Blu-ray re-release of Sergio Leone's The Man With No Name Trilogy

[roger_d]

Title: The Man With No Name Trilogy
Starring: The Man who Actually has a Name in All Three Movies
Released: 3rd June 2014
Further Details:
Fox and MGM sent over info on their Blu-ray re-release of Sergio Leone's The Man With No Name Trilogy, which will include a newly remastered version of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. The specs, as follows, indicate that the Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More discs will be dupes of the 2010 releases. It also appears that the original mono tracks will now be presented in uncompressed DTS-HD Master Audio, but the press release is unclear in this regard (assuming it is accurate, the first two films will include DTS-HD MA mono, but the third will not, which seems unlikely to me). What isn't exactly clear is if the The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly will feature the original cut or the extended cut (it will probably be the extended cut, but would welcome the option for an original cut).

Disc 1: A Fistful of Dollars

•The Christopher Frayling Archives: Fistful of Dollars
•Feature Commentary by noted Film Historian – Sir Christopher Frayling
•A New Kind of Hero
•A Few Weeks in Spain: Clint Eastwood on the Experience of Making the Film
•Tre Voci: Fistful of Dollars
•Not Ready for Primetime: Renowned filmmaker Monte Hellman discusses the television broadcast of A Fistful of Dollars
•The Network Prologue - with Harry Dean Stanton
•Location Comparisons
•10 Radio Spots
•Double Bill Trailer
•Fistful of Dollars Trailer

Disc 2: For a Few Dollars More

•The Christopher Frayling Archives: For a Few Dollars More
•Feature Commentary by noted Film Historian – Sir Christopher Frayling
•A New Standard: Frayling on For a Few Dollars More
•Back for More: Clint Eastwood remembers For a Few Dollars More
•Tre Voci: For a Few Dollars More
•For a Few Dollars More: The Original American Release Version
•Location Comparisons
•12 Radio spots
•Theatrical Trailer

Disc 3: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly: Remastered

•Leone's West
•The Leone Style
•The Man Who Lost the Civil War
•Reconstructing The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
•Il Maestro: Ennio Morricone and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Part One
•Il Maestro: Ennio Morricone and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Part Two
•Deleted Scenes
◦Extended Tuco Torture Scene
◦The Socorro Sequence: A Reconstruction
•Vignettes
◦Uno, Due, Tre
◦Italian Lunch
◦New York Actor
◦Gun in Holster
•Audio Commentary from Film Historian Richard Schickel
•Audio Commentary from Christopher Frayling
•Original Theatrical Trailer
•French Trailer

[drinkanddestroy]

so if I already own the previous MGM Dollars trilogy on BRD, then  for this new release I should only get the GBU disc since FOD/FAFDM discs are the same as the previous release?

[dave jenkins]

so if I already own the previous MGM Dollars trilogy on BRD, then  for this new release I should only get the GBU disc since FOD/FAFDM discs are the same as the previous release?

You have to make your own calculation. Currently, the imported GBU discs are more expensive than the domestic box set, so if your ONLY consideration is price, you should buy the box set. But in another year MGM is probably going to come back at you to buy a NEW box set, which will include all the restorations playing at Cannes this year. How many box sets do you want to own? And anyway, the stand-alone GBU being offered in Europe comes in a cool Steelbook. My solution--obviously, not everyone's--is to get the GBU steelbook now, and wait for the future MGM box of all the restored films.

[drinkanddestroy]

You have to make your own calculation. Currently, the imported GBU discs are more expensive than the domestic box set, so if your ONLY consideration is price, you should buy the box set. But in another year MGM is probably going to come back at you to buy a NEW box set, which will include all the restorations playing at Cannes this year. How many box sets do you want to own? And anyway, the stand-alone GBU being offered in Europe comes in a cool Steelbook. My solution--obviously, not everyone's--is to get the GBU steelbook now, and wait for the future MGM box of all the restored films.

price isn't the only consideration; I want to own every version of a Leone film available in Region A. (And I don't wanna wait a year). And I don't give a damn about a steelbook, unless it comes with really cool stuff.

