German Cocteau Edition (Orphee, L'aigle, Parents terribles)

[Tommaso]

Already briefly mentioned in the "Beauty and the Beast" thread: there will be a new 3-disc set of Cocteau films out in Germany shortly via Pierrot le Fou/Alamode Films. Release date is October, 2, but as it already has been pushed back several times after it was first listed a few months ago, better take this with a grain of salt.

Contents are "Orphée", "L'aigle a deux tetes" and "Les parents terribles"; the last two making their dvd debut in the western world as far as I can see. However, the edition will only have German subs, unfortunately.

A good range of extras, though (culled from alamode's page):
Trailer (3 Minuten), Audiokommentar „Orphée“ von Regieassistent Claude Pinoteau (95 Minuten), Dokumentation: Special Effects bei Cocteau (13 Minuten), Interview mit Cocteaus Nichte Dominique Marny( 27 Minuten)

The set is up for pre-order at jpc.

I'll keep you informed about that set.

[HerrSchreck]

Thanks for the head's up, Tom. Also anticipated any possible release of the Dellanoy/Cocteau l'eternel retour. I have access to a decent print of the latter, but nary even a crappy set of fansubs. What I wouldn't do for a subtitled edition of this marvelous film....

Parents should look fabulous-- the copy I have from the Russian edition (which David mentioned on the Belle et la Bete thread) is indeed quite good, and with decent subs.

[Tommaso]

I'm looking very much forward to see "Parents" again indeed (I was fully unaware of that Russian disc). I've only seen it once years ago, and was surprised how 'different' it looked from other Cocteaus; a real 'Kammerspiel' if I recall correctly.

I have "Retour" on a Korean disc (probably a port/bootleg from the OOP Japanese disc), which looks OK but uses a very torn print and also has no subs (despite the cover saying otherwise). As I said before in the "Beauty and the Beast" thread: it's beyond me why nobody apparently wants to release the new French resto (out on disc in France already) in an English-friendly edition. I mean, if it's not CC, then it should at least be done by Optimum. Or, of course, MoC.

[gyorgys]

Already briefly mentioned in the "Beauty and the Beast" thread: there will be a new 3-disc set of Cocteau films out in Germany shortly via Pierrot le Fou/Alamode Films. Release date is October, 2, but as it already has been pushed back several times after it was first listed a few months ago, better take this with a grain of salt.

Contents are "Orphée", "L'aigle a deux tetes" and "Les parents terribles"; the last two making their dvd debut in the western world as far as I can see. However, the edition will only have German subs, unfortunately.

A good range of extras, though (culled from alamode's page):
Trailer (3 Minuten), Audiokommentar „Orphée“ von Regieassistent Claude Pinoteau (95 Minuten), Dokumentation: Special Effects bei Cocteau (13 Minuten), Interview mit Cocteaus Nichte Dominique Marny( 27 Minuten)

The set is up for pre-order at jpc.

I'll keep you informed about that set.

Thanks for that Tommaso!

According to Amazon.de the release date is 31 December 2009.

EDIT: Just received from Amazon.de an order-update regarding the Cocteau-3 DVD set (Alamode) with a delivery date of 6-7 October. I bought this set together with the already available Mexico-Luis Buñuel box (5 DVD) from the same distributor.
Thanks again Tommaso for the head's up!

[Tommaso]

Well, amazon changed the release date to 31 December in March of this year or so, when the set - originally announced for April - didn't materialize. There wasn't even a cover design or any other info at the alamode page way back then, whereas now of course there is, although they still give the release date as August 21 (which was roughly when I preordered the item from jpc) . So at the moment I'm more keen to trust jpc with the October 2 date, although perhaps it's just wishful thinking.

EDIT October 1: I just received a dispatch notification from jpc. So it's available for real.

[Tommaso]

As I have received the set now, here are some first impressions. The three discs are housed individually in slim cases, with all the extras being on the "Orphée" disc, which is also available separately. The German subs are optional, white and in a nicely small font. Completely unintrusive, unlike the subs on many an MoC disc, for instance.

