135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

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dwk
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#76 Post by dwk » Sun Jul 02, 2017 3:25 pm

Criterion has added a new special feature to Rebecca:
  • Daphne du Maurier: In the Footsteps of “Rebecca,” a 2016 French television documentary
and "Television interviews with Hitchcock and Fontaine from 1973 and 1980" has been changed to
  • Hitchcock interviewed by Tom Snyder on a 1973 episode of NBC’s Tomorrow
  • Tomorrow interview with Fontaine from 1980

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Lowry_Sam
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#77 Post by Lowry_Sam » Sun Jul 02, 2017 6:45 pm

First no Mildred Fierce, now no Rebecky, Criterion is really slacking in the extras department. :cry:

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FrauBlucher
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#78 Post by FrauBlucher » Wed Aug 09, 2017 8:46 pm


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Apperson
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#79 Post by Apperson » Thu Aug 10, 2017 6:53 am

FrauBlucher wrote:Beaver.... By his caps it looks much better than the MGM. Can't wait for this. \:D/
C'mon, Rebeaver was right there for the taking.

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FrauBlucher
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#80 Post by FrauBlucher » Thu Aug 10, 2017 7:24 am

Apperson wrote:
FrauBlucher wrote:Beaver.... By his caps it looks much better than the MGM. Can't wait for this. \:D/
C'mon, Rebeaver was right there for the taking.
Nah, that stuff bores me.

Costa
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#81 Post by Costa » Thu Aug 10, 2017 7:34 am

FrauBlucher wrote:Beaver.... By his caps it looks much better than the MGM. Can't wait for this. \:D/
I hope this is NOT how the Criterion looks and it's due to the jpeg compression. The black dress on the left is all blocky!:
Image

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dwk
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#82 Post by dwk » Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:26 am


Wittsdream
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#83 Post by Wittsdream » Sun Oct 01, 2017 12:32 pm

I bypassed the original MGM Blu-Ray release of "Notorious" (before it went OOP), and recently watched a Netflix rental of it. The image was better than I was expecting (high bit-rate, etc.), but could use some improvements, based on the recent restoration.

Considering the title has been part of the Criterion Collection in various prior incarnations (laserdisc and DVD), and is now technically OOP in North America, what is the scuttlebutt about it being picked up, ala Rebecca, in the immediate future as a special edition Blu-Ray?

Should I just pick up the MGM BR edition fetching high dollars on Amazon, or wait it out for a superior Criterion stand-along BR?

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swo17
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#84 Post by swo17 » Sun Oct 01, 2017 12:39 pm

I'd wait to buy but not necessarily rush to sell.

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colinr0380
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#85 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Jul 08, 2018 5:47 am

Watching Rebecca with the isolated music and score track (which highlights how well it plays as a silent film! Especially the amusing alternation between swelling chords for the burgeoning romance and comic-wacky foolish underscore for Mrs Van Hopper's scenes, which subliminally helps to undermine her pomposity! That gets replaced by the romance alternating with brooding darkness once Max's brooding thoughts and Mrs Danvers' antagonist comes up as the new threats), I also found myself focusing on other aspects of the film, such as the way that the servant Frith contrasts with Mrs Danvers nicely in the early scenes. Both are doing what 'the first Mrs de Winter' did in her absence but Mrs Danvers, despite a veneer of deference to the new lady of the house, wants things to stay the same whilst Frith is more than happy to have a new, living Mrs de Winter to set the agenda again, and will change to accommodate that. Perhaps the in between figure of those two is the dog, who is able to be totally standoffish at first without having to keep that veneer of respect up, but who eventually comes to love his new mistress.

Also strangely I think Rebecca and Psycho have a few things in common. They both have a man tormented by the ghostly presence of the previous woman in his life which is causing him trouble in his latest relationship! Who he may or may not have murdered! (Only made stronger when Psycho reveals its previous woman to be just as much of a figment of the imagination as Rebecca is at this point!) There is a bit of a twist in that the 'gothic old mansion' of Manderley is the facade of normality and proper behaviour in Rebecca, with the fisherman's hut furnished into a modern styled adulterous boudoir being the heart of corruption; whilst of course in Psycho the blandly functional modern motel is the surface whilst the old dark mansion on the hill is where all of the old secrets of the past are contained. (Though both of the places containing dark secrets are bedrooms in some fashion!)

I suppose that we could even see Max's sister and brother-in-law coming to view his new wife as similar to the Vera Miles and John Gavin characters, in being too modern and forward in attitude and behaviour for their surroundings, though that might be pushing it! I also suppose that the George Sanders character in Rebecca is the true gauche force of modernity and crude modern attitudes to the world, which makes an interesting contrast to "I" feeling gauche and uncultured in polite society at first eventually being much more suited to being the lady of the house than even Rebecca really was! (Whilst Rebecca and Mrs Danvers in some ways come to be trapped inside Manderley as ghosts at the end, I do not get the sense that "I" will really need a Manderley to affirm her status, as long as she and Maxim are in love and have each other) "I" grows up, but perhaps not in the way Maxim feared of becoming a 'modern, sexual, adulterous' woman, instead in terms of becoming more self-assured about her right to exist in her world even against the vocal protests of others at her unsuitability!

