The Golden Coach Blu-ray

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

(aka 'Le Carrosse d'or' or 'Le Carrozza d'oro)

France / Italy 1952

François Truffaut described The Golden Coach as “the noblest and most refined film ever made”. Set to the music of Antonio Vivaldi and with the vivacious Anna Magnani (Rome, Open City), Jean Renoir’s ravishing, sumptuous tribute to theatre involves a viceroy who receives an exquisite golden coach and gives it to the tempestuous star of a touring commedia dell’arte company. Set in Peru in the eighteenth century, The Golden Coach follows Camilla (Magnani), the star of a theater company, who hesitates to choose between the advances of three men. The Viceroy gives her his magnificent golden coach. A young Spanish officer suggests the two of them settle down together. Ramon, a torero, offers her a share of his glory.

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The Golden Coach (Le Carrosse d’or) is a ravishing eighteenth-century comic fantasy about a viceroy who receives an exquisite golden coach, and gives it to the tempestuous star of a touring commedia dell’arte company. Master director Jean Renoir’s sumptuous tribute to the theatre, presented here in the English version he favored, is set to the music of Antonio Vivaldi and built around vivacious and volatile star Anna Magnani.

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Theatrical Release: December 5th, 1952

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Review: Raro Video - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Raro Video - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:42:40.166
Video	1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 34,769,702,293 bytes Feature: 34,482,929,664 bytes Video Bitrate: 38.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1560 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1560 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) DTS-HD Master Audio French 1558 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1558 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Raro Video 1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 34,769,702,293 bytes Feature: 34,482,929,664 bytes Video Bitrate: 38.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Audio commentary by film critic Adam Nayman Blu-ray Release Date: February 26th, 2024 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 10

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Raro Video Blu-ray (February 2024): Raro Video have transferred Jean Renoir's The Golden Coach to Blu-ray. It is cited as the "film restored in 2K digital by the Digimage laboratory from the original Technicolor trichrome negatives. Restoration and digitization with the support of the CNC". Okay... we reviewed the Criterion DVD boxset Stage and Spectacle: Three Films by Jean Renoir from 2004 (20 years ago!), HERE that included The Golden Coach and it initiated some negative feedback regarding the image and notably the final 5 minutes. I am going to beg-off as I have not seen this Technicolor film theatrically, but you can see the new 1080P image below and it looks superior, imo - if not expressing the depth and vibrancy that many usually associate with Technicolor. Primaries are richer and darker (notable reds.) The Blu-ray colors looks far more balanced than the old DVD, detail predictably rises, there's lovely consistent gain... and I didn't see any flagrant differences (colors or contrast) in the final 5-minutes of the film. Here area a few samples that you can click to enlarge:

Bottom line for me - I thought this was a highly pleasing HD presentation. It also may show a shade more information in the top and bottom of the frame as compared to the DVD.

NOTE: We have added 38 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Raro Video offer the option of English of (DUB'ed) French language versions of the film - both rendered in DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit.) The Golden Coach is notable for the music of Antonio Vivaldi (as stated "Musical score selected from the works of Antonio Vivaldi (1675-1740), played by The Rome Symphony Orchestra - Conductor Gino Marinuzzi Jr.") Vivaldi ranks amongst the greatest Baroque composers and his influence during his lifetime was widespread and is best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons. It sounds lively and pristine in the lossless transfer. Beautiful. Raro Video offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Raro Video Blu-ray offers a commentary by film critic Adam Nayman (author of Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks: A Filmmaker’s Creative Journey, David Fincher: Mind Games: A Critical Survey of the Filmmaker, and The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Films Together.) He writes for the Ringer, Reverse Shot, the New Yorker, Sight and Sound etc., and teaches cinema studies at the University of Toronto. In the beginning of the commentary he reads a comment from Renoir that states that Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi was his frequent collaborator, he tells us of the director's inseparability of life and art, how Anna Magnani worked very hard at the phonetic learning of the English language, that Jean Renoir is known as a master of the moving camera (shot here by his nephew, Claude Renoir), how The Golden Coach was his second color film after The River - and first in Technicolor, about commedia dell’arte and much more. He makes some excellent observations on The Golden Coach. I was extremely impressed - as I was with his recent commentary on Fun City Editions Blu-ray of Ted Kotchef's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. More from Adam, please! There are no other extras nor liner notes.

Jean Renoir's The Golden Coach has been described by Eric Rohmer as 'the open sesame' of all Renoir's work. The two customary poles of his work—art and nature, acting and life—take shape in two facing mirrors, which reflect each other's images back and forth until it is impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins." Renoir's tribute to the theatre did not fare well at the box office - in any of the three languages it was shown. However, since then many critics and film aficionados alike appreciate the depth of filmmaking and its delightful comical-fantasy expression with life-and-art inexorably linked. I am duly impressed by the Raro Video Blu-ray restoration video, lossless audio and essential commentary. Jean Renoir fans, and world cinephiles in general, should pick this beauty up. Absolutely recommended!

Gary Tooze