Terrific news about DAS BOOT - Page 2

vienna · 07-26-10, 05:56 PM

frau kaleun:

It's good to know there is another Criterion/Kurosawa enthusiast out there and on this fourm. I agree with you: I too have bought a film only to have it later released as a Criterion title. The really god parti s , as you said, they include a great variety of extras in addition to issuing a superior print of a film. My new fear is that now that Criterion is issuing titles on Blu-Ray, I might just have to finally give in and get a Blu-ray player and re-buy all the titles I bought on DVD.

Incidentally, "Seven Samurai", "Sanjuro", and "Yojimbo" are available on Blu-Ray from Criterion.

frau kaleun · 07-26-10, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vienna

frau kaleun:

It's good to know there is another Criterion/Kurosawa enthusiast out there and on this fourm. I agree with you: I too have bought a film only to have it later released as a Criterion title. The really god parti s , as you said, they include a great variety of extras in addition to issuing a superior print of a film. My new fear is that now that Criterion is issuing titles on Blu-Ray, I might just have to finally give in and get a Blu-ray player and re-buy all the titles I bought on DVD.

Incidentally, "Seven Samurai", "Sanjuro", and "Yojimbo" are available on Blu-Ray from Criterion.

I have already bought two copies of each of those from Criterion, lol. I will hold out on a Blu-Ray player until there are a significant number of "must have" movies available in that format. Das Boot would be very high on that list, obviously. I'm wondering though if the release referred to by the OP is for Europe only, as Amazon had no listing for a North American release when I checked last week. Usually if something is in the works they'll have a page for it but show it as "not yet available" or give a release date if it's known. So far, nothing.

My biggest Kurosawa expense that turned out to be ultimately wasteful was when I bought a region-free DVD player so I could buy the UK/European DVDs of Kagemusha and Stray Dog. The latter wasn't available on disc over here at all at the time, the former may have been but only in a severely cut down version.

I bought the player and the DVDs only to have Criterion release both films, restored and with commentary/extras, within about a year. I think at this point the only Criterion disc available that I don't have is Dodesukaden, and that's one I have never seen. It's on my wish list at Amazon. I'm still hoping they'll be able to release Dersu Uzala eventually, otherwise I may give in and buy the disc that's currently available. I rented it and it's okay, but I know a Criterion version would be much better quality, even if it's only in terms of extras. After those two I'll be waiting on three of his very early films to complete my collection, but I'm not holding my breath on those.

Sailor Steve · 07-26-10, 11:53 PM

For you Kurasawa fans, here is something completely different.

Of course Yojimbo was based on Dashiell Hammet's book Red Harvest, and was remade as A Fistful of Dollars, and came full circle with Last Man Standing, but did you know there was an American remake of Rashamon?

One of my favorite unknown films, The Outrage was a very faithful fan remake, except the fans were all professionals. The Man hearing the story is played by Edward G. Robinson, The Outlaw was Paul Newman, the outraged wife was Claire Bloom, The Husband was Lawrence Harvey, The Old Man was Howard da Silva, and The Minister who has lost his faith was a young William Shatner.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058437/

It's every bit as good as the original, believe it or not, and the fight scene at the end is arguably better (it's certainly funnier).

All-in-all a great tribute, a great remake, and a very good movie in its own right.

frau kaleun · 07-27-10, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

For you Kurasawa fans, here is something completely different.

Of course Yojimbo was based on Dashiell Hammet's book Red Harvest, and was remade as A Fistful of Dollars, and came full circle with Last Man Standing, but did you know there was an American remake of Rashamon?

One of my favorite unknown films, The Outrage was a very faithful fan remake, except the fans were all professionals. The Man hearing the story is played by Edward G. Robinson, The Outlaw was Paul Newman, the outraged wife was Claire Bloom, The Husband was Lawrence Harvey, The Old Man was Howard da Silva, and The Minister who has lost his faith was a young William Shatner.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058437/

It's every bit as good as the original, believe it or not, and the fight scene at the end is arguably better (it's certainly funnier).

All-in-all a great tribute, a great remake, and a very good movie in its own right.

Finding references to Kurosawa in other stuff is one of my very favorite thngs.

