User: Scherpschutter

From The Spaghetti Western Database
Revision as of 07:37, 21 September 2010 by Scherpschutter (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search

Template:StaffBadge

  • Position: Editor


My Reviews:


DVD Reviews:


Other articles:

Giuliano Gemma

Fernando Sancho

Nicoletta Machiavelli

Gianni Garko

Introduction (with Lindberg)


Essays

GHOSTS AND AVENGERS, from Shakespeare & Leone, to Eastwood & Garrone

Johnny Hamlet (Shakespearian Review)

A Man called Trinity

Tony Anthony - A Stranger at Home




Sjff 02 img0743-1-.jpg Sergiocorbuccipic-1-.jpg NEWS Ennio Morricone 08-1-.jpg 6a00d8341d6e4453ef00e54f6443f48834-640wi-1-.jpg 2175 1024267699-1-.jpg Bud Spencer,Terence Hill thumb-1--1-.jpg 18808487 w434 h q80-1-.jpg
  • From left to right: Sergio Leone - Sergio Corbucci - Ennio Morricone - Claudia Cardinale - Lee van Cleef - Bud Spencer & Terence Hill - Tomas Milian

THE CINEMAS OF MY YOUTH

Chicago Theatre – Eindhoven

778-1-.jpg

Chicago was the most fashionable cinema of Eindhoven. Most blockbusters premiered here. The cinema was build in 1913 but renovated several times; the most important renovation took place in 1945, immediately after the war, when the theatre got a new façade, a very high one without windows. This façade was used as some kind of giant advertising pillar. On the other side of the shopping street was a warehouse with a restaurant on the third or fourth floor. Once they had attached a gigantic 007 to the façade and from my seat near the window I looked him right in the eye. The name of the movie was written (in Dutch) above his head: You only live Twice. I asked my mother what this was supposed to mean. Did you live twice? Only twice? She had no idea. Remarkably, the theatre was composed of two separate buildings, one with the ticket office and the entrance hall, and another where the films were actually shown; they were connected by a long corridor with a foyer, a small bar and a series of show windows with info on films that were expected to be on the program soon. Walking through this beautiful corridor gave you the idea you were part of the beau monde. It had 833 (very comfortable) seats. It wasn’t the largest cinema in town, nor was the one with the largest screen. But it was the first cinema in Holland with stereo sound (guess why) and until 1980, when the second building (where the films where shown) was completely destroyed in a fire, it was known as one of Holland’s finest cinemas and the one with the best sound. Westerns were a rarity in the Chicago Theatre, still I saw my first western here: Mackenna’s Gold. I guess it was during a Christmas or Easter holiday, since the cinema was loaded with boys of my age, and a Titanic scale agitation broke out when Julie Newmar took off her clothes and jumped into the water. I also saw my first spaghetti western in this theatre, the chopped-up version of Once upon a Time in the West.


1334-1-.jpg

Rembrandt Theatre Eindhoven

The Rembrandt theatre was, so to speak, the direct opposite of the Chicago theatre: the most ‘popular’ cinema of Eindhoven. It was also the largest: it had 1300 seats, but they were far less comfortable than the seats in Chicago. Still it always felt good to watch a movie here. There were no attendants telling you to be quiet or to put out your cigarette. Not that I ever smoked, a true fan won’t ever do that in cinema, but you really had the idea everybody was welcome here. I saw Return of Ringo, my second spaghetti western, and For a Few Dollars More in this theatre, along with several other spaghetti and non-spaghetti westerns. The cinema was known for their rather flashy painted boards above the entrance, showing scenes of the movie. I remember Death rides a Horse was shown here, and when I close my eyes I still see the enormous painting with the Dutch title ‘De Dood kwam te Paard’, which sounded, like the English title, quite bizarre, but was therefore the most beautiful title of a movie I had ever heard of. The problem was I wasn’t allowed to see it: it had an ’18 rating’ and I was only thirteen or fourteen years old. In 1960 the owner bought the adjacent premises (the building right of the theatre on the photo) for a second cinema. This cinema was smaller but offered more comfort, and was called ‘Select’. It was intended for art house movies and European (mainly Italian and French) mainstream cinema, but occasionally a western was shown here. I saw both The Wild Bunch and The Mercenary in the Select theatre in the early seventies (both must have been reruns because I was too young for them when they were first released), and the uncut version of Once upon a Time in the West was also shown for the first time in Eindhoven in this theatre. Both Rembrandt and Select were transformed in a multiplex cinema in the mid-seventies. This complex was closed down thirty years later and replaced by apartment building. The world is falling apart.





