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Jean Renoir 3-Disc Collector's Edition
Whirlpool of Fate (1925) Nana (1926) La Marseillaise (1938)
NOTE: La Marseillaise DVD is compared to the Blu-ray HERE
Whirlpool of Fate is compared on Blu-ray
HERE
The Doctor's Horrible Experiment (1959)
The Elusive Corporal (1962)
Charleston Parade (1927) La
petite marchande d'allumettes (1928)
| Comments |
After a promising start in 2007 with 3 sets dedicated to Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel and this Jean Renoir, the Studio Canal-Lionsgate output screeched to a halt in 2010 with just 2 releases this summer (Three Musketeers / Four Musketeers Collection and Le Professional, both previously available in region 1). This is a certainly a disappointment considering Studio Canal-Optimum in UK are releasing over 60 titles each year, on both DVD and Blu-ray. Studio Canal ended their relationship with The Criterion Collection, banishing over 20 excellent titles, and transfers, to 'out of print' status. We are still waiting to see what kind of plans they have for them, but considering the non-existent output of Republic/Lionsgate new releases over the years, there isn't a lot of optimism. Later Studio Canal/Lionsgate releases dedicated to André Téchiné and Jean-Luc Godard came without any extras, but this Renoir set includes a 30-minute documentary hosted by Martin Scorsese about 7 films in this collection - 5 features and 2 shorts. This Jean Renoir - 3-Disc Collector's Edition - released in 2007 - is divided as follows: Disc 1 - Jean Renoir 2 Early Films: La Fille De L'eau, Nana. Disc 2 - Jean Renoir Political Period: La Marseillaise, + 2 Short Films: Sur Un Air De Charleston, La Petite Marchande D'allumettes. Disc 3 - 2 Later Movies: Le Testament Du Docteur Cordelier and Le Caporal Epingle The discs are coded region 1 and properly transferred in NTSC. There is a slight ghosting and boosting (brightening) in the silents due to different frame rate, but the films seem to be progressively transferred. All prints have some marks and damage, less so on the talkies, but overall the transfers are very good, especially for the last 2 films. Whirlpool of Fate and The Little Match Girl fare the worst. Nana's tinted transfer and music come from 2002 restoration. The Elusive Corporal is anamorphic with black bars on all 4 sides making the aspect ratio of 1.65:1; all other films are in their original full screen format. All silents except Charleston Parade come with a musical score. The set comes in a weird packaging - all 3 discs are housed in a thick keep case with an outer cardboard case that looks like a clapboard (see images below). The set gives a fine overview of Jean Renoir career through lesser known titles, from his debut to his last feature film. The price is very reasonable. |
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(aka "Whirlpool of Fate" )
France 1925
| Jean Renoir liked to mark the true beginning of his career as a filmmaker with Nana, his second solo feature as a director, although this earlier silent effort (1924), while atypical and inferior to its successor, is certainly nothing to be ashamed of. Strongly influenced by the experimental French impressionist cinema of that period and starring his wife Catherine Hessling, the film follows the dreams and adventures of an orphan who escapes the advances of her uncle by hiding in a Gypsy camp. The results are more pictorial than most of later Renoir—he saw the film largely as an opportunity to experiment with various visual effects—but full of charm and poetry. |
Poster
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Theatrical Release: 20 March 1925 (France)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Studio Canal, Lionsgate (Jean Renoir - 3-Disc Collector's Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC
Whirlpool of Fate is compared on Blu-ray HERE
Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!
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CLICK to order from:
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| Distribution |
Studio Canal, Lionsgate Region 1 - NTSC |
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| Runtime | 1:11:06 | |
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1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Audio | Dolby Digital 2.0 | |
| Subtitles | English, None | |
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Release
Information: Studio: Studio Canal, Lionsgate Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 20 |
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France 1926
| Where La Fille De L'Eau arises out of the Griffith tradition, his second film, Nana (1926), is influenced by the extravagant work of Erich von Stroheim (Renoir claimed to have seen his 1922 film Foolish Wives over ten times). Based on the novel by Emile Zola, it again stars Hessling in the lead, this time in the mercenary role of a second-rate stage actress who takes up the offer of an infatuated (and married) lover to set her up as a kept woman in the lap of decadence. Renoir co-wrote the adaptation with his La Fille De L'Eau screenwriter Pierre Lestringuez, condensing and simplifying the novel and compressing characters into a few key suitors, and hired the author's daughter, Denise Leblond-Zola, to write the titles. |
Posters
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Theatrical Release: 25 June 1926 (France)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Studio Canal, Lionsgate (Jean Renoir - 3-Disc Collector's Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC
Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!
