The Remaining Herzog: Bad Lieutenant 2

It just occurred to me that I've covered every Werner Herzog film, barring those with physical releases still pending, save one.  So let's get 'er done!  Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is an in-name-only sequel to Abel Ferrara's notorious cop drama starring Harvey Keitel.  It came about because one of the producers of the original, Edward R Pressman (American Psycho, Party Monster), wanted to cash in on the title and hired Herzog who's said he'd never even heard of the first film.  He wanted to drop the title but couldn't, contractually, so here we are, with a 2009 Herzog flick, based on a script by a television writer named William Finkelstein, with an arbitrary title that's maybe slightly annoying to Ferrara films, but so what?  It got a Herzog movie produced - I'll take it!

Admittedly, on the sliding Herzog scale, this leans more towards the For Completists Only end rather than the Masterpieces, but it's pretty entertaining if you can let go of your expectations from the original.  It's certainly wacky and should please any fan of the "Nicolas Cage goes nuts" oeuvre.  It's still basically about a bad cop who gets redeemed(ish) by solving a bigger crime.  But this one's the kind of movie where, when a criminal gets shot, his spirit come outs breakdance, and where local iguanas get as much screentime as lead characters in the story.  Even by Herzog standards, it's eccentric.

And Cage is just the tip of this wild cast spear.  Can you imagine another film where Jennifer Coolidge (White Lotus, The Minecraft Movie), Xzibit and Val Kilmer appear together?  Not enough star power?  We've also got Eva Mendes, Fairuza Balk, Brad Dourif and Michael Shannon.  We also get great footage of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and some more quality imagery from Herzog's frequent collaborator Peter Zeitlinger.  So maybe it's not a masterpiece, but now that it's had some time to get out from under Ferrara's shadow, it might be worth a reevaluation.  It's quite interesting, at least.  And it's one of those early blu-rays that was over-produced (in terms of quantity), so you can pick it up dirt cheap.

2009 First Look DVD top; 2009 First Look BD bottom.

First Look released this concurrently on DVD and BD as a new release, so the only difference between transfers should be between the SD and HD discs.  But there are some other differences.  The DVD's AR is slightly off at 1.83:1, with a vertical pinch compared to the BD's correct 1.85:1.  More importantly, the DVD is interlaced (look closely at the first comparison shot), while the BD is properly progressive.  So if you've got the DVD, that's a good reason to upgrade right there.  Another reason is the boost to HD, which is considerable.  There's a lot of additional fine detail on the BD, and less compression noise.

Both discs offer you the choice of lossy stereo mixes or 5.1s, which is uncompressed TrueHD on the blu.  They also both include optional English and Spanish subtitles.

And extras - the same across both discs - are pretty good here, too.  The main feature being a 31-minute behind the scenes making of documentary, which is quite good with lots of fly-on-the-wall footage.  Even if you're not huge on Bad Lieutenant 2, any serious Herzog fan should be glad to have this doc.  There's also a gallery of photos by Lena Herzog (Werner's wife), and the theatrical trailer.  Oh, and a bunch of bonus trailers are packed on there as well.

So yeah, if you haven't got it, I do recommend this one, especially given the price and everything.  If you want to spend a little bit more, though, it's worth pointing out that various import versions, including the UK and DE blus, include additional EPK interviews with the cast and crew as well.  And this might be the right time for it, as a third Bad Lieutenant film, directed by Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, As the Gods Will), is actually coming out later this year.  Make a trilogy of it.

And with that, I guess I close the book on Werner Herzog coverage, at least until a new film of his gets a disc release.  ...Or I update an older post with a 4k restoration, which I'm actually planning to do soon.  I've been threatening Update Week 2025 for a while now, and it's about due.

Import Week, Day 3: Let's Get Dark. An American Crime

Here's a film you have to import pretty much just because it's too dark.  Sites like Wikipedia even categorize this as a horror movie, though to that I would say no.  It's actually bleaker and more disturbing than that.  As its title suggests, 2007's An American Crime tells the all too-real of a tragic true crime case, specifically the torture and murder of a teenage girl by a single mother and her children in the 1960s, small town America.  It's a truly disturbing, morbid case, quite well told, which seems to have put US distributors off, unfortunately.

