Nosferatu the Vampyre blu-ray

[ravenus]

Just read Pro-B's review of the Studio Canal blu-ray:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Nosfe.../47529/#Review

I must say I can't agree with this statement:

Director Werner Herzog completed Nosferatu the Vampyre in 1979. The film is a remake of F.W. Murnau's legendary 1922 film, but aside from the common characters they share and a few sequences which were shot at the same locations, the two could not be any more different.

While Herzog was going for a different feel and bringing his own sensibility to the project, to me it is obvious that Murnau's film hangs heavily in his mind, because there are several shots in the film that use very similar framing as the Murnau version, and Herzog himself has said that his remake is a tribute to the silent German cinema of Murnau and others.
Anyway I am disappointed that this classic has not got the HD treatment that it deserves. I have the Anchor Bay 2-DVD set and I would have been extremely happy to upgrade it to a proper HD release. I hope at least in the US, some other company that uses a different, better master will put out the film. Kino or Criterion would be great candidates for the task.

[bgart13]

Anchor Bay still controls it in the US (via SC). Or at least they did late last year.

[Galactus123]

I'm thinking about buying this but it looks like there are no subtitles for the german version. Are there other good releases? The Uk release is very expensive compared to this.

[ionsi]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Just read Pro-B's review of the Studio Canal blu-ray:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Nosfe.../47529/#Review

I must say I can't agree with this statement:

While Herzog was going for a different feel and bringing his own sensibility to the project, to me it is obvious that Murnau's film hangs heavily in his mind, because there are several shots in the film that use very similar framing as the Murnau version, and Herzog himself has said that his remake is a tribute to the silent German cinema of Murnau and others.
Anyway I am disappointed that this classic has not got the HD treatment that it deserves. I have the Anchor Bay 2-DVD set and I would have been extremely happy to upgrade it to a proper HD release. I hope at least in the US, some other company that uses a different, better master will put out the film. Kino or Criterion would be great candidates for the task.

The UK-Version from the BFI is quite pleasing:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Nosfe...Blu-ray/96015/

[Lope de Aguirre]

Originally Posted by ionsi

The UK-Version from the BFI is quite pleasing:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Nosfe...Blu-ray/96015/

Yeah it's great and clearly the worldwide best release of Herzog's Nosferatu!

[Galactus123]

I watched the english version that is included and the film grain looks very odd often. Still a great movie.

[Surge92]

Originally Posted by Galactus123

I watched the english version that is included and the film grain looks very odd often. Still a great movie.

Which release did you watch? I've only watched the German-language version, but either way, the BFI UK blu-ray is the only one that hasn't been DNR-ed and looks the best.

[Lope de Aguirre]

Originally Posted by Galactus123

I watched the english version that is included and the film grain looks very odd often. Still a great movie.

Yeah, the UK version is the one to go:
https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&...=38991&i=5&l=0

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&...=38993&i=7&l=0

[Galactus123]

Originally Posted by Surge92

Which release did you watch? I've only watched the German-language version, but either way, the BFI UK blu-ray is the only one that hasn't been DNR-ed and looks the best.

This version:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Nosfe.../47529/#Review

I took some photos with my phone. The film grain looks odd and it changes in every frame. Some scenes look good but many look like this:

[Surge92]

Originally Posted by Galactus123

This version:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Nosfe.../47529/#Review

I took some photos with my phone. The film grain looks odd and is different in each frame. Some scenes look good but many look like this:

[Show spoiler]

Ah. That's the German Studio Canal release. That one's been heavily DNR-ed also. Low-light scenes in the film can be naturally heavily grainy. I haven't watched my copy in a long time, but I seem to recall the scene from the screenshots you took being one of those scenes with a lot of grain, but it didn't look like that, from what I remember. The heavy filtering applied to the German release may have made it look worse.

[Galactus123]

Originally Posted by Surge92

[/spoiler]

Ah. That's the German Studio Canal release. That one's been heavily DNR-ed also. Low-light scenes in the film can be naturally heavily grainy. I haven't watched my copy in a long time, but I seem to recall the scene from the screenshots you took being one of those scenes with a lot of grain, but it didn't look like that, from what I remember. The heavy filtering applied to the German release may have made it look worse.

It also happens in some scenes that are not dark:
¨

It looks really bad in motion. Both german and english versions that are on the disc have this kind of problems.

[ste71]

Originally Posted by Lope de Aguirre

Yeah, the UK version is the one to go:
https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&...=38991&i=5&l=0

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&...=38993&i=7&l=0

Wow...the difference is huge....The Shout transfer has been scrubbed of a lot of detail.

[Surge92]

Originally Posted by Galactus123

It also happens in some scenes that are not dark:
¨

It looks really bad in motion. Both german and english versions that are on the disc have this kind of problems.

I definitely don't remember that scene looking like that. It must be a problem with the German blu-ray. If you really like the movie, I'd highly recommend getting the UK version.

[nitin]

What is the sharpness setting on your tv?

[Galactus123]

Originally Posted by nitin

What is the sharpness setting on your tv?

50. I have never changed it. Other movies look great.

[Lope de Aguirre]

Originally Posted by Galactus123

50. I have never changed it. Other movies looks great.

It may be to high BUT I owned the German Nosferatu BD back in the day and this digital noise was very noticable to me, too.

So wether or not your shaprness setting is to high (it may be and increasing the problem) the disc itself has this problems.

[nitin]

Yeah going by the shots that were posted I would agree with that assessment, digital noise on the disc then being further exacerbated by a high sharpness setting (50 seems very high although I know that is a default setting on Standard’ mode for quite a few tvs).

[Mr. Thomsen]

Digital sharpness should generally be turned off when watching movies.

[leoganzi]

Since this is a German and French co-production, Werner Herzog Filmproduktion/Gaumont, I wonder if Kinski and Adjani exclusively dubbed themselves in French as well.
I know the film was shot twice, one in German, the other in English, but I'd also like to grab the French release from Gaumont for a different experience if the French audio provides their own voices, too. Does anyone know about this?

[Lope de Aguirre]

Originally Posted by leoganzi

Since this is a German and French co-production, Werner Herzog Filmproduktion/Gaumont, I wonder if Kinski and Adjani exclusively dubbed themselves in French as well.
I know the film was shot twice, one in German, the other in English, but I'd also like to grab the French release from Gaumont for a different experience if the French audio provides their own voices, too. Does anyone know about this?

I think Kinski dubbes himself in the French version.
I'll check that now and let you know.

UPDATE: Kinski dubbed himself in Nosferatu in French and Italian.