| PHANTOM OF THE OPERA FOCUS FILM ; BUDAPEST dvd specification |
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| [video][sound][extras][conclusion] |
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA had a small theatrical release in Paris in February 1999. It had many terrible reviews and was not a public success. A few months later, it was realeased as a dvd by TF1 in 2000. It was the first Argento dvd released by this company. It must not be confused with the cheap Belgian dvd, which has terrible technical specifications (cropped 1.33 presentation, French only soundtrack...).. |
| video First of all: it is cut! This is the same version which was shown in French theatres, which is to say that the scene in the exotic bordello is completely missing. Anyway, the picture quality is quite good. Definition is stunning, contrasts are beautiful and colors respect faithfully the golden and sharp cinematography of the theatrical prints. Yet some white spots can be noticed; not too many of them appear, but for such a recent movie, it is slightly disappointing. The compression is brilliant most of the time, but in some dark scene, there is obvious artifacting (the treasure seekers). Yet some other dark scenes are perfectly clean (the end). Anyway, it's still much better than the A-Pix dvd (except that it is cut, of course !). |
| sound The English 5.1 soundtrack is really brilliant! It is clear, powerful and very clean. Once again, it is much better than the US A-pix dvd. The French soundtrack, although 2.0, is very good too (but, with terrible dubbing!). The French sub-titles can be switched off. |
| extras The presentation is very sad; you go from one still and silent menu to another. Very few extras can be found; you have a French trailer, with French titles. And then there are two "Filmographies" for Asia and Dario. In fact these are two very short texts in which you learn that Dario is a horror movie director, and that his daughter Asia is an actress. Poor! |
| conclusion All in all, although it has rather good picture and sound qualities, this dvd can be avoided, as it is definitely a cut version. |
| reviewed by Emmanuel Denis |
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