Aside from the obvious remakes, there are the Star Wars films - the original trilogy, at least, is rife with stuff lifted from or inspired by Kurosawa's work.

But my personal favorite is probably from the The Simpsons episode where the family takes a trip to Tokyo, and Marge tries to convince Homer he'll enjoy it. "Japan will be fun! You liked Rashomon." To which Homer replies, "That's not how I remember it."

vienna · 07-27-10, 03:46 PM

I was first introduced to Japanese films when I came to Los Angeles many, many years ago and stumbled upon a small, very old theater in the skid row area of downtown L.A. (no, I was not stumbling because I was a part of Skid Row; the bank I worked for at the time had their data processing center there). It was called the Linda Lea Theater and served the Japanese population of the central area. They showed 3 films a week in 3 different styles: one was an old samurai movie form called "Chambara" that tended to feature older, Kabuki-styled actors and was roughly equiavlent to American Western (cowboy) films; the second was a Yakuza film and these were very violent and bloody; the third film was either a sex farce or a violent sort of film that generally featured something like schoolgirl gangs (think the character of GoGo in the "Kill Bill" film). From this exposure, I searched out other Japanese theaters and progressed to the higher-end films of Kurosawa, Ozu, etc. Alas, the theaters are all gone and now the only time a Japanese film is shown on a big screen is if a revial house type theater has a special showing and these are getting o be fewer and father between. Thankfully, there are VHS, DVD and who knows what other formats are to come.

As a side note to the Linda Lea Theater, I read an interview with Quentin Tarantino and he said that he was a regular patron of the Linda Lea and drew inspiration from the films he saw there. Small world, eh?

Almost any DVD player can be reprogrammed to be an "all region" player. I posted a link several years ago to a site where you can input the make and model of your player, and if a "hack" exists for it, the site takes you to the postings for that DVD player and tells you how to reprogram the player. The site is: www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks. This is not a piracy site. The people who post there are only passing along the information on how to reprogram the players. Whenever I have had to replace a player, I check first to see if the model I am interested in is listed. I have never had to buy an "all region" and this has enabled me to watch non-USA region discs with no problem at all. In fact, some players, notably Philips players, will even do a conversion from PAL to U.S. standard.

desertisland · 09-18-10, 09:46 PM

I'm a little over 40 but I've somehow skipped the DVD age. Now I have some 30 blu-rays but I think only a handful of them are worth buying or repeatedly watchable:

Memento -- I think this is Nolan's only "great" film. Ranks first in my favorite movies. The vulnerability of human system of learning; or how our forefathers manipulate us through the indoctrination of history.

Messenger -- Only believable version of the Joan of Arc history. I hope more movies are made to challenge accepted history ("Fable agreed upon." -- Napoleon).

Alexander Revisited -- Stone's most bashed movie. I admit it works poorly as a movie. Long and winding but not boring. I finish it in two sittings, only way to watch it.

Matrix Trilogy -- Satanic version of the Bible: Architect is God who build the perfect world of Eden. Oracle is the Snake who offered Man nothing but Choice. Neo is Christ who rebelled against God and died for Man. Special effects don't hurt, either.

Watchmen -- Flawed but I like it for the conscientious account of the Cold War. So what if America had won the Vietnam War? Will it solve all its problems? Strangely applies to today's world. So what if America has won the Cold War? Can be boring. I finish it in two sittings, only way to watch it.

Master and Commander -- Not a good movie but I like tall ships and the sounds of cannon.

Non-bluray

Das Boot -- My rating for this movie has dropped over the years but it still holds emotional values for me. Watch it once in a while. I need a life.

Sammi79 · 09-19-10, 06:04 AM

Das Boot DC on blu-ray? groovy, I have still not upgraded yet. I already have the DVD and a old VHS recording of my personal favourite the mini-series which was replayed in the UK 15 or so years back. To my mind it is the single greatest war movie ever made for the accurate portrayal of involved servicemens fears and feelings toward their enemies of that era, and reminds us constantly that we are all human no matter what social/political/national/ideological divisions we decide for ourselves and of course are often decided for us. It matters not which side it is viewed from, it is equally relevant to both.

