Okay so we have been torturing the BluRay news topic for a while, and since some of us want to team up and write a review of this beautiful box set, collaboratively, I think it deserves its own topic.
Contrary to what is printed on the cover, the box should be region code free. the US-based release will ship on Monday, the UK-distributed box has already hopefully reached everyone who pre-ordered. As always, if you’re an Amazon customer, please do use the SWDb’s links, it helps support the site. Arrow Video has their own online shop with fair prices as well, so consider those and compare what suits you best. Ask your local brick-and-mortar shop (if any) if they stock it.
And as I just received it, I decided to take a few pictures, among other things to discover that the reversible covers are there for all who aren’t so happy with the commissioned artwork:
I’m 30 minutes into If You Meet Sartana… nice quality but I think this might be the least of the set as it is the only one to come from a print and not from the negative?
I also watched the interview with Parolini, I think aged 94 he seems a mix of senile and crazy! It would be nice if they could have included maybe an older archive interview that might have been more focused. I think he was interviewed on other DVDs 10 years or so ago. But I couldn’t possibly complain about a set with these amazing restorations and tons of extras.
Maybe 13 years ago I was told that the X-Rated release of Have a Good Funeral my Friend…Sartana Will Pay is missing the very end of the film (and something else which I can’t remember). I have also checked the Italian and Spanish DVD releases of the film and they end the same way.
Anybody have info regarding the ending? Was it actually missing something?
Does the Arrow disc still end the same way? I was planning on contacting them when the set was announced to make sure they can do what they can to find out if the film(s) is/are complete but I was lazy so…
The way the film ends actually reminds me of Bandidos… all the proper 2.35:1 widescreen versions I know of (old SPO disc, the NEW disc and even the recent French disc from a better master (?) ) end quite abruptly with the FINE text. It could easily be thought to be the real ending except the really old German disc in cropped aspect ratio actually includes the full ending (and some other stuff).
Ok I was able to take a quick look at all the discs, just to get a very first impression of the transfer quality. They’re all great. If I had to rank them - again very subjectively and just a first impression - it would be (best to worst)
Sartana’s here trade your pistol
Have a good funeral my friend…
I am sartana your angel of death
Light the fuse…
If you meet Sartana (this one shows the most print damage, speckles and dirt, but still amazing what they got out of the print).
I was a bit shocked at the utter lack of trailers on the discs, but overall it is a sight to behold… everyone should get it
You rank Light The Fuse as having the second to worst print quality? I’m really curious, is it just something like grain issues or are we talking about something more ugly?
Sorry for butting in … I had a quick look at the intro (one of my favs) and it looks really nice, until the title card comes up, and for a few seconds the quality goes sub DVD, the rest of the title sequence is great … I only watched to the point were Sartana arrives at the prison, so I can’t comment any further.
Really just a first impression, found the transfer lacking sharpness compared to the others. They all look amazing, only the last one is markedly worse-shape material.
Am happy to contribute to a joint review of this set. I could review the booklet to begin with if that’s ok with everyone else? Then if there’s a film going spare once everyone else has had a chance to pitch in I’ll do one of those too.
So what exactly happens in the missing end of the film? You say the really old German disc actually includes the full ending, so please describe it.
According to IMDB there’s about 5 minutes difference in running time between the shorter Italian version and the longer West German version
I meant Bandidos has the full ending on an old German disc. Sorry for not being clear.
The problem with Have a Good Funeral… is that I don’t remember. I never wrote the details down. Hoping someone would know, if anything even was missing that is…
But the film does end abruptly in my opinion.
The same as Bandidos… In all the 2.35:1 versions of Bandidos I have seen, Ricky Shot is talking with the woman and then the screen just abruptly has the ‘THE END’. The old German disc in 1.85:1 shows him riding out of town and then the text comes. There were couple of other missing pieces as well that are present on the German disc.
In Have a Good Funeral… Sartana throws the money to the woman and then suddenly it’s just ‘THE END’. It could just have always ended like that… or it originally did show them riding away. Or something…
EDIT: But I haven’t seen the Sartana Blu-Ray yet so maybe the ending is actually different? I can’t remember what the Spanish disc used as source but the Italian uses the same source as the X-Rated disc (maybe just copied the x-rated disc). So it’s possible the original negative actually has everything, just hasn’t been used for a release before now…
SPOILERS!!!
BUON FUNERALE ends with Sartana in a bar showing Daniela Giordano a $10,000 wad of cash. It then cuts to a crossroads sign, complete with crash zoom, and then to Sartana and Daniela on horseback at the crossroads. He hands her a wad of cash, but it’s been cut in half. This is the dialogue. (I spent a few weeks translating the subtitles from the Italian release a year ago just so I could watch it; and now it gets released in English on BluRay, and it’s all done for me. Wish I’d known.)
566
01:27:54,680 --> 01:27:58,120
Her: Which way do you go?
Him: That way.
567
01:27:58,680 --> 01:28:01,480
Her: Okay, then I’ll go this way.
568
01:28:05,240 --> 01:28:06,480
Him: Wait!
569
01:28:21,240 --> 01:28:25,320
Him: Here, there’s 10,000.
Her: But cut in half, what use is it?
570
01:28:25,360 --> 01:28:27,680
Him: Money soon fades in the hands of a player.
571
01:28:27,720 --> 01:28:31,880
Him: When I’m thirsty, I’ll come look for the other half. Wait for me.
Yes, you actually see him ride away into the distance.
All this is on the new BluRay and the Italian DVD on the CineKult label, (which also has Nocturno named on there too)
Don’t believe you’ll be disappointed - after viewing the Wild East version of 'If you meet Sartana … ', even with the scratches present, this Arrow release is a quantum leap in quality
Just watched it (If you meet Sartana…) the other day and didn’t notice any dodgy compression issues. The print is as mentioned a bit worn at places with scratches appearing here and there. But it hasn’t been destroyed by any DNR as far as I can tell. A decent job by Arrow.
