3) Carlotta - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - RIGHT

ADDITION: Carlotta - Region 'B' - Blu-ray: The new 1080P transfer from Carlotta in France represents a solid upgrade from the previous DVDs. Colors support the NTSC transfer with some green and brown hues which now make the German E.M.S. SD edition look boosted. It seems like the stock used for the production may have been a less-effectual one and it gives the film a very rough appearance - which, may be an intentional, or rather, authentic to original, look. The Blu-ray image tightens up from the DVD with better detail and grain with blocky noise. It is dual-layered with a strong bitrate. There is a shade of movement in the frame but the new transfer shows at least as much information as the US DVD - but often more on all 4 edges. Simply, with far less artifacts - this Carlotta is vastly superior to the previous digital editions.

Audio goes lossless with a linear PCM track but it is fairly docile - yet sounding a less scattered. There are French subtitles which can be removed with the 'Subtitle' button of most remotes. The disc is region 'B'-locked.

There are well over 2 hours of extras - we lose the Scorsese commentary from the 2004 DVD but most of what is available here is in English (with forced French subtitles) including pieces with De Niro, Keitel, Scorsese and Kent Jones.

Fans of the director should probably seek this out as the best home theater representation of his early film plus the supplemental inclusion of Scorsese's 1974 Italianamerican documentary made right after Mean Streets. It is fascinating to discover that only 3 years later Scorsese would make Taxi Driver (now also available on Blu-ray).  

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ON THE DVDs: There are two versions of EMS disc: the normal one and the 2-disc limited edition with the full screen version of the movie with only German soundtrack on the second disc.

The documentary on the E.M.S. 1st disc is quite interesting, it shows Scorsese during preparing and filming of "The Last Temptation...", but it's with German voice-over.

 - Pavel Borodin

I can only guess there is something unusual with the available print for this early Scorsese film. It's hard to know what to think... they both look poor but may be a representation of the meager budget. The region 1 is cropped on top and the Region 2 is cropped on the bottom as well as the both sides. It seems uneven so I would think some zooming may have taken place. The German is hazier and has been brightness boosted. I *think* the region 1's colors may be more accurate, but skin tones are too red and it has a greenish tinge. Both are ineffectual, but perhaps as good as we will get, after all it is is the (SE). Hopeful fans for it to improve drastically on the initial release will be disappointed. True Scorsese devotees may want both for the Region 2 documentary and the Region 1 commentary. As it stands now, we say the Region 1 SE is the best available edition.

 - Gary W. Tooze