Nice to see people talking about Kurosawas works. 'Throne of Blood' was my favourite especially for the ending scene - human pincushion! I could barely believe that this movie was made in the 50's and how well Shakespeares 'Macbeth' fits into a feudal Japanese setting. All of his films are well beyond their time in terms of screenplay, direction, even FX, they are still comparable to (and in a lot of cases arguably better than) contemporary efforts.

Someone mentioned 'Master and Commander' - I held off watching that one for years, I've never been a fan of R.Crowe and the subtitle 'The Far Side of the World' just seemed a little fantastical for my liking. I must say though I thoroughly enjoyed it and have watched it a few times since. It does contain a lot of Hollywood cheesemongering but, It is (I think) a fairly accurate portrayal of a ships crew from that era, and smashing FX when it gets down to the action.

STEED · 09-19-10, 12:32 PM

Got it on DVD and I'm not paying for it again on Blu-Ray.

Subnuts · 09-19-10, 02:59 PM

I've just saved a ton of money by switching to Das Boot!

Sailor Steve · 09-19-10, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Subnuts

I've just saved a ton of money by switching to Das Boot!

That IS good news!

Subnuts · 11-08-10, 11:46 AM

Found some screenshots from the new Blu-Ray here:

http://forums.highdefdigest.com/blu-...germany-2.html

(Scroll down to posts 23 and 24)

I can't say it really looks any better than the old 1997 DVD...the movie looks like it's melting in some of those screenshots, and the flesh tones are all over the place.

Axeman3d · 11-08-10, 02:07 PM

I recently helped my cousin set up a home theatre room with an HD projector, a hugely expensive Blu-Ray player and a fancy sound system. He was jealous of my DVD quality set-up and wanted to go the whole hog on new technology and ordered a dose of BR discs to watch.

You know what? It wad a big *meh* for the most part. For all the hype there was little difference in most movies, video or audio. Unless the movie was specifically shot for it very recently, we found it wasn't really worth paying double for a Blu-Ray instead of the DVD. The best by far was a recent concert released by ZZ Top, and that had been specially filmed in hi-def digital with the very best Master audio. You really can see and hear the difference there, but anything filmed more than a year or two ago is a waste of money.

vienna · 11-09-10, 02:33 PM

It all goes back to what was discussed earlier in the thread: garbage in, garbage out. The quality of the original will most often dictate the quality of the copy. I once worked with someone who was really looking forward to seeing classic television series fron the 60's to 80's on DVD thinking there was going to be a dramatic improvement in quality over high-end VHS. When he told told me how disappointed he was in the DVD quality, I asked him which shows he was referring to; almost all of them were sitcoms that has been recorded not on film but on video tape. There is an inherent loss in resolution on video tape over film and the overall effect of a higher resolution conversion is to enhance not just the quality but also the flaws in the original. This also applies to film that is of an earlier origin or for which a pristine negative does not exist. In order to overcome the deficiencies, a very expensive, almost frame by frame, restoration must be done and this is still a very, very expensive and work intensive process. Unless there is a potential profit to be made or unless it is a "labor of love" restoration, the major studios just do not have the incentive to restore the vast majority of films. In the end, if there is an ugly blemish on the original, all BluRay will give you is a higher definition view of the ugly blemish.

07-26-10, 11:53 PM	#18
Sailor Steve Eternal Patrol Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: High in the mountains of Utah Posts: 50,369 Downloads: 745 Uploads: 249	For you Kurasawa fans, here is something completely different. Of course Yojimbo was based on Dashiell Hammet's book Red Harvest, and was remade as A Fistful of Dollars, and came full circle with Last Man Standing, but did you know there was an American remake of Rashamon? One of my favorite unknown films, The Outrage was a very faithful fan remake, except the fans were all professionals. The Man hearing the story is played by Edward G. Robinson, The Outlaw was Paul Newman, the outraged wife was Claire Bloom, The Husband was Lawrence Harvey, The Old Man was Howard da Silva, and The Minister who has lost his faith was a young William Shatner. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058437/ It's every bit as good as the original, believe it or not, and the fight scene at the end is arguably better (it's certainly funnier). All-in-all a great tribute, a great remake, and a very good movie in its own right. __________________ “Never do anything you can't take back.” —Rocky Russo

09-19-10, 12:32 PM	#23
STEED Lucky Jack Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Down Town UK Posts: 27,695 Downloads: 89 Uploads: 48	Got it on DVD and I'm not paying for it again on Blu-Ray. __________________ Dr Who rest in peace 1963-2017. To borrow Davros saying...I NAME YOU CHIBNALL THE DESTROYER OF DR WHO YOU KILLED IT!