Elliot Page was a rising star at the time of this release, and James Franco has a smaller, supporting role, as did Bradley Whitford.  But really, this is Catherine Keener's film.  At this point, I think she's pretty widely recognized as a great actress, despite decades of mostly being relegated to "the wife" roles or romantic comedies.  She surely made an impression on audiences in Get Out.  But wow, this is a tour de force.  That, coupled with this film's unflinching honesty (and, to a lesser degree, its skill at capturing the period) really packs a powerful wallop.  One many audiences might reasonably choose to avoid.  But if you like your art challenging...

That said, it's uncompromising nature wasn't the only thing that gave An American Crime a hard time during its release.  Another movie based on the same murder happened to come out the same year.  The Girl Next Door is an adaptation of Jack Ketchum's novel of the same name, that basically takes the same incident and runs it through his detective fictionalization filter.  Ketchum isn't exactly known for softening up his subject matter, but I've seen both movies, and there's no comparison.  It's got so much artifice Crime thankfully lacks (although, to be fair, Crime takes one weird little liberty, too, in the last act), taking as its source just the genuine court transcripts.  But being the better movie doesn't help much when you're the second film on the same subject to hit the market.  Just ask The Last Days of Disco that had to follow all the hype of 54.  Crime wound up losing its theatrical release and debuting on Showtime.  It did win some awards, but it's still less than this film deserved.

So An American Crime was released as a barebones new release DVD by First Look Studios in 2008 and... that's been the whole story in the US.  But fortunately, there are HD options overseas, including from Norway, Sweden and, most obtainably, Germany on Capelight's 2009 BD release.

2008 US First Look DVD top; 2009 DE Capelight BD bottom.

So, as a then new release, it's naturally the same master being used.  But there are some very welcome improvements from Capelight.  Starting off as I usually do with the aspect ratio, I'll point out that First Look's 2.32:1 has been corrected to 2.35.  This doesn't actually reveal anymore along the sides, but corrects a tiny vertical stretching.  Much more importantly, the US DVD is interlaced, which is pretty shocking for a modern theatrical release disc as recent as 2008.  Thankfully, Capelight resolves that, and also gives us a generally sharper, HD image free of the soft smudginess of standard def.  It's a distinct upgrade.

And unlike Import Week Day 2, Capelight's English audio is properly lossless in DTS-HD.  Both discs have the original 5.1, with Capelight also adding a 5.1 DTS-HD German dub.  First Look's sole advantage is optional English subtitles, while Capelight naturally just has German.  First Look also has a 2.0 mix-down and optional Spanish subtitles.

Unfortunately, all options are essentially barebones.  First Look just has the trailer and a bunch of bonus trailers.  Capelight also has the trailer, in English and German, and its own collection of bonus trailers.  It also includes reversible artwork to hide that giant, ugly ratings logo.  But that's it.  Still, simply in terms of presenting the film itself, it's pretty flawless, which is a lot more than you can say for the American DVD.

Liv Ullmann Directs Ingmar Bergman's Faithless

Faithless is a script Ingmar Bergman wrote late in life, a very introspective, even autobiographical one. And yet he chose not to direct it. Instead he gave it to his longtime lover and star Liv Ullmann, who by that time had already made several films of her own. It was first issued on DVD in the UK by Tartan, and then in the USA by First Look. It's long been stated that while the film is rather long, roughly two and a half hours, that the import DVD features an even longer "international cut" (for example, they list it on the film's dvdcompare page) That's the version I always had, but I recently picked up a copy of the US DVD to see what's so different about the two versions, since I can't find any site anywhere that specifies. And I was rather surprised by what I found.

Update 11/22/15 - 4/27/22: Throw those DVDs in the garbage!  A far superior new blu-ray has just been released by the BFI.  Bam!

Ullmann cast one of Bergman's best staple actors, Erland Josephson (Scenes From a Marriage, Face To Face, etc) to play the lead, and wow does that pay off. This is a very grounded film of long, steady close-ups and realistic human emotion, and Josephson can bring the power to that like very few actors in film history. He plays Bergman, an isolated film director who lives alone on an island writing scripts about the loves and infidelities of his past, and conjures up his former lover (played by Lena Endre) to retell their entire story from her point of view (though there's a surprising and moving shift in perspective in the third act). What makes it work is that it's very strong emotional subject matter handled very honestly and subtly. It's not melodrama, in fact the first half or so is very slow moving; but by the end: "oof!"