So, to clarify, two questions:
A) Is this new version of GBU being released by MGM is the same version being offered in Europe in the steelbook?
B) Is the European steelbook of GBU region-free?


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on an unrelated note: on Beaver's GBU BRD page http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare3/goodbadugly.htm he lists the European Fox Pathe Europa BRD from 2008 but not the MGM BRD: he just says he believes the releases will be the same, and that he will compare when the MGM version is released, to make sure it is indeed the same. Well, Beaver, it's now 5 years later and you still haven't compared? Even if it is indeed the same, at least post a follow-up note confirming that it is the same, which would mean that e.g. all the screencaps you posted for that European BRD are the same as the MGM one.
Anyway, can anyone confirm if that Fox Pathe Europa BRD is indeed identical to the MGM BRD that was released a few years ago?

[Sundance]

on an unrelated note: on Beaver's GBU BRD page http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare3/goodbadugly.htm he lists the European Fox Pathe Europa BRD from 2008 but not the MGM BRD: he just says he believes the releases will be the same, and that he will compare when the MGM version is released, to make sure it is indeed the same. Well, Beaver, it's now 5 years later and you still haven't compared? Even if it is indeed the same, at least post a follow-up note confirming that it is the same, which would mean that e.g. all the screencaps you posted for that European BRD are the same as the MGM one.
Anyway, can anyone confirm if that Fox Pathe Europa BRD is indeed identical to the MGM BRD that was released a few years ago?

I have the French Pathe disc somewhere and it looks like shit and all the screenshots from the MGM discs I have seen look the same (as far as I can remember ).

[drinkanddestroy]

Speaking of red tinges etc.

I own both the MGM and Ripley's BRD's of FOD.  Beaver has four sets of screencap comparisons between the two versions (first 4 caps at this page http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_reviews51/man_with_no_name_trilogy_blu-ray.htm to me, in the third set, the Ripley's version looks so much better; the mountains and trees are so much nicer, a beautiful shade of green; the MGM colors look faded by comparison. Anyway...)
point is, people complain about the red-tinged MGM BRD of GBU, but to me, looking at the screencap comparisons of the FOD BRD, doesn't the Ripley's version look red-tinged compared with the MGM version?

(on another note: I love the Ripley's, think it looks beautiful, but if you compare the two discs, it seems to my completely untrained eye that perhaps the colors on the MGM look a little faded, but the colors on the Ripley's look fake, like it was "enhanced" in later; I wasn't alive in 1964, but I really wonder if the film actually looked anything close to the Ripley's colors when it was released....

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Anyway, sometimes I think we can all go crazy analyzing these color tinges and wondering which is more authentic, etc. I'm gonna get myself a headache with all this analysis about color this and color that and tinge this and filter that and authentic this and authentic that. Sad to say, there really is no way to know what's more authentic, so sometimes I just have these dirty thoughts of heresy, and wonder if the best attitude may just be: fuck authenticity, fuck worrying about what Leone would say, everyone just watch whichever version they like best  

[dave jenkins]

price isn't the only consideration; I want to own every version of a Leone film available in Region A. (And I don't wanna wait a year). And I don't give a damn about a steelbook, unless it comes with really cool stuff.

So, to clarify, two questions:
A) Is this new version of GBU being released by MGM is the same version being offered in Europe in the steelbook?
B) Is the European steelbook of GBU region-free?

Answers:
A) Probably. We won't know for sure until they're all released.
B) Probably not. We won't know for sure until they're all released.

[drinkanddestroy]

aiight, then I guess I'll just have to get the new version of GBU.

For Leone only, I'll buy all the shit, just to have it. Wouldn't do that for anything else. Even for Casablanca, I only own one (bare-bones) BRD 

[drinkanddestroy]

Speaking of red tinges etc.

I own both the MGM and Ripley's BRD's of FOD.  Beaver has four sets of screencap comparisons between the two versions (first 4 caps at this page http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_reviews51/man_with_no_name_trilogy_blu-ray.htm to me, in the third set, the Ripley's version looks so much better; the mountains and trees are so much nicer, a beautiful shade of green; the MGM colors look faded by comparison. Anyway...)
point is, people complain about the red-tinged MGM BRD of GBU, but to me, looking at the screencap comparisons of the FOD BRD, doesn't the Ripley's version look red-tinged compared with the MGM version?

(on another note: I love the Ripley's, think it looks beautiful, but if you compare the two discs, it seems to my completely untrained eye that perhaps the colors on the MGM look a little faded, but the colors on the Ripley's look fake, like it was "enhanced" in later; I wasn't alive in 1964, but I really wonder if the film actually looked anything close to the Ripley's colors when it was released....

DJ, I'm specifically wondering what you think of the Ripley's BRD of FOD. I know you ordered it, you never told me what you thought of it. Cuz you've been bashing the red tinges in GBU; well, if you compare the Ripley's FOD to the MGM FOD as in Beaver's screencaps I linked to above, I think there is a red tinge in Ripley's as well.


anyway, My head is starting to swim with all this shit. I think I may just take a vacation from these speculation threads until the discs are released, then find out what they ACTUALLY look like once they are on the market 

[dave jenkins]

DJ, I'm specifically wondering what you think of the Ripley's BRD of FOD. I know you ordered it, you never told me what you thought of it. Cuz you've been bashing the red tinges in GBU; well, if you compare the Ripley's FOD to the MGM FOD as in Beaver's screencaps I linked to above, I think there is a red tinge in Ripley's as well.

Yes, I liked the Ripley's for the image details, but I thought it was too red. Especially the skin tones--they're wrong. If the new version puts a more natural complexion on Eastwood I'll be happy--even if it means surrendering blue skies. Why can't we have  both blue skies and correct skin tones? Dunno. Maybe some day . . .

[noodles_leone]

Why can't we have  both blue skies and correct skin tones? Dunno. Maybe some day . . .

We can, it's just longer. Skin tones is often what limits the manipulations of colors in a shot. You have to color correct differently some parts of each shot, which is as fastidious as it gets.

On a side note, usually, what you're trying to achieve is:

1 - natural skin tones
2 - white being actually white
3 - black being actually black (this one is less used nowadays because of the limitations of some digital cameras, I can develop that if you want but it has nothing to do with Leone films)
4 - blue sky

If you follow these 4 rules, you can  be pretty creative and get away with pretty much anything. I wouldn't be half as bothered with the upcoming "special DJ" yellow edition of GBU if these rules were followed (they're not: the sky is yellow, the skins are yellow).  It doesn't mean you have to always follow these rules, it means that if you don't, you better know exactly what you are doing. And a camera assistant vaguely remembering that Leone asked for a yellow look does not mean Leone wanted yellow skins (because he did NOT, he just told me).

[dave jenkins]

I wouldn't be half as bothered with the upcoming "special DJ" yellow edition of GBU if these rules were followed (they're not: the sky is yellow, the skins are yellow). 

You're just miffed because you invested so heavily in the pink-and-blue telecine industry. Now that fashions are changing, all your stocks have fallen and there will be no trip to Ibiza this year. Go on and cry, Bitter Ender.

[noodles_leone]

Fashion is a circle. Pink-and-blue will come back. I just have to hold on until then. In 5 years from now, I'll be the new Bill Gates.

[dave jenkins]

Fashion is a circle. Pink-and-blue will come back. I just have to hold on until then. In 5 years from now, I'll be the new Bill Gates.

You'll be the new Iguanadon. Physical media will be over. Streaming video will be the only option, and the gatekeepers will not give up the only color palette they've ever known. The urine-veiled world is here to stay.

[noodles_leone]

You'll be the new Iguanadon.

They've been calling Clint that since 1971.