Cinema Parisien Eindhoven

1707-1-.jpg

Like the Select theatre, this Dutch Cinema with a French name (it means ‘Parisian Cinema’) was intended for commercially less interesting films, but it was used for this purpose only for a brief period and soon became a typical ‘popular cinema’, which exclusively programmed comedies and action movies. In spite of all this it still had attendants in uniform who showed you to your place and became very angry when someone dared to take another (more expensive) seat after the film had started. It was in this cinema that I witnessed how the operator stopped the movie because one of the visitors refused to put out his cigarette. I think the movie was A Few Dollars for Django, but I’m not sure. I remember the incident better than the movie. I saw only a handful of spaghettis in this theatre during their regular program, but among them are Vamos a Matar, Compañeros (my first Corbucci) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Still this is the theatre I identify most with the genre because of their midnight showings of spaghetti westerns in the 70s. I must have seen more than twenty spaghettis during these showings, which also offered me the chance to pick up movies I wasn’t allowed to see ten years before, such as Death rides a Horse. There were nearly always a few drunks in the audience, and occasionally the atmosphere was as heated among them as it was on the screen. Cinema Parisien was rather small, it had only 350 seats. On the photo you can see the façade in the middle on the right, somewhere between the elephant (a toyshop) and Tik Tak (a bar). The photo was taken in 1977. When you look left of 'the elephant', you can spot the modern multiplex Rembrandt building, openened shortly before. Cinema Parisien was one of the last ancient cinemas that resisted the modern plague: like many old timers it was renovated in the 70s (the number of seats was brought back to 271) but while other cinemas underwent a complete metamorphosis, Cinema Parisien more or less kept his old classic style. It was finally closed in 1998.


Metropole Theater Eindhoven

12774-1-.jpg

The Metropole theatre belonged to a different, family-owned corporation, the City group. They owned three cinemas: Plaza (blue movies), Studio M (arthouse) and Metropole, their largest theatre, always struggling to rival Chicago, and never really successful in that aspect: people simply seemed to prefer Chicago to Metropole, probably because it was located in a more inviting part of town. Metropole was located near the train station, where the town centre virtually ended. The small shop next to the cinema (on the right, under the Telegraaf publicity sign) was a sex shop, which also might have hurt the cinema’s prestige. The Metrople theatre had 1194 seats, had the largest wall-to-wall screen in town, and boasted with a sound system that was told to be more powerful than the prestigious sound system of the Chicago theatre. It was definitely louder. Watching a movie in Metropole was quite an experience. In the seventies they were on the national News when a few lamps were vibrated loose during the showing of the sensurround movie Earthquake (luckily it wasn’t a very popular movie, so nobody was hurt). Metropole showed a variety of movies, ranging from mainstream European cinema to Hollywood classics and action movies. My first experience with the loudness of the theatre was Spartacus. I saw two Leone movies here: A Fistful of Dollars and (on another rerun) Once Upon a Time in the West. I also saw (on yet another rerun) The Wild Bunch in all it’s thunderous wall-to-wall bloody glory. The Metropole was build in 1958 (previously the Otten family had owned another cinema, called City, hence the name of the corporation) and closed its doors in 1986, but the building was only demolished in 1993. Today a modern multiplex building called Pathé has taken its place. A few years ago I watched Once upon a Time in the West in one of their cinemas on a Tuesday night.


My Latest Review

The Mercenary – DVD Comparison

The Movie

The Mercenary is the first (and arguably best) part of Corbucci’s Zapata trilogy, which further includes Compañeros and What am I doing in the Middle of the Revolution (some will argue that Compañeros is the best of the three). The Mercenary is, in other words, a political movie, but there’s no need to worry: it’s not and a dour and dogmatic treaty, but a lively and eventful action movie. The script, written by (among others) Luciano Vincenzoni and Corbucci himself, was based on an story written by (among others) Franco Solinas, which was based on an original play by Bertold Brecht (who most probably wrote this all by himself). The project was only offered to Corbucci after the original director Gillo Pontecorvo (who had won the Oscar for best foreign language movie for The Battle of Algiers) had turned it down.

Like the other parts of the trilogy, it has a European professional (in this case a Polish mercenary) who gets involved in the third world turmoil of the Mexican revolution. He is first hired by a mine owner to transport a load of gold across the border to the US, but subsequently befriends a Mexican peon who more or less accidentally has become a revolutionary, and is willing to pay him (and treat him like a king) in exchange for a series of lessons in modern warfare. Other characters involved are a lovely peasant girl and a second, more ruthless mercenary, who was humiliated by the peon/revolutionary, and therefore wants revenge. The Mercenary is one of the most accomplished movies of the other Sergio, visually stunning, ferociously violent and totally wonderful. You can read a full review of the movie here: Film Review

The DVDs

For quite some time it was a bit problematic to watch this movie in its full glory. The Japanese SPO disc was English friendly and in widescreen, but the transfer was not anamorphic and the disc way overpriced. The Italian Mondo Home release was anamorphic, but offered only Italian audio. Other releases were either cut or full-screen. Recently two excellent releases have become available, first a French release by Wild Side, then the long awaited German release by Koch Media. In this article both new discs are compared to the Italian disc, which is still available.

