Lionsgate releases the inaugural Blu-ray releases of international classics in its “StudioCanal Collection” and it goes for the gold standard with definitive editions of Ran, Contempt and the original The Ladykillers.

The pageantry of Ran

I’m no expert in the technical details of converting European digital masters to American standards, but it appears than many of the problems that crop up in adapting PAL masters to NTSC DVDs are not an issue for Blu-ray. The frame rate is different but the lines of resolution are standard for high-definition across borders and, thanks to the technological advances in high-def TVs and Blu-ray players, region-free discs from Europe will play on American machines, which have the ability to adjust for frame rate. That’s prologue to acknowledging that these Lionsgate discs are in fact struck from StudioCanal’s digital masters (the folks at DVD Beaver, who are relentless about these things, have compared the Lionsgate Blu-ray editions to the European pressings and found them to be, with one exception, exactly the same) and StudioCanal has made an effort to create definitive editions for these films. Which means, not only are they freshly, beautifully remastered for Blu-ray with great care, but they are filled with substantial supplements worthy of the films. StudioCanal seem to be emulating Criterion’s commitment to fidelity and respectful tribute to their cinema classics and even the engineering of simple, uncluttered, quickly-loading menus. They don’t bother with flashy graphics on the screen. It’s all about the movies, and they are great.

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The Lionsgate DVD

Word of the The Dead fiasco has apparently reached Lionsgate HQ.

Lionsgate has just issued a recall of all copies of The Dead, the John Huston film that was released on DVD this week in an incomplete version. I’ve not been able to get any details beyond their hope to have replacement copies in the next couple of weeks.

More updates as I receive them.

(And no, I haven’t heard if they will replace that awful cover art with the beautiful poster art the original theatrical release .)

My initial review of the DVD is here.

UPDATE: Here’s the press release  from Lionsgate and instructions for consumers to get a replacement for their disc:

It has come to our attention that due to a technical malfunction, the initial DVD shipment of John Huston’s THE DEAD contained an incomplete version of the film. We deeply apologize to all our consumers for this unfortunate error and want to offer them an opportunity to replace their current copies with the complete version as soon as it is available to ship the week of November 23rd.  We regret this inconvenience, as Lionsgate is committed to providing our consumers the highest quality home entertainment experience.

All consumers who purchased a copy and wish to receive the new complete version should do one of the following:

- EMAIL lionsgatecs@orderassistance.com with their address and a scan/attachment of their receipt
- FAX (310) 222-5562 with their address and copy of their receipt
-MAIL their receipt along with a note including their address to: 20102 S Vermont Ave Torrance, CA  90502

Or please call (800) 650-7099 directly if you have any further questions.