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CLICK to order from:
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| Distribution |
Studio Canal, Lionsgate Region 1 - NTSC |
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| Runtime | 2:09:04 | |
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1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Audio | Dolby Digital 2.0 | |
| Subtitles | English, None | |
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Release
Information: Studio: Studio Canal, Lionsgate Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 28 |
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France 1938
| Renoir's spare, but nevertheless stirring and deeply patriotic account of events leading up to the French Revolution is a fascinating piece of historical film making. It almost plays like Pathe newsreel, with different points of views reported, from the ordinary citizen of Marseilles, the soldiers of the French Revolutionary Army, aristocrats in German exile and Louis XVI all getting a look in. Powerful and poignant, Renoir manages to make a direct, humanist statement about the decadence of the rich and the power of the masses without fuss or extravagance, never patronizing or posturing. |
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Theatrical Release: 2 February 1938 (premiere, France)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Studio Canal, Lionsgate (Jean Renoir - 3-Disc Collector's Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC
NOTE: La Marseillaise DVD is compared to the Blu-ray HERE
Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!
| DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from:
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| Distribution |
Studio Canal, Lionsgate Region 1 - NTSC |
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| Runtime | 2:11:32 | |
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1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Audio | Dolby Digital 2.0 (French) | |
| Subtitles | English, None | |
| Features |
Release
Information: Studio: Studio Canal, Lionsgate Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 28 |
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(aka "The Doctor's Horrible Experiment" or "The Testament of Doctor Cordelier" or "Experiment in Evil")
France 1959
| Jean Renoir's uncharacteristic free
adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with the
great Jean-Louis Barrault (1959). Shot in black and
white for French TV, this oddball horror comedy allowed
Renoir to experiment with TV techniques, using multiple
cameras and microphones to follow his actors from
different angles at the same time. Barrault's
performance in the title role—a retiring middle-class
professor who, after inadvertently releasing the fury of
his own id, delights in such activities as abusing
cripples on the street—is one of the most sublime,
disturbingly funny, and complex actorly creations ever
committed to film, and it illuminates many corners of
Renoir's oeuvre in provocative ways: Cordelier's
shambling walk can be traced all the way back to Michel
Simon's Boudu, and, as Dave Kehr and French
critic Jean Douchet have noted, the film is the dark
mirror of the Dionysian fantasy of Picnic on the Grass,
made the same year; here liberation from repression
leads to nightmare rather than utopia. Excerpt from Jonathan Rosenbaum at the Chicago Reader located HERE |
Poster
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Theatrical Release: 8 September 1959 (Venice, Italy)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Studio Canal, Lionsgate (Jean Renoir - 3-Disc Collector's Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC
Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!
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CLICK to order from:
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| Distribution |
Studio Canal, Lionsgate Region 1 - NTSC |
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| Runtime | 1:36:21 | |
| Video |
1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Audio | Dolby Digital 2.0 (French) | |
| Subtitles | English, None | |
| Features |
Release
Information: Studio: Studio Canal, Lionsgate Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 25 |
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(aka "The Elusive Corporal" or "The Vanishing Corporal")
France 1962
| The skill with which Renoir has
tangled the comical and the grave, following an episode
of nonsense with a sprinkle of minor agony (such as the
punishment of grueling exercises meted out to the little
hero after each unsuccessful attempt at escape),
accounts for the rising of this picture above the level
of P.O.W. farce. And the trace of philosophical
implication makes it worth more than lightly passing
through. The corporal is played with sad-eyed brightness by Jean-Pierre Cassel, the impish fellow who did "The Joker" and "Five-Day Lover" with such elan. He gives to the role a melancholy that is suitable to the clown. His air is that of a gate-crasher, ever hopeful, who invariably gets caught. |
Poster
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Theatrical Release: 23 May 1962 (France)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Studio Canal, Lionsgate (Jean Renoir - 3-Disc Collector's Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC
Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!
| DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from:
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| Distribution |
Studio Canal, Lionsgate Region 1 - NTSC |
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| Runtime | 1:45:28 | |
| Video |
1:65:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Audio | Dolby Digital 2.0 (French) | |
| Subtitles | English, None | |
| Features |
Release
Information: Studio: Studio Canal, Lionsgate Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 24 |
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DVD Menus
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(aka "Charleston Parade" )
France
Theatrical Release: 19 March 1927 (France)
DVD Menu
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(aka "The Little Match Girl" )
directed by Jean Renoir, Jean Tédesco
France 1928
Theatrical Release: 8 June 1928 (France)
DVD Menu
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