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SCHEHERAZADE (1963) starring Anna Karina (below) and Gerard Barray is available on Blu-ray. It was released last September. I didn’t buy it yet. I’ll buy it next year (haha!). Anyway, it looks good. Audio and subtitles in French only. It was released in the UK and Canada as SCORCHING SANDS.
I just got the new SINS OF POMPEII (1950) Blu-ray from France. The Blu-ray worked fine (haha!). The shipping was very fast. And the price reasonable. I’ve examined the movie to give a quick overview of this release.
According to IMDb, the original runtime is 110 minutes. The new BD is 98 minutes. The previous DVD, also from France, was 94 minutes long. So there’s a discrepancy with runtime, which I haven’t checked in detail since I only got the BD yesterday. The extras are barebones. This HD release has two short documentaries, one on the Italian cinema highlighting the movie itself and the other has something to do with propaganda films made to showcase France and its culture (???), both narrated by the same expert.
Anyhow…
The image is nice but the image of the DVD was also nice. The beginning of the movie they state that the movie was ‘fixed’ or restored in 2017. The prints are virtually the same. The only big difference, and it’s a big one, is the resolution. To compare, I placed screenshots of the new BD version next to the old DVD. The size difference is amazing.
Georges Marchal
Was it worth buying? Yes, since the movie now looks great in a higher resolution but this transfer offers no new surprises, well, except for the cover which is stunning.
I don’t have this specific Spanish DVD of HELEN OF TROY but I love the cover art. It’s one of my favourites DVD covers and the best of any release for this 1956 epic directed by Robert Wise.
the SODOM AND GOMORRAH German Blu-ray is still not available even though it says at Amazon.de that it’ll be available on December 9, 2021. This release has already been delayed a couple of times, and as I anticipated, it’s still not available.
Addendum: someone who lives in Germany was able to get it for me….from Amazon. I guess Amazon.de don’t people from outside of Germany to buy it. Anyway, I will give a thorough review of it once I get it.
The new German Blu-ray edition of SODOM AND GOMORRAH (1962) is scheduled to be released next week, on December 9. Initially, it was supposed to have been released during spring but it has been delayed. The old German DVD release of this movie wasn’t that good with odd video artifacts reminiscent of old VHS transfers. Hopefully the Blu-ray won’t replicate these issues. Even so I’m taking a wait and see approach with this BD. The new Japanese BD is pretty good even though it’s not complete. Anyway, the German Blu-ray is not yet available on Amazon for pre-order so that’s that. Not a good sign. One should be able to pre-order by now.
There are more Blu-ray releases scheduled which I’ll mention in another post.
I recently purchased the Blu-ray for THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (1965) after I realized I didn’t have it on DVD or any other adequate format. Once I got it the Blu-ray didn’t work. It stops working in the middle of the movie. It’s not the Blu-ray player is not the problem as I played other movies on it afterwards. This is a bummer. I really wanted to view this movie in HD but now I can’t save it for my collection. I bought it on eBay from a seller with no returns. Oh well…
SODOM AND GOMORRAH (1962) starring Stewart Granger, Pier Angeli and a host of European actors is available on Blu-ray in Japan!
I purchased it and it’s already on its way.
The runtime is only 117 minutes and not the 150 + plus one. Regardless, I’m curious to see the image quality.
Front and back covers. Not the best quality. Hopefully, the film itself will be excellent. I’ll keep you posted on this.
As I posted on the main PEPLUM TV blog, there’s a new Blu-ray of HANNIBAL (1959) in Japan. Unfortunately, Amazon won’t ship it outside of Japan. I wonder what the image quality is. Hopefully not as uneven as the HERCULES / HERCULES UNCHAINED ones. There are no screenshots of the movie. Did anyone out there bought it?
The back cover shows that it’s copyrighted by Minerva Pictures and it’s in Full HD.
I finally got the German Blu-ray of SWORD OF THE CONQUEROR (1961) starring Jack Palance, Guy Madison, Eleonora Rossi Drago, and Edy Vessel. The Blu-ray is excellent. The image is clear and it’s pretty much without any issues, including the ‘too dark’ image problem often seen with Blu-ray transfers of old movies. This one is near perfect. The movie is still under copyright ownership in the US and Canada by United Artists (MGM) so the print was well preserved by Italian film studio Titanus, and the transfer professionally done. Audio in German, Italian and English. The Blu-ray itself is bare bones with the usual trailer of the movie, in English and Italian, and a slideshow of images of the movie, such as posters and lobby cards. Well worth buying.
Above: Eleonora Rossi Drago and Jack Palance. I didn’t make any adjustments to the images. Below, Guy Madison, Jack Palance and Eleonora.
More of these German releases, please!!!
As I stated last week, there is a new batch of PEPLUM movies which have been broadcasted or streamed in HD. Someone on Youtube uploaded clips from these broadcast or streaming services. It’s a pretty good list. Here we go:
HERCULES AGAINST MOLOCH starring Alessandra Panaro and Pietro Marascalchi as Moloch
URSUS AND THE TARTAR PRINCESS starring Joe Robinson, Yoko Tani, and Ettore Manni. Nice print. I already have a nice print of this but this one seems clearer.
SIEGE OF SYRACUSE starring Rossano Brazzi and Tina Louise
JOURNEY BENEATH THE DESERT starring Haya Harareet and Amedeo Nazzari. Unlike the other titles, this one is in French.
IL FIGLIO DI AQUILLA NERA starring Mimmo Palmara
TREASURE OF THE PETRIFIED FOREST starring Gordon Mitchell
There are more titles in HD, 720p or 1080p, including copies I already have in my collection. Hopefully, the full movies will be available instead of short clips.