You could certainly accuse Ullmann of imitating Bergman's style here, but that's hardly a bad thing considering how well it works; and it's especially appropriate given that this is not only his writing, but a story seen through the eyes of himself as a filmmaker. Although I also noticed touches that I'm sure Ullmann put in there that Bergman never would have.  In fact, the fact that this story focuses more on the children of the destroyed relationship, something Bergman has often glossed over, lends considerably more dramatic power.  It might be a bold admission, but I consider Faithless, a film not directed by Bergman, to be one of the very top Bergman films.

One of Bergman's many crossed paths with A Dream Play.

Okay, now here's the story with the "international cut:" there's no such thing, at least not on Tartan's DVD. I watched both country's DVDs side by side and there isn't a single deviation or extra scene, shot or trimming. It's 100% the same movie. There are a few factors about the running time that probably added some confusion to the mix. First, naturally, there's the whole PAL/ NTSC business. Also, the US DVD has a couple trailers on it, and they're on the disc as one long video file with the main feature, so the running time on your player is actually adding the time of the movie and the trailers together for one larger sum. There's also different company logos in front of the opening credits and all. So, actually just looking at the movies themselves, the UK disc runs about 148 minutes, and the US is about 154... not 142 like it says on the back of the case. I believe that misprint is entirely at fault for the idea of there being more than one version of the film. Account for PAL speed-up, and they're the same length.

1) 2003 US First Look DVD; 2) 2001 UK Tartan DVD; 3) 2022 UK BFI BD.

And as you can see, the two DVDs have very different looks, as indeed does the new blu. The UK DVD has a very high-contrast (crushed, even) look suggesting it was taken from a film print, whereas the US DVD has a much more natural look, seemingly taken from the negative. That's great for the US disc, but unfortunately, it's full-screen, and not even open matte. It's an old school "chop the sides off" job. The UK disc is slightly pillar-boxed to about 1.74:1, and it's anamorphic, which is a relief. But both discs are a heavy compromise. If only we could've gotten the best of both worlds, we'd have had a pretty nice looking release.

Well, now we have even better than the best of both previous worlds.  We have a properly widescreen 1.85:1 transfer.  And the fresh 2k scan is of the original 35mm negative (and according to the booklet, a bit taken from the 35mm duplicating positive).  There is just so much more detail and clarity, as well as more photo realistic coloring, the screenshots really speak for themselves even if you don't bother to click through to the full resolution versions.  Just look.

All three discs feature the original Swedish stereo mix, but the new lossless version on the BFI blu sounds more robust and authentic.  They've also added a DTS-HD 5.1 mix.  Oh, and also the English subtitles are removable, which is more than can be said for the burnt in ones on the Tartan disc.

The US disc only has a couple of trailers for extras, though at least one of those is the actual Faithless trailer. The UK disc has the trailer and a bunch of bonus ones, too, but it also has the very substantial bonus feature of an on-camera interview with Liv Ullmann. It's pretty in-depth, lasting over 31 minutes.

BFI now, has really turned it into a special edition.  First of all, yes, they have kept the Tartan interview and they still have the trailer, so no ground lost.  They've also added a new, expert audio commentary by critic Adrian Martin, and it's excellent.  No dead space and a lot of information and insight, including some readings from Bergman's autobiography that sync up surprisingly specifically with this film.  Then, there are two more interviews with Ullmann, both are on-stage and last over an hour each.  There is some unfortunate redundancy, and it would have been nice if somebody could've edited these so we wouldn't be hearing the same 5-6 minute anecdotes repeated practically verbatim.  That's downright punishing to sit through.  But you'll be rewarded, because each interview also has a lot of unique content, with fun anecdotes about her career and insight into Faithless.  There are also two stills galleries and a hefty, full-color, 34-page booklet including two essays, a director's statement and an interview with Ullmann.

