ADDITION Kino Blu-ray - April 2012: After Bill Gunn completed Ganja & Hess, the film was edited without his involvement from 113 minutes to 78 minutes. Because the original negative had been altered, the only complete surviving prints of the original were used 35mm prints. The best of these film elements were combined to create the 35mm negative from which this Blu-ray edition was mastered. The restoration was performed by MoMA with support from The Film Foundation. IMDb claims the film to be shot for 1.85:1 - the DVD seems closer to 1.78 but the new Blu-ray is almost exactly 1.66:1 and shows a lot more information in the frame. The Blu-ray transfer certainly shows a significant amount more detail and is heavily thick with grain. Minimal damage is still there but it is mostly in the form of speckles or frame-specific scratches. The overall image is much brighter and colors impressively tighter in comparison to the SD. It's a giant leap forward - visually.

We are given a linear PCM track still sounding weak but I'll wager the best the film can sound at present. Things are a bit scattered but there are no dropouts or pops - it matches the video adequately. There are no subtitles and the Blu-ray is coded region FREE - playable on machines worldwide.

Extras duplicate the All-Day DVD (as discussed by Eric below) with the group commentary. We lose the 'Ganja and Hess Reduced' , but the 'Blood of the Thing' featurette, Photo Gallery and 2 text pieces are available in HTML format in a folder on the BD-ROM.

Impressive restoration of one of the more unique films I've seen in years. The upgraded 1080P video improvement is the key reason to indulge. I would expect this advances to a 'new' viewing for those who have only seen it on SD. Recommended!

- Gary Tooze

***

ON THE DVD: This "complete version" includes in inevitably poor quality a brief sequence in which a character leaves as a suicide note a poem called "To the Black Male Children." This sequence was missed when editor Victor Kanefsky's reels were combined with the cinematographer James Hinton's incomplete reels to do the initial restoration as it was not included in either of their materials (including the print shown at Cannes) and not noticed until afterwards. The sequence was restored from a 16mm print that had been making the rounds at universities. The recut version of GANJA & HESS titled BLOOD COUPLE (aka DOUBLE POSSESSION, BLACKOUT: MOMENT OF TERROR, BLACK VAMPIRE, VAMPIRES OF HARLEM, BLACK EVIL) could not be included as it is owned by MGM and neither they nor subsequently Sony sublicense titles in their catalogue. Although disowned by everyone involved in the production, the recut version's linear framing does bear more resemblance to Gunn's original screenplay (published in Phyllis Klotman's "Screenplays of the African American Experience" and also available in the DVD-ROM supplements). The structure of Gunn's approved version arose out of daily changes made by Gunn and his post production collaboration with editor Victor Kanefsky.

That said, the anamorphic 1.85:1 images is beautiful in a rough-hew way given the original lighting, the Super 16mm gauge and stock, and the private storage of the elements (the Museum of Modern Art's copy is likely in no better shape given the multiple screenings but Hinton and Kanefsky donated their reels to MoMA after the 1998 digital restoration work to composite and conform their reels with MoMA's print for future screenings - it is not currently known what MoMA have done with the materials or if they have included the missing sequence from the 1998 restoration since All Day did notify them of this omission). A shot thought to be cropped since nudity is obscured actually seems artfully composed but there is one instance where an actor's head is completely cut off by the upper frame (in a humorous anecdote related in Video Watchdog #130, it is reported that Gunn said it was composed that way because servants are superfluous in social situations but Hinton confirms it was a problem with the viewfinder during shooting).

The informative and pleasant commentary with actress Marlene Clark, cinematographer Hinton (who died in 2006), actor/composer Sam Waymon, and producer Chiz Schultz is carried over from the original DVD. New featurettes include "The Blood of the Thing" ... and one examining some scenes in detail with commentary by Schultz. An animated photo gallery is an extra. Besides the screenplay, the DVD-ROM supplements also feature Tim Lucas' and David Walker's article on the differences between the two cuts of the film reprinted from Video Watchdog #2.

For more info on the initial 1998 restoration, see Video Watchdog #47. For information on this restoration, see Video Watchdog #130. I also recommend Phyllis Klotman and Manthia Diawara's 1990 analysis published in the journal JUMP CUT 35:30-36 (online version at JUMP CUT's website HERE: )

The navigation of the DVD (at least my copy) is a tad problematic. After pressing the start button you are taken to a disclaimer mentioning the condition of the elements and offered the option to return to the main menu (as if one would give up on watching the film because of the elements considering the film's rarity). Once the film is actually started, hitting menu on some players just restarts the film rather than going to the menu.

 - Eric Cotenas