09-19-10, 02:59 PM	#24
Subnuts The Old Man Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Connecticut Posts: 1,658 Downloads: 14 Uploads: 0	I've just saved a ton of money by switching to Das Boot! __________________ My Amazon.com reviews

11-08-10, 11:46 AM	#26
Subnuts The Old Man Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Connecticut Posts: 1,658 Downloads: 14 Uploads: 0	Found some screenshots from the new Blu-Ray here: http://forums.highdefdigest.com/blu-...germany-2.html (Scroll down to posts 23 and 24) I can't say it really looks any better than the old 1997 DVD...the movie looks like it's melting in some of those screenshots, and the flesh tones are all over the place. __________________ My Amazon.com reviews

11-09-10, 02:33 PM	#28
vienna Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Anywhere but the here & now... Posts: 7,507 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	It all goes back to what was discussed earlier in the thread: garbage in, garbage out. The quality of the original will most often dictate the quality of the copy. I once worked with someone who was really looking forward to seeing classic television series fron the 60's to 80's on DVD thinking there was going to be a dramatic improvement in quality over high-end VHS. When he told told me how disappointed he was in the DVD quality, I asked him which shows he was referring to; almost all of them were sitcoms that has been recorded not on film but on video tape. There is an inherent loss in resolution on video tape over film and the overall effect of a higher resolution conversion is to enhance not just the quality but also the flaws in the original. This also applies to film that is of an earlier origin or for which a pristine negative does not exist. In order to overcome the deficiencies, a very expensive, almost frame by frame, restoration must be done and this is still a very, very expensive and work intensive process. Unless there is a potential profit to be made or unless it is a "labor of love" restoration, the major studios just do not have the incentive to restore the vast majority of films. In the end, if there is an ugly blemish on the original, all BluRay will give you is a higher definition view of the ugly blemish. Last edited by vienna; 11-12-10 at 02:23 PM.

07-26-10, 05:56 PM	#16
vienna Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Anywhere but the here & now... Posts: 7,507 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	frau kaleun: It's good to know there is another Criterion/Kurosawa enthusiast out there and on this fourm. I agree with you: I too have bought a film only to have it later released as a Criterion title. The really god parti s , as you said, they include a great variety of extras in addition to issuing a superior print of a film. My new fear is that now that Criterion is issuing titles on Blu-Ray, I might just have to finally give in and get a Blu-ray player and re-buy all the titles I bought on DVD. Incidentally, "Seven Samurai", "Sanjuro", and "Yojimbo" are available on Blu-Ray from Criterion.

07-27-10, 03:46 PM	#20
vienna Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Anywhere but the here & now... Posts: 7,507 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	I was first introduced to Japanese films when I came to Los Angeles many, many years ago and stumbled upon a small, very old theater in the skid row area of downtown L.A. (no, I was not stumbling because I was a part of Skid Row; the bank I worked for at the time had their data processing center there). It was called the Linda Lea Theater and served the Japanese population of the central area. They showed 3 films a week in 3 different styles: one was an old samurai movie form called "Chambara" that tended to feature older, Kabuki-styled actors and was roughly equiavlent to American Western (cowboy) films; the second was a Yakuza film and these were very violent and bloody; the third film was either a sex farce or a violent sort of film that generally featured something like schoolgirl gangs (think the character of GoGo in the "Kill Bill" film). From this exposure, I searched out other Japanese theaters and progressed to the higher-end films of Kurosawa, Ozu, etc. Alas, the theaters are all gone and now the only time a Japanese film is shown on a big screen is if a revial house type theater has a special showing and these are getting o be fewer and father between. Thankfully, there are VHS, DVD and who knows what other formats are to come. As a side note to the Linda Lea Theater, I read an interview with Quentin Tarantino and he said that he was a regular patron of the Linda Lea and drew inspiration from the films he saw there. Small world, eh? Almost any DVD player can be reprogrammed to be an "all region" player. I posted a link several years ago to a site where you can input the make and model of your player, and if a "hack" exists for it, the site takes you to the postings for that DVD player and tells you how to reprogram the player. The site is: www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks. This is not a piracy site. The people who post there are only passing along the information on how to reprogram the players. Whenever I have had to replace a player, I check first to see if the model I am interested in is listed. I have never had to buy an "all region" and this has enabled me to watch non-USA region discs with no problem at all. In fact, some players, notably Philips players, will even do a conversion from PAL to U.S. standard.

