La Notte Monica Vitti

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'Dare e avere" or "La Nuit" or "The Night")

USA 1961

One of the masterworks of 1960s cinema, La notte [The Night] marked yet another development in the continuous stylistic evolution of its director, Michelangelo Antonioni — even as it solidified his reputation as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. La notte is Antonioni’s “Twilight of the Gods”, but composed in cinematic terms. Examined from a crane-shot, it’s a sprawling study of Italy’s upper middle-class; seen in close-up, it’s an x-ray of modern man’s psychic desolation.

Two of the giants of film-acting come together as a married couple living in crisis: Marcello Mastroianni (La dolce vita, 8 1/2) and Jeanne Moreau (Jules et Jim, Bay of Angels). He is a renowned author and “public intellectual”; she is “the wife”. Over the course of one day and the night into which it inevitably bleeds, the pair will come to re-examine their emotional bonds, and grapple with the question of whether love and communication are even possible in a world built out of profligate idylls and sexual hysteria.

Photographed in rapturous black-and-white by the great Gianni di Venanzo (8 1/2, Giulietta degli spiriti), La notte presents the beauty of seduction, then asks: “When did this occur — this seduction of Beauty?”

Excerpt from the MoC website located HERE

***

Michelangelo Antonioni's 1961 follow-up to L'avventura--and the middle feature in a loose trilogy ending with Eclipse--repeats many of the melancholic themes and stylistic moves of its predecessor, with particular emphasis on the boredom and atrophied emotions of the rich. The results are somewhat more mixed, though on the whole the performances are better--which may not matter so much in an Antonioni context. The minimal plot, restricted to less than 24 hours, involves the death of passion between a successful novelist (Marcello Mastroianni) and his frustrated wife (Jeanne Moreau). The best parts of this movie tend to cluster around the beginning and end, and include the novelist's brief encounter with a nymphomaniac patient at a hospital and his longer encounter with the daughter (Monica Vitti) of an industrialist at a party; one of the worst is a walk taken by the wife around Milan, full of symbolic and pretentious details. Whatever one's occasional misgivings, this feature comes from what is widely considered to be Antonioni's richest period, and evidence of his stunning mastery is available throughout. German director Bernhard Wicki plays the couple's dying friend.

Jonathan Rosenbaum capsule review from the Chicago Reader located HERE

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Theatrical Release: January 24th, 1961 - Italy

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DVD Comparison:

Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Eureka (Masters of Cinema) - Region 0 - PAL

(Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC LEFT vs. Eureka (Masters of Cinema) - Region 0 - PAL RIGHT)

DVD Box Cover
Distribution	Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC	Masters of Cinema (Spine # 61) - Region 0 - PAL
Runtime	1:54:56	1:57:08
Video	1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.5 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.66:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.96 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Fox/Lorber
Bitrate: MoC
Audio	Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0)	Italian (Dolby Digital mono)
Subtitles	English (burned in)	English, none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Fox Lorber Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.66:1 Edition Details: • Filmographies and Awards (text screens) • Production Credits (text screens) • Web Links DVD Release Date: May 8th, 2001 Keep Case Chapters: 16	Release Information: Studio: Eureka Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.66:1 Edition Details: • Original Italian theatrical trailer. • 56-page booklet with a new essay by film-critic and scholar Brad Stevens, and the transcript of a lengthy Q&A conducted in 1961 with Antonioni upon the film’s release. DVD Release Date: March 24th, 2008 Transparent Keep Case Chapters: 16

Comments:

ADDITION: Eureka - Masters of Cinema - Region 0 - PAL April 08': the running time differential is explained by the MoC being 'with previously censored sequences restored for the first time.' where the Fox/Lorber does not contain them.

So this is really not a comparison as the Masters of Cinema disc is so far in advance of the old Fox/Lorber. The PAL DVD is dual-layered where the F/L is single - the MoC is anamorphic, where the F/L is not, the Eureka has removable subtitles where the Fox are burnt-in. etc. etc. The Fox-Lorber has some terrible noise, ghosting and combing, on its pictureboxed frame and was really only a stop-gap for fans who have been awaiting this release (English friendly) for years.

MoC appear to have taken the trouble of improving the subtitles and aside from the original Italian theatrical trailer, offer a wonderful 56-page booklet with a new essay by film-critic and scholar Brad Stevens, and the transcript of a lengthy Q&A conducted in 1961 with Antonioni upon the film’s release.

NOTE: It has been rumored for quite a while that Criterion would indulge in this title but that speculation has given us no concrete release date.

****

ON THE FOX LORBER: This single-layered Fox-Lorber DVD is a typical disaster from them. For a film of this stature, this transfer is totally unacceptable. Burned-in subtitles, non-anamorphic image and no viable extras are this disc's major weaknesses. On the positive side, it doesn't look to have any excessive manipulation and therefore contrast is fair at best, but the image looks quite fragile and the bitrate spikes indicate it probably did not come from a PAL source, as typical of Fox-Lorber. This is another Antonioni masterpiece that we need to have Criterion do to the 9's. As for this - out of.

Gary W. Tooze

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(Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC LEFT vs. Eureka (Masters of Cinema) - Region 0 - PAL RIGHT)