Monday Morning Foreign-Region DVD Report: "Black Narcissus" (Blu-ray) (UPDATED)

Forgive the dodgy qualities of this screen grab; as I don't yet have the equipment to do Blu-Ray disc frame burns directly (and to be completely honest with you, I'm not likely to be getting such equipment for some time), I'm using my Olympus SP-55OUZ to shoot images directly off my Hitachi plasma. As you'll see later, they will suffice for our current purposes.

How long ago was it, that I sat in a now-defunct movie theater listening to a lecture by the great cinematographer Jack Cardiff? The film restoration maven Robert A. Harris was in the audience, and during the Q&A period, he stood up and asked: "Is that lavender tint that suffuses the extant prints of Black Narcissus supposed to be there?" and Cardiff looked a bit surprised and said, no, not as far as he was concerned. And a real rustle went through the audience; that lavender tint was not only on prints, but on the venerated Criterion laser disc of the film—the highest quality home video version of the movie available anywhere!—and now we learned that, no, it's not right. Calamity. Something would have to be done.

Something was done—in 2000 Criterion put out its DVD of the film (the company's 93rd DVD) with a new digital transfer created in tandem with Cardiff. No more lavender tint, and a fairly breathtaking image. The Criterion version of the film became a home video reference. As is usually the case.

The home video collector/connoisseur has a peculiar compulsion, and a peculiar goal: he or she does not chase after the thing itself, but the best reproduction of the thing itself. Of course, as far as film is concerned, what constitutes the thing itself is often subject to the vicissitudes of time and/or history. Which is a fancy way of saying that the news of a recent British-issued Blu-Ray disc of Powell and Pressburger's most visually sumptuous Technicolor film, another rustle was felt. Would the disc be region-encoded? For heaven's sake do we have to figure out how to procure region-free Blu-ray players now? If it could play on a domestic Blu-ray player, how substantial would the improvement be over the Criterion?

Being the creature I am, I had to find out.

So: Yes, the main feature of this ITV disc will play on a domestic issue Blu-ray player (mine is a Playstation 3, in case you're wondering). Its main extra, "A Profile of Black Narcissus" will not; select it from the main menu and you'll just get...the main menu again. A period trailer for the film will play.

And: yes, the film gets a substantial boost in picture quality here, not because of any fault of Criterion's, but merely because of the picture boost inherent in the 1080p format. The techs at the company also know their stuff—there's no dodgy digital noise reduction or edge enhancement or any such thing to make the movie look less like a movie. Even my amateurish screen caps via camera show some substantial differences between the Criterion and the new high-def disc. Here's a particularly famous image from the film; the top frame is the SD disc, the bottom one the Blu-ray.

As you can see, the color values are heightened, and detail is stronger—look at the door frame on the left side of the frame, for instance. Having this kind of boost throughout the picture really adds to the viewing experience. It's ravishing.

I've got ITV's Blu-ray of Lean's Great Expectations on my coffee table, awaiting viewing. Unfortunately for some of our wallets, home video collecting just got a little more interesting.

UPDATE: Bob Hoffman of Technicolor has some fascinating details about the creation of the new version in comments. Many thanks, Bob.

Comments

[Campaspe]

God I would have loved to see & hear Jack Cardiff speak.

Those screen grabs make me feel as though after about five viewings, I still haven't seen Black Narcissus.

[Glenn Kenny]

Mr. Cardiff is still with us, God bless him, and was doing work on shorts and such up until a couple of years ago. I haven't heard of him doing a speaking engagement in a while, but his commentaries on the likes of such DVDs as "The African Queen," "The Red Shoes" (partial) and a couple of odd films he directed, "Girl on a Motorcycle" (starring Marianne Faithful and Alain Delon) and "The Freakmaker" (a Psychotronic classic!) are all well worth hearing. I of course cherish my signed copy of his wonderful autobiography "Magic Hour" (he dates his dedication 1997—so that is when the event I refer to above took place), which belongs on every film lover's book shelf.

