Imagica - Region 2 - NTSC vs. Masters of Cinema (Spine # 31) - Region 2 - PAL vs. Criterion (Spine # 288) - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Imagica

Region 2 - NTSC

1.63:1 Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.33 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.57 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

1:61:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 8.23 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Imagica

Masters of Cinema (Spine # 31)

Criterion (Spine # 288)

Criterion

Blu-ray

English (Dolby Digital 2.0)

English (Dolby Digital 2.0)

LPCM Audio English 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.63:1

Edition Details:
• Theatrical trailer
• Production Notes / Staff and Cast (Japanese text screens)

DVD Release Date: 2000

Chapters 14
 

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.66:1

Edition Details:
• Exclusive audio commentary by the film’s cinematographer Gary Graver and Bill Krohn
• Jonathan Rosenbaum on F For Fake – a 28 minute video piece
• 40-page booklet featuring the writing of Fred Camper, Jean Cocteau, Craig Keller, Joseph McBride, &
 

Chapters 18

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1:61:1

Edition Details:
• Video introduction by director Peter Bogdanovich
• Audio commentary featuring star Oja Kodar and director of photography Gary Graver
• Orson Welles: One-Man Band (1988), a feature-length investigation of Welles’s unfinished projects
• Almost True, a 1992 Norwegian Film Institute documentary on art forger Elmyr de Hory
• 9-minute trailer
• 60 Minutes interviews with Clifford Irving
• 16-page liner notes booklet with new essay by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
 

Chapters 19

• Audio commentary from 2005 by cowriter and star Oja Kodar and director of photography Gary Graver
• Introduction from 2005 by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich (6:30)
• Episode of the talk show Tomorrow from 1975 featuring an extensive interview with Welles (44:29)
• Orson Welles: One-Man Band, a documentary from 1995 about Welles’s unfinished projects (1:27:41)
• Almost True: The Noble Art of Forgery, a fifty-two-minute (51:53) documentary from 1997 about art forger Elmyr de Hory
• 60 Minutes interview from 2000 with Clifford Irving about his Howard Hughes autobiography hoax (8:48)
• Audio recording of Hughes’s 1972 press conference exposing Irving’s hoax (19:18)
• Extended, nine-minute trailer (9:09)
• PLUS: An essay by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum

Blu-ray Release Date: October 21st, 2014
Transparent Blu-ray Case
Chapters: 18

ADDITION: (September 2014) Criterion Region 'A' - Blu-ray: A definite upgrade in the a/v with higher support for the grain, color separation (although a bit of 'blue' leaning) and, in certain scenes, detail is notably improved. The 1080P resolution advances the films textures to a much higher extent than the SDs.

Criterion use a linear PCM mono track for the audio. It is authentically flat but narration and dialogue is clean and clear - or as accurate as the various sources would allow. There are optional English subtitles on the region 'A'-locked Blu-ray disc.

The Criterion includes all the extras from the 2005 DVD release including the audio commentary from 9-years ago with co-writer and star Oja Kodar and director of photography Gary Graver, and the 6-minute introduction from 2005 by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich. Unless I missed it on the original release - we get a new supplement; a 45-minute episode of the talk show Tomorrow from April 8th, 1975 featuring an extensive interview with Welles who discusses his dificulty financing and distributing his films, including F For Fake; his independence as a director; magic and many other topics. Repeated from Criterion's original DVD is the 1.5 hour Orson Welles: One-Man Band, a documentary from 1995 about Welles’s unfinished projects. Welles completed 11 feature films as a director. He also left behind countless fragments during a lifetime spent both in front of and behind the camera. He gave these bits and pieces to his companion, Oja Kodar, whi after his death joined with filmmakers Vassili Silovic and Roland Zag to create this remarkable film, which is part documentary, part experiment. Modeled explicitly after F For Fake's 'essay film' style, Orson Welles: One-Man Band is a unique cinematic record of one of film's greatest artists. Almost True: The Noble Art of Forgery is a fifty-two-minute documentary from 1997 about art forger Elmyr de Hory. Made in 1997 by Yellow Cottage Productions for the Norwegian Film Institute, Almost True: The Noble Art of Forgery is the film F For Fake might have been had director director Welles played it straight. With investigative zeal, the documentary tracks the career and claims of art forger Elmyr de Hory, from the cloudy circumstances of his birth and his equally mysterious death. Also included is the 9-minute • 60 Minutes interview from 2000 with Clifford Irving about his Howard Hughes autobiography hoax, a 20-minute audio recording of Hughes’s 1972 press conference exposing Irving’s hoax and an extended, nine-minute trailer. The package also contains a liner notes booklet with an essay by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum.

Fans of the film, and Welles, will definitely want to own this new Criterion Blu-ray release - the definitive for the Home Theatre presentation. Recommended!

***

ADDITION (Feb 2007 - MoC): Thanks to MoC for another wonderful package! First, the image is virtually identical to the Criterion. The HD master was sourced from them, but the transfer is in PAL (coded for region 2), and thus slightly higher resolution than their NTSC disc. Although I don't have my copy of the Criterion disc, I assume that the sound (crystal clear by the way), is identical as well. While the two discs have none of the same extras, both provide us with commentaries by a production member of the film (Graver and Kodar, respectively) that offer valuable insights into the 'making of...'. Additionally, the MoC provides us with one of their typically extensive and indispensable booklets, and this one is no exception. Finally, there is an interview with Jonathon Rosenbaum that is nearly half an hour in length and of the quality that we would expect from the producers and participant, providing us insight into the nature of duplicity in the film itself as well as the critical misunderstanding that it received upon release.

So, obviously you should ignore the Imagica release, but between Criterion and MoC which is the better buy? You really can't go wrong with either set and fans of the film may simply want to double dip and pick up both as the MoC covers enough new ground to make the purchase well worth the price. At the writing of this review the MoC is significantly cheaper.
 

ON the IMAGICA: The Imagica disc is very poor - contrast boosting has manipulated the colors to be often unrecognizable from their original state. It is non-progressively transferred and has prevalent 'combing' throughout. I also suspect it is from analog. Because of all that and more the non-anamorphic Imagica DVD is inferior in every way. For more on the Criterion and the extensive extras see our review HERE.

The Imagica disc includes an opening credit screen for Les Films d'Astrophore production company, attached with some unusually strong music - this runs for about 30 seconds and contains the title "F For Fake" which is not on the Criterion or Masters of Cinema DVD.

 - Brian Montgomery