ITV: The Red Shoes Blu-ray

[MichaelB]

Mine too, David. Probably gonna beat ya!

Nah - I've had mine for a week. No box or artwork, though, so you'll have a slight advantage.

I haven't had a chance to watch it in full yet (I can only watch Blu-rays on the main family telly, and I haven't had a clear two-hour-plus run at it yet), but a casual browse suggests it's truly eye-popping. You can certainly see where the money went.

The big disappointment, though, is that the extras are all 576p SD PAL - including the short The Red Shoes Ballet. Who on earth is going to favour that over the 1080p version? Other niggles: there's nothing on the restoration (though a big feature in the current Sight & Sound compensates in part), and the chaptering is a bit on the stingy side - you can't jump to the beginning of the ballet proper, for instance, which is pretty unforgivable. The extras on my now ancient Criterion disc are far superior.

But none of that should detract from the quality of the main feature, and on that score it seems well worth the money.

[peerpee]

Gonna watch it, enjoy it, and flog it -- then wait for the Criterion Blu-ray.

Unfortunately, I didn't get *any* post today. Very unusual. Postie obviously having a day 'chillaxing'.

Hopefully tomorrow.

[peerpee]

It finally showed up. Michael - did your disc have the Scorsese intro and Schoonmaker footage from Cannes 2009? They turned that around pretty quickly (4 weeks?)

Not had time to watch the Blu-ray properly, but I had a 10-minute flick. Looked fantastic - but slightly less eye-gorging than I was expecting. A little soft? -- Just an initial, non-scientific observation. Keen to hear what others think.

[Murdoch]

Could someone post screen caps? I am dying to see this.

[Brianruns10]

Here, here! I've gotta see if I'm gonna have to snag one of those UK copies, or wait for the inevitable Criterion re-release.

BR

[HerrSchreck]

Jesus... this makes Blu-Ray upgrading seem so much more urgent...

[Person]

I was in HMV today and I picked up a copy of the Blu-ray and was surprised to see that it states, "Main feature: 1080p 1.78:1". Obviously it's the 1.33:1 OAR within the fixed 1.78:1 HD ratio, right? I imagine that a Beaver review will appear presently.

[Ashirg]

At least it's not cropped like it was on MGM HD channel as reported by DVD Savant on June 8.

[Napier]

I bet the Blu-ray naysayers have nothing to say now. WOW!

[JAP]

The August issue of Sight & Sound carries an interesting article by Ian Christie on The Red Shoes restauration. Available online.

[Person]

The August issue of Sight & Sound carries an interesting article by Ian Christie on The Red Shoes restauration. Available online.

In fact, what has now been created is essentially an ingenious copy or simulacrum of the 1948 film, even to the extent of retaining the original circular cue marks that signalled the end of each reel for the projectionist.

Eh? Please tell me that those faux-cigarette burns are not on the Blu-ray?

[MichaelB]

Eh? Please tell me that those faux-cigarette burns are not on the Blu-ray?

I didn't spot any.

[criterionsnob]

Blu-ray.com Review

[Person]

No there are no reel end color markers - in fact I dont think Ive ever seen any on any British films printed by the old London Technicolor facility out at Heathrow.

Really? That makes it doubly odd that the digital presentation at Cannes had CG reel-change marks. A quaint idea, but pointless.

[Arkadin]

I have had this bd release for about 6 weeks or so, and wanted to note that it was originally only an HMV exclusive, but is now available to order through regular amazon.uk.
It is a locked to region B release unfortunately, but luckily for me that is of no concern, as I have a region free bd player now.
It is a glorious release for sure, and I highly recommend it.

[SuperBlu]

I ordered ITV's blu-ray of The Red Shoes from Amazon UK 3 weeks ago, and it said 6-10 days delivery. It still hasn't been shipped. Now it's out of stock and only sold by sellers. It can't be out of print already, right? It came out just a few months ago.

[tojoed]

I ordered ITV's blu-ray of The Red Shoes from Amazon UK 3 weeks ago, and it said 6-10 days delivery. It still hasn't been shipped. Now it's out of stock and only sold by sellers. It can't be out of print already, right? It came out just a few months ago.

No, it's not out of print. You can get it here and at just about any High Street retailer in the UK.

[SuperBlu]

I ordered ITV's blu-ray of The Red Shoes from Amazon UK 3 weeks ago, and it said 6-10 days delivery. It still hasn't been shipped. Now it's out of stock and only sold by sellers. It can't be out of print already, right? It came out just a few months ago.

No, it's not out of print. You can get it here and at just about any High Street retailer in the UK.

I'm in the US. The price and shipping fee at HMV make it too expensive for me. At Amazon UK the final price would be around US$23 whereas at HMV it would be well over 30. Why isn't it sold at Amazon UK anymore? Is it now an HMV exclusive like some other blu-rays? Also, none of the third-party sellers at Amazon UK ship overseas. I also asked Jon Mulvaney about a Criterion release and got no reply, so I guess there is nothing in the works, even though Janus did the restoration.

[Matango]

No reply from Mulvaney is more likely to mean there IS something in the works than not.

[MichaelB]

No reply from Mulvaney is more likely to mean there IS something in the works than not.

...and the Region B coding of the ITV box (since they don't usually region-code) suggests that someone else has the rights to Region A...

[swo17]

I'm not going to attempt to dig it up, but there was a post on Facebook about a month or two ago that went something like this:

Some guy: I bet the Blu-ray editions of Lola Montes and The Red Shoes are going to look great.

Criterion: They sure will!

[Matt]

Guys, there is no reason for speculation on this title. It is coming.