The Official Olive Films Thread

[pro-bassoonist]

As requested, the two Godard DVD releases have been added up to post# 2.

Ici et Ailleurs DVD PRE-ORDER



Numero Deux DVD PRE-ORDER



Pro-B

[Yami]

Up until now Olive has never disappointed me, in fact they've been shockingly good. Unfortunately, these two are DVD only - September 18th:

[Melodious Thunk]

Originally Posted by Akijama

September 18 lineup:

Welles's "Macbeth"
Cukor's "A Double Life"
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
Sono's Love Exposure

[Show spoiler]

Olive rocks!

I'm definitely up for Macbeth (sorry, I mean The Scottish Play"), I tried to watch it on BBC2 recently but the quality was unwatchable. A Double Life sounds like my sort of thing too, might take a risk on that.

Olive Films are really releasing interesting stuff, I'm especially excited for Johnny Guitar.

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by Yami

Up until now Olive has never disappointed me, in fact they've been shockingly good. Unfortunately, these two are DVD only - September 18th:

Damn, I would have loved to upgrade my DVDs of those two.

[pro-bassoonist]

I don't know what master Olive have for Police in the U.S., but in France apparently there is no suitable HD master at the moment.

[Yami]

Yeah, Gaumont are restoring it next year. Wasn't there a new print of The Devil, Probably struck for the recent retrospective though? I would have thought that would have been suitable for HD

[The Duke]

Originally Posted by kristoffer

I wonder if Invasion is region all?

The 5 Olive Films BDs I've purchased have all been region free - The Mountain, Sands of the Kalahari, Denver & Rio Grande, Silver City and Run for Cover. Also, a nice touch for folks like me who often watch part of a movie one night and the rest on a following night - no java, so the disc resumes where you left off.

But I'm not purchasing Invasion of the Body Snatchers - while a classic, I just don't care for the horror genre at all. Hopefully someone else can check it for you.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Yami

Yeah, Gaumont are restoring it next year. Wasn't there a new print of The Devil, Probably struck for the recent retrospective though? I would have thought that would have been suitable for HD

Yes, indeed. I actually inquired about a couple of Pialat films last year, and at the moment it is unlikely that any of them would appear on Blu-ray. I don't know if Criterion could do something in the U.S., but I am fairly certain they worked with a French party for their DVD releases (À nos amours, etc).

I need to check about The Devil, Probably because I don't have any information. But I am hopeful that Artificial Eye would tackle this film in the UK (Blu-ray).

Pro-B

[Nielsb90]

Are Olive releases usually region free? Would like the Body Snatchers release..

[pro-bassoonist]

The ones I have tested thus far have all been Region-Free. However, with the Republic titles there could be exceptions.

Pro-B

[pro-bassoonist]

High Noon Blu-ray REVIEW

[Monty70]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

High Noon Blu-ray REVIEW

I've got these both pre-ordered. (High Noon and Invasion of the Body Snatchers) Looks like both of the July 17th Olive films titles are going to be essential additions to classic film lovers' libraries.

Long live Olive Films!

[TruBlu06]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

High Noon Blu-ray REVIEW

I'm glad I preordered High Noon from Import Cds before their sale ends in a couple days. Sounds like they really gave High Noon the treatment it deserves.

[kristoffer]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

The ones I have tested thus far have all been Region-Free. However, with the Republic titles there could be exceptions.

Pro-B

Thanks!

[Dex Robinson]

That HIGH NOON review is one of the most glowing reviews I've seen for an Olive film here at Blu-ray.com.

Based on my viewing experiences, I have to say that Olive is now finding solid footing in the realm of high-end, high quality releasing companies.

Their earlier releases tended to be all over the place in terms of quality. They could release IT'S ONLY MONEY and WHO'S MINDING THE STORE on the same day...with one looking great and the other looking poor to middling. Releases like CRACK IN THE WORLD, SANDS OF THE KALAHARI and THE HELLSTROM CHRONICLE were confounding in the way that some could look soft and some look very nice.

But improvement has been steady and I'm finding more consistently excellent releases. I thought TOO LATE BLUES was superb. I just watched COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK two days ago and it's another top tier release. I actually had three Olive BDs delivered Wednesday but have only watched one. HIGH NOON has the best review yet. Jeffrey Kauffman only gave TOO LATE BLUES 3.5 stars for the video and I thought it was near demo quality. But he gives HIGH NOON 4.5 stars! If HIGH NOON is even better than TOO LATE BLUES, it must be a glorious sight to behold!

[Blu-Velvet]

I also thought TOO LATE BLUES looked fantastic, and would give it easily a 4.5 rating for picture, and either 4 or 4.5 for sound. The movie itself is also pretty good though not paraticularly great, probably a solid 3.5 to maybe 4. Just watched NOVOCENTO (1900) the other night, and it too looks beautiful, a 4.5 PQ that would have been a 5 if not for a few softish shots mainly in the first part. That one even has a bonus DVD documentary with it.

Looking forward greatly to COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK and SPACE CHILDREN which have been shipped and should get here Saturday or Monday, and can hardly wait for HIGH NOON and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. I do wish they'd try to get a trailer on each title and in good HD, so it would be easier to tease both the film and PQ for friends over to watch some other movie (rather than just running the opening minutes or a random scene).

[Dex Robinson]

On Wednesday, I got the Olive BDs of COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK, THE SPACE CHILDREN and PROJECT X.

I look forward to seeing the latter two. I know the review for THE SPACE CHILDREN was less than glowing so I'm interested to see if my viewing confirms that. I'm especially interested in seeing PROJECT X. The review for that was good but not particularly strong. However, I thought the screencaps in the review were wonderful.

I'm curious to see how my experience stacks up against the reviews here. However, it must be said that most of these recent releases have been pretty darn good so differences of opinion over a "star" rating aren't worth haggling over.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Dex Robinson

Jeffrey Kauffman only gave TOO LATE BLUES 3.5 stars for the video and I thought it was near demo quality. But he gives HIGH NOON 4.5 stars! If HIGH NOON is even better than TOO LATE BLUES, it must be a glorious sight to behold!

Dex, the presentation is good, but nowhere near close to being what one would consider demo quality. There are limitations with the transfer that become quite obvious if one projects the film.

Pro-B

[Daddyo]

Great reviews for High Noon and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

The next few months are going to be very special for fans of Olive Films.

[Arkadin]

another film with one of my absolute favorite actresses Grace Kelly.
she really didn't make that many films overall so having even a few on bd is very special.
With Dial M for Murder and Rear Window coming soon, that will make 5 total, and might be all that make it out on bd unfortunately.
I really hope Warner eventually releases Mogambo and perhaps High Society will make it out.