ITV Bringing "The Ipcress File" To Blu-Ray Nov 10th

[Arkadin]

One of the best import bd labels so far for sure, ITV is bringing this Michael Caine classic from 1965 to bd on Nov 11th. Pre-Order is up at Amazon.UK
All ITV releases have been region free so far.
This distributor has already released on bd such classics as "Black Narcissus", "The Eagle Has Landed" and "The Boys From Brazil."

[Pro-bassoonist]

I am certainly very excited to have ITV contribute. I prefer mostly older films, aside from the foreign/arthouse fare, and their upcoming titles will surely be given a great deal of coverage by me

Pro-B

[Kid Banana]

Originally Posted by Pro-bassoonist

I am certainly very excited to have ITV contribute. I prefer mostly older films, aside from the foreign/arthouse fare, and their upcoming titles will surely be given a great deal of coverage by me

Pro-B

The early ITV releases were a bit disappointing but the recent ones have been quite strong. Many of the later ITV DVD releases were excellent too (The Michael Winner 'The Big Sleep' got a grade 'A' dvd release, far better than the quality of film deserved). I just wish that ITV could collaborate with Network DVD about licensing some of their supplements for the blu-ray releases. There's a very good Network disc of The Ipcress File already.

A lot of the films released by ITV are part of the old ITC library and seem to change distributors on a yearly basis. Many of them didn't get a decent DVD release anywhere in the world (or had to wait a very long time for one). It would be nice to see good releases coming soon in HD, though for some like 'The Eagle Has Landed', they have already missed their chance.

[Harlock]

It is indeed true that the early ITV BD releases were a bit disappointing (though
still very very welcome!), but they do get better & better...

And now "The Ipcress File"!!!
It is in the post (flying over the Alps maybe) and should be here pretty soon,
as I just can't wait for it!

Hopefully the other two Harry Palmer films will follow... though I don't have
real hopes for them any time soon, as the rights are all a mess (one's with
Paramount and the other with MGM or now Fox).

But Harry Palmer number one is a fabulous start...:

Michael Caine, John Barry's wonderful score, Ken Adam's Production Design,
Peter Murton's Art Direction and marvelous Otto Heller's amazing photography...
what else could one ask for...????

B/R

Petros

[Brent L]

Is it region free and all that good stuff?

[Harlock]

Originally Posted by Brent L

Is it region free and all that good stuff?

Yepidee yep! It is indeed region-free!

[Arkadin]

yeah I think every ITV release thus far has been region free.
they are doing a great job, but need to offer lossless audio on bigger name titles like "Shawshank" etc. etc.
I was really disappointed that "Shawshank" was only DD 5.1

[Kid Banana]

I'm interested to know what this looks like.

As far as I'm aware, The Ipcress File was filmed in Techniscope which was a cheap widescreen process used (mainly in the UK I think) for widescreen films in the sixties. Rather than anamorphically squeeze the image onto a 4X3 frame, Techniscope used half of a normal frame for a 'flat' widescreen image.

The upside of this for producers was that it reduced film stock costs (2 frames for the price of 1, yay!). The downside, is that it results in a less detailed image - and that why I'm intrigued to know what the iamge quality is like.

Love the movie though, and the sequel, Funeral in Berlin is decent too.

[Brent L]

What extras are included on this release?

[wvbkelley3rd]

The Blu-ray reviles a lot of film grain throughout the film. This could be the result of the non-anamorphic process similar to Super35 which is a cropped 35mm frame and enlarged to fill a 2.40:1 screen. That enlarges the film grain and softens the image compared to an anamorphic image.

The colors and contrast are solid, but nothing compared to the excellent Bond Blu-rays with Dr. No and From Russia With Love both from the same era.

It only features a photo gallery and trailer. Nothing special.

[Arkadin]

not surprised by how this looks.
ITV most likely has no desire to dedicate the resources, i.e. $$ needed to restore/remaster a title such as this like mgm has for the Bond titles
not really fair to go there imo.
in all likelihood the 1st 2 Bond films will remain 2 of the absolute best looking bds for any movies from that era for perhaps the life of the format.
iTV most likely just used the same masters used for their dvd release for this bd.
I highly doubt they used a new master for this.

[Casca]

The great thing to look out for will be the David Lean movies. They've been restored properly, frame by frame, with assistance (financial and creative) from the British Film Institute and the Lean Foundation.
I saw a demo of them at London's National Film Theatre and they looked stunning! All (except 1) are mono and all are 4:3, obviously.
There's a DVD box set out now that uses thee masters and looks lovely, but the thing to do is wait for Blu!
Titles:
BRIEF ENCOUNTER
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
OLIVER TWIST
BLITHE SPIRIT (Technicolor)
IN WHICH WE SERVE
MADELINE
HOBSON'S CHOICE
THE SOUND BARRIER
THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS
THIS HAPPY BREED

[Arkadin]

I wonder if they used the "new" "Great Expectations" for their recent Blu-ray?
I have that release, but always figured it was based on older masters.
I love David Lean also.
Can't wait for "Lawrence Of Arabia"--
the restored dvd is already out so
any friggin' year now Sony!!