Three Seats for the 26th (1988)
Trois Places pour le 26
Music, Drama • 1h 46m
Director: Jacques Demy
Cast: Yves Montand, Mathilda May, Patrick Fierry, Françoise Fabian, Antoine Bourseiller, Christophe Bourseiller, Geoffrey Carey, Jean-Claude Bouillaud, Raoul Curet, Mathieu Demy, Danielle Durou, Paul Guers, Bertrand Lacy, Catriona MacColl, Pierre Maguelon, Christiane Minazzoli, Carlo Nell, Georges Neri, Jacques Nolot, Géraldine Pailhas, Jean-Louis Rolland, Hélène Surgère, Dominique Varda, Katy Varda, Jean-Benoît Terral
Best English-friendly release · updated 1 year ago
Overview
Yves Montand, playing himself, returns to his hometown of Marseilles to appear in an autobiographical musical. Once there, he searches for the barmaid he once loved and also encounters young hopeful Marion, giving her the chance of a lifetime
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
For Blu-ray Criterion Demy Set > StudioCanal
Director: Jacques Demy
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · mondo-digital.com (opens in a new tab)
Japan Blu-ray new 2K resto of 6K scan https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=334691 Screencaps look great https://www.mondo-digital.com/ladyoscar.html
Director: Jacques Demy
Director: Jacques Demy
Director: Sofia Coppola
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Director: Neil Marshall
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
UK StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray or FR Pathé 4K Blu-ray share the same disc (caps)
The StudioCanal UHD has a much better encode than the Lionsgate UHD with the same grade. The Vuelta UHD has a decent encode but it is in an incorrect color space and has German overlays.
UK disc includes only 5.1.
The 7.1 mix included on the Lionsgate UHD appears to be identical to the 2006 USA BD's LPCM 7.1 track and to be a straight transfer of the theatrical Dolby Digital Surround EX mix (originally matrixed 6.1, with the rear surrounds in the discrete 7.1 presentation being dual mono). The old GER BD has a 6.1 mix but it is a poor remix and the GER UHD has an Auro-3D remix of the 7.1 mix (mostly adjusted surround levels). All other discs offer a 5.1 mix, including the Studio Canal UHD
Director: Jacques Audiard
France Pathé 4K Blu-ray has Dolby Atmos audio
Director: Saul Dibb
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Director: Bruce Beresford
Director: René Clair
Included as extras in Pathé Paris qui dort + Entr'acte Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Director: René Clair
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Marcel Carné
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
> Criterion/Second Sight with old transfer heavy DNR https://slow.pics/c/z8p3fR0G
Director: René Clair
More Music on Blu-ray
Directors: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
UK StudioCanal UHD
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Morton DaCosta
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray Nov 24th
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Shout Factory Blu-ray
Shout's BD has both cuts of the film in addition to the 3.0 stereo and 2.0 mono mixes making it the first time the full theatrical cut is available with the 3.0 mix. The new commentary is good. The 3.0 stereo sounds wonderful and the mono sounds solid.
That's where the positives end. This is the same terrible Universal DVD master slapped on a Blu-ray disc with a terrible encode making both versions share the disc separately taking up more space. This master was already poor for DVD and is nearly unwatchable here on the Shout disc. It looks virtually identical to the upscaled DVD most of the time with only a bit less noise due to it being 1080p. This is one of the most appalling cases of "DVD master slapped on a Blu-ray disc" you can possibly find. Absolutely shameful video presentation. This should have never been released this way. Sadly it's still ever so slightly better than the DVD and the only way you get the proper theatrical cut with lossless 3.0 stereo. This is still the best source we have for the film.
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has excellent master in SDR and a good encode. BD caps here.
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor audio: The 2.0 is fine but unremarkable, the 5.1 is presumably an upmix with a botched, strongly raised LFE channel which makes the entire track unlistenable on well-tuned equipment. Audio graphs here.
Director: Sian Heder
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Apple TV 4K Blu-ray with Atmos
(Eagle Pictures is 5.1)
Director: Miloš Forman
Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray
Extended: Warner Bros Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray: Huge improvement in colors and detail. The restoration was done by the Academy instead of WB MPI which explains that there’s no grain management or issues with colors. They also accessed the original credit optical and scanned that one instead of recreating them digitally
Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray, according to Saentz, the 5.0 is a recreation of the original and subsequently 70mm mix from original elements.
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