Rules of the Game CC: delayed, but with good reason!

[whaaat]

From the Criterion Collection's website:
Jean Renoir's classic The Rules of the Game had been slated for release at the end of 2003, but that will change thanks to the discovery this week of a film element previously thought to be lost. Criterion's staff had already spent months on the new high-definition master that was to be at the heart of a two-disc special edition when a French lab finally unearthed the fine-grain master of the reconstructed version, one generation closer to the original than anything previously available. A similar discovery delayed the release of another Renoir classic, Grand Illusion, intended to be Criterion's first release. Expect The Rules of the Game in early 2004.
I've been dying for this release ever since I checked the old CC laserdisc out from my school's library a couple of years ago. Glad to see that even though they'd already made a high-def master from the (previously) best available elements, they didn't just say "screw it" and release it anyways. :thumbsup:

[Ed Bishop]

That is great news! I do wish they'd offer the subtitles optionally, though....too many full-frame foreign films use(generally)white or yellow subs, but they get in the way of the image....for some films, you can study the dialogue and watch without even knowing the language. Bergman's PERSONA is just such a film; once you've seen the subtitles, you really don't need them again, it's just too visual a story. Nice, though, that they're going to remaster from a better neg; should be well worth the wait!:)


ED:cool:

[whaaat]

All of the CC discs of foreign films that I have so far have removable (white) subs...

[JohnG]

Just watched Rules Of The Gametoday on DVD from Netflix.

Hard to believe after seeing it today that it was considered a colossal failure in 1939.

Generally the movie is about a couple of "romantic triangles" that occur among the rich class in France. Yes the rich can look silly but they are no different to the travails of love then the poor are.

Pleasant film but seems to be a bit over-rated as a cinematic epic.

[Tim Casey]

I've watched it maybe ten times in my life so far, and each time I enjoy it more. Ain't much of an epic, though - just a wonderful film.

The extras showing the differences between Renoir's edited cut and the reconstruction from 1959 (?) were fascinating. I had first seen it in the shorter version in college, and Renoir's character seemed a bit like an a**hole. When I finally saw the Criterion laserdisc, he seemed like such a great guy! It was confusing to me - I thought I was just seeing him in a different light due to my maturity. Now I find that it was due to the difference in the two cuts.

That's great - I really feel uncomfortable when I'm presented with evidence that I may have actually matured.... ;)

[Ken_McAlinden]

Their first Renoir DVD, The Grand Illusion was also delayed. It was given spine number 001, but its release was delayed over a year because a better element for transfer was discovered. It was worth the wait when it came out, though. I will have to check out "Rules..." soon.

Regards,

[dbryant]

Just bought the DVD the other day, it looks great. I'd never seen it on any form of home video, just old prints in theaters, so this was wonderful.

The extras, especially some filmed interviews with Renoir, were very interesting and informative, but the commentary on the film itself was a little disappointing. On a previous ROTG thread, I think I recommended the Renoir book by Alexander Sesonske. For the commentary, Peter Bogdanovich reads the ROTG essay from Sesonske's book! Is that what's on the laser disc too? Long sentences, obviously not meant to be read out loud, but he just plows right through. There's a lot more to the ROTG chapter in the book, so I think that's still indispensible. I found it very hard to follow as a real time commentary. Too bad, as Bogdanovich's comments in the accompanying documentary are very entertaining. It's a deep film, but a more spontaneous approach on the commentary could've gone a long way toward opening it up for people.

[Tim Casey]

It really doesn't amount to much, but wasn't the DVD packaging impressive?

[dbryant]

It really doesn't amount to much, but wasn't the DVD packaging impressive?

I should leave that for younger eyes to judge. ;) I'm just starting to need my first pair of middle-age reading glasses, and there's a lot of tiny white print on mottled gray backgrounds. I did think they struck a good balance between a contemporary look and evoking the time period of the film.