The Official Eureka / Masters of Cinema (MoC) Thread

[Si Parallel Universe]

My copy of Throw Down reached me today.

I'm so grateful to Eureka for bringing these movies to us and I can't wait for Mr. Vampire

[ravenus]

Is the Bela Lugosi set the first time the Masters of Cinema label has been accorded to an actor and not a director?

[Si Parallel Universe]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Is the Bela Lugosi set the first time the Masters of Cinema label has been accorded to an actor and not a director?

Technically no because Buster Keaton.

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by Si Parallel Universe

Technically no because Buster Keaton.

Very technically

[Matt89]

The first 2 titles in my Eureka order that shipped like a week ago and a half ago were delivered today. I'm floored. I expected this to take like 3-4 weeks to get from the UK to Canada. I have a package coming from the next city over that shipped on the same day and that hasn't even been delivered yet. They're face masks, you'd think they would've prioritized that but ok.

But yeah, great experience all around with Eureka. It was even packaged really well. I still have 2 titles on the way but now I wanna order more. Haha.

~Matt

[AlanUK]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Is the Bela Lugosi set the first time the Masters of Cinema label has been accorded to an actor and not a director?

Looks a good one.

Are there any more new ones announced?

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Si Parallel Universe

Technically no because Buster Keaton.

Originally Posted by CouncilSpectre

Very technically

Maybe yes, maybe no. While Keaton was obviosuly more than a performer, I believe most people think of him for his work in front of the camera rather than behind it.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Matt89

The first 2 titles in my Eureka order that shipped like a week ago and a half ago were delivered today. I'm floored. I expected this to take like 3-4 weeks to get from the UK to Canada.

Congratulations. I'm still waiting on a package from Eureka that shipped on 4/23. So...four weeks so far. I'm patient, but sometimes I want to think that patience is overrated.

[Matt89]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Congratulations. I'm still waiting on a package from Eureka that shipped on 4/23. So...four weeks so far. I'm patient, but sometimes I want to think that patience is overrated.

I think mine just shipped at the right time tbh. The UK has started slowly re-opening, whereas they were much more locked down 4 weeks ago. If I placed my order when you did, I'd probably still be waiting on it. Hope your order arrives soon, though.

~Matt

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Congratulations. I'm still waiting on a package from Eureka that shipped on 4/23. So...four weeks so far. I'm patient, but sometimes I want to think that patience is overrated.

Funny, my order of "Rio Grande" and "Two For the Road" shipped on April 28th (had to wait a week as well since I originally placed it on the 21st) and arrived on May 19th.

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Maybe yes, maybe no. While Keaton was obviosuly more than a performer, I believe most people think of him for his work in front of the camera rather than behind it.

Don’t disagree with that at all, but I think you can make a legitimate case for Keaton’s inclusion within the series based entirely on his directorial efforts if you wanted to. Lugosi otoh, you can only include based on his acting as to my knowledge, he never directed.

This being said, I certainly don’t begrudge Lugosi’s entry, and already have this set on pre-order.

Masters of cinema needn’t be restricted to just Directors anyway imo. I doubt anyone would deny that Lugosi in particular is more than worthy of the moniker.

[floor pie]

Originally Posted by CouncilSpectre

Masters of cinema needn’t be restricted to just Directors anyway imo. I doubt anyone would deny that Lugosi in particular is more than worthy of the moniker.

I feel that Lugosi wasn't that great of an actor really. Even Dracula is pretty hammy.

Don't get me wrong, he had a special charisma about him, but he still wasn't refined in the same way a Karloff was for example. Lugosi's accent and latter career films definitely don't help either.

(This new set might change my mind though.)

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by floor pie

I feel that Lugosi wasn't that great of an actor really. Even Dracula is pretty hammy.

Don't get me wrong, he had a special charisma about him, but he still wasn't refined in the same way a Karloff was for example. Lugosi's accent and latter career films definitely don't help either.

(This new set might change my mind though.)

I think comparing anyone to Karloff isn’t going to work out very well for them. Lugosi and Karloff probably couldn’t be any further apart in terms of style and range, but both had that screen presence that lesser actors would kill for.

Dracula is Lugosi’s most iconic role, but these three films are top-tier Lugosi so if they don’t win you over, nothing will

[sonny gaunt]

I pre-ordered this set, already having the SF set(and their singular release of MitRM), hoping for a stronger image presentation of Black Cat-as well as different documentaries.

[StarDestroyer52]

My order from the Billy Wilder sale took 4 weeks, so some patience is required.

[revoloution]

John Woo's The Killer had a remaster that was shown at The Hawaiian Film Festival last year where Woo was also honoured with a lifetime achievement award. Is it possible for Eureka to get in contact with the rights owner and see if it's available to release? this would be a big coup and one of Eureka's biggest sellers if they decide to go for it.

[TAON]

So has anyone actually watched the new release of The specialists with the english dub?

Which also a few days ago im reading up on that this seems to be another good spaghetti western that i have not seen.

And this Eureka version seems to be the best but then to find out that the english dub is only partial as it called with bits missing & the dub going back to French audio for missing english parts which is damn shame it seems.

So like is the dub all over the place with it constantly shifting between two languages or just short bits sometimes?

[Levon]

Originally Posted by TAON

So has anyone actually watched the new release of The specialists with the english dub?

Which also a few days ago im reading up on that this seems to be another good spaghetti western that i have not seen.

And this Eureka version seems to be the best but then to find out that the english dub is only partial as it called with bits missing & the dub going back to French audio for missing english parts which is damn shame it seems.

So like is the dub all over the place with it constantly shifting between two languages or just short bits sometimes?

I watched it the other night with the French soundtrack. I was going to watch it with the English dub until I saw that it was only partially in English, a shame because the charm of some of these Spaghetti Westerns is the English dubbing. However, don't let that put you off the movie, it is actually very very good and I think perhaps one of Corbucci's best.

I listened to the commentary by Alex Cox after watching it and he mentioned that he saw it (I think recently) in the cinema with the complete English dub, a shame that it wasn't on this Eureka release, though I was under the impression it was.

So I can't attest to how the partial English dub fares but I can confirm it is a great release and well worth picking up.

It is an absolutely jawdroppingly gorgeous remaster.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Si Parallel Universe

Technically no because Buster Keaton.

I thought Buster himself directed most of the feature-lengths he is known for. Even in his shorts (post the Fatty Arbuckle era), I suspect he would have come up with most of the gags and staging regardless of whose name came in the credits. This is a lot different from Lugosi who has no film-making abilities.

Originally Posted by floor pie

I feel that Lugosi wasn't that great of an actor really. Even Dracula is pretty hammy.

Don't get me wrong, he had a special charisma about him, but he still wasn't refined in the same way a Karloff was for example. Lugosi's accent and latter career films definitely don't help either.

One limitation Lugosi faced was that he was not fluent in English (at least early in his career he barely knew it) and spoke his lines phonetically without the understanding a regular English speaker would have. Apparently, Karloff was horrified when he realized this, and it made him a lot more sympathetic towards Bela as a co-actor.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by CouncilSpectre

Dracula is Lugosi’s most iconic role, but these three films are top-tier Lugosi so if they don’t win you over, nothing will

Yeah, if anything they treat Lugosi with dignity, especially The Black Cat and The Raven (he's OTT in The Raven but in a good way, like his turn as Roxor in Chandu the Magician). In the Lugosi-Karloff team-ups I've seen I liked it better when Lugosi had the positive role, like in The Black Cat and the underrated The Invisible Ray.