8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Gelsomina is sold by her mother into the employ of Zampanò, a brutal strongman in a traveling circus. When Zampanò encounters an old rival in highwire artist the Fool, his fury is provoked to its breaking point.
Starring: Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart, Aldo Silvani, Marcella RovereForeign | 100% |
Drama | 75% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Italian: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Federico Fellini's "La Strada" (1954) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage trailer for the film; archival introduction by Marty Scorsese; documentary film by Paquito Del Bosco; and previously recorded audio commentary by professor Peter Bondanella. In Italian or English, with optional English subtitles. Region-A "locked".
The brute
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, La Strada arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the leaflet that is provided with this Blu-ray release:
"This 4K digital restoration was undertaken by the Criterion Collection in collaboration with The Film Foundation and the Cineteca di Bologna at L'Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, Italy, from a 35mm duplicate negative scanned on an ARRISCAN film scanner. Audio restoration was performed by the Criterion Collection in New York. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the optical soundtrack negative.
Colorist: Lee Kline/Criterion Post, New York."
The release is sourced from a new 4K master that was prepared after the film was fully restored in 4K at L'immagine Ritrovata in Italy. The presentation is very good, but I would like to quickly mention something that I think should have been avoided while the new master was finalized.
There are traces of light denoising corrections and in certain areas they tend to unnaturally flatten the image a bit. This was a tell-tell sign for me that the work was carried at L'immagine Ritrovata because the exact same corrections are present on the 4K restoration of La Dolce Vita as well. However, on La Dolce Vita the superior density levels of the widescreen format effectively hide and make them virtually impossible to spot. Here there are a few areas with native density fluctuations and very minor aging anomalies that expose them, so trained eyes will be able to tell. The rest looks great. Delineation, clarity, and depth typically range from very good to excellent. The new master is nicely graded as well, though I am quite certain that in native 4K darker visuals will reveal better and ultimately healthier organic nuances. Image stability is excellent. Finally, there are no distracting large debris, cuts, damage, marks, stains, warped or torn frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Italian LPCM 1.0 and English Dolby Digital 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the Italian track.
The consensus is that the film ought to be seen with the Italian track. I agree. However, I think that the English track is excellent as well. It retains Anthony Quinn and Richard Basehart's original lines, so it is definitely another way to experience the film. I tested both tracks and they are very good. In fact, the English track has a very, very similar dynamic range to the one from the Italian track. So, experiment with both.
There are a lot of interesting takes on La Strada which confirm that it is a special film and in some ways still relevant today. The most popular one places the spotlight on the unorthodox romance between Zampano and Gelsomina, and while it should not be ignored, I think that the film has quite a bit more to offer, especially if you consider the particular environment in which the two meet. This release offers the same technical presentation of La Strada and bonus features that were previously made available via the Essential Fellini fifteen-disc box set. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Luci del varietà
1950
1953
Le notti di Cabiria
1957
Lo sceicco bianco
1952
Fellini's Intervista
1987
The Swindle
1955
E la nave va
1983
Giulietta degli spiriti
1965
Fellini's Roma
1972
1969
1960
1973
Otto e mezzo / Federico Fellini's 8½
1963
Tystnaden
1963
Gycklarnas afton
1953
1966
Sommarlek
1951
En passion
1969
Scener ur ett äktenskap
1973
Efter repetitionen
1984