So the international cut seems to be a myth. I mean, okay, maybe there's another version out there somewhere that runs longer; however beyond early assemblies or workprints, I'd be surprised if that's the case.  Despite there only being one cut of the film, though, the home video releases are quite different. But there's no question which is the winner now.  BFI's new blu is a beaut that puts the old editions to shame.  Faithless is a masterpiece, and this is a must-own.

Now where's Private Confessions?

Maniac Cop 3: Shiny, New Badge of Silence

Man, the wait for Blue Underground to finally regain the rights to release the Maniac Cop sequels the right way has been a long, highly anticipated one. For ages, we've had nothing but cheap-o, barebones DVD releases, which is pretty rare for William Lustig and Larry Cohen films, especially two of their most popular. But at least First Look's DVD of Maniac Cop 3 was widescreen, with a decent picture. Maniac Cop 2 was fullscreen. And considering Maniac Cop 3 is the one the filmmakers disavowed anyway, 3 was the less crucial of the two. But as soon as its pre-order was up, I still jumped on.

Update 10/5/15 - 11/11/21: And when the pre-order for the latest UHD/ BD 2-disc combo came up, I jumped again!  It sure doesn't feel like it's been eight years since the last edition, but it's been at least long enough that I'm happy to triple-dip.

Even if the control of the film hadn't been wrested away from Lustig and Cohen by the producers with changes made against their will (Larry's left his on, but Lustig took his name off the picture), I still think it would've been the weakest entry. Suddenly we've got voodoo and Cordell spends half the picture stalking around a hospital like a generic slasher. But if you look past the problems, it's a pretty fun movie regardless. It's got lots of witty Cohen moments and some spectacular action sequences (or at least one super-mega one at the finale) by Lustig. Robert Davi returns as the lead, supported by some more great character actors in the minor roles; and the "Bride of Maniac Cop" angle is fun in a B-movie kind of way. It doesn't do the best job of standing up against the first two films, but viewed as just a little, low budget horror flick in a vacuum, it's pretty enjoyable.

Now, it's worth noting that there was a slightly trimmed R-rated cut and a full unrated cut released on video back in the day. I think the R-rated cut may have even seen its way onto DVD in the past. But both the BU and First Look releases contain the uncut unrated version, so you're pretty safe.

1) 2004 FL DVD; 2) 2013 BU DVD; 3) 2013 BU BD;
4) 2021 BU BD; 5) 2021 BU UHD.

A big revelation that came with Blue Underground's 2013 release: it's now framed at 2.35:1. I never would've guessed it was originally shot for that ratio... First Look's DVD is anamorphic 1.78:1, and it looks pretty natural. Heck, it was originally released as a TV movie on HBO, where it played 1.33:1; but I do believe it was shot with widescreen in mind. I'd always just assumed that it was meant to be slightly matted down to 1.85:1. But the 2.35:1 isn't giving us any extra picture on the sides, it's just doing a lot of vertical cropping. There are close ups where people's chins drop out of frame whenever they talk.

First Look DVD left, Blue Underground 2013 blu-ray right.

But it's been confirmed again with the new 2021 release, and Lustig himself says he shot it 2.35 in the extras. So I guess we can put that question to rest.  And of course, framing aside, there's no question Blue Underground's BDs are far superior in all other aspects. Even the 2013 blu is a much cleaner, clearer HD image with more vivid and darker colors (First Look's blacks are faded gray, not actual black), and it's just so much more attractive to look at. Even the DVD included in BU's first combo package handles the SD compression better than First Look.

Then we come to the 2021 edition, and it's an all new, 4k scan from the original negative.  It's actually even wider now, at 2.39:1, but that's revealing a bit more along the sides than cropping even tighter.  The framing's even been adjusted a smidgen (to catch those chins!).  I'd say it's an improvement, but surely what you're noticing isn't the AR but the much richer colors.  They've really re-timed this picture.  And it's not a case of "HDR crayons," as it's that way on the BD, too.  It's certainly a more attractive, colorful image, and Lustig is enthusiastic about how it looks on the commentary, so if it's revisionist (and he admits he has made some little tweaks along the way), it's at least the filmmakers' own handiwork.  Grain and finer points already looked pretty good on the 2013 disc, but the UHD resolution takes away digital pixelation when you get in close.  Admittedly, it reveals more smooth grain texture than actual fine detail, but there's no question it's a more natural, filmic image now in 4k.

