Wages of Fear (The)

[richieb1971]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Wages-of-Fear-Blu-ray/dp/B01305F7G8?SubscriptionId=AKIAIY4YSQJMFDJATNBA&tag =bluraycom-21&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creative ASIN=B01305F7G8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

I believe this is first Region B release. There is a region A Criterion edition.

Looking forward to this one.

[rapta]

Dunno if you read the BFI thread but this will be delayed but at least 6-12 months, so won't actually be out 'til next year at the earliest. According to the BFI employee I last asked (back in August), soon after the first 12-month delay they caught wind of a new restoration of this film (amongst some other Clouzot titles) and decided to wait for that rather than go ahead with the current master (probably the one Criterion used). According to tenia, it's likely they've only just started restoring it so we may be waiting a while longer for the BFI disc. It will be worth the wait though!

[richieb1971]

Thanks for the information. I was not aware. A bit disappointing on the delay. Was there anything wrong with the Criterion edition?

[rapta]

Originally Posted by richieb1971

Thanks for the information. I was not aware. A bit disappointing on the delay. Was there anything wrong with the Criterion edition?

Not really actually, but I expect this will look even better (like 10/10 good). I know if I was working for them I'd probably just make do with the current master (as they did with Eyes Without a Face and Rashomon, which look superb) but I guess they know more than we do and were convinced enough to put it on hold. Who knows, it could turn out to be some sort of minor revelation...but at least they won't be releasing something we've already seen before (from Criterion). I expect the extras to be top-notch too, considering the delays!

[tenia]

It's indeed very likely they're waiting for the TF1 restoration which has been given French funds a few months ago. Maybe the restoration has started already, but I don't think so. It's part of a huge project TF1 has around restoring lots of Clouzot movies.

[MechaGodzilla]

When it's delayed for a reason like this, I'm more than happy to wait.

[richieb1971]

Usually Amazon would have been given notice to take down the listing. Its only 2 weeks until the original release date.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by richieb1971

Usually Amazon would have been given notice to take down the listing. Its only 2 weeks until the original release date.

That's either the fault of BFI or Amazon. This has happened before in the past with BFI releases so I'm betting it's them - they've probably just forgotten. It's the same release date everywhere else (it doesn't even show up on their own store). There's no press release, and the extras or even the artwork haven't been confirmed, so it's not like it's going to show up in 2 weeks all of a sudden.

[rapta]

Okay, to contradict everything posted on both here and the BFI thread - according to somebody over at the Criterion Forum, Adrian Martin is doing a commentary for this and also that it'll only be delayed to January 2017.

Whether that means the BFI settled for the current available master in the end or the new restoration is finished, who knows? I'll be very pleased if it turns out to be the latter.

For the record, I exchanged comments with a member of the BFI team on Facebook the other day (on the subject of Eureka/MoC) but he didn't reply when I mentioned that news about The Wages of Fear/Adrian Martin. Not sure what to make of that...

[rapta]

Originally Posted by muchogris

Got an email from Amazon. This title will be released on January 23 2017.

So the date that was quoted on the Criterion Forum the other day. It might be delayed again by a month or two - there may be last-minute delays due to either the new restoration or the extras they're compiling - but we're definitely getting it in the first or second quarter of 2017 (or so I've been told).

Oh, brand new 4K restoration by the way.

[richieb1971]

Thanks for the heads up.

[AlexIlDottore]

My Amazon order now lists this as being released on the 19th June 2017.

[tenia]

Originally Posted by AlexIlDottore

My Amazon order now lists this as being released on the 19th June 2017.

At this pace, it'll soon says "June 2018".

[AlexIlDottore]

I did think it was very strange that the UK gets the blu of the new 4K scan before it's premiered at Cannes.

[the blob]

Ack. I turned down a copy of the Criterion for £10 a few days ago. This had best be worth the wait!

[nitin]

Was going to watch it soon, havent thankfully offloaded my Criterion yet though.

[MacEachaidh]

Amazon's sent me an e.mail stating the release has been delayed again:

Unfortunately, the release date for the item(s) listed below was changed by the supplier, and we need to provide you with a new estimated delivery date based on the new release date:

"The Wages of Fear (DVD + Blu-ray) [1953]"
Estimated arrival date: July 29 2017 - August 01 2017

I'm happy to let my pre-order hang in there, especially with Amazon not pre-charging.

[rapta]

Yeah, once again I'm happy to wait for this bad boy, knowing they're putting all their effort into this one. When they've done things like that before - the Werner Herzog Collection, Eyes Without a Face, Rashomon - they've been some of the very best releases from the BFI.

Besides, I've still got this pre-ordered for under £6 delivered!

[tenia]

For those of you who like to be scared, Ecran Total published an interview (in French) with Guillaume Schiffman. He is a French DoP (and worked notably with Michel Hazanavicius) and has supervised the Wages of Fear 4K restoration.

In introduction, remember he worked on the Marseille Trilogy restorations (and also the French MK2 restoration of The Last Metro).

Selected abstracts :
"I worked on The Last Metro restoration, my mom wrote the scenario. I always admired Almendros' worked, he was kind of my mentor in the profession. I tried to pay his work a hommage by improving it without betraying it."
"When I work on a frame, I put myself in the DoP place and tell myself that if he could have improved this or that aspect of the picture, he'd done it."
"We started with a 4K scan of the OCN, but many sequences looked like they were from an IP scan, with a lower quality. To avoid making the change of quality obvious, we had to "degrade" progessively the picture before the cut, and then "improve" it after."
"I had to correct some day-for-night shots or to improve some backgrounds behind the trucks windows which were performed in studio and which would look quite dated today."
"For the sequence where Charles Vanel falls in the fuel, we had to unify the blacks and to add brillance on the fuel to reinforce the effect."

[the blob]

Originally Posted by tenia

For those of you who like to be scared, Ecran Total published an interview (in French) with Guillaume Schiffman. He is a French DoP (and worked notably with Michel Hazanavicius) and has supervised the Wages of Fear 4K restoration.

In introduction, remember he worked on the Marseille Trilogy restorations (and also the French MK2 restoration of The Last Metro).

Selected abstracts :
"I worked on The Last Metro restoration, my mom wrote the scenario. I always admired Almendros' worked, he was kind of my mentor in the profession. I tried to pay his work a hommage by improving it without betraying it."
"When I work on a frame, I put myself in the DoP place and tell myself that if he could have improved this or that aspect of the picture, he'd done it."
"We started with a 4K scan of the OCN, but many sequences looked like they were from an IP scan, with a lower quality. To avoid making the change of quality obvious, we had to "degrade" progessively the picture before the cut, and then "improve" it after."
"I had to correct some day-for-night shots or to improve some backgrounds behind the trucks windows which were performed in studio and which would look quite dated today."
"For the sequence where Charles Vanel falls in the fuel, we had to unify the blacks and to add brillance on the fuel to reinforce the effect."

Hmm.. I've turned down quite a few copies of the Criterion at a cheap price since I first preordered. I'm hoping it was worth it but that amount of tinkering doesn't sound encouraging.