Changes made to La Ronde - The Max Ophuls Collection

Revision 1

Created on Sunday, 28th September 2008, 19:29
Change Submitted by Stuart McLean

List of Changes:

Change #1 - rook) - who talks di
Change #2 - his because he’s seeing a young girl (Odette Joyeux) who makes no secret about her ‘gold-digging’ ways. (Can you see where this ‘roundabout of love’ is heading? Actually it’s more like a roundabout of deceit!) After the girl is set up in a swanky apartment, on the understanding that she will reserve herself exclusively to him, she starts to entertain a young poet who is portrayed with extreme comic vitriol – he is egotistical and pretentious in the extreme, though she is too dumb to notice. <newline> <newline>But of course he is besotted with an actress (Isa Miranda) who’s starring in his play. That’s all fine except that she would rather entertain a rich count (Gérard Philipe) whoafter getting drunk ends up sleeping with the prostitute that we saw at the start of the film, completing the circle. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000204754.jpg|0000108000] <newline> <newline> <newline>[b]Video Quality[/b] <newline>The film is shown in its original 1.33:1 theatrical aspect ratio in black and white. The transfer is a good one with very little signs of age. The white subtitles stand out well from the high contrast image. <newline>[b] <newline>Audio Quality[/b] <newline>Perfectly adequate though also a little quiet compared to many DVD’s. <newline> <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000204757.jpg|0000108003] <newline> <newline> <newline>[b]Extra Features [/b] <newline>There is an [i]audio commentary [/i]by Ophuls expert Susan White (author of ‘The Cinema of Max Ophuls’). It’s a little bit dry and you lose all the original sound which makes it feel a bit clinical. It also pretty much covers the same points as the next feature. <newline> <newline> <newline>[i]‘Circles of Desire’ [/i]is a 35 minute video essay on the film and is presented by Alan Williams, a scholar and Ophuls aficionado. Filmed in 4:3, the lecture is liberally illustrated with clips and for the more academic viewer will give some good insight into the filmis because he’s seeing a young girl (Odette Joyeux) who makes no secret about her ‘gold-digging’ ways. (Can you see where this ‘roundabout of love’ is heading? Actually it’s more like a roundabout of deceit!) After the girl is set up in a swanky apartment, on the understanding that she will reserve herself exclusively to him, she starts to entertain a young poet who is portrayed with extreme comic vitriol – he is egotistical and pretentious in the extreme, though she is too dumb to notice. <newline> <newline>But of course he, in turn, is besotted with an actress (Isa Miranda) who’s starring in his play. That’s all fine except that she would rather entertain a rich count (Gérard Philipe) who, after getting drunk, ends up sleeping with the same prostitute that we saw at the start of the film, completing the circle. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000204754.jpg|0000108000] <newline> <newline> <newline>[b]Video Quality[/b] <newline>The film is shown in its original 1.33:1 theatrical aspect ratio in black and white. The transfer is a good one with very little signs of age. The white subtitles stand out well from the high contrast image. <newline>[b] <newline>Audio Quality[/b] <newline>Perfectly adequate though a little quiet compared to many DVD’s. This is not a major issue as it[apost]s not enough to generate noticable background noise; it just means being cautious when turning the DVD off! <newline> <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000204757.jpg|0000108003] <newline> <newline> <newline>[b]Extra Features [/b] <newline>There is an [i]audio commentary [/i]by Ophuls expert Susan White (author of ‘The Cinema of Max Ophuls’). It’s a little bit dry and you lose all the original sound which makes it feel a bit clinical. It also pretty much covers the same points as the next feature. A nice extra for film students or film fanatics. <newline> <newline> <newline>[i]‘Circles of Desire’ [/i]is a 35 minute video essay on the film and is presented by Alan Williams, a scholar and Ophuls aficionado. Filmed in 4:3, the lecture is liberally illustrated with clips and for the more academic viewer will give some good insight into the film. It seems to cover much of the same territory as teh audio commentary but is delivered more concisiely and with more entertaining vigour. If you want to make a choice between this and the commentary, then this would be the one to go for. <newline>

Initial Version

Created on Sunday, 28th September 2008, 19:23
First Submitted by Stuart McLean