8 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 5.0 |
At his secluded chateau in the French countryside, a brilliant, obsessive doctor attempts a radical plastic surgery to restore the beauty of his daughter’s disfigured countenance—at a horrifying price.
Starring: Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel, Edith Scob, François GuérinForeign | 100% |
Drama | 61% |
Horror | 48% |
Psychological thriller | 21% |
Mystery | 13% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
French: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Georges Franju's "Les yeux sans visage" a.k.a. "Eyes Without a Face" (1960) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers for the film; excerpt from an episode of the French television series Cinema de notre temps; exclusive new video interview with actress Edith Scob; excerpt from an episode from the French television show Cine-parade; Georges Franju's documentary Le sang des betes a.k.a Blood of the Beasts (1949); and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring Patrick McGrath's essay "Appearances to the Contrary" and David Kalat's essay "The Unreal Reality". In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Let's begin...
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
Please note that the screencaptures used in our review appear in the following order:
1. Screencaptures #1-19: Eyes Without a Face
2. Screencaptures #21-25: Blood of the Beasts
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:
"This new high-definition transfer (for Eyes Without a Face) was created on a Spirit HD film scanner from the original 35mm camera negative.
The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the 35mm sound negative. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube's integrated workstation.
Transfer supervisor: Audrey Birrien.
Colorist: Eddy Nakka/Eclair Laboratories, Epinay-sur-Seine, France."
The high-definition transfer appears to have been sourced from the same master Gaumont used for their Blu-ray release of Eyes Without a Face in France. Having seen the beautiful French release, I can confirm that Criterion's presentation of this classic French film is just as impressive. Indeed, depth and clarity are dramatically improved when one compares the Blu-ray release to Criterion's R1 DVD reelase. Contrast and sharpness levels are also stabilized. Furthermore, the blacks are solid, but not harsh, and well balanced with the whites. There is also a good range of grays. Grain is retained and well resolved. Compression is good, but I feel that there are a couple of sequences where careful adjustments could have been performed to make them look even better. Image stability is excellent. Finally, there are no large damage marks, cuts, debris, stains, warps, or splices to report in this review. All in all, Criterion's new Blu-ray release of Eyes Without a Face represents a very solid upgrade in quality over the existing R1 DVD release. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this release: French LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.
The lossless track is excellent. Maurice Jarre's atmospheric score benefits the most -- the bassoon and oboe solos, in particular, sound pleasingly lush, not thin or distorted -- but the dialog is also exceptionally crisp and very well rounded. There is no background hiss. Also, there are no distracting pops, cracks, or audio dropouts to report in this review.
Criterion's Blu-ray release of Georges Franju's legendary Eyes Without a Face will make English-speaking fans of the film very happy. It is every bit as impressive as Gaumont's Region-B release. It is also vastly superior to the existing R1 DVD release. If Eyes Without a Face happens to be one of your favorite films, do not hesitate to upgrade or finally add it to your library. Buy with confidence, folks. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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