I Vinti Blu-ray - Michelangelo Antonioni

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

(aka 'The Vanquished' or 'Les Vaincus' or 'Youth and Perversion')

Italy / France 1953

Commonly and to some extent unjustly written off as a failure, in part because of alterations imposed by censorship pressures that marred the first two episodes, Michelangelo Antonioni's daring second feature (1952), originally released in England as Youth and Perversion, consists of three separate sketches chronicling senseless murders committed by young men in France, Italy, and England--a contemporary existentialist document that could almost have been co-scripted by Albert Camus. What's most striking in all three parts of the film is the integration of incident with landscape without psychologizing--something of an Antonioni staple--and the last and best segment strikingly anticipates Blowup by offering not only a corpse found in a park but a tennis match glimpsed in the final shot. Jean-Pierre Mocky, later a New Wave director, plays one of the French youths in the first section, and Fay Compton plays the murder victim in the last.

Excerpt from Jonathan Rosenbaum's review at The Chicago Reader located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: September 4th, 1953

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Recommended Books for Michelangelo Antonioni reading (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)


That Bowling Alley on the Tiber: Tales of a Director by Michelangelo Antonioni	Antonioni, Or, the Surface of the World by Seymour Chatman	My Time With Antonioni: The Diary of an Extraordinary Experience by Wim Wenders, Michael Hofmann	Antonioni: The Poet of Images by William Arrowsmith, Ted Perry	Antonioni by Sam Rohdie	The Films of Michelangelo Antonioni (Cambridge Film Classics) by Peter Brunette, Ray Carney	Michelangelo Antonioni by Seymour Chatman, Paul Duncan	L'Avventura (B.F.I. Film Classics) by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith

Check out more in "The Library"

Comparison:

Minerva - Region 0 - PAL vs. Raro Video/eOne - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Raro Video - Region FREE - Blu-ray

1) Minerva - Region 0 - PAL - LEFT

2) Raro Video - Region 0 - NTSC - MIDDLE

3) Raro Video - Region FREE - Blu-ray - RIGHT

Box Covers
Distribution	Minerva Classics - Region 0 - PAL	Raro Video/eOne Region 0 - NTSC	Raro Video USA Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:48:40 (4% PAL Speedup)	1:53:16	1:53:28.676
Video	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.65 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.26 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 - 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 24,738,040,308 bytes Feature: 21,007,810,560 bytes Video Bitrate: 20.01 Mbps Codec: VC-1 Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Minerva
Bitrate: Raro
Bitrate: Blu-ray
Audio	French / Italian / English (Dolby Digital 2.0), DUB: solely in Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0)	Italian/French/English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono; Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono	LPCM Audio Italian 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit LPCM Audio French, Italian, English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitles	English, Italian, None	English, none	English, none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Minerva Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Uncut version of Italian episode • Interview with writer Turi Vasile • Interview with actor Franco Interlenghi • DVDRom contents (Production notes etc.) - all in Italian • 32-page liner notes booklet (mostly in Italian) DVD Release Date: September 17th, 2007 Transparent Keep Case Chapters: 20	Release Information: Studio: Raro Video/eOne Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Interview with actor Franco Interlenghi (4:3; 10:50) • Interview with producer Turi Vasile (4:3; 13:23) • TENTATO SUICIDO episode from L'AMORE IN CITTA (4:3; 22:51) • Uncut version of the Italian episode (4:3; 30:03) • Director Filmography • Director Biography • 8-page booklet on the film DVD Release Date: March 29th, 2011 Amaray Chapters 20	Release Information: Studio: Raro Video 1.33:1 - 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 44,374,197,932 bytes Feature: 23,689,943,040 bytes Video Bitrate: 29.21 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: Interview with actor Franco Interlenghi (10:23) • Interview with producer Turi Vasile (13:53) • TENTATO SUICIDO (Attempted Suicide) short from L'AMORE IN CITTA (22:47) • Uncut version of the 'Italian' episode (30:07) • 8-page booklet on the film Blu-ray Release Date: July 8th, 2014 Standard Blu-ray case inside cardboard slipcase Chapters 13

Comments:

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

ADDITION Raro Blu-ray - June 2014: Ohh my my... This has been scrubbed and way over-digitized. It is caked with DNR and artifacts - the grain has been all smoothed away. The 1080P (utilizing VC-1) is an unmitigated disaster, IMO despite this initial screen:

This Blu-ray release gets lossless audio in the from of two linear PCMs (Italian or the original mix of Italian, French and English) and extras duplicate the 2011 Raro DVD - with the interviews of actor Franco Interlenghi and producer Turi Vasile, the TENTATO SUICIDO (Attempted Suicide) episode and a 1/2 hour uncut version of the 'Italian' episode from the film. There is also an 8-page booklet containing photos and with essay by Stefania Parigi.

For shame - gotta give a 'pass'.

- Gary Tooze

***

ADDITION: Raro DVD - April 2011: Raro/eOne's progressive transfer is similar in appearance to the Minerva transfer, although the latter disc consistently reveals a hair more picture information on the top and left side of the frame. Edge enhancement is not overwhelming but it has had some DNR. The French/Italian/English track is preferred over the Italian dub. Both tracks are post-synched, but the former not only suits the settings, it also feels more atmospherically mixed in with the sound effects than the latter. The English subtitles seem to have been translated from the full Italian dub, as they translate Louis XI as "Luigi XI" and refer to Pierre's father Gustav as "Gustavo." The English subtitles are meant to accompany the French/Italian/English track and do not subtitle the English sequence for the full Italian dub. The longer cut of the Italian episode that played at the Venice Film Festival is also included as an extra (some of the extra footage was sourced from videotape).

The liner notes booklet has been translated, but cut down to 8 pages from 32 (it is the same Stefania Parigi essay that had also been included translated in the otherwise Italian booklet for the Minerva edition). The Raro/eOne set does, however, include an additional extra in the form of Antonioni's segment of L'AMORE IN CITTA titled "TENTATO SUICIDIO" (Raro/eOne's I CLOWNS featured Fellini's segment from the anthology film as an extra). As with I CLOWNS, Raro's DVD of I VINTI has 16:9 windowboxed menus, even though the feature and all of the extras are 4:3.

- Eric Cotenas

***

ON THE MINERVA: Great find. Antonioni’s third film and one of his rarest... and it has English subtitles! Judging by the roughness of 'uncut' episode (included as an extra) I can safely assume this has had some restoration. The image is quite clean, dual-layered and progressive. It appears very adept with decent contrast and minimal noise. It is offered in the original (tri-language - French, Italian and English) in a 2.0 channel as well as an Italian DUB throughout. There are optional Italian or English subtitles. Menus are available in Italian and English. It is coded for region 0 in the PAL format. I'm extremely happy.

The DVD also gives some decent supplements. We are given the 'uncut' version of Italian episode (presented at the 1953 Venice Film Festival). It runs 29 minutes with the caveat that a few meters of the film were replaced with video and hence the limitation in quality. There is an interview with one of the writers, Turi Vasile running 12:52 and another with actor Franco Interlenghi running 10 minutes (with optional English subs for both). There are some DVDRom contents (Production notes etc.) accessible through your PC but they are all in Italian. There is a 32-page liner notes booklet with photos and one short essay in English (by Stefania Parigi).

The film might be described as a matter-of-fact expose of juvenile delinquency. I think it is very much worth watching and the DVD supplements are very much appreciated. This would be for more than Antonioni completists - recommended!

P.S. I just nabbed the original Belgium poster (above) on eBay for $10 - here's hoping some are jealous! :)

Gary W. Tooze

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