The Official Eureka / Masters of Cinema (MoC) Thread

[JackyJacquard]

I just managed to sell my La Notte blu-ray for enough to cover the 4K, so presuming I enjoy it, I’ll be grabbing that 4K.

Fantomas looks right up my alley too, that’ll be a blind buy

[SilverBlueSnow]

Originally Posted by JackyJacquard

I just managed to sell my La Notte blu-ray for enough to cover the 4K, so presuming I enjoy it, I’ll be grabbing that 4K.

Fantomas looks right up my alley too, that’ll be a blind buy

La Notte - as people said an old school MOC upgrade! Tony Rayns is one of the best imo so that is a great new extra

[wabrit]

Being a luddite, my bluray of La Notte is perfectly fine for me - hopefully the new release will entice some 1st time viewers of one of cinemas great masterpieces.

Rio Lobo might not be amongst his best, but it's still Hawks so I'm up for that Fantomas looks fun!

[ViscountCarnacki]

Okay, those trailers all look good. I'm in for Shogun Samurai, as I collect Japanese films, but can someone give me the low-down on the other two?

Fantomas looks fun, but is there anything I need to know or watch before that set? It does say Fantomas returns...

The trailer for La Notte looks super - the only other Antonioni film I have seen is Blow-Up, which I love. This looks more straightforward, but super stylish?

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by viscountcarnacki

it does say fantomas returns...

EDIT: That listing says the film is 54 minutes? It should be almost 6 hours, no?

[JackyJacquard]

Originally Posted by koberulz

EDIT: That listing says the film is 54 minutes? It should be almost 6 hours, no?

Yeah Eureka’s website says 356 minutes. I’ve made the edit to the listing

[Zodiac]

Originally Posted by wabrit

Being a luddite, my bluray of La Notte is perfectly fine for me - hopefully the new release will entice some 1st time viewers of one of cinemas great masterpieces.

Same thinking here. Got it 13 years ago. Earlier this year, I watched it again after more than 10 years, and bluray felt just fine with me. There are so many great movies yet to collect, and so little money and time to focus on every single one too much.

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by ViscountCarnacki

Fantomas looks fun, but is there anything I need to know or watch before that set? It does say Fantomas returns...

The series is completely self contained. No prior knowledge is necessary and I had none when I watched them earlier this year.

I think the Returns thing is just Eureka’s way of linking it to their release of the Feuillade films. The Fantômas in this is very different, more of a Dr No type master criminal in a luxurious secret base than the wily leader of a gang of “Apaches” who lurks in back alleys and seedy dives of the 1913-14 serial. His look is totally different.

It’s very much a pop culture reimagining for the Bond era. Jean Marais as Fandor is more like 007 or Roger Moore’s Saint than the dogged if rather colourless young reporter of the Feuillade films. And Louis de Funès as Juve is… well… Louis de Funès.

But if you like colourful Sixties adventure with plenty of action and a strong dash of comedy then I highly recommend them.

[darlo16]

So on the product page for "Fantômas returns" it says "from restorations by Gaumont". Does that mean it's the same decade-old master? In which case I'll stick with my Gaumont set. I can't justify 33 quid for a booklet, new audio commentaries and three interviews/video essay, as much as I love the Eureka sets.

[Tiger Tanaka]

Originally Posted by darlo16

So on the product page for "Fantômas returns" it says "from restorations by Gaumont". Does that mean it's the same decade-old master? In which case I'll stick with my Gaumont set. I can't justify 33 quid for a booklet, new audio commentaries and three interviews/video essay, as much as I love the Eureka sets.

looks like it. in the same boat. will try to sell my Gaumont box on vinted or to some friends.

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by gekats

This is fascinating; in Greece, Louis de Funes was massive, especially among older generations. His films were a staple on TV and summer open-air cinemas for decades, and for many of us, they’re deeply nostalgic.

It’s an unfortunate quirk of how the British film audience has developed.

As we know, Hollywood tends to dominate the cinemas of the world (outside of India and China anyway). In continental Europe, audiences are accustomed to seeing the latest blockbusters dubbed. It also means that films from other European countries can be watched dubbed too without an issue. It’s a level playing field in that way.

In the Anglophone world, we speak (near enough) the same language as used in Hollywood. The vast majority of UK cinemagoers will see only films shot in English. The only time when that wasn’t an absolute was a brief period from the early-1970s to around 1980 when Hong Kong martial arts films became popular. Also in this decade (and this seems to be largely forgotten) Italian Polizia films that often had American leads but entirely revoiced supporting casts were seen as useful support features.

To this day, dubbing is seen as the preserve of Asian action and Italian genre films, mostly giallo now. And even then a lot of cult film fans favour the original tracks (even though these were recorded after the fact and often with different voice artists but that’s another story).

I use the weasel term “is seen” here as I’m not sure why this is. Did mass audience reject dubbing or did distributors make that choice for them?

But either way, when non-Anglophone films are released here it’s invariably with subtitles. I think it’s safe to say that the mass audience isn’t keen on those. Subtitles tends to mean the film will play on the art house circuit for the most part. This tends to mean that they’re seen by cinephiles and the more intellectual audiences. It’s impossible to describe this category without sounding snobby, so I won’t try not to.

This therefore dictates to a large extent what type of foreign language films are released here. It skews very heavily towards critically acclaimed/Sight and Sound type films than populist stuff. So while the Tuche family films are big on the continent, don’t hold your breath for a British release anytime soon.