Though of course Psycho is just as much carrying forward themes from Vertigo: the re-creation of a woman in Vertigo becomes the man actually becoming the female figure he is obsessed with himself, cutting out the middle woman! Though maybe the inquest sequence in Rebecca bears comparison to that of Vertigo, with the triggering of blackmail through to neat resolution in Rebecca becoming in Vertigo the climax of a murder plot carried out which leaves Scottie in a completely resolution-less state of anxiety, rather like the suicidal state that Maxim is in at the opening of Rebecca and something which is perhaps a more cruel and callous act than the murder of the wife! Rebecca's authorities comfort after a period of instability; Vertigo's authority figures are clueless rubber stampers imperfectly trying to neatly tie up events they have failed to understand (as perhaps is Psycho's psychiatrist at the end of that film)

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FrauBlucher
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#86 Post by FrauBlucher » Sun Jul 08, 2018 9:13 am

An excellent read. Thanks for that.

John Shade
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#87 Post by John Shade » Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:07 pm

colinr0380 wrote:
Sun Jul 08, 2018 5:47 am
Though of course Psycho is just as much carrying forward themes from Vertigo: the re-creation of a woman in Vertigo becomes the man actually becoming the female figure he is obsessed with himself, cutting out the middle woman! Though maybe the inquest sequence in Rebecca bears comparison to that of Vertigo, with the triggering of blackmail through to neat resolution in Rebecca becoming in Vertigo the climax of a murder plot carried out which leaves Scottie in a completely resolution-less state of anxiety, rather like the suicidal state that Maxim is in at the opening of Rebecca and something which is perhaps a more cruel and callous act than the murder of the wife! Rebecca's authorities comfort after a period of instability; Vertigo's authority figures are clueless rubber stampers imperfectly trying to neatly tie up events they have failed to understand (as perhaps is Psycho's psychiatrist at the end of that film)
Really enjoyed all of this post, but during my most recent viewing I was thinking of it much more in connection with Vertigo (you nicely point out so many aspects between this and Psycho). While I love Rebecca, I always feel a little let down during the trial sequence. I can't quite explain my frustration--like the wind gets knocked out of it--whereas in Vertigo the trial sequence is in the middle and nicely sets up the ensuing insanity. If I remember right, Hitchcock wasn't necessarily that satisfied by this film? Why is that? What might have been the more obvious Hitch touches or changes had he full control?

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swo17
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#88 Post by swo17 » Mon Oct 15, 2018 5:16 pm


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domino harvey
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#89 Post by domino harvey » Mon Oct 15, 2018 6:28 pm

The following features are not carried over by the new Notorious edition:
• Rare production, publicity, rear projection photos, as well as promotional posters and lobby cards
• Production correspondence
• Script excerpts of deleted scenes and alternate endings
• Excerpts from the short story "The Song of the Dragon," source material for Notorious
• Rare newsreel footage of Bergman and Hitchcock
• Liner notes by Hitchcock scholar William Rothman, author of the landmark study Hitchcock: The Murderous Gaze
• Isolated music score and effects track
We also do not get the two commentaries carried from the MGM disc (but given they're by Drew Casper and Rick Jewell, that may be a small loss-- I'm not sure I ever listened to them...) or the Truffaut and Bogdanovich interview excerpts

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Gregory
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#90 Post by Gregory » Mon Oct 15, 2018 6:33 pm

It's been over a year and a half since I sold my MGM blu-ray for big bux (© domino harvey), anticipating this release, so I was getting antsy for this announcement. And I never sold my old Criterion DVD, keeping it for the extras, so I'm very happy right now.

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Kirkinson
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#91 Post by Kirkinson » Mon Oct 15, 2018 6:54 pm

"1948 newsreel footage of actor Ingrid Bergman and Hitchcock" is listed in the new features, so assuming that's the same "rare newsreel footage" from the older edition, that was also carried over. Still weird to see all the other stuff dropped, though.

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dwk
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#92 Post by dwk » Mon Oct 15, 2018 7:10 pm

Most of the missing extras appear to be still galleries. Since those rarely get carried over, it isn't a surprise that they've been dropped.

Gerald Christie
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#93 Post by Gerald Christie » Mon Oct 15, 2018 8:02 pm

Were the audio commentaries any good? For the life of me I can't remember a thing of Behlmer's and I seem to recall Marian Keans wasn't any good.

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Mr Sausage
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#94 Post by Mr Sausage » Thu Oct 18, 2018 6:24 am

Behlmer's is informative with lots of production detail. Keane's is a long running joke around here.

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domino harvey
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#95 Post by domino harvey » Thu Oct 18, 2018 12:42 pm

Well, part of the reason it's a joke is that a certain contingent of anti-academia posters, many of whom don't post here anymore, lashed out at it. It's a perfectly serviceable close reading

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Mr Sausage
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#96 Post by Mr Sausage » Thu Oct 18, 2018 1:29 pm

I think it’s been a joke since at least the previous version of this forum, and may even extend back to the EZBoard days. It hasn’t always been the domain of anti-acadamia posters.

Admittedly I haven’t listened to it in a long time, but I remember it epitomizing certain excesses that academic criticism is often stereotyped for, like over-reading and over-seriousness, especially its po-faced attempts to turn every upright structure and object into a phallus.

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domino harvey
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#97 Post by domino harvey » Thu Oct 18, 2018 1:34 pm

I think it was perfectly fair for her to point out all of the dildos Claude Rains keeps in plain sight

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movielocke
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#98 Post by movielocke » Thu Oct 18, 2018 2:24 pm

domino harvey wrote:I think it was perfectly fair for her to point out all of the dildos Claude Rains keeps in plain sight
Now that sounds like something drew Casper would claim.

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andyli
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#99 Post by andyli » Sun Dec 16, 2018 6:02 am


mteller
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Re: 135-137 Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious

#100 Post by mteller » Mon Dec 17, 2018 6:04 pm


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