First Look had Spanish subtitles and a stereo audio track, which was nice; but BU kicked it in the teeth with their 2013 BD, including a 5.1 DTS-HD track, an admittedly lossy 2.0 stereo track, and a whopping ten different subtitle tracks, including English. It's also enhanced for D-Box motion control systems, if you're one of the five people on Earth who has a use for that.  And in 2021?  The 5.1 has been turned into a new Dolby Atmos track, and that stereo mix is now lossless DTS-HD.  All the subs are still there, and so is the D-Box.

And extras, yes. I was a pleasantly surprised the First Look DVD had the trailer, which Blue Underground also has. But of course Blue Underground's 2013 release has substantially more. Although, actually, it doesn't have an audio commentary, which you'd expect from Lustig and Cohen, especially on Lustig's own label. This is not the loaded special edition I'd anticipated. But it does have some good stuff, the crown jewel of which is a 25-minute 'making of' featurette. It's not afraid to tell the real, not entirely happy story of the film, and includes interviews with Lustig. Cohen, Davi, Robert Z'Dar, DoP Jacques Haitkin, Caitlin Dulany, Gretchen Becker and stuntman Spiro Razatos. There are several deleted scenes, too, which are a treat to see, and a photo gallery, plus it comes in a slipcover.

The 2021 release keeps all of that, and now it finally has a commentary "with Director Alan Smithee."  That's Lustig, of course, and he's joined by Joel Soisson, the producer who directed the rest of the scenes after Lustig walked off.  They're on good terms now, but this is as frank and candid a discussion about what went wrong, as well as right, as you could ever want.  Lustig always does great commentaries, and this is one for the ages.  And it comes housed in a stylish, embossed slipcover.

Maniac Cop 3 is a better film then it gets credit for, even if it's not as strong as the other two. And Blue Underground's UHD is the new definitive release, even if the purist in me winces at the little alterations.  Lustig has now given us stellar 4k editions of parts 2 and 3... let's just hope the original can find its way home to him, now, for the perfect trilogy.

Essential Fellini, Part 1: The Early Years

So as you could've probably guessed, this one's been in the works for a while.  Yes, today I'm finally covering the entirety of Criterion's massive 15-disc box of Federico Fellini films, Essential Fellini.  Like their previous, massive boxed set collection, Ingmar Bergman's Cinema, it's important to note that this is not a complete "all you need" collection of the director's work.  Many of his films, including some of his best, are not included here.  But it's still an extremely impressive set, and we're about to dig through every inch of  it.

So let's just dive on in! This post's going to be long enough without a lot of preamble.  Film #1 is Fellini's first film as a director, though not as a writer or other capacities: 1950's Variety Lights.  And it sure feels like Fellini-Lite, which is not necessarily a bad thing.  Carla Del Poggio is a naive young beauty in love with the theater who decides she wants to join a traveling troupe of rag-tag performers.  So you've got the themes of class division and knowing portrayals of poverty, the romantic depictions of public entertainment and its circus-like atmosphere, and Giulietta Masina in a supporting role.  It doesn't have the big, expressionistic City Of Women-like imagery, but it hints at what Fellini would eventually become.  And it's at least as enjoyable as many of his later works.

Criterion first released Variety Lights on DVD in 2000 (reissued in 2009), taken from "the original 35mm fine grain master."  The film makes its HD debut in this set, restored in 4k from a combination of both the 35mm OCN and (presumably the same) fine-grain master positive.

2000 Criterion DVD top; 2020 Criterion BD bottom.

Even if Criterion didn't have an impressive, new 4k restoration on their hands, this blu-ray (and others in this set for the same reason) would be a huge upgrade just because they're only coming up against such old DVDs.  The DVD is interlaced and heavily edge enhanced, turning the picture into a noisy mess.  We're only lucky the film is full-frame or I'm sure it would've been non-anamorphic, too.  Although, speaking of the AR, the framing has shifted a bit (I'd like to say "for the better," but it's hard to call; in most shots the difference seems arbitrary) and widened slightly from 1.34:1 to 1.37:1.  The new 4k scan obviously gives the film a much more filmic look, as opposed to the dupey, digitized DVD, and the compression's nice and consistent - about as good as you could get outside of a UHD.

