The Mattei Affair (1972)
Il caso Mattei
Drama, History • 1h 56m
Director: Francesco Rosi
Cast: Gian Maria Volonté, Luigi Squarzina, Peter Baldwin, Renato Romano, Franco Graziosi, Gianfranco Ombuen, Elio Jotta, Luciano Colitti, Edda Ferronao, Accursio Di Leo, