THE TRIAL On Blu-Ray

[Roger Ryan]

Studio Canal is releasing THE TRIAL on Blu-ray on September 3rd...

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Trial-Blu-ray/44831/

This will be a Region 2 (Europe) release only, I believe.

[mteal]

Great news! I didn't even realize until yesterday that this was the 50th anniversary of THE TRIAL. Glad to see Studio Canal acknowledging this by putting out a BluRay version of their superb TRIAL DVD of a few years ago. I don't suppose the film will be put out by any American DVD companies, but then it probably wouldn't be as good as the Studio Canal anyway.

[A Sled in Flames]

That's absolutely fantastic! Thanks for the news! Studio Canal has an excellent master; it should look fantastic in HD. I feel it will be a revelation to see The Trial in Full HD. The cinematography would be wondrous.

I just really hope it won't be Area-B locked... like Touch of Evil. Is anyone familiar with Studio Canal's record for dealing with Areas? Do they normally lock their discs?

[Roger Ryan]

I just really hope it won't be Area-B locked... like Touch of Evil. Is anyone familiar with Studio Canal's record for dealing with Areas? Do they normally lock their discs?

Yes, Studio Canal, and its associated labels, do lock their Blu-ray discs to Region B when there is a North American rights holder who could potentially release a Region A version. I don't know who owns the rights to THE TRIAL in North America, so I'm not certain if Studio Canal's region lock policy would apply to this film; we'll have to wait and see. Some films that Studio Canal release in Europe receive a Region A North American release by Lionsgate, but they are a very small percentage of Studio Canal's output.

[cinescot]

Special features confirmed for the Blu-ray release

Tempo interview with Orson Welles
interview with actor/playwright Steven Berkoff about Franz Kafka and adapting his work
Deleted scene
"Welles, Kafka & The Trial" documentary
"Orson Welles, Architect of Light" documentary
Trailer
Booklet by film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum about the production and history of The Trial

[A Sled in Flames]

Hopefully, the deleted scene, which was missing audio in the DVD, will have subtitles from the original screenplay. Or, one could hope that the audio has actually been found.

[Luke Scoffield]

Hello everyone,

I see the cover artwork is now out (it's on the Blu-ray.com page above as well), and I wanted to share the entry for the release on the British Board of Film Classification website:

http://www.bbfc.org.uk/IVF041766/

There's no sign of info on the extras (which have to be classified as well), but note the length of the film stated here and the remark "Part Subtitled". Are they referring to the fact the disc will have optional French or German subtitles, or something else altogether? What are we getting here? In the same entry you can see all previous releases, and it seems not uncommon for the uncut film to run 118/119 mins - it was on its original theatrical release.

Now, I turfed out my old Studio Canal Classics DVD set for comparison (after all, they might be using one of the same prints), and reversing PAL speed-up came up with the following runtimes:

Full version, French titles: 118m 45s
1984 Cut version, English titles: 112m
Length of pinscreen prologue: 2m 45s

So I'm not really sure what to make of a 114min version. I hope it's the uncut movie with original English titles. Needless to say, Studio Canal UK didn't bother to reply to my email for more information on the release, they never bothered when they were Optimum Releasing and there's no change on that front.

[Roger Ryan]

"Part Subtitled" could refer to the "Deleted Scene" promised to be among the bonus features. As "A Sled In Flames" mentioned above, the scene in question (K visits a scientist who uses a supercomputer to calculate what crime K will most likely commit) has long been missing its soundtrack, so perhaps forced subtitles have been used this time around to identify the dialogue.

I sure hope the odd running time doesn't mean the pin-screen prologue has been removed, but the "supercomputer" scene has been reinstated in the main feature with subtitles!

I don't think the BBFC classification page offers enough info to determine anything concretely.

[Luke Scoffield]

I don't think the BBFC classification page offers enough info to determine anything concretely.

Of course, you're right. I was enjoying the speculation though.

I sure hope...the "supercomputer" scene has been reinstated in the main feature with subtitles!

Now that would be interesting. I wonder if it would work in context?

[A Sled in Flames]

I sure hope...the "supercomputer" scene has been reinstated in the main feature with subtitles!

Now that would be interesting. I wonder if it would work in context?

I wonder myself. I'd like there to be a proper Special Feature of it, with subtitles for dialogue or the original discovered audio; but, reinstating it may be a bit too far for me. Since Orson cut it out himself before the premiere (*I think*), it still belongs on the cutting room floor. Just my two cents, anyway. In the scheme of things, I'm just really glad to be seeing a BD release of The Trial.

[Roger Ryan]

I sure hope...the "supercomputer" scene has been reinstated in the main feature with subtitles!

Now that would be interesting. I wonder if it would work in context?

I wonder myself. I'd like there to be a proper Special Feature of it, with subtitles for dialogue or the original discovered audio; but, reinstating it may be a bit too far for me. Since Orson cut it out himself before the premiere (*I think*), it still belongs on the cutting room floor. Just my two cents, anyway. In the scheme of things, I'm just really glad to be seeing a BD release of The Trial.

It would definitely be a mistake to try and reinsert that scene with or without its audio track. I only mentioned it because the listed running time appears to be inconsistent with previously released versions. Presumably, Welles felt the scene didn't work in the context of the film (or he just wanted to keep the running time under two hours) even though the content of the scene, K learns that the crime he will mostly likely commit is suicide, is terrifically Kafkaesque.

[Luke Scoffield]

It would definitely be a mistake to try and reinsert that scene with or without its audio track. I only mentioned it because the listed running time appears to be inconsistent with previously released versions. Presumably, Welles felt the scene didn't work in the context of the film (or he just wanted to keep the running time under two hours) even though the content of the scene, K learns that the crime he will mostly likely commit is suicide, is terrifically Kafkaesque.

Sorry to misquote you there, I got the wrong end of the stick!

[Roger Ryan]

Blu-RayDefinition.com review...

http://www.blu-raydefinition.com/review ... eview.html

The image looks pretty spectacular although, as mention in the review, it looks like they might have been a little overzealous with using digital noise reduction. No word yet on whether the deleted scene contains audio this time around, although it appears that the prologue is intact.

Of interest to Region 1 customers: Rialto recently signed a deal with StudioCanal to release Region 1 versions of SC catalog titles in North America; no idea whether THE TRIAL will be one of those titles, but it's a possibility. Region 1 releases were handled by Lionsgate until very recently; they issued (or were allowed to issue) very few of the SC titles in North America.

[Roger Ryan]

Blu-ray.com review is less complimentary...

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Trial ... 31/#Review

...but as the screencaps show, this release still looks better than previous home video issues.

The review confirms that the audio is still missing for the deleted scene (subtitles taken from Welles' script fill in the dialogue); everything else appears as expected with a running time of 118 min. which conforms to the full version as released in '62.

[Roger Ryan]

...Of interest to Region 1 customers: Rialto recently signed a deal with StudioCanal to release Region 1 versions of SC catalog titles in North America; no idea whether THE TRIAL will be one of those titles, but it's a possibility. Region 1 releases were handled by Lionsgate until very recently; they issued (or were allowed to issue) very few of the SC titles in North America.

Correction: Apparently, the recently signed deal between StudioCanal and Rialto for is for U.S. theatrical distribution only; Lionsgate remains StudioCanal's North American DVD and Blu-ray distributor. In other words, nothing has really changed and there's no indication we'll be seeing much in the way of Region 1 home video releases coming from StudioCanal.