MovieChat Forums > Der Dibuk (1938) Discussion > Good movie, bad DVD

Good movie, bad DVD

posted 17 years ago by tgemberl
2 replies | jump to latest

I just got the DVD from MoviesUnlimited for about $45. I wish I had looked at Amazon.com before ordering it. They have copies of DVD's of this, new, for about $15. I wouldn't say I regret buying it, because it is a wonderful, haunting film, but $45 is a lot for the edition I got, since it gives no ability to choose scenes, no extras, or anything. And it's also very rough, with the film getting "frozen" and almost quitting at one point. I realize this is a very old film, and it's helpful that they were able to restore it as well as they did, but when you compare it with another I got from MoviesUnlimited, The fall of Berlin (Russian, 1949), which I paid $36 for, this DVD is definitely inferior. The fall of Berlin is really worth that money.

I notice the edition for sale on Amazon.com has a different publisher, Bel Canto Society, and different cover art. Who knows, though, maybe the DVD would be no better. It's hard to imagine that it could be worse!

"Extremism in the pursuit of moderation is no vice."

[–] on3gin 10 years ago

The Bel Canto DVD, which I got from Netflix, is also rather poor in quality. It looks like it was made long before 1937, i.e. it is overexposed and has scratchy sound. The English subtitles are often illegible when they are in white letters on a white background. The entire first scene in the synagogue has no subtitles at all, and the rest are sporadic. You'd really have to understand Yiddish to appreciate this film. Too bad.

[–] petrilloi 10 years ago

Real sorry you've already been burned, but I have an excellent titled copy of this for a reasonable price. If interested email: [email protected].