Ilmercenariodvd.jpg
  • Italian R2 release by Mondo Home Entertainment, PAL, Running time: 1:41:45
  • Video: 2,35:1 anamorphic widescreen
  • Audio Dolby Digital: Italian 5.1 (448kb/sec), Italian 2.0 mono (224 kb/sec)
  • Subtitles: Italian for the hard of hearing (optional)
  • Chapter stops: 8
  • Extras: Franco Nero biography and filmography, Sergio Corbucci biography and filmography, Colt Collection promotional video, Universal Studio promotional video, DVD credits
  • Buy now: From Amazon.de
Mercenariofr.jpg
  • French R2 Release by Wild Side, PAL, Running time: 1:41:55
  • Video: 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen
  • Audio: English, Italian, French (256 kb/sec)
  • Subtitles: French (different ones for the Italian and the English ones in some aspects)
  • Chapter stops: 12
  • Extras: Introduction by Jean-François Giré (13min), author of "Il était une fois ... le western européen"; picture gallery; filmographies; internet links
  • Buy now: From FNAC.com
Mercenario Front.jpg
  • German R2 Release by Koch Media, PAL, Running Time: 1:41:59
  • Video: 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen
  • Audio: English, Italian, German DD 2.0 (192 kb/sec)
  • Subtitles: German (optional)
  • Chapter stops: 16
  • Extras: German and English trailers, exclusive featurette "How to make a Revolution" (40 mins, English and German subtitles!), picture galleries (locations before and after; posters and stills), booklet/liner notes by Mike Siegel; digipak packaging
  • Note: The DVD is fully English-friendly, the menus and the liner notes are in German however.
  • Buy now From Amazon.de


The Comparison

# The screenshots - Mondo Home (first) v. Wild Site (second) v. Koch Media (third)


# Evaluation

Video: I have watched the Italian disc several times I have always thought it wasn’t bad, but when compared to the new discs, its shortcomings immediately come to light. The image is blurred and colours are all but vibrant, they’re actually rather dull and most of the time you have the idea there’s a blue or grayish veil hanging in front of the picture. The image also seems to be cropped a little left and right, in some parts more than in others. Instead of 2,35:1, the image is more like 2,25:1. Both the French and German disc have good video quality, especially for a film of this age, but the image of the respective discs is quite different. The image of the French Wild Side disc is sharper and colours are warmer, but at the same time it’s grainier and there’s more print damage in the form of hairs and (occasionally quite persistent) white specks. The German Koch Media disc looks cleaner (although there still is some print damage visible), but the image is rather soft and colours are less vibrant than on the French disc. The bitrate on both discs is similar (approximately 6,5 Mb/sec), so it seems both companies have made different choices. In the end it may all come down to personal preferences, but I think the French disc has the edge here.

Audio: Again the Italian disc falls behind with only two Italian soundtracks, one 5.1 surround, the other 2.0 mono. The surround track is of course a fake, but it’s not a bad track; it is loud and immersive, but occasionally seems a bit ill-balanced. I therefore prefer the mono track. Both the French and the German disc offer three language tracks, French (Wild Side), German (Koch) plus Italian and English (both). The audio quality of both discs is very good, and it’s not easy to appoint a winner here. I played the discs on two different sound systems, a surround system, and a stereo system. Played in Dolby Pro-Logic II both discs offer you a minor surround experience, the Koch media disc a tiny bit more than the Wild Side disc. Although the bitrate of the French disc is higher (256 kb/sec versus 192 kb/sec), the Koch Media disc seems to have the upperhand, but it’s very close.

Subtitles and interactivity: The French disc start with a (rather long) promotional spot but luckily it can be skipped by using the menu button. The major problem of the disc is that the French subtitles are forced and that it’s impossible to change between language versions on-line; you have to return to the menu to pick another language track and there’s no option to play the Italian and English language tracks without subtitles (I managed to suppress them on my PC though). The subtitles are well-positioned and not too big. The subtitles of the German disc can be suppressed and it’s also possible to change between tracks on-line. If your player does not offer the possibility to change the position of the subtitles, you’ll have the problem that both text lines are in the picture (one should be in the black bar). The Italian offers optional Italian subtitles for the hard of Hearing. For people studying Italian, this may still be a reason the purchase the disc …

Extras: Koch Media wins hands down. Apart from some written biographical info and two publicity spots, the Italian disc has no extras apart from some written biographical info and two publicity spots. The French disc has a (good) introduction by Jean-François Giré and a few other things such as a photo gallery, biographical notes and internet links, but not too much effort is put into it; just compare their photo gallery to the one offered by Koch media: the French gallery is over before you know it, the German gallery is seemingly interminable. Koch also offers trailers, a booklet, a lovely location comparison (then & now), and an interesting feature entitled ‘How to make a Revolution’, with interviews with (among others) Luciano Vincenzoni, Nora Corbucci and Franco Nero.

Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies.