When will Fellini's La Strada and Nights of Cabiria come to Blu?

[oldtexan]

When will Federico Fellini's La Strada and Nights of Cabiria be available on Blu Ray? I know that a French BD release of Cabiria was announced in IIRC 2010 but was delayed and thus far hasn't been released. Criterion's DVD of Cabiria is out of print so I'm guessing there is a licensing issue there. I am aware that there has been/is a dispute over the rights to another Fellini film, La Dolce Vita, between Paramount and a French distributor, so maybe that is what's delaying Cabiria and La Strada....just speculation.

Anyone have any thoughts on this topic?

I first watched Cabiria a few years ago, and view Guilietta Masina's performance in it as my favorite by an actress in any film I've ever seen.

I just saw La Strada yesterday after DVRing it from Turner Classic Movies HD. Wow! What a powerful film. What performances by both Masina and Anthony Quinn!

Both of these are Blu Ray essentials in my opinion; I just wish they were available on BD now.

[Akijama]

We should ask Criterion about those two.I longing for La Dolce Vita and I Vitelloni,as well.

[MifuneFan]

I wish Criterion got the rights back for Nights of Cabiria. I think that's probably my fav. Fellini work. Giulietta Masina's (aka Mrs Fellini) performance is amazing in it.

[oldtexan]

Originally Posted by Akijama

We should ask Criterion about those two.I longing for La Dolce Vita and I Vitelloni,as well.

I just sent an email to Criterion suggesting Blu rays of any of Fellini's 1950s works, particularly La Strada and Nights of Cabiria.

[Invisible_YXR]

Now both films have blu-ray!!!

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by Invisible_YXR

Now both films have blu-ray!!!

No Cabiria Blu-ray in North America or the UK, only Japan.

[hanshotfirst1138]

I wish I knew why Japanese distributors were so intent on not including English subtitles on Japanese discs. I might be willing to pay some of the through-the-nose prices for something if they just had them. I’m not expecting subtitles on the extras, nice as that would be, but on the films themselves.

[LordSummerIsle]

Those are my most wanted releases from Criterion.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by scwilli1

Those are my most wanted releases from Criterion.

Considering Criterion doesn't have the rights to Cabiria anymore, and La Strada is now with StudioCanal/Lionsgate (even though Criterion still has the DVD rights for now), I wouldn't bet on either title coming from them.

Originally Posted by hanshotfirst1138

I wish I knew why Japanese distributors were so intent on not including English subtitles on Japanese discs. I might be willing to pay some of the through-the-nose prices for something if they just had them. I’m not expecting subtitles on the extras, nice as that would be, but on the films themselves.

Because they are not making discs for the US (or English-speaking markets), and licensing contracts could very well prevent them from including them.

[JG-CA]

Originally Posted by hanshotfirst1138

I wish I knew why Japanese distributors were so intent on not including English subtitles on Japanese discs. I might be willing to pay some of the through-the-nose prices for something if they just had them. I’m not expecting subtitles on the extras, nice as that would be, but on the films themselves.

To answer your question first; Rights are licensed by region, and in many cases language options would be restricted in order to not infringe on (hopefully real!) releases in other markets. And, even if language restrictions are not contractually specified, it would hardly be worth the effort to buy / time /create subtitles for a language outside of your legal markets.

Unfortunately, it looks like this is a very weak disk. A friend that has it says it appears to be upscaled DVD. Frame captures I've seen are certainly mediocre at best. (But maybe it looks way better in motion?) Most interestingly though, is that it appears to have an extra minute or two of footage that does not appear in the Criterion release. As I understand it, no added scenes, just a few extra seconds/lines here & there

This is a most-wanted BD for me, unfortunately I don't think this release is going to prove satisfactory.


EDIT: I've now seen the BluRay and it is indeed awful. I'd pay a ridiculous amount amount for a good Nights of Cabiria blu-ray, but glad I didn't waste any $$ on this one. [very sad, but still hopeful emoji]

[SteelyTom]

Looks like Studio Canal is reissuing Cabiria in 2020. Will this be a full-on, 4k restoration?

http://studiocanal.com/media/infos/5...0-%20FINAL.pdf

[You Got The Ag]

I recently got my hands on the Japanese SC blu-ray of Cabaria (released Aug 9 2019) and it does not look good. Contrast is awful, the textures are lacking, and there is no grain to be seen (even on a 135" screen). On top of this there is quite a bit of print damage, and even worse, constant flickering. Certainly doesn't look anything like a new 4k master, and actually has much more in common with their release of La Strada (not a good thing). I don't know what condition the neg/prints are in, but much much better is possible, MoC's release of Il Bidone (made one year prior to Cabaria) looks absolutely fantastic, and is proof of this. I'm honestly temped to say that this is just the existing DVD-era HD master that they de-grained, then put on a Blu-ray disk and called it a day. It does look better than the oop Criterion DVD, but not by much....

So my question is: will this what we're gonna get when the UK disk is released? Why would SC release such an inferior product in Japan half a year before their "new 4k Restoration" debuts in other parts of the world? I'm so confused and I love this film dearly, really hope it doesn't get shafted like this.

[hiwaymirage]

4K restoration trailer.

Nights of Cabiria - Trailer - YouTube

[Tns49]

Apparently both to be released in Criterion's Collection Nov 2020