy]

LCJ apparently have a history of 1080/50i transfers and lossy audio on their releases. For whatever reason, it appears they have included an English audio track on this release, but I would bet on French subtitles only, if that.

Unless you're just curious to see the film, I might skip the release altogether.

[The Driver]

Thanks people -especially to Kaminari- for all the info.

It certainly sounds like something I'd enjoy as I find a lot in all the adaptions I've seen (although I'm not in to concerts) ofthe great story.

If anyone has definitive subtitle information that would be great. I can manage fine with French especially 'old' French like this will have but it's a nice bonus.

I see DVDfr.com (usually accurate) doesn't have the Blu-ray at all. The DVDs mention English audio so maybe this is where the error arrives. I can imagine the English audio being bad and I never watch language dubs anyway.

http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/f33650-miserables.html
http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/f1873-miserables.html

Distributor http://www.lcj-editions.com/index.ph...w&sheetid=1244 seems to confirm this. That site is awful, a bit like CDiscount.com but with more clashing colours.

I think I may give the DVD a spin!

[Kaminari]

I've just checked my copy and I confirm there are no subtitles on either track.

For the record, I also have the DVD published in 2000 by LCJ (cinema version as well). It's almost exactly the same 1.66 transfer. Comparing still pictures side by side, there's a tad more detail on the BD but it's barely noticeable in motion. As far as I can tell, there was no restoration put into this edition whatsoever.

[The Driver]

Thanks again