Stardust Memories Blu-ray

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

directed by Woody Allen
1980

Often cited by Woody Allen as one of the films of which he's proudest, Stardust Memories is both a homage to Federico Fellini's 8½ and what many people assumed (although Allen denied) was a much closer-to-home portrait of a great comic filmmaker fearing creative burnout.

Sandy Bates (Allen) is not only tired of being funny, he may even be teetering on the brink of a nervous breakdown. At a retrospective of his films, in between toe-curlingly stupid questions from his audiences, he's forced to confront not only the meaning of his work but also past and present relationships with Dorrie (Charlotte Rampling), Daisy (Jessica Harper) and Isobel (Marie-Christine Barrault). Plagued by hallucinations, alien visitations and philistine studio executives trying to change his bleak new film into something more conventionally crowd-pleasing, Sandy struggles to find a reason to go on living.

This howl of rage against the price of fame and the pressures of creative expectations is one of Allen s most complex and challenging films and one that richly rewards repeated viewing.

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Allen considers this to be one of his best films in addition to The Purple Rose of Cairo and Match Point. Considered by some to be an homage to 8½ by Federico Fellini, the film is shot in black-and-white in the style of Fellini's surrealist films of the 1960s, and examines the semi-autobiographical story of a famous filmmaker, played by Allen, who is plagued by fans who prefer his "earlier, funnier movies" to his more recent artistic efforts, while he tries to reconcile his conflicting attraction to two very different women, the mercurial and unstable Dorrie (Charlotte Rampling), and the earnest, intellectual Daisy (Jessica Harper). Allen, however, denies that this film is biographical and regrets that audiences interpreted as such.

Excerpt from Wikipedia HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: USA 26 September 1980

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Comparison:

MGM (UK) - Region 2,4 - PAL vs. vs. MGM - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Arrow Academy - Region 'B' - Blu-ray vs. Twilight Time - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Per-Olof Strandberg for the DVD Screen Caps!

1) MGM (UK) - Region 2,4 - PAL - LEFT

2) MGM - Region 1 - NTSC - SECOND

3) Arrow Academy - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - THIRD

4) Twilight Time - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

Box Covers			Also available in Arrow Academy's Woody Allen: Six Films - 1979-1985 [Blu-ray]
Distribution	MGM (UK) Region 2,4 - PAL	MGM Region 1 - NTSC	Arrow Academy Region 'B' - Blu-ray	Twilight Time - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:25:03 (4% PAL speedup)	1:28:24	1:28:44.152	1:28:44.610
Video	1:1.85 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.38 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1:1.85 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.35 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	Disc Size: 28,293,504,307 bytes Feature Size: 27,409,772,160 bytes Total Bitrate: 36.98 Mbps Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG4 - AVC	1.85:1 Disc Size: 25,233,736,733 bytes Feature Size: 23,893,475,328 bytes Total Bitrate: 29.99 Mbps Single-layered Blu-ray MPEG4 - AVC
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: MGM (UK)
Bitrate: MGM
Bitrate: Arrow Blu-ray
Bitrate: Twilight Time Blu-ray
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0), German (Dolby Digital 2.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0), French (Dolby Digital 2.0), Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0)	English (Dolby Digital 2.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0)	LPCM Audio English 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit	DTS-HD Master Audio English 2095 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2095 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) DTS-HD Master Audio English 1699 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1699 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, None	Spanish, French, None	English (SDH), none	English (SDH), none
Features	Release Information: Studio: MGM (UK) Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1:1.85 Edition Details: • None • DVD-5 (SS-SL) DVD Release Date: 16 Jul 2007 Keep Case Chapters 12	Release Information: Studio: MGM Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1:1.85 Edition Details: • Trailer • Booklet • DVD-10 • On B side Open Matte version of the film. DVD Release Date: July 5, 2000 Keep Case Chapters 25	Release Information: Studio: Arrow Academy Disc Size: 28,293,504,307 bytes Feature Size: 27,409,772,160 bytes Total Bitrate: 36.98 Mbps Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG4 - AVC Edition Details: • Trailer (2:44) Blu-ray Release Date: December 12th, 2016 Transparent Blu-ray case Chapters 9	Release Information: Studio: Twilight Time 1.85:1 Disc Size: 25,233,736,733 bytes Feature Size: 23,893,475,328 bytes Total Bitrate: 29.99 Mbps Single-layered Blu-ray MPEG4 - AVC Edition Details: • Isolated Score Track • Original Theatrical Trailer (2:46) • 8-page liner notes by Julie Kirgo Limited to 3,000 units Blu-ray Release Date: December, 2016 Transparent Blu-ray case Chapters 24

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Twilight Time - Region FREE - Blu-ray December 16': The new Twilight Time Blu-ray is, pretty much, the exact same as the Arrow - but surprisingly they are different sources. The Arrow has the very minor marks that the MGM (UK) DVD does - they are absent on the Twilight Time. But even so - it just looks like a few pixels have shifted, beyond those infrequent instances - same strong video quality - great contrast etc..

Audio - different transfer (linear PCM vs. DTS-HD Master) but both 24-bit and lossless. I can't tell much, if any, of a difference in the audio quality. It's flat with Allen's typical Cole Porter and Django Reinhardt selections sounding excellent in the lossless. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles and Twilight Time's Blu-ray disc is region FREE and limited to 3,000 units.

Twilight Time also offer a trailer - but add their usual isolated score - and it has value. Strangely neither offer any bone-fide extras for, what is considered, one of Allen's better films. Still a must-own and we can endorse...

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ADDITION: Arrow Academy - Region 'B' - Blu-ray November 16': The bare-bones Arrow is authentically darker and looks fabulous. It's dual-layered with a max'ed out bitrate and it probably can't look much better in this format.

Uncompressed - linear PCM for the audio. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles and Arrow's disc is region 'B'-locked.

The Arrow only has a trailer but their Woody Allen: Six Films - 1979-1985 Blu-ray package offers Manhattan, on Blu-ray, and a hardback book featuring new and archive writing on all the films.

Arrow's Woody Allen: Six Films - 1979-1985 Blu-ray package certainly seems the way to go via the pricing and it has a solid offering of some of the director's best early 80's work with Manhattan, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Stardust Memories, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Zelig, and Broadway Danny Rose.

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ON THE DVD: NOTE: We have added some open matte caps from the opposite side of the MGM (US) DVD.

The new MGM (UK) disc is made seven years after the US R1 DVD. Who should have believed that the old NTSC disc beats the new PAL disc in every way. MGM UK (Sony) has placed forced warnings and logos in the start of the R2 disc, but didn't even bother to make menu pages. They advertise people to avoid bootleg DVD's, at the same time their disc look like one!

The R2 disc has a darker image (which may be more accurate), but the blacks are blocked and the image is full of compression artifacts. The R1 image is cropped at the right side. Both are single layers and have 4.15 (UK) and 3.62 (US) gig.

There are different sound and subtitle options on the editions. If they are not needed, the old R1 is the way to go at this point.

- Per-Olof Strandberg