09-18-10, 09:46 PM	#21
desertisland Gunner Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Desert Island Posts: 96 Downloads: 34 Uploads: 0	I'm a little over 40 but I've somehow skipped the DVD age. Now I have some 30 blu-rays but I think only a handful of them are worth buying or repeatedly watchable: Memento -- I think this is Nolan's only "great" film. Ranks first in my favorite movies. The vulnerability of human system of learning; or how our forefathers manipulate us through the indoctrination of history. Messenger -- Only believable version of the Joan of Arc history. I hope more movies are made to challenge accepted history ("Fable agreed upon." -- Napoleon). Alexander Revisited -- Stone's most bashed movie. I admit it works poorly as a movie. Long and winding but not boring. I finish it in two sittings, only way to watch it. Matrix Trilogy -- Satanic version of the Bible: Architect is God who build the perfect world of Eden. Oracle is the Snake who offered Man nothing but Choice. Neo is Christ who rebelled against God and died for Man. Special effects don't hurt, either. Watchmen -- Flawed but I like it for the conscientious account of the Cold War. So what if America had won the Vietnam War? Will it solve all its problems? Strangely applies to today's world. So what if America has won the Cold War? Can be boring. I finish it in two sittings, only way to watch it. Master and Commander -- Not a good movie but I like tall ships and the sounds of cannon. Non-bluray Das Boot -- My rating for this movie has dropped over the years but it still holds emotional values for me. Watch it once in a while. I need a life.

09-19-10, 06:04 AM	#22
Sammi79 XO Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Penzance Posts: 428 Downloads: 272 Uploads: 0	Das Boot DC on blu-ray? groovy, I have still not upgraded yet. I already have the DVD and a old VHS recording of my personal favourite the mini-series which was replayed in the UK 15 or so years back. To my mind it is the single greatest war movie ever made for the accurate portrayal of involved servicemens fears and feelings toward their enemies of that era, and reminds us constantly that we are all human no matter what social/political/national/ideological divisions we decide for ourselves and of course are often decided for us. It matters not which side it is viewed from, it is equally relevant to both. Nice to see people talking about Kurosawas works. 'Throne of Blood' was my favourite especially for the ending scene - human pincushion! I could barely believe that this movie was made in the 50's and how well Shakespeares 'Macbeth' fits into a feudal Japanese setting. All of his films are well beyond their time in terms of screenplay, direction, even FX, they are still comparable to (and in a lot of cases arguably better than) contemporary efforts. Someone mentioned 'Master and Commander' - I held off watching that one for years, I've never been a fan of R.Crowe and the subtitle 'The Far Side of the World' just seemed a little fantastical for my liking. I must say though I thoroughly enjoyed it and have watched it a few times since. It does contain a lot of Hollywood cheesemongering but, It is (I think) a fairly accurate portrayal of a ships crew from that era, and smashing FX when it gets down to the action.

11-08-10, 02:07 PM	#27
Axeman3d Machinist's Mate Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Central Scotland Posts: 127 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 0	I recently helped my cousin set up a home theatre room with an HD projector, a hugely expensive Blu-Ray player and a fancy sound system. He was jealous of my DVD quality set-up and wanted to go the whole hog on new technology and ordered a dose of BR discs to watch. You know what? It wad a big meh for the most part. For all the hype there was little difference in most movies, video or audio. Unless the movie was specifically shot for it very recently, we found it wasn't really worth paying double for a Blu-Ray instead of the DVD. The best by far was a recent concert released by ZZ Top, and that had been specially filmed in hi-def digital with the very best Master audio. You really can see and hear the difference there, but anything filmed more than a year or two ago is a waste of money.