Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		5.0

The Tree of Wooden Clogs Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 20, 2019

Here's a little word to the wise for any of you who may have some kind of online presence, either professionally or even through social media: you never know who's watching/listening/reading, et al. When offering my assessment of the Criterion release of The Tree of Wooden Clogs recently, I mentioned how I had been unable to procure the Arrow UK version, and so couldn't offer any comparative thoughts. Lo and behold, Arrow UK reached out to me personally (typically we reviewers deal with PR agencies assigned to handle a label and/or studio), and also lo and behold, here just a few days later I have the Arrow UK version of this remarkable if at least occasionally disturbing film.

For my thoughts on the film, please refer to our The Tree of Wooden Clogs Blu-ray review of the Criterion version.

The Tree of Wooden Clogs Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Tree of Wooden Clogs is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the restoration:

L'albero deli* zoccoli / The Tree of Wooden Clogs was restored by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna at L'Immagine Ritrovata with funding provided by The Film Foundation. Additional support was provided by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and The Criterion Collection.

L'albero degli zoccoli was restored from the original 35mm camera negative and scanned in 4K resolution. A 35mm vintage print preserved by Cinecitta was used as a grading reference. The original soundtrack, spoken in the Bergamo dialect, was restored from this print. The standard Italian language soundtrack was also restored.

Special Thanks to Ermanno Olmi and Paolo Cottingnola for their consultation.

Arrow has confirmed this was sourced from the same master as the Criterion release, as perhaps can be gleaned from the above verbiage, but they also confirmed they did additional work on the grading, which was one of my qualms with the Criterion release. I recommend looking at the screenshots I've uploaded to both reviews to do side by side comparisons, and to my eyes the Arrow release has a warmer, somewhat brighter, look that conforms more to my memories of the theatrical exhibition, which admittedly was a long time ago. The brightness may tend to point up the rather thick grain field, especially in some of the daytime scenes, but I noticed no real resolution issues. Despite what I perceive to be a slightly brighter overall ambience here, there are still occasional deficits in shadow definition in some of the darkened interior scenes in particular. The kind of weird tinting I mentioned with regard to the Criterion version is either ameliorated or absent here.

*The booklet contains a typo, which I'm reproducing here.

The Tree of Wooden Clogs Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This release sports the same two language options as the Criterion release, one the original Bergamesque dialect, and another in more traditional Italian, but the Bergamesque is offered in LPCM 2.0 Mono, with the Italian track being offered in LPCM Mono. I frankly noticed no real difference in the two channel or one channel mono mixes in terms of overall amplitude and fidelity, other than the obvious differences in the dialects. Both tracks provide ample support for both the classical score and dialogue, and the glut of ambient environmental effects also sound full bodied.

The Tree of Wooden Clogs Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

While my region free player is reporting these as being in high definition, some show clear signs of upscaled video.

• Introduction by Ermanno Olmi (HD; 2:01) is in Italian with English subtitles.


• Ermanno Olmi at Cannes, May 19, 1978 (HD; 9:18) is a kind of odd aggregation of what looks like a "live" in studio discussion (which is mostly the moderator) followed by a filmed interview with Olmi. Largely in French, with the Olmi interview featuring French voiceover. English subtitles are provided.


• Ermanno Olmi at Cannes, May 31, 1978 (HD; 4:13) is much like the first part of the above feature, with an in studio interview with Olmi aided by a translator right there, so this is in both French and Italian with English subtitles.


• Appuntamenti con il cinema (HD; 14:36) features an interview with Olmi conducted by Claudio G. Fava, in Italian with English subtitles. This is worth the price of admission alone simply to hear the incredible disco version of "Night and Day" by Frank Sinatra that is used as theme music.

This release also comes with a DVD as well as a nicely appointed insert booklet featuring essays by David Jenkins and Marc Gervais, as well as technical information about the restoration.

The Tree of Wooden Clogs Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Tree of Wooden Clogs is a superb piece of filmmaking and certainly one of the masterpieces of World Cinema of its era. This Arrow release looks more like what I remember the theatrical exhibition of this film as having looked like, with excellent compression matching the Criterion release. Audio is fine, and it offers some good supplements as well. Highly recommended.