7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
An uptight recluse and his nymphomaniacal young wife's stormy existence in an isolated British castle is turned upside down when two wounded gangsters break into their home and take over their lives.
Starring: Donald Pleasence, Lionel Stander, Françoise Dorléac, Jack MacGowran, Renee HoustonDrama | 100% |
Dark humor | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: LPCM Mono
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Winner of Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, Roman Polanski's "Cul-de sac" (1966) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include two theatrical trailers; video piece featuring director Roman Polanski and crew members; and an early interview with the Polish director, originally broadcast by the BBC. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Come on, make me beautiful...
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Roman Polanski's Cul-de-sac arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:
"Approved by director Roman Polanski, this new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from the original 35mm composite fine-grain master positive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS system and Pixel Farm's PFClean system, while Digital Vision's DVNR and Phoenix systems were used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction.
Telecine supervisor: Lee Kline.
Telecine colorists: Lee Kline; Trevor Brown/Deluxe 142, London."
Cul-de-sac looks very impressive on Blu-ray. Detail is outstanding even during the nighttime sequences, with clarity also dramatically improved during the panoramic vistas, while the daylight sequences often approach the quality witnessed in Criterion's Blu-ray release of Repulsion. Colors look rich but not artificially boosted - the blacks are deep and lush while the variety of grays and whites are gentle and natural. There are no traces of overzealous sharpening. Macroblocking patterns are also nowhere to be found (though there are plenty on the R2 UK SDVD release of Cul-de-sac). Some minor noise corrections have been applied, but the film grain has been retained and it appears well resolved throughout the entire film. Lastly, a thorough clean-up has been performed, and large debris, cuts, and stains have been removed. However, some extremely small traces of aging, which are practically impossible to spot in motion, remain (see the tiny line in screencapture #16). Nevertheless, this is a fantastic presentation of Roman Polanski's Cul-de-sac. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:
"The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a 35mm fine-grain master positive soundtrack print. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube's integrated workstation."
There are a number of small optimizations in the audio department. I did a few quick comparisons with my R2 SDVD release of Cul-de-sac and the majority of the improvements appear in the mid and high-frequencies areas. The dialog is now crisper and marginally better rounded, while background hiss has been practically eliminated. Krzysztof Komeda's music score also gets a small boost. Overall balance has also been improved, though the range of nuanced dynamics remains limited.
Roman Polanski's Cul-de-sac is a notably dark, irresistibly funny, at times disturbing yet deeply poetic film - arguably his most original and inspired one. It was also the Polish director's last film before his foray into mainstream commercial filmmmaking. Criterion's presentation of Cul-de-sac is impressive, featuring a new and approved by Roman Polanski high-definition digital transfer. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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