Both discs provide the original Italian mono track with optional English subtitles, but the blu is lossless LPCM.  More than that, the audio restoration gives the whole movie a more robust feel with easier to discern dialogue.

Criterion's DVD was barebones, without even a trailer; although it did include a booklet with notes by Andrew Sarris.  And the new blu?  Well, it's open to interpretation with this set whether many of these films have extras or just happen to have some non-film-specific Fellini features on the same disc.  For example, the previous releases of 8 1/2 have a made-for-TV documentary by Fellini called Fellini: A Director's Notebook.  Now it's no longer on that disc; it's been moved to Juliet Of the Spirits.  But it's not about either film, so it's a pretty immaterial shift, presumably just made as a question of convenient disc space.  So no, Variety Lights doesn't have any specific Variety Lights-related extras.  But it has some stuff on its disc, so we might as well tackle it now.

2003 First Look DVD top; 2020 Criterion BD bottom.

The main feature is a biographical Fellini documentary called I'm a Born Liar.  It's a pretty great, comprehensive overview that includes interviews with everybody from his childhood friends to Terance Stamp, which was released on DVD in 2003 by First Look Entertainment.  Criterion hasn't given this any kind of "restoration" (both discs are interlaced, for a start), but the DVD was non-anamorphic with burnt-in subtitles, whereas now the image is at least full-sized and less compressed with removable subs; so it's still a substantially superior viewing experience.

Also on this disc is the first section of a Belgian television interview with Fellini, broken up into four parts across this set.  Each part is about half an hour long with burnt-in French subtitles and optional English ones.  It was recorded in 1960 and acted as a sort-of career overview for its time.  It's a lot on his background and not nearly as compelling as I'm a Born Liar; but it's a nice inclusion for serious fans who just want as much as they can get.

Next up is The White Sheik.  In some ways it's my favorite of his early works, with some obvious similarities to his previous feature.  This time Brunella Bovo is the naive young beauty enraptured with the entertainment industry who winds up tagging along and becoming a de facto member of the team.  But this time she's a newlywed, so the film is split between her exploits and budding romance with Alberto Sordi as the titular Sheik (actually a rather thick and insincere movie star without an Arabic bone in his body), and her husband's (Leopoldo Trieste), who has to hide her disappearance from his in-laws who've come to visit them on their honeymoon.  It's less ambitious with far less dramatic undercurrent than the rest of Fellini's catalog; you can certainly see why this isn't one of his Oscar winners.  But it's just a sweet and funny comedy that effectively makes you laugh and keeps you thoroughly entertained from beginning to end.

Criterion first released The White Sheik on DVD in 2003 - the only DVD I don't have for a comparison, sorry.  It's also making its blu-ray debut in this set (well, more or less... Studio Canal put it out overseas around the same time), again in 4k from both the 35mm OCN and a 35 positive print.

2020 Criterion BD.

Again presented in 1.37:1, this is another beautiful 4k restoration.  Criterion's had a few bumpy instances in terms of compression even with their 4k scans (for example, see: Mulholland Drive), but they're really doing a nice job here.  Brightness and contrast levels are rich and attractive with deep levels of detail throughout the highlights and shadows.  The Italian mono track is presented in LPCM with optional English subtitles.

And extras?  Yes, even their old DVD had a nice 30-minute retrospective featurette full of fun anecdotes from the film's good-natured stars, and thankfully it's preserved on the blu.  Also included are two lengthy audio-only interviews (one with Fellini himself, the other actually several interviews with his family and friends strung together) that are non-Sheik specific and recommended only to the hardcore fans.

I Vitelloni used to be my least favorite Fellini film, despite it being his first break-out success, but it's grown on me somewhat recently.  It's about idle young men, based heavily on the people Fellini grew up with, and it always felt self-indulgently nostalgic to me, where he could take his real life friends to pick their characters out of the ensemble and spot all the authentic memories and locations, but leaving the rest of the world somewhat outside of the fun.  But I've come to appreciate how he doesn't shy away from their honest human character flaws, in particular the indifferent way our main character treats his marriage.  And some of the sequences, like the stealing of the statue and their meeting with the lascivious actor are memorable for a reason.  Plus the cast, including several returning White Sheik stars and his own brother, bring more character to their roles than most post-synced Italian film stars could ever manage.

