Tartan UK
Review by Gary W. Tooze
Video resolution: 1080p (24 fp/s)
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: English: Swedish Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono and English mono DUB
Subtitles
English, none
Supplements:
• Original Trailer (2:36).
• Karin's Face (1984) - 13:42
• Onset Footage (1958) - 14:11
Disc: 25GB (single-layered) Blu-ray Disc
Released: December 3rd, 2007
Standard Blu-ray case
16 chapters
Product Description:
After a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight challenges Death to a fateful game of chess. More than forty years after its initial release, Ingmar Bergman’s stunning allegory of man’s apocalyptic search for meaning remains a textbook on the art of filmmaking and an essential building block in any collection.
****
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(Criterion(s) - TOP vs. Tartan 50th Anniversary SE and Blu-ray title - BOTTOM)
NOTE:
Unusually Tartan shows only the "Seventh Seal" portion of the title as if some blacked out the "The" (or "Det"). There is even a space there. Kind of strange.
The Film:
The late twentieth century’s defining anxiety – nuclear catastrophe –inspired film masterworks in a variety of genres, from noir (‘Kiss Me Deadly’) to essay (‘Hiroshima, Mon Amour’), faux documentary (‘The War Game’) to horror (‘Godzilla’). But it found possibly its greatest cinematic expression in Ingmar Bergman’s doom-laden medieval allegory, a film that re-imagines a previous period of existential angst and primal fear: the plague-ridden thirteenth century. ‘The Seventh Seal’ has the courage to give fear a face. You could say of its most famous image – returned crusader Max von Sydow’s desperate chess game with Death (Bengt Ekerot), shot in superb high-Gothic relief by cinematographer Gunnar Fischer in homage to an image Bergman remembered from a childhood church visit – that it has lost none of its power to impress. But, it seems to me, 50 years of relentless quotation and parody have taken some toll, as they have on the climactic improvised ‘dance of death’.
Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE
Video:
Firstly, this is a combo package - one high definition Blu-ray disc and the same SD as found in Tartan's 50th Anniversary release (COMPARED HERE) - with the same supplements, audio and subtitle options on both.
NOTE: We were in error initially describing this on our homepage as being region-coded (there are 3 region codes for Blu-ray) when in fact it is region free and will play on Blu-ray DVD players throughout the world.
I did some wrestling with this one. From a 'standard' distance from your system I see the Blu-ray as easily superior over the previous SD editions. Looking closer it still exhibits the same faux-grain/noise, but it is somewhat finer. I do have one 'problem' with the Blu-ray transfer. It has a slight bluish tinge at times. Where the contrast is intense (brighter whites and darker blacks) than all the other SD releases .
Overall this may not be a perfect black and white transfer (as, say, a Casablanca on hi-def) but it IS better than the SD versions I own (all of them?). What I am questioning is - is worth it? Is it that much better? For some I'm sure they would say 'yes', I don't think it exhibits the 3D depth we associate with hi-def, but the improvement may be more than enough. It looks pretty sweet at times. I think it's great Tartan added the SD in the package and for those keen to have the best looking editions - well, this is it (debatably in both formats).
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I can't think of a comparable hi-def transfer to relate this to. I hope our captures can give you an idea of the differences and improvements.
Screen Captures
(Criterion - TOP, 50th Anniversary SD - MIDDLE vs. Blu-ray BOTTOM)
NOTE: Not exact frame!
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Audio:
The same options on both editions in the package - Tartan offer an English audio DUB (in 2.0 channel mono) along with the original Swedish track. For some reason, to my ears, the Blu-ray sounded better than the SD - but I have no quantitative way of proving it. There are optional English subtitles with some differences noted here:
(Criterion - TOP, 50th Anniversary SD - MIDDLE vs. Blu-ray BOTTOM)
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Extras:
Duplicated from the SD edition - We now have Bergman's 14 minute short Karin's Face (Karins ansikte) from 1984 with optional English subtitles. It is a film based on the pictures from Ingmar Bergman's personal photo album, especially the pictures of his mother Karin. This might be enticing for completists. Also we have 14 minutes of narrated 'Onset Footage" from the filming of The Seventh Seal. Interesting to see Ingmar as a young filmmaker.
Menus
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BOTTOM LINE: Actually I am a little encouraged by this high-definition release from Tartan. I think they did an okay job. Quite possibly as good as this masterpiece will ever look on digital. I still have a self-debate whether its worth the upgrade - but for true fans of the film - I suppose it is. I appreciate the extras in the package as well. I'm now VERY keen to see Tartan's next Blu-ray release. The Seventh Seal looks and sounds better than I have ever experienced before.
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NOTE: the cover on Amazon.UK is inaccurate. The DVD comes in the box pictured left, not below:
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