7.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A timeless evocation of childhood innocence corrupted, René Clément’s Forbidden Games tells the story of a young girl orphaned by war and the farm boy she joins in a fantastical world of macabre play. At once mythical and heartbreakingly real, this unique film features astonishing performances by its child stars and was honored with a special foreign language film Academy Award in 1952.
Starring: Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, Amédée, Jacques Marin, Lucien HubertForeign | 100% |
War | 8% |
Coming of age | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.36:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
German: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English, French SDH, German
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Winner of the prestigious Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, Rene Clement's "Jeux interdits" a.k.a. "Forbidden Games" (1952) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal. The supplemental features on the disc include alternate opening and ending, as well as a documentary featuring film historian Denitza Bantcheva and actors Brigitte Fossey and Laurence Badie. In French, with optional English, German, and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
Michel
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.36:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, René Clément's Forbidden Games arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal.
The Blu-ray's main menu can be set in one of the following languages: English, French, or German. This leads me to believe that the high-definition transfer the release uses is identical to those used for the French and German Blu-ray releases of Forbidden Games.
The basics are intact. Despite some minor contrast fluctuations, detail and clarity are very pleasing. The outdoor sequences also convey very good depth (see screencapture #5). Color saturation and stability are also pleasing, though there are portions of the film where some extremely light fluttering could be spotted around the edges of the frame. There are no traces of excessive degraining. Also, there are no traces of problematic sharpening corrections. Needless to say, the film has a very pleasing and very convincing organic look. A few very small vertical lines and tiny flecks occasionally pop up here and there, but there are no large cuts, warps, or stains to report in this review. Compression is good. To sum it all up, StudioCanal's Blu-ray release of Forbidden Games represents a very solid upgrade in quality over Criterion's R1 DVD release of the film. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, StudioCanal have provided optional French, English, and German subtitles for the main feature.
There is some extremely light background hiss that occasionally makes its presence known, but overall the dialog is appropriately crisp and stable. The range of nuanced dynamics is very limited, but this should no be surprising for a film from the early 50s. Depth and fluidity, however, are very good. The English translation is excellent.
If you reside in a Region-B country, I strongly encourage you to consider adding to your collections Rene Clement's Forbidden Games. It is one of greatest films from the '50s. This beautiful Blu-ray release, courtesy of StudioCanal, is part of The Rene Clement Collection. The other films in the collection are Gervaise (1956), The Deadly Trap (1971), and And Hope to Die (1972), but they are available only on DVD. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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