Criterion first put out I Vitelloni out on DVD in 2004.  There was also an Image disc in 2008.  Cult Films released it on blu in 2018, but it makes its US BD debut here in this set, apparently composited from several 35mm film elements.

2004 Criterion DVD top; 2020 Criterion BD bottom.

Criterion's DVD is a higher quality release compared to their Variety Lights (they came a long way in four years), so the improvements here aren't quite as dramatic; but of course they're there, as we're going from SD to 4k in 1080p.  Contrast levels that were sometimes a little over the top on the DVD have been brought down to more natural, detailed levels on the blu.  And the framing, adjusting from a slightly tall 1.31:1 to 1.37:1 draws in more information along the sides.  The HD of course also sharpens and clarifies the image nicely.  Both discs provide the original Italian mono track with optional English subtitles, with the blu in lossless LPCM.

The DVD had one, fun half-hour retrospective with a bunch of the cast and crew, plus the trailer and some stills galleries.  All of that's been carried over to the blu, and they've added part two of that Belgian interview.

Now we come to La Strada, one of the *Super Famous* movies.  How you feel about it will probably depend on how schmaltzy you like your dramas, but even the most cynical amongst us will find it hard to deny all of this movies' qualities.  Giulietta Masina finally takes on a leading role and gives a performance based more in clown work than traditional screen acting, even when her character isn't literally performing the job of clown.  She plays a young woman sold by her family to be an assistant and wife (in that order) to Anthony Quinn, a traveling strong man.  Her pure spirit proves able to overcome every possible tragedy life can throw at her until they cross paths with Richard Basehart who manages to perhaps be a little too successful at opening her eyes to cruelties of the world around her.  So it's like an Italian Neo-realist tear jerker mixed with a Charlie Chaplin film, fastened together by one of Nina Rota's most famous scores.  It's not a personal favorite, but it's certainly one of those movies you any serious student of cinema should see.

Criterion first released it on DVD in 2003 (and reissued it on 2009), as a 2-disc set no less.  This one's been on BD in various parts of the world before, but this box marks its HD debut in the US.  Here, it's been restored in 4k from the 35mm duplicate negative.

2003 Criterion DVD top; 2020 Criterion BD bottom.

The framing is adjusted from 1.31:1 to 1.37, though how much additional picture that reveals seems to vary from shot to shot.  But every shot has edge enhancement, which the blu handily cleans up.  The blu is also noticeably darker, which is a change for the good, as the DVD's always looked a little overexposed.  Grain seems a little smoothed out at times, but I don't know if it's actually some kind of light DNR or just a consequence of compressing 4k to 1080p.  At any rate, it's barely noticeable most of the time, especially in motion.

The audio story is almost the same as all the rest, with the Italian mono being on both discs, restored to LPCM on the blu, with optional English subtitles.  But this time both discs also feature an English mono track.  And on both discs it's lossy - clearly not a high priority for this set.

As this one started in a 2-disc set, you can expect a nice selection of extras.  It's all the same stuff on both.  We start out with an "introduction," that's actually full of spoilers, including the very final reveals, so I'd seriously suggest not watching it until after the film.  But then you definitely should, because it's a 14-minute (pretty long for an intro) chat with Martin Scorsese, who makes a pretty compelling case for the qualities of this film.  Unfortunately, even on the blu, he's non-anamorphic; but what the heck.  There's a pretty decent audio commentary by expert Peter Bondanella who's naturally able to delve deeper with all the extra runtime.  Then there's an hour long doc about Fellini called Federico Fellini's Autobiography, which, despite its title, was not made by Fellini himself.  It's a decent little feature, though somewhat redundant with other extras in the set, and the PQ's pretty low, so casual viewers might want to skip it.  Also included is the theatrical trailer.

Satellite of Love residents will be excited to hear that Richard Basehart is back in Fellini's next film, Il Bidone (The Swindle).  This time he's partnered with Broderick Crawford (who you may remember as Hoover from Larry Cohen's The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover) as a couple of con men who travel the countryside performing elaborate schemes on the desperately poor.  As you might imagine, their luck can't hold out forever, and Basehart's wife, Giulietta Masina, figures out that he's lying to her.  Fellini does a masterful job making you identify with the protagonists while hating them for what they're doing, and Crawford is downright haunting in his personal tragedy.

