I took a personal day away from writing yesterday because Ashley and I found ourselves suddenly moving a few weeks earlier than anticipated. As a result, the below thoughts on the StudioCanal Collection titles released today (16 Feb) are much less thorough than I had hoped, but I'll hit the important stuff right out of the gate. Ran looks better than ever (but...), Contempt looks excellent (but...), and The Ladykillers should stand as the standard for the Ealing films to come on Blu-ray. I honestly miss some of the Criterion extras on the prior two.
I was initially unimpressed by the transfer on Akira Kurosawa's Ran, but after further comparison and consideration of other opinions, I'm giving it a qualified recommendation. The color and clarity are far better than any of the DVD versions that came before it. The hang-up I've got is that it isn't as breathtaking as Criterion's work on Kagemusha, which replaced Ran on their Blu-ray release calendar when the Ran rights lapsed. The question is whether it actually can look any better or if guys like me are curling up their noses at "the would-be Criterion".
Ran is five years younger than Kagemusha, and one would assume that better quality original elements would be available for the newer movie, but that may not be the case, as DVD Beaver's Gary Tooze reveals. I have never seen the film projected, but there is apparently a newly-struck print making the rounds as we speak, so I hope to have my eyes on it at some point this year.
The biggest disappointment, for me, is that most of the Criterion extras are entirely absent. In the supplements department, this would be an absolute failure if not for the inclusion of A.K., the hour-plus doc also on Criterion's 2005 DVD set. I know that better extras exist, and I know that Criterion could have released their remastered, cleaned-up Blu-ray if not for the existence of this edition. I tried watching the new extras that the folks at StudioCanal put together, but I was bored by their very elementary "this is Samurai culture" tack.
I wish I could say more than "this Blu-ray is the best option that still exists for watching and learning more about Ran." That being said, the picture is the best available, and Kurosawa completionists can still find the OOP Criterion set marked up all to hell if they simply must have the brilliant, note-perfect extras. Unless something big changes, this is the best home presentation of Ran that one will be able to get for some time to come, and it's far from an aberration (it simply could have been much more). It's the lowest-priced of the three SCC titles at $22.99.
Contempt really looks wonderful, on-par with my recent viewing of the going-OOP Criterion Blu-ray of Godard's Pierrot le fou. Repeat the above refrain of being glad some supplements are retained, but add that the newly-added extras aren't all disposable. The French folks (I assume) who run StudioCanal may just have more cultural commonality with one of the greatest of their great masters, which results in a collection of extras that comes much closer to the Criterion release that preceded this Blu. The Blu-ray is a bit steep at $25.99, but if you love the film, the transfer c'est magnifique.
The Ladykillers benefits greatly from not carrying with it any potential for Criterion baggage. The problem is that the transfer is just terrible. Screenshots make it look worse than it is, but there is a disgusting amount of red-shift in the picture. The supplements are the reason to rent (do not buy) this. Lionsgate had nothing to do with the transfer, as it's identical to the European StudioCanal release. Welcome to what we all feared.
The intro from Terry Gilliam is perfect, and the bunch of interviews are wonderful. On top of that, the Forever Ealing documentary produced for TV is extremely informative and clips along nicely. Holding this Ladykillers disc against other catalog Blu-ray releases, I must admit I would actually consider the $25.99 that Amazon is asking reasonable for someone who loves the film if only the picture wasn't so absolutely unacceptable. For those who are interested but have never seen it, I'd give it a rental and a think.