MovieChat Forums > The Go-Between (1971) Discussion > Any info on the Region 2 new DVD release...

Any info on the Region 2 new DVD release?

posted 17 years ago by neil57
4 replies | jump to latest

I am located in the US and I noticed that Amazon's UK site is selling a Julie Christie Collection with this film (also "Far from the Madding Crowd", "Darling" and "Billy Liar"). I know the last UK release of this film (as well as "Madding Crowd") had a cropped picture. Did they issue this release in the original aspect ratio or is it just the same poor quality prints collected into a new box? I don't want to buy this if it is not an improvement from the earlier version. Thanks for any information.

[–] neil57 17 years ago

A poster on Amazon.UK's site confirmed that the version of the film in the new Julie Christie colleciton is cropped, not widescreen and a "muddy" print at that. Obviously not worth the money. It's a shame that there isn't a company out there that cares enough to issue a decent DVD version.

[–] Tryavna 17 years ago

As I just posted in another thread, the UK DVD is not "cropped." Rather, it is open-matte -- meaning that we're seeing information at the top and bottom of the screen that the director intended to be masked out when projected at 1.66:1 in cinemas. It's still a mistake, but it's nowhere nearly as bad as cropping a 2.35:1 widescreen film into a pan-and-scan version.

I'd agree that the print is "muddy," and the DVD seems to be poorly encoded (with several instances of pixelation). Kind of surprising from Optimum, who otherwise do pretty decent work. But it's a great movie and can be picked up regularly from Amazon.uk for less than five pounds. At least, it's a good stop-gap until Sony or Lionsgate release it here in America. (I'm not sure if it's Columbia or Studio Canal property over here.)

[–] john-j-nelson 16 years ago

Having just bought the DVD, I can confirm that it is 4:3 open-matte. Furthermore, it looks fine zooomed in on a 16:9 display, so unless you're watching on a 4:3 set, you've effectively got a non-anamorphic widescreen version of the film.

Given the choice of this or not owning the film at all, I'll settle for this release :)

Obviously anamorphic, extras etc. would be nice. I await with hope :)

A.

[–] neil57 16 years ago

Thanks for the information. Some one picked up the DVD for me while on vacation in the UK last month, but I have held back on watching it. I will try with the zoom mode and see how it looks.