Peckinpah's CROSS OF IRON plus documentary

[T.H.]

Thanks for sharing that. Do you know if any other Peckinpah movies are scheduled for a bluray release?

I haven't heard anything about Cable Hogue, Alfredo Garcia, Ride the High Country, Pat Garrett and Junior Bonner.

[mike siegel]

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Cross-of-Iron-Blu-ray/21018/#Review

[dave jenkins]

Gotta get this disc: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare5/crossofiron.htm

[franksgrandson]

this is one great movie and the book is even better

[Novecento]

Gotta get this disc: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare5/crossofiron.htm

Just got my copy of this. Worth every penny.

There's some news here..

I abandoned the CROSS docu project due to other
projects that came along last but out of nowhere was approached
to co-produce the UK / German BlueRay. Finally the first worthwhile
presentation of this Peckinpah classic (don't ask me about the
transfer - not my responsibility, I was referring to the supplements)
The release will be very soon (May / June I suppose).

Great supplements Mike! You certainly did the excellent restoration justice. 

[mike siegel]

Thanks!
I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Next will be a book on the Films of Steve McQueen

[dave jenkins]

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Cross-of-Iron-Blu-ray/131455/#Review

Hen's Tooth has confirmed that the transfer used for their 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is the same one created by Studiocanal and used by Optimum for the 2011 Region B-locked disc previously reviewed by Blu-ray.com. The image on the new Blu-ray reflects the same virtues described on the earlier disc: a film-like appearance with a natural and well-resolved grain structure and no indication of DNR or filtering; consistent contrast levels and densities; and only an occasional, barely noticeable hint of sharpening in some of the darker scenes. Studiocanal did a nice job removing dirt, scratches and other age-related damage, and Hen's Tooth Blu-ray reaps the advantages of their efforts. The only issue that distinguishes the new Blu-ray from its Region B predecessor is more aggressive compression, with Hen's Tooth's bitrate averaging 18.00 Mbps, compared to Optimum's 31.99. The compressionist appears to have done a capable job, but there is no obvious reason to strive for such tight constraints when there's a vast expanse of unused space (over 10 GB) on the BD-50.

[Novecento]

It will be nice if what is arguably Peckinpah's best and most underrated film gets some more respect as a result of this release. I wonder why it took so long?

[mike siegel]

The US CROSS OF IRON is finally out I hear. It contains all my supplements frommy European / Japanese co-productions (minus the German 35mm print I'm afraid):

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Cross-of-Iron-Blu-ray/131455/#Review

[cigar joe]

The US CROSS OF IRON is finally out I hear. It contains all my supplements frommy European / Japanese co-productions (minus the German 35mm print I'm afraid):

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Cross-of-Iron-Blu-ray/131455/#Review

Thanks for the heads up Mike.

[Novecento]

"Coquillon and the rest of the creative team created a nearly monochromatic image from the dark earth tones of the battlefields, the dusty soldiers' uniforms and the faces routinely covered in mud. When bright hues sometimes intrude—usually red from blood or the incongruous Nazi flag at the hospital where Steiner recovers or the blanket stretched across his hospital bed—they seem almost out of place."

Personally I really like this color scheme and find it works great. Having said that I remember Mike saying that this was not actually how Coquillon intended it to be seen.

[mike siegel]

I doubt any cinematographer (or film maker for that matter) would want his film to look like this. A mess. I hope one day someone will clean this HD master from that awful overall green filter-look. That's why I included a scan of my 35mm print on the (new) German BD and the deluxe Japanese (3 BD - disc!) Blu-ray, so that people can see how the film looked back in 1977...

[Novecento]

Usually I would agree, but in this case it worked pretty well IMO. Not saying you're wrong since you have the 35mm print to show, but just that I liked the color scheme.

I remember there was some good input by someone over on Blu-ray.com regarding the attempt to get a desaturated look:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=166097&page=5

[dave jenkins]

That's why I included a scan of my 35mm print on the (new) German BD and the deluxe Japanese (3 BD - disc!) Blu-ray, so that people can see how the film looked back in 1977...

3 discs! So, the Japanese set is the best version to own?

[mike siegel]

3 discs! So, the Japanese set is the best version to own?

I will take a look into it on Sunday and will comment on your question .


:Novecento: No,no and no (again ). Of course Peckinpah tried to get a certain look in post-production, and CROSS could have
used a little color grading here and there - now that it's possible, but the BD-look is just impossible. The images are all flat, no debth, nothing...
I understand why some like the new look, it certainly has its kind of atmosphere, but the loss of contrast and depth is just terrible.
Anyway. We might play around with it next year. I saw a test which could result in a great-looking compromise...