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Ishtar
(May, 1987)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (OOP)
(Ross, 1976)
The Devils
(Russell, 1974)
The Pirates of Penzance
(Papp/Leach, 1983)
The Fortune
(Nichols, 1975)
-30-
(Webb, 1959)
Betrayal
(Jones, 1983)
Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)
The Outfit
(Flynn, 1973)
Alex in Wonderland
(Mazursky, 1969)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Aldrich, 1968)
In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)
That Cold Day in the Park
(Altman, 1969)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)
Brewster McCloud
(Altman, 1972)
Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)

Reader Submissions
1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
(Seiter, 1936)
Sh! The Octopus
(McGann, 1937)
The Mating Season
(Leisen, 1951)
Bad for Each Other
(Rapper, 1953)
The Phenix City Story
(Karlson, 1955)
Run of the Arrow
(Fuller, 1956)
House of Secrets
(Green, 1956)
Saint Joan
(Preminger, 1957)
Macabre
(Castle, 1958)
The Fiend Who Walked the West
(G. Douglas, 1958
Five Gates to Hell
(Clavell, 1959)
1960's
Key Witness
(Karlson, 1960)
Summer and Smoke
(Glenville, 1961)
The Chapman Report
(Cukor,1962)
Bachelor Flat
(Tashlin, 1962) [on Hulu]
The L Shaped Room
(Forbes, 1963)
The Chalk Garden
(Neame, 1964)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
The Whisperers
(Forbes, 1967)
Dark of the Sun
(Cardiff, 1968)
Skidoo
(Preminger, 1968)
Last Summer
(Perry, 1969)
The Comic
(C. Reiner, 1969)
1970-1974
The Revolutionary
(Williams, 1970)
The Landlord
(Ashby, 1970)
Diary of a Mad Housewife
(Perry, 1970)
Tropic of Cancer
(Strick, 1970)
I Never Sang for My Father
(Cates, 1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion
(Newman, 1971)
Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(Turman, 1971)
The Music Lovers
(Russell, 1971)
Drive, He Said
(Nicholson, 1971)
The Steagle
(Sylbert, 1971)
The Last Movie
(Hopper, 1971)
Made For Each Other
(Bean, 1971)
The Day the Clown Cried
(Lewis, 1972)
Hickey & Boggs (OOP)
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Slither
(Zieff, 1973)
Man on a Swing
(Perry, 1974)
Open Season
(Collinson, 1974)
The Tamarind Seed
(Edwards, 1974)
Law and Disorder
(Passer, 1974)
Homebodies
(Yust, 1974)
Stardust
(Apted, 1974)
Celine and Julie Go Boating
(Rivette, 1974)
1975-1979
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
(Richards, 1975
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1975)
Hearts of the West
(Zieff, 1975)
Welcome to L.A.
(Rudolph, 1976)
W.C. Fields and Me
(Hiller, 1976)
Citizens Band
(Demme, 1977)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
(Aldrich, 1977)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
(Brooks, 1977)
Girlfriends
(Weill, 1978)
Movie Movie
(Donen, 1978)
The Medusa Touch
(Gold, 1978)
American Hot Wax
(Mutrux, 1978)
Hot Stuff
(DeLuise, 1979)
Scavenger Hunt
(Schultz , 1979)
Players
(Harvey, 1979)
Rich Kids
(Young, 1979)
Nightwing
(Hiller, 1979)
Screams of a Winter's Night
(Wilson, 1979
When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
(Katselas, 1979
1980's
Resurrection
(Petrie, 1980)
The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
(Brickman, 1980)
God's Angry Man
(Herzog, 1980)
Fast-Walking
(Harris, 1982)
Twice Upon a Time
(Korty & Swenson, 1983)
Trouble in Mind
(Rudolph, 1985)
When the Wind Blows
(Murikami, 1986)
Housekeeping
(Forsyth, 1987)
The Glass Menagerie
(Newman, 1987)
Patty Hearst
(Schrader, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Old Times
(Curtis, 1991)
Prospero's Books
(Greenaway, 1991)
City of Hope
(Sayles, 1991)
The Baby of Macon
(Greenaway, 1993)
King of the Hill
(Soderbergh, 1993)
Dadetown
(Hexter, 1995)
SubUrbia
(Linklater, 1997)

Upcoming

January 8

Bitch Slap

Waiting for Armageddon

Wonderful World

Youth in Revolt

January 15

January 22

Drool

Extraordinary Measures

The Girl on the Train

Popeye vs. Popeye

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The difference between these French Connection frame captures, the top from Fox Home Video's standard DVD released in '05 and the bottom from FHV's forthcoming Bluray disc, is obvious. The desaturated Bluray image looks sickly and anemic; the '05 DVD looks smoother, warmer, less noisy. Read yesterday's post about the complaints DVD fans are voicing about William Friedkin's decision to create a "pastel"-looking Bluray version, which he reportedly admits does not represent the way the film looked originally.