I only gave "Orphée" and "Parents" a quick spin to get an idea about the quality. "Orphée" is restored and looks excellent, probably on a par with the CC disc, though I didn't do a side-by-side comparison yet. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said about the two other films. "Parents" seems to look rather grainy, with quite a lot of damage and also rather soft. I will have to watch it in full form to say more about it.

For a start, I watched the complete "L'aigle" last night, and if anything, the print is certainly in even worse condition than "Parents". Debris, scratches, tramlines galore. In this respect, it's certainly not better than the OOP Japanese/Korean disc, it might perhaps even be the same print, dunno ( have already passed-on that disc). The sound of the new edition is far better, though, as the Korean disc was plagued with distortions which are gone now, though there's still quite a lot of crackle on the audio. The transfer itself, however, seems flawless, unmanipulated and rather film-like, though it is also rather on the soft side, which I assume is rather the print's fault. Image is certainly better than on the Korean disc, though. Some moments have great clarity, but others - especially long shots - can look somewhat blurry. So, well then, certainly a disappointment if you expected the film to look anywhere near as good as the other Cocteaus we all cherish, but I suspect very much that there are no better materials out there currently. Unless someone puts up the money to do a full restoration, I assume this is the best the film can currently look. To give you an idea: the disc is probably comparable to an Eclipse release of a Japanese film of the same vintage; which only goes to show that the French didn't necessarily preserve their films any better than the Asians. And after all, it always remains very watchable, and unless you're really picky (which you shouldn't be with films of that age), I see no reason to pass this release by.

As to the film itself: it seems to grow on me every time I re-watch it. This is certainly different from the more famous Cocteaus as it isn't as (self-)centred on the artist and his poetic work, though these themes come into play here, too. Also, it requires a little bit of the usual disbelief suspension plotwise (but so does Cocteau's play on which this is based). But what is really outstanding is Edwige Feuillière's performance in the role of the Queen: Cocteau often portrays somewhat dominant women in his films, but compared to the etherialness of Lee Miller or even Maria Casares, Feuillière is much more earthy and full-blooded and decidedly beautiful. The way she can switch from harshness to deep-felt emotion is stunning, not only in the final scene. and she really steals the show from Marais, who seems a bit wooden in this film. Not far away from Danielle Darrieux in "Madame De...", I thought, and the unusually realistic (for Coctau) set designs have a lushness which also remind me much of late Ophuls now. This has never been among my favourite Cocteaus before, but I now think that it is at least a much underrated film.

I also watched the extras on the "Orphée" disc. While the examination of the special fx offers little that you didn't know before from other docus (though it's well made), I found that interview with Cocteau's niece quite insightful. She talks a lot about Cocteau's personality, his fears and insecurities. Very nice. The Orphée audiocommentary, like all the extras, is in French and is fully subtitled in German, too.

Anyway, despite of the print issues, I'd say this is a classy package all in all, and as said before, there's no real alternative if you want to see "L'aigle" and "Parents" at all. Recommended, then.

[jerome]

There were two new releases of L'Aigle and Les Parents terribles, last month in France by TF1 Video.
I produced both discs which include a new interview of Claude Pinoteau, the first DA of Cocteau.
Les Parents terribles include the never before seen screentests and lighting test of Jean Marais, during 15 minutes.
I discovered them during the research for these releases


with Germaine Dermoz (the part will be played by Yvonne de Bray in the movie)


avec Yvonne de Bray




with Marie Déa (the part will be played by Josette Day in the movie

[tojoed]

There were two new releases of L'Aigle and Les Parents terribles, last month in France by TF1 Video.
I produced both discs which include a new interview of Claude Pinoteau, the first DA of Cocteau.
Les Parents terribles include the never before seen screentests and lighting test of Jean Marais, during 15 minutes.
I discovered them during the research for these releases

Thanks for the information.
Will these be released in the UK with English subtitles?

[jerome]

I don't know who owns the Uk rights to these two movies

[hamsterburger]

There were two new releases of L'Aigle and Les Parents terribles, last month in France by TF1 Video.

Does anyone know if this French DVD of Les Parents terribles contains subtitles in English?

http://www.amazon.fr/Les-Parents-terrib ... 271&sr=8-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

from a few specification reviews I've seen there are no subs of any denomination