Subway

[pro-bassoonist]

Luc Besson's Subway (1985) is set to be released in Gallic territories this September. Exact date: TBA.

Variety:

Subway brings to mind Orson Welles' quip about the cinema being the greatest electric train set a boy could have. Its director, Luc Besson, only 26, showed resourcefulness and a sense of filmmaking fun with his 1982 low-budget sci-fier Le Dernier Combat. For his second feature, Gaumont (distrib of Combat) gave him over 15 million francs, Christopher Lambert and Isabelle Adjani as stars, and let him go play in the Paris Metro.

Result may disappoint some for its singular lack of ambition or purpose and its ragged narrative, but still proves a charmingly cartoonish escapade, strong on humor and rock rhythms.

Pic's hero is Lambert, a dynamite-toting, punk-coiffed eccentric who has stolen some compromising documents belonging to Adjani's influential husband. Lambert takes refuge in the subway at the moment of its early morning closing.

There he befriends some of the subterranean denizens - a young roller-skating purse-snatcher (Jean-Hugues Anglade), a shady flower-seller (Richard Bohringer) and a black muscleman who works out with spare subway car parts - and decides to realize his dream of managing a rock band, by recruiting the Metro's itinerant musicians. In the meantime he is sought by the thugs, the Paris transport police (headed by Michel Galabru), and Adjani.

Film went through heavy cutting in final editing stages, with 40 minutes shorn away to get it down to average commercial length, which explains the lapses in plot and sometimes disjointed continuity. But the roughness feels right in a film that resolutely refuses to take itself seriously.

Pro-B

[Kynch]

Release date: September 9th.

Artwork:

[lbouchard]

please let us know.

[lbouchard]

also is it a new film tranfert? or a quick upconversion with some digital noise reduction?
the quality of the DVD was not so good...

[Konrad]

Can we look forward to a review anytime soon?

[pro-bassoonist]

Good morning, Konrad:

Actually, the entire Besson collection from Optimum (the UK releases) should be here any moment now - Subway is part of it. As soon as the discs appear, I would, of course, posts reviews.

Are you specifically interested in the French release? If you are, let me know and perhaps we could arrange a review for it a bit later on.

Pro-B

[DJANGO]

. . . I just received the Gaumont Blu-rays of LE DERNIER COMBAT and SUBWAY - both are listed as A,B,C and SUBWAY has Anglais sous-titres . . . I did a quick spot check on my Region A machine and both look fine to me . . .

[Konrad]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Good morning, Konrad:

Actually, the entire Besson collection from Optimum (the UK releases) should be here any moment now - Subway is part of it. As soon as the discs appear, I would, of course, posts reviews.

Are you specifically interested in the French release? If you are, let me know and perhaps we could arrange a review for it a bit later on.

Pro-B

Hello Pro-B,

I am more interested in the French than in the UK release because I have some hope that maybe the French have access to better source material or do a better restoration job. But maybe both use the same transfer and don't do the work twice, I have no idea. I would be very grateful for a review of the French release also as your review of the UK one suggests that there is room for improvement in the PQ department. I love that film and want to have the best possible release!

Thank you very much and best regards!

Konrad

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Konrad

Hello Pro-B,

I am more interested in the French than in the UK release because I have some hope that maybe the French have access to better source material or do a better restoration job. But maybe both use the same transfer and don't do the work twice, I have no idea. I would be very grateful for a review of the French release also as your review of the UK one suggests that there is room for improvement in the PQ department. I love that film and want to have the best possible release!

Thank you very much and best regards!

Konrad

Good afternoon, Konrad.

The earliest I could sneak in a review for the French release would be towards the end of next month (October). I am pretty much booked now - have a number of releases to cover from the UK and France.

This being said, I doubt it there would be a drastic difference between the French and UK releases (though, I found the UK releases of La Femme Nikita to be a lot better than the French one). As far as Subway is concerned, there is definitely room for improvement - especially as far as transfer stability is concerned - but the UK disc represents a major upgrade over the R1 and R2 (French) SDVDs. As I said in the review, I have absolutely no problem recommending the UK Blu-ray to fans of the film.

I've taken a note about the French release though, so I would do my best to have a review for it

Pro-B

[Konrad]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Good afternoon, Konrad.

The earliest I could sneak in a review for the French release would be towards the end of next month (October). I am pretty much booked now - have a number of releases to cover from the UK and France.

This being said, I doubt it there would be a drastic difference between the French and UK releases (though, I found the UK releases of La Femme Nikita to be a lot better than the French one). As far as Subway is concerned, there is definitely room for improvement - especially as far as transfer stability is concerned - but the UK disc represents a major upgrade over the R1 and R2 (French) SDVDs. As I said in the review, I have absolutely no problem recommending the UK Blu-ray to fans of the film.

I've taken a note about the French release though, so I would do my best to have a review for it

Pro-B

Good evening, Pro-B

thank you very much for the quick reply and for your readiness to also review the French release! I shall patiently wait for it because even if there is only a slight improvement over the UK one I will inevitably double-dip. Done that too often already, most recently with the French release of Requiem for a Dream with its forced subtitling that entirely ruins the film. I had no choice but to replace it with the US release. Finished watching it just now, the third time I seen this film and it is always getting even better. A cinematic masterpiece in all aspects!

Regarding La Femme Nikita I own the US release which I found to be very good. Funny thing is I always liked the US artwork much better than the original French artwork.

Best, K

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Konrad

Good evening, Pro-B

thank you very much for the quick reply and for your readiness to also review the French release! I shall patiently wait for it because even if there is only a slight improvement over the UK one I will inevitably double-dip.

Best, K

Absolutely, I certainly understand. And you are very welcome, Konrad

Yours,
Pro-B

[lbouchard]

This disc plays fine on my US/Canadian DB55 with firmware 2.0

[Konrad]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Good afternoon, Konrad.

The earliest I could sneak in a review for the French release would be towards the end of next month (October). I am pretty much booked now - have a number of releases to cover from the UK and France.

This being said, I doubt it there would be a drastic difference between the French and UK releases (though, I found the UK releases of La Femme Nikita to be a lot better than the French one). As far as Subway is concerned, there is definitely room for improvement - especially as far as transfer stability is concerned - but the UK disc represents a major upgrade over the R1 and R2 (French) SDVDs. As I said in the review, I have absolutely no problem recommending the UK Blu-ray to fans of the film.

I've taken a note about the French release though, so I would do my best to have a review for it

Pro-B

Hello Pro-B and thank you very much for the review!
I have already ordered it and it will arrive together with Antichrist. I hope the latter one will not have imposed French subtitles.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Konrad

Hello Pro-B and thank you very much for the review!
I have already ordered it and it will arrive together with Antichrist. I hope the latter one will not have imposed French subtitles.

Hello Konrad,

You are very welcome

The preliminary info on Antichrist is that the subs are removable. We should have a review on the site shortly, so you, and everyone else, would know for sure.

Pro-B