The package has "New 4K restorations" with Il Bidone cited in the opening text screens as: "Film restored for the 100th anniversary of Federico Fellini's birth.
This 4K restoration of II bidone was completed for the Fellini 100 Project and reconstructs the version of the film that showed at the Venice Film Festival in 1955. After the unfortunate screening in Venice, Fellini caved to pressure from his producer to cut the film, reducing the length of numerous sequences. The restoration was undertaken using the original camera negative of the shortened version and a fine-grain master positive to fill in the cuts. The sound was restored from the 35 mm original sound negative and a 35 mm optical soundtrack positive. All elements were provided by Titanus.
Completed with funding from the Ministero per i Beni e le Attivita Cultural' e per it Turismo."  

Criterion's new 1080P transfer show richer black levels than the 2013 Masters of Cinema Blu-ray. There is also more information in the frame - the new US-release HD image looks tighter, the grain is much finer and less prevalent and there is pleasing depth. It also has a max'ed out bitrate but the Criterion image is the better of all 4 digital releases in this comparison. 

NOTE: We have added 39 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original Italian language. The post DUB'ing is, at times, imperfect but that is a function of the production and Italian cinema in general. The score is by Nino Rota (Juliet of the Spirits, Rocco and His Brothers, Death on the Nile, Nights of Cabiria, 8 1/2, I Clowns, Purple Noon, The Leopard etc.) supporting the film well via the uncompressed transfer. Criterion offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Criterion Blu-ray sports a new commentary track. Recorded by Criterion in May 2020, the commentary features Frank Burke, author of Fellini's Films and Commercials: From Postwar to Postmodern and coeditor of A Companion to Federico Fellini. He seems a bit bland at times but it was a pleasure to hear so much detail on the director and the production. You have to respect someone who really knows their stuff. There is also a 40-minute interview with Dominique Delouche - as found on the previous UK digital editions - Delouche was director Federico Fellini's assistant from 1955 to 1960, working on the films Il bidone, Nights of Cabiria, and La doce vita.. He has gone on to a successful career directing feature films, documentaries, and opera.

NOTE: The deluxe packaging, includes two lavishly illustrated books with hundreds of pages of content: notes on the films by scholar David Forgacs, essays by filmmakers Michael Almereyda, Kogonada, and Carol Morley; film critics Bilge Ebiri and Stephanie Zacharek; and novelist Colm Tóibín, and dozens of images spotlighting Don Young’s renowned collection of Fellini memorabilia collector’s set designed by Raphael Geroni, with new illustrations by Abigail Giuseppe.

Federico Fellini's Il bidone is, the middle chapter of Fellini's "trilogy of loneliness" (between "La strada" and "Nights of Cabiria") this is no doubt the lesser of the three films, but still exports some deep compassion. Broderick Crawford is in top form - one of the best performances of his career. Masina has only a minor role and Basehart is mediocre. Fellini fans and serious film buffs should be keen to see Il Bidone looking top-shelf. This is another important part of Criterion's upcoming Essential Fellini Blu-ray package... which will make plenty of noise in our year-end poll.

Gary Tooze

ADDITION: Masters of Cinema - Region 'B' - Blu-ray (December 2013): Firstly, great title for Masters of Cinema to release in 1080P. There are notable advantages over both SDs. We get the longer Italian cut with no PAL speed-up and the image is clear of many of the artifacts and weaknesses of the lesser format. The Blu-ray improvement is more distinct in-motion. It shows more information in the frame (side edges), has more layered contrast and a higher level of detail. There are some grain textures visible. Audio gets the lossless treatment with a linear PCM in original mono. Nino Rota's (8 1/2, I Clowns, Purple Noon, The Leopard etc.) score seems to benefit from the lossless rendering with some prevalent depth unnoticeable on the DVDs. There are optional subtitles on the region 'B' Blu-ray. We get the same 40-minute interview with Dominique Delouche as found on the BFI, plus an original theatrical trailer and the package contains a 36-page booklet featuring the words of Federico Fellini, rare imagery etc.

***

ADDITION: BFI - PAL (August 05) : They've blown out contrast and poor subtitles of the Image DVD are very apparent next to the BFI. The good news is that this BFI DVD contains the longer Italian cut, the American (Image) release running some 17 minutes shorter. Everything is superior in the BFI edition and is presently the definitive to own. The extensive interview with Dominique Delouche is wonderful with a lot of good information being imparted. We recommend the BFI to Fellini and cinema fans alike.

***

Image Entertainment: (July 2000): A fairly weak DVD production - the chroma-filled image is not its worst failing - non-removable subtitles (and awful yellow) and no extras, with barely even a menu. The images tell the story of the DVD folks (sporadic sharpness and slightly boosted contrast), but this is the type of Image Entertainment DVD that can go out of print and not return (fetching bucks on EBay), so for Fellini fans - I recommend picking up a copy. There are no alternatives that I can find. It is quite suitable to watch in order between "La strada and Nights of Cabiria" on a rainy weekend. out of

Gary W. Tooze