DVD Beaver frame capture of standard French Connection DVD.

Hundland.org frame capture of forthcoming French Connection Bluray, set for release by Fox Home Video 2.24.09.

BFCA Whatevs<< previous | next >>Person Peek

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 9, 2009 at 3:22 PM

comment #1

Bilge says ...

Wow. That's pretty stark. Is he belatedly trying to become Michael Mann or something?

Posted by Bilge at January 9, 2009 4:20 PM

comment #2

moorish says ...

I mentioned this on the previous thread, but I saw the Bluray version screened in a cinema recently. We didn't know it was the Bluray until afterward, when Friedkin mentioned it at the start of a Q&A -- and it looked really shitty. I thought I was watching an old 70's print that had been roughed up to hell until Friedkin's reveal. He was genuinely really pleased with the Bluray transfer though. He spoke about it at some length; apparently much of the look was achieved by bleaching the colour out and only allowing a third of it or so to bleed back in.

Posted by moorish at January 9, 2009 4:23 PM

comment #3

Joel says ...

FWIW, Frame Captures should be of the same frame for comparison.

Posted by Joel at January 9, 2009 4:28 PM

comment #4

bmcintire says ...

Neither look very good. The '05 image looks like a bad 80's attempt to ape the color palette of TEQUILA SUNRISE, while the Blu-Ray capture looks like an over-saturated sureveilance camera blow-up. And good God but it looks like you could stick credit-cards in both actors' brow furrows in that bottom image.

Posted by bmcintire at January 9, 2009 4:39 PM

comment #5

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

the bottom one looks like it's shot during the evening or at nighttime, while the top looks like it was shot during the day.

I've never seen any movies on blu-ray, but from these 2 pics, i'll go with the first one.

Posted by DeafBrownTrashPunk at January 9, 2009 4:56 PM

comment #6

Jason says ...

At a glance, I didn't mind terribly the cooler color temperature of this transfer. Upon closer inspection... YECCHHH!

Look at this frame capture:
http://www.hundland.org/hd/f/thefrenchconnection10.jpg

Notice the pink halo around the "nobody is safe from diabetes" sign in the upper left corner of the frame. I'm not sure how this sign appeared in the DVD transfer, but that fringe is unnaturally conspicuous here.

Also, notice the pinkish light blooming on the girl's nose, cheek, and forehead on the right side of the frame.

Yuck. Bad. No.

I will say, however, that I like the grain structure in this frame capture.

Posted by Jason at January 9, 2009 5:01 PM

comment #7

Marty Melville says ...

I wonder if this new transfer will be released on standard dvd, too? In which case, to quote Sam Gerard, "...my, my, my... what a mess."

Posted by Marty Melville at January 9, 2009 5:15 PM

comment #8

TheCahuengaKid says ...

Sorry... I just threw up a little in my mouth...

Posted by TheCahuengaKid at January 9, 2009 5:25 PM

comment #9

/3rtfu11 says ...

Both are horrible.

Posted by /3rtfu11 at January 9, 2009 7:12 PM

comment #10

SteelPoleBathtub says ...

Friedkin is out of his mind if he thinks this goof-ball digital bullshit treatment looks pleasing. It's like he's a techno-ignoramus who's just discovered the push-button convenience of Photoshop and is going back through his decades of pictures and running them all through a fucking 'Stained Glass!' filter in batches or something because he's fucking amused by it. And he's also announced his intention to pursue this insane procedure on the Exorcist Blu-ray disc with a BLUE, rather than RED, emphasis. Oh joy. I care about both films and don't give a fuck if he's the director, seriously - if you're presented with a great new viewing format, at least give us the choice of an un-tampered archival quality version, you rotten George Lucas wanna-be clown.

Posted by SteelPoleBathtub at January 9, 2009 8:02 PM

comment #11