The Jacques Tati Collection

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by KRW1

Anyone got a link to the specs for the UK set? Obviously I'd like to compare to the Criterion to see which one is definitive. Will the UK get the alternative cuts to Mr Hulot's Holiday and the like? I'd assume so, as my old blu did, but I'd still like to know for sure.

the spec for Mr Hulot's Holiday AND Mon Oncle state alternate versions are included on the Criterion edition:

MONSIEUR HULOT’S HOLIDAY
Monsieur Hulot, Jacques Tati’s endearing clown, takes a holiday at a seaside resort, where his presence provokes one catastrophe after another. Tati’s masterpiece of gentle slapstick is a series of effortlessly well-choreographed sight gags involving dogs, boats, and firecrackers; it was the first entry in the Hulot series and the film that launched its maker to international stardom. We are presenting Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday in the 1978 rerelease version, reedited by Tati himself, along with the original 1953 theatrical version.

1953 • 88 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • In French with English subtitles • 1.37:1 aspect ratio

MON ONCLE
Slapstick prevails again when Jacques Tati’s eccentric, old-fashioned hero, Monsieur Hulot, is set loose in Villa Arpel, the geometric, oppressively ultramodern home of his brother-in-law, and in the antiseptic plastic hose factory where he gets a job. The second Hulot movie and Tati’s first color film, Mon oncle is a supremely amusing satire of mechanized living and consumer society that earned the director the Academy Award for best foreign-language film. This edition features both the original French release and My Uncle, the version Tati created for English-speaking audiences.

1958 • 116 minutes • Color • Monaural• In French with English subtitles • 1.33:1 aspect ratio

~~

I can't find a single thing regarding to the specs of the UK box set which comes out next week - anyone, anyone??

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

I can't find a single thing regarding to the specs of the UK box set which comes out next week - anyone, anyone??

I just finished disc one. First review will be up in 12 hours. The entire set will be covered

Pro-B

[Douglas R]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

I just finished disc one. First review will be up in 12 hours. The entire set will be covered

Pro-B

Looking forward to reading that. My set is in the post.

[KRW1]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

~~

I can't find a single thing regarding to the specs of the UK box set which comes out next week - anyone, anyone??

This is my concern. I'm not cancelling my UK order as I pre-ordered it when it was £35, but I'd like to know what I'm getting.

[Philly Q]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

I just finished disc one. First review will be up in 12 hours. The entire set will be covered

Pro-B

Looking forward to it!

[Dr. Feelgood]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

I just finished disc one. First review will be up in 12 hours. The entire set will be covered

Pro-B

Can't wait

[manicsounds]

The UK set is the same as the French set. Same extras, same discs.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

why does the Criterion state uncompressed stereo sound, when the French and I assume the UK box edition is DTS-HD MA 3.0 - which would somewhat conform to the 6-track soundmix of the 70mm prints which was:

"The current DTS track that is traveling with PLAYTIME (70mm) is descrete 6-track...with a twist....it is L,LC,C,RC,R and Subwoofer! No surrounds (which may never have been there, I don't know the film) but subwoofer? Note, LC and RC are recorded on the Ls and Rs channels. The Subwoofer is recorded on the Surround channel."

if the DTS track was used it'd technically be 3.1

EDIT:

well if it's true - Criterion did one better than the French disc and the audio is 5.1:

PLAYTIME
Jacques Tati’s gloriously choreographed, nearly wordless comedies about confusion in an age of high technology reached their apotheosis with PlayTime. For this monumental achievement, a nearly three-year-long, bank-breaking production, Tati again thrust the loveably old-fashioned Monsieur Hulot, along with a host of other lost souls, into a bafflingly modern world, this time Paris. With every inch of its superwide frame crammed with hilarity and inventiveness, PlayTime is a lasting testament to a modern era tiptoeing on the edge of oblivion.

1967 • 124 minutes • Color • 5.1 surround • In French with English subtitles • 1.85:1 aspect ratio

I cancelled my pre order of the UK set when this was announced. I will wait for reviews from pro b but I doubt the Criterion will be topped here. On paper, their set looks to be superior.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

I just finished disc one. First review will be up in 12 hours. The entire set will be covered

Pro-B

oh hurry up ...

yeah, yeah patience is a virtue and everything...

[Douglas R]

Had a quick look at MON ONCLE and PLAYTIME which have considerable better definition than the BFI versions. They really look wonderful. I'll have to keep my BFI discs though because many extras, including alternative audio tracks and trailers are not included. MON ONCLE also cuts out the original Gaumont logo. Glad to see that the titles of PLAYTIME have now been cleaned up. Never understood why the previous HD restoration had grainy, scratched titles when the earlier DVD had perfect titles!

[pro-bassoonist]

Playtime Blu-ray REVIEW



I spent more than a day scrutinizing the new 4K restoration of PlayTime. This is a radically different presentation of the film -- and I have mixed feelings about it. The film looks very, very different now.

The technical presentation is solid -- the encoding and compression are very good. However, the color scheme basically gives the film an entirely new identity.

Pro-B

[charnier]

When you compare the cap of the cars going round the roundabout to one of the old caps on beaver, the colours are really vivid and saturated. But are they right?

[Mansinthe]

urgh... dont like the SC colors at all. compare the 4th screen of the old criterion review with the same picture of the new SC release. (drugstore and the bus etc)

same for the 5th screen of the criterion release compared with the SC one...

SC release looks just "wrong" to me.


glad i didnt preorder the UK set...

[Pyoko]

The new transfer - finally from the original 65mm film - is a revelation compared to the old one, I've seen DVD/BD comparisons with less difference. Massive improvement in detail and grain, and the lack of thick edge enhancement halos, noise and blown-out "video whites" makes it look like actual film.

As for the colors it's definitely been teal-ified a bit, but it seems to be mostly limited to the darker shots and it's still surprisingly subtle, nowhere near World on a Wire for example. Daylight interiors look appropriately monochromatic and steely, without the overly blue cast of the Criterion that ruined skin tones. I think it looks better, though personally I would have dialed down the green just a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if it's more correct either, if you have a look at DVDBeaver it's much closer to the older BFI and Criterion DVDs, so it's not a completely new look.

[Funktion]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

urgh... dont like the SC colors at all. compare the 4th screen of the old criterion review with the same picture of the new SC release. (drugstore and the bus etc)

same for the 5th screen of the criterion release compared with the SC one...

SC release looks just "wrong" to me.


glad i didnt preorder the UK set...

I'll reserve my judgement until I see the set for myself, but regarding SC vs Criterion colours, I have to say the colours on the Criterion BD of Playtime were clearly wrong during most of the film, with the blue colour cranked up to ridiculous levels, so I'm not sure the look of the previous Criterion BD is the one you should use as reference.
Criterion's "tweaks" can sometimes change too much what was the original look of the film. Take Scanners, a film I watched numerous times theatrically (including at the Fantasporto film festival, where it earned one of its earliest awards): the film never looked like the recent Criterion BD. And I don't mean that as a compliment.

[ijustblumyself]

I much prefer the new colour timing. It seems more organic and film-like.

[Mansinthe]

@Funktion

i dont wanna say you are wrong with any of that but sometimes the look of a film does change, most of the time becouse the director did change his mind or there is some restoration process involed, or the old DVDs had wrong colors from the start due to their limitations.

breaking the waves does look different compared to the early releases. but no way i would prefer the old VHS look compared to the recent criterion release.

these changes are not always a bad thing


directors cuts are another example. changing the color timing of a movie is similar for me. maybe a young director with 25 years just couldnt admit that something was "wrong" back then. but now he is able to see his mistake (just a possible example )

[Douglas R]

Originally Posted by ijustblumyself

I much prefer the new colour timing. It seems more organic and film-like.

I far prefer the colour of the new restoration as well. Of course, it's pointless comparing it to the previous BD release because that may have been completely wrong compared to the original theatrical release.

[Philly Q]

Just going by the screenshots, I'm certainly not distressed by the look of the new transfer.

As to which is "correct", I have no idea - I'm not one of these people who can claim to remember exactly how a film looked in the cinema.

[PowellPressburger]

I've compared several of the screen shots and I can't decide however I lean towards the old Criterion Blu. (Curious for the new US Criterion disc will it be identical?)

I guess I would have to see them in motion. On some of the screen shots the CC looks more detailed or my eyes are playing games on me. I was expecting the new transfer to blow away the old CC Blu with more detail but it isn't (not yet at least)

So this new UK transfer and the New Criterion is taken from the larger format film scan correct? That is why I was hoping for huge upgrade in detail.

I keep going back and forth and I prefer the old CC Blu so far esp when it comes to some of the colors. I always felt the film was highly stylized and hypnotic at times.