Sometimes a hip young crowd will support a subtitled film, so Diva and Nikita got releases here, but then only by classifying them as art house films, which I’m sure would’ve surprised French audiences. As someone who generally prefers subtitles (exceptions: martial arts, giallo, Italian cops - I wonder if that was a free choice or something I was just taught to believe?) that suits me but it does shut us off from a lot of good stuff.

So all the fun French comedies that European audiences grew up on as well as their stars are unknown here. And the ones who are, such as Phillipe Noiret and Jean-Paul Belmondo, are known purely for their art house friendly films like Cinema Paradiso or Breathless than the more populist stuff they did.

This year I discovered Les Charlots, who are kind of a French version of The Monkees. The great Claude Zidi wrote and directed their better films and they’re hilarious I think. It takes a lot to get a crotchety git like me to LOL but they managed constantly. And it seems one of their films was released here as Five Crazy Boys (fair enough) and used as a support to the Bless This House film. It was almost certainly dubbed (by Americans) but did audiences like it? Were they asked or was it just used as cheap filler and forgotten about?

And actually the 1966 occupied France set comedy La Grande Vadrouille was released here 17 months later as Don’t Look Now We’re Being Shot At. As well as Terry-Thomas as a downed RAF pilot it starred Louis de Funès and Bourvil. Those two names are huge on the continent, but few here will know them. The film sold more tickets than any other in France until the record was beaten by Titanic thirty years later. So it sold more tickets than Star Wars, ET, Ghostbusters…. But has anyone here heard of it? If you have I bet no one you work with has.

The film got a Royal premiere here. But did it do well? Dunno. Did audience pass on this mostly dubbed film or did distributors just find it easier to import American films than bother to dub foreign language ones? Dunno.

But it came out in London the week after 2001: A Space Odyssey and the same week as Closely Observed Trains, Young Törless, Witchfinder General and The Blood Beast Terror. I bet everyone here has heard of those.

Still, maybe the boutique labels can bring these films to a British audience. They have excellent HD transfers, often new 4K ones, ready to go. Claude Zidi has been very well served lately. Few are English friendly, alas, but the very funny Les Ripoux 3 and atypical Asterix et Obelix Contre Cesar have subtitles . Ditto The Brain (1969) from the director of La Grande Vadrouille.

Obviously Eureka has opted to release Fantômas as it links to their Feuillade release (and will appeal to the ones who bought the Mabuse set) but you never know. They might be veering into French popular cinema the way they’ve veered into German popular cinema with their Krimi and DEFA sets.

Anyway, sorry for rambling. The too long, didn’t read version of this is: most Brits don’t watch stuff that’s not in English.

And here’s the trailer for a Charlots film. Don’t let the singing at the beginning put you off.

Le Grand bazar (1973) - Bande-annonce - YouTube

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by darlo16

I'll stick with my Gaumont set. I can't justify 33 quid for a booklet, new audio commentaries and three interviews/video essay, as much as I love the Eureka sets.

I’m also in the same boat which is a shame as I’d like to support this set and hopefully encourage more French/European spy/caper/comedy releases.

[Yami]

Same boat as Finis terrae; I hope the lesson they learn if they don't sell well is 'no point in releasing films that have been available in HD with English subs for years' and not 'no point in releasing films like this'

[gekats]

Originally Posted by RossyG

Anyway, sorry for rambling.

Not rambling at all; I found it fascinating. Where I’m from, we’ve always watched films subtitled, so that might go a long way in explaining some of the differences in preferences.

Another thing that also struck me as quite peculiar in these threads was how little-known Italian comedies seem to be in the UK (especially in relation to the Radiance Risi set), whereas someone like Germi was well-known enough here to even get name-dropped in the lyrics of a very popular Greek song(!).

That question you raise “Did mass audience reject dubbing or did distributors make that choice for them?” is a really interesting one. Thanks for the insight!

[gekats]

Yeah, Eureka obviously mean this as a supplement to their Feuillade set (I’d bet Franju’s Judex isn’t far off either), and they’re trying to tie it in with their lighter Euro fare, like the Krimis (they might be bringing Hunebelle's OSS films to the UK too). But it's a pretty unnecessary release.

The Epstein is even worse, especially since the Gaumont already included La femme du bout du monde. Hopefully, we eventually get more of Epstein’s work in HD, instead of wasting resources duplicating stuff that’s already out there.

[ter3]

A reasonable priced Late Mizoguchi boxset popped up on the Dutch gumtree equivalent. Maybe someone is interested: https://www.marktplaats.nl/v/cd-s-en...ms-bluray-zgan

[martinyfelix]

Originally Posted by ter3

A reasonable priced Late Mizoguchi boxset popped up on the Dutch gumtree equivalent. Maybe someone is interested: https://www.marktplaats.nl/v/cd-s-en...ms-bluray-zgan

Good heaven's, that what you call reasonable... Of course it depends of how much you one wants it but all this speculation it so uncool.

Regarding the Fantomas sets, I arrived too late to the party and missed the original ones. I could grab the standard edition but since I'd never watch the movies and there's no goodies I have other priorities like buying some other limited edition sets with booklet to read about the films.

[MovieBuff647]

Originally Posted by Yugo23

Had no idea this existed, thank you!

You should still invest in a Region Free player, especially because Eureka is one of our greatest labels and Kino is kinda shit.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by koberulz

EDIT: That listing says the film is 54 minutes? It should be almost 6 hours, no?

I believe the 54 minutes is from the first episode/serial and not the whole series.

[Joppers]

Originally Posted by gekats

I’d bet Franju’s Judex isn’t far off either.

Fingers crossed for this soon, along with an update to Nuits Rouge.