The Saragossa Manuscript & The Hourglass Sanatorium (Wojciech Has) - Mr. Bongo

[sjconstable]

Why does IMDb state the director's cut of Saragossa is 175 minutes? The version I watched was 182 minutes, which seems to be the length of every edition available.

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by sjconstable

Why does IMDb state the director's cut of Saragossa is 175 minutes? The version I watched was 182 minutes, which seems to be the length of every edition available.

That's the running time after PAL speedup. I imagine whoever published that was working off a PAL DVD and either didn't know about framerates or forgot to recalculate.

[cool hand bluke]

dvdbeaver has posted reviews. On the subject of the Saragossa Manuscript, it looks the same as the scrubbed Polish release. Smooth. So smooth

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by cool hand bluke

dvdbeaver has posted reviews. On the subject of the Saragossa Manuscript, it looks the same as the scrubbed Polish release. Smooth. So smooth

If you read the accompanying text you'll see that it doesn't just LOOK the same, it IS the same! As in literally the same video file as the one that's on the Polish disc: filesize, bitrate, you name it.

[cool hand bluke]

I did read the accompanying text. And I have the Polish discs and The Hourglass Sanatorium looks great. So that's something.

[themp3000]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

If you read the accompanying text you'll see that it doesn't just LOOK the same, it IS the same! As in literally the same video file as the one that's on the Polish disc: filesize, bitrate, you name it.

That's pretty spooky and ultimately, suspect. It could have ended up much, much worse I guess. I guess it's like Bongo told me, it's the same Polish master. And well, basically, disc.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by themp3000

That's pretty spooky and ultimately, suspect. It could have ended up much, much worse I guess. I guess it's like Bongo told me, it's the same Polish master. And well, basically, disc.

Why do people suspect that it might be an 'illegal' port? Why would Mr.Bongo take that risk?

[rapta]

Think it was just Gary at DVDBeaver who suggested this. I doubt it would be an 'illegal' port, they probably just contacted the company who had the source and basically ended up copying the exact same transfer - in other words, no remastering whatsoever done at their end. Considering Falstaff was apparently such a mess I can understand why they decided to do that!

[malakaheso]

Same deal with Casanova too.

[rapta]

Maybe they took the criticisms from the Welles titles on board and decided to just directly port transfers from now on. Either that, or they just released whatever they were supplied with, and the Welles ones just happened to be less than ideal? Who knows.

I'll probably be picking these up eventually. Just glad to hear they're not terrible.

[cool hand bluke]

Originally Posted by rapta

Maybe they took the criticisms from the Welles titles on board and decided to just directly port transfers from now on. Either that, or they just released whatever they were supplied with, and the Welles ones just happened to be less than ideal? Who knows.

I'll probably be picking these up eventually. Just glad to hear they're not terrible.

You should look at the sceeenshots of Sarogossa first and compart them with the DVD esp the first one, if you look closely at her boobs you'll see they look smooth and unblemished on the Blu whereas you can easily distinguish the tops of her nipples on the DVD cap. That's a tough job Another worth looking at is the guy in the hat with his thumb and forefinger together. Look at the wall to his right and how new and unblemished it looks compared to the DVD. I'm being very restrained in my criticism here. But make your own mind up. Actually, just checked capsaholic and there's a comparison here (mouse roll over btw)

[rapta]

Yeah maybe I'll skip that and just get Hourglass then...

[willtopower]

Does anyone know if the Hourglass Sanatorium US disc is the same as the UK disc, and consequently (from what I read here) the same as the Polish disc? I'm totally unfamiliar with Mr. Bongo.


I read this film is similar to Valerie and Her Week Of Wonders. Is this true?

[cool hand bluke]

Originally Posted by rapta

Yeah maybe I'll skip that and just get Hourglass then...

And I do have the Polish version of Saragossa so I'm not judging the film by the screeners. There's always the book by the way. DNR free. I only watched the first 15 minutes of Hourglass but what a 15 minutes. It's incredible. And looks amazing too, really good PQ, colours are vivid, grain is there. It was so good, I didn't want to watch it. If that makes sense. I don't mean ever, I mean so good I wanted to wait to watch it. Because you only see a film for the first time once. It a very surreal film, which might make people compare it to Veronica and her Week.... (only a week??) But I haven't seen Veronica so can't say. It is on the way though. Will report back if I ever get to watch both.

[kurosawa]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Please anyone let me now if there are any extras or booklet on the Hourglass Sanatorium, which give some context about the movie. I saw it some while ago and it looks fabulous, but I could not understand or feel involved with any of the proceedings on screen.

I have the US release (August 7, 2015/Region: All). There are no extras on the disc. Only chapter selection and English subtitles (on/off). Nor is there a booklet or inserts of any kind. The picture quality is very good though.

[bluray_and_cds_fan]

Originally Posted by cool hand bluke

You should look at the sceeenshots of Sarogossa first and compart them with the DVD esp the first one, if you look closely at her boobs you'll see they look smooth and unblemished on the Blu whereas you can easily distinguish the tops of her nipples on the DVD cap. That's a tough job Another worth looking at is the guy in the hat with his thumb and forefinger together. Look at the wall to his right and how new and unblemished it looks compared to the DVD. I'm being very restrained in my criticism here. But make your own mind up. Actually, just checked capsaholic and there's a comparison here (mouse roll over btw)

It still looks pretty good as a viewing experience.

[bluray_and_cds_fan]

The Hourglass Sanatorium and Saragossa blu-rays are now £5 each on the Mr Bongo site. But there is an additional £3.50 shipping fee.

https://www.mrbongo.com/collections/...ant=4609857281

https://www.mrbongo.com/collections/...ant=4610041473

[Eidolon]

Originally Posted by bluray_and_cds_fan

The Hourglass Sanatorium and Saragossa blu-rays are now £5 each on the Mr Bongo site. But there is an additional £3.50 shipping fee.

https://www.mrbongo.com/collections/...ant=4609857281

https://www.mrbongo.com/collections/...ant=4610041473

I had a look and thier website seems a bit odd for ordering. Using PayPal going through the order section, it wanted the cost of the disc only, and the shipping page hadn't even been reached. I left it at that point, assuming it wanted a separate transaction afterwards for the shipping costs? All in all it was a bit odd, and I wasn't sure of it all, so I decided against ordering from them.

[bluray_and_cds_fan]

Originally Posted by Eidolon

I had a look and thier website seems a bit odd for ordering. Using PayPal going through the order section, it wanted the cost of the disc only, and the shipping page hadn't even been reached. I left it at that point, assuming it wanted a separate transaction afterwards for the shipping costs? All in all it was a bit odd, and I wasn't sure of it all, so I decided against ordering from them.

They add the price together at the final checkout. The main problem about Mr Bongo is that they are often "out of stock" for months for their key releases. But they are a real company, in the sense that they are safe to order from (at least when ordering within the UK).

[Doomhunter]

Be interesting to see how the April release of Hourglass looks