Criterion actually didn't release Il Bidone on DVD.  Image Entertainment did in 2000.  As far as BD, it's already been released around the world, including by Eureka in the UK, but this collection marks its US debut.  I guess we're a little slow, but ours is a 4k restoration from the 35mm OCN and a 35mm master-positive; so suck on that, early adapters!

2000 Image DVD top; 2020 Criterion BD bottom.

Criterion's 4k is great, but literally any BD would be essential after living with this Image disc all these years.  Surprisingly, it's not interlaced, but otherwise it looks like it's ripped from a tape or broadcast source, and all the blown out fuzziness that entails.  It's also covered in scratches and damage that have been whisked away on the new Criterion.  It also fixes the AR from 1.31:1 to 1.37, unstretching the image and tweaking the framing.  But most importantly, it's just an infinitely better scan with rich contrast and brights that aren't flared way the Hell out.  The Italian mono track is also much clearer and bolder in its new LPCM, and unlike the DVD, Criterion's subtitles aren't burnt it.

Image had bupkiss for extras, but Criterion came through.  They added a pretty nice, but a little dry, audio commentary by expert Frank Burke.  Even better, though, they recorded a lengthy on-camera interview with Fellini's former assistant, Dominique Delouche, who is full of great history and stories.  This is on the short list of features in this set you should definitely not skip.

And we say goodbye to the 50's with our last film (for Part 1), Nights of Cabiria, Masina's second biggest starring role.  I've always preferred this to La Strada because it holds onto more of an honest cynicism (at least until the ending).  This time Giulietta is a prostitute, fully aware and the resentful of the injustices inherent in the lives of herself and everyone around her.  Any time she dares to trust and have hope in love or other people, she's immediately punished for it - by attempted murder!  It's an episodic tale as she goes on a series of misadventures, mostly serving to show just how terribly the lower classes are living in post-war Italy.  Many of them are literally living in giant holes in the ground.  But Masina's personality is big enough to shine a light through all of it.

Criterion released Nights on DVD all the way back in 1999.  And they've more or less given it its BD debut in this collection (like The White Sheik, Studio Canal released it in various other parts of the world the same year), restored in 4k from a 35mm fine-grain master positive.  Oh, I should also point out that both Criterion's feature the extended cut.  Some older DVDs run a few minutes shorter, missing a scene where Masina encounters a priest.

1999 Criterion DVD top; 2020 Criterion BD bottom.

For a 1999 DVD, I guess it ain't too bad.  It's not interlaced and was scanned off (the same?) fine grain master taken from the OCN.  Still, the new 4k is worlds better, with much more natural contrast and dynamic range that no longer blows out the brights.  It also changes the AR from 1.31 to 1.37, shifting the framing in the process.  Grain is natural and the picture is consistently sharp and strong.  One small step backwards, though: the original DVD featured both English and Italian audio (with optional subs).  The blu bumps the Italian up to LPCM (and of course keeps the subs), but ditches the English track.  It's not the track I'd choose to watch the film with, but since they already had it, I'm surprised Criterion didn't hang on it, if only for the sake of history.

from the restoration demonstration.

Extras-wise, Criterion's DVD was pretty nice, and their blu is virtually unchanged.  They did drop two little things.  The first is a short, low quality excerpt from The White Sheik, which nobody who has this set needs now, and a restoration demonstration.  It's interesting, but obviously out of date now; and apart from that, everything's been carried over.  That includes an engaging but all-too-brief audio interview with producer Dino de Laurentiis who explains why he wanted the scene cut that's since been restored in this extended version.  Better still, there's another interview with Dominique Delouche that's just as good as the last one.  There are also two trailers.

And the blu has added even more.  There's part 3 of that Belgian TV interview.  And best of all, there's an hour-long documentary about Giulietta Masina.  After all these pieces making the same observations about Fellini, it's great to see this set finally focus on someone else who's almost equally deserving and previously had been greatly under-served.  It's another Can't Miss.

And that's it for now.  Check back soon for Part 2, where we cover the more modern and wild Fellini films in this set.