It's true, Campaspe—"Black Narcissus" yields new, startling things with each viewing. An staggeringly rich film.

[Tony Dayoub]

I hate to open this thread up to any competition, but I have a question. Having seen Black Narcissus, and in fact being a fan of many visually rich films (sometimes regardless of story or dialogue), I have this to say. Not only do I think Narcissus is "Powell and Pressburger's most visually sumptuous Technicolor film," I can't think of any other one that I can so quickly call to mind when wanting to demonstrate the potential beauty of film to any friends.

Can anyone come up with any films that they believe rival or even surpass this film in that respect?

[Campaspe]

Funnily enough, I was just reading this very good piece at Movie Morlocks about the making of Young Cassidy.

http://moviemorlocks.com/2008/03/12/young-cassidy-1965-a-memory-piece/

And I just made a note to get a copy of Cardiff's memoirs. My own prize signed edition is of A Life in Movies. Powell drew a doodle on the title page that I had to stare at quite a while before I realized it's the Archers symbol, right by his signature. If my house were on fire, assuming all living creatures in it were safe, that book and my father's letters from the Army would be the only things I'd grab.

As for Mr. Dayoub's question -- it is delicious fun to think about, even if it's unanswerable. Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, which also had Cardiff as DP, is stunning, with incredible surreal imagery. Since we are talking Technicolor (or I will, to keep from talking all day) I think any number of Freed unit films rival Black Narcissus in terms of beauty. The Adventures of Robin Hood is gorgeous. And while it's also a flawed movie, the opening sequence of Huston's Moulin Rouge is one of the finest uses of Technicolor I have seen. In his memoirs he said they were influenced by Gate of Hell, which is also a beautiful movie although because it's Japanese I don't think it was in actual Technicolor.

Surely Leave Her to Heaven has to rank way, way, up there too, as does The Red Shoes. And The Thief of Baghdad. And The Four Feathers ...

Okay, so I was just over here

http://www.lopek.com/3stf/3stf_index.php

looking at the list of 3-strip Technicolor movies and here's the problem. They are all beautiful. Even The Greatest Show on Earth is beautiful. There is just nothing else like real Technicolor and never will be.

[BobFlak]

Dear Glenn,

I read your comments on Black Narcissus and wanted to write to thank you - on behalf of Technicolor.

Also, I wanted to give you a few details about the new version you've commented on.

The HD master for the new Blu-ray version of Black Narcissus was created at Technicolor in London, from it's digital imaging center at our West Drayton lab - near Heathrow. (That facility is actually moving in the next weeks to a new location in Soho.)

The master was produced for Granada International (part of ITV), and was first projected at the Cannes Film Festival two years ago in the Classics section and its tribute to Michael Powell.

Later, it was shown at the Academy in Beverly Hills, with Jack Cardiff in attendance. Jack was very involved in the re-mastering of the film with our team in London. I can't stress how great this was - first the opportunity to work with one of the greatest living masters of cinematography but also to have has knowledge of what was originally intended by Mr. Powell and Mr. Pressburger.

That night at the Academy was quite special. Jack was interviewed before the film by David Thomson. And the high-def master was projected and looked amazing. Not as good as an original 3-strip dye transfer IB print - but still pretty great. A few days later, Jack joined us again, at the Cinematheque, for our 90th Anniversary retrospective of Technicolor.

I too think the film is extraordinarily beautiful. Possibly it is the most beautiful of all Technicolor classics - from either the US or UK. I don't know. It is so subjective. Is it better than The Red Shoes, or the original Robin Hood? Frankly, La Cucaracha is still remarkable to look at.

As it relates to vintage Technicolor, you might be interested in professor Scott Higgins new book, Harnessing the Technicolor Rainbow, published last year by the University of Texas Press. It's a wonderful discussion of the aesthetics of color design in the 1930s.

Best regards,

Bob Hoffman