25 Alphaville

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solaris72
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:03 pm
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Re: 25 Alphaville

#76 Post by solaris72 » Tue Jan 13, 2015 10:09 pm


adarkworldandwide
Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2015 11:05 am

Re: 25 Alphaville

#77 Post by adarkworldandwide » Sun Mar 15, 2015 1:46 pm

An interesting Godard essay with two pertinent paragraphs about Alphaville by Jonathan Rosenbaum:

http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/1972/0 ... uc-godard/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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solaris72
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Re: 25 Alphaville

#78 Post by solaris72 » Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:44 pm

If this ever got reissued I would love for Jess Franco's sci-fi ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS (originally titled Cartes sur table) to be included as a special feature. It came out the same year as Alphaville, stars Eddie Constantine (as a detective) and also shares Alphaville's composer Paul Misraki. It was shot in color, but released internationally in B&W. Though hoping Criterion might release a Jess Franco film is probably daft on my part...

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domino harvey
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Re: 25 Alphaville

#79 Post by domino harvey » Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:49 pm

Coming from someone who thinks Jess Franco is without a doubt the worst director I have ever witnessed, I wouldn't be surprised if Criterion released one of his films from a purely business standpoint, as for some godforsaken reason his movies sell really well on Blu-ray

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Boosmahn
Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2017 10:08 pm

Re: 25 Alphaville

#80 Post by Boosmahn » Wed Dec 05, 2018 2:14 pm

Didn't a boutique label acquire the rights to a ton of Jess Franco movies? Was it Arrow? I remember there being a box-set on the horizon but haven't heard anything about it in a while.

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dda1996a
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 6:14 am

Re: 25 Alphaville

#81 Post by dda1996a » Wed Dec 05, 2018 3:59 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:49 pm
Coming from someone who thinks Jess Franco is without a doubt the worst director I have ever witnessed, I wouldn't be surprised if Criterion released one of his films from a purely business standpoint, as for some godforsaken reason his movies sell really well on Blu-ray
Does he not have at least one movie that is worth watching? I disliked Cuadecuc, vampir so I feel less compelled to watch Franco's actual film

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dwk
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm

Re: 25 Alphaville

#82 Post by dwk » Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:27 pm

solaris72 wrote:
Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:44 pm
If this ever got reissued I would love for Jess Franco's sci-fi ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS (originally titled Cartes sur table) to be included as a special feature. It came out the same year as Alphaville, stars Eddie Constantine (as a detective) and also shares Alphaville's composer Paul Misraki. It was shot in color, but released internationally in B&W. Though hoping Criterion might release a Jess Franco film is probably daft on my part...
Kino is releasing Franco's ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS

Orlac
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:29 am

Re: 25 Alphaville

#83 Post by Orlac » Thu Dec 20, 2018 2:42 pm

dda1996a wrote:
Wed Dec 05, 2018 3:59 pm
domino harvey wrote:
Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:49 pm
Coming from someone who thinks Jess Franco is without a doubt the worst director I have ever witnessed, I wouldn't be surprised if Criterion released one of his films from a purely business standpoint, as for some godforsaken reason his movies sell really well on Blu-ray
Does he not have at least one movie that is worth watching? I disliked Cuadecuc, vampir so I feel less compelled to watch Franco's actual film
DIABOLICAL DR. Z is probably his best work

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Banasa
Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2015 12:35 am

Re: 25 Alphaville

#84 Post by Banasa » Fri Dec 21, 2018 10:48 am

Put me on the dr. Z fandom,

Its main benefit is everyone working against Franco. Its main blessing is bettee than good cinematography and a script co-written by Jean-Claude Carrière which makes it less ill to Franco's worse tendacies.

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solaris72
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:03 pm
Location: Baltimore, MD

Re: 25 Alphaville

#85 Post by solaris72 » Fri Dec 21, 2018 8:20 pm

dwk wrote:
Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:27 pm
solaris72 wrote:
Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:44 pm
If this ever got reissued I would love for Jess Franco's sci-fi ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS (originally titled Cartes sur table) to be included as a special feature. It came out the same year as Alphaville, stars Eddie Constantine (as a detective) and also shares Alphaville's composer Paul Misraki. It was shot in color, but released internationally in B&W. Though hoping Criterion might release a Jess Franco film is probably daft on my part...
Kino is releasing Franco's ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS
Wouldn't you know it, they're also releasing Alphaville....

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hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
Location: NYC

Re: 25 Alphaville

#86 Post by hearthesilence » Wed Apr 19, 2023 6:07 pm

Apparently there’s a NEW 4K restoration that’s premiering at MoMA tonight:

“World premiere of new 4K restoration from the original 35mm negative made by Studiocanal at Hiventy, with the support of the CNC.”

Unexpected because Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray (released in July 2019) is also sourced from what was then a “brand-new 4K restoration” that replaced another digital restoration from 2014. Is this possibly the same restoration being shown at MoMA and mistakenly listed as a premiere?

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hearthesilence
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Re: 25 Alphaville

#87 Post by hearthesilence » Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:22 am

I ended up going to the screening, and it was kind of a big deal - it kicked off the Rialto 25 retrospective (even though there was a 35mm screening of Quai des Orfèvres preceding it in the smaller theater 2). Dave Kehr introduced Bruce Goldstein who himself gave an intro (after stating he has a policy that intros should never last more than 5 minutes). Turns out it is indeed a brand-new restoration, and he says it went straight from the lab to MoMA so we were the "first people in the entire universe" to see it. FWIW, he also added that MoMA granted his request to move this screening from theater 2 to theater 1, and he made that request because apparently theater 1 is the ONLY theater from his childhood that still screens movies in NYC. He recalled his father taking him to see the silent version of Robin Hood there with live piano accompaniment, and the art deco exit signs apparently have not changed since then.

I looked at Kino's Blu-ray when I got home, and it's not going to be a precise comparison because the Blu-ray is obviously going to fall short due to the lower resolution and dynamic range. The DCP had a title card that clearly explains the 35mm OCN was restored, then scanned in 4K, and then restored again digitally. The Blu-ray doesn't have any additional info, much less a title card, about the 4K restoration it used, but it's clear it's not as meticulous - lots more specks and dirt, especially in the dark scenes (like when they walk into a room at night and the lights are still off), and I think the new restoration that was screened tonight also stabilized the locked down shots that had some unintentional shakiness.

The new restoration has one more screening scheduled at MoMA, then it will screen sometime in the future at Film Forum, but I'm sure StudioCanal will release it as a UHD. A side-by-side comparison may show that the look is very similar, but removing the blemishes is no small improvement.

Rupert Pupkin
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2005 9:34 am

Re: 25 Alphaville

#88 Post by Rupert Pupkin » Thu Apr 20, 2023 2:53 am

I had bought a Japanese Blu-Ray of "Alphaville" (with the StudioCanal logo I think, on the back cover); this is the old transfer ? It looked really good though; like "Une Femme est Infâme" which I had bought in Japan too on Blu-ray (not the same editor/label).

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hearthesilence
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Location: NYC

Re: 25 Alphaville

#89 Post by hearthesilence » Fri Dec 15, 2023 5:41 pm

That new 4K restoration of Alphaville I posted about in April is getting a theatrical run at IFC Center. Opens today.

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