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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Line of Demarcation")

 

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/direct-chair/chabrol.htm
France 1966

 

From Claude Chabrol, the legendary director of Les Bonnes Femmes, Line of Demarcation, Les Biches, Le Boucher and L’Enfer, comes this WWII thriller set in a small town in the Jura Mountains split in two by a border between Nazi-occupied France and the Free Zone. In 1941, Pierre (Maurice Ronet, The Fire Within, Purple Noon, The Champagne Murders), a demobilized French military officer and the Count de Damville, returns to this border village to find it occupied by the Germans. His English-born schoolteacher wife (Jean Seberg, Breathless, Lilith, Paint Your Wagon) and the town’s citizens now belong to a Resistance group helping escaped prisoners reach the Free Zone. Co-starring Stéphane Audran (Les Biches, The Twist, Babette’s Feast) and Daniel Gélin (Napoleon, La Ronde, The Man Who Knew Too Much), and beautifully shot by the great Jean Rabier (The 400 Blows, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg).

***

The people of a small town in France react differently to the Nazi occupation in this World War II action drama directed by Claude Chabrol. Mary (Jean Seberg) is willing to risk her life to help the resistance movement in spite of her husband's acceptance of the situation. The movement is slowed by an informer and another man who pretends to help the resistance fighters but leads them to the Nazis and steals their possessions. This is one of the few French films that accurately illustrates that the heroic resistance movement was a small minority and most people were content with the Nazi occupation as long as they had bread and wine.

Posters

Theatrical Release: May 25th, 1966

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Review: Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover

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Bonus Captures:

Distribution Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime 2:01:09.387        
Video

1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 39,989,371,903 bytes

Feature: 37,975,154,688 bytes

Video Bitrate: 37.93 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

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

Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

DTS-HD Master Audio French 1555 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1555 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps

Subtitles English, None
Features Release Information:
Studio:
Kino

 

1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 39,989,371,903 bytes

Feature: 37,975,154,688 bytes

Video Bitrate: 37.93 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Samm Deighan
• Trailers


Blu-ray Release Date:
February 25th, 2020
Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters 10

 

 

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (February 2020): Kino have transferred Claude Chabrol's Line of Demarcation (La ligne de démarcation) to Blu-ray. It is from a "Brand New 4K Restoration"... and looks like it. This black and white film looks beautiful with deep rich black levels, well-layered contrast, grain textures and pleasing detail in the close-ups. The 1080P presentation in the original 1.66:1 aspect ratio is unblemished and almost looks brand new at times. An impressive HD video.

NOTE: 31 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in, lossless, PNG format) are for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel mono track (16-bit) in the original French language. Line of Demarcation has fairly passive film requirements and a score by Pierre Jansen (Claude Chabrol's The Third Lover, Ophelia, Ten Days Wonder, Le Boucher, La femme infidèle and Les Biches to name a few) sounding very supportive and the film's audio has clean, consistent, audible dialogue. Kino offer optional English subtitles (see sample below) on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

With the Kino Blu-ray we are privileged to have another optional audio commentary by Samm Deighan who cites Line of Demarcation as an important, neglected, title - because it was made during one of the most ignored periods of Chabrol's career. The director works in moral grey areas that seem to permeate his films... she sees less of Hitchcock and more Fritz Lang in Chabrol's work and spends much of the commentary making a great case for that keen observation. She states that she finds Chabrol one of the most exciting filmmakers of the 20th century - I agree in that he is subtle and endlessly watchable. She goes on to analyze how characters are often not so much good or bad - but just trying to survive. Chabrol's non-judgmental expression is referenced in some of his other films. It's another fabulous commentary by Samm and there are trailers of other films also included.

Claude Chabrol is our most reviewed director here at DVDBeaver. Yet, like The Third Lover, we hadn't covered Line of Demarcation (La ligne de démarcation) as it is rarely shown and unjustly discussed. This is a GREAT film! The 4K restored Kino Blu-ray is a fantastic package - a less-exposed Chabrol effort - with HD a/v and a brilliant Samm Deighan commentary! Absolutely recommended!

Gary Tooze

 


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Box Cover

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Bonus Captures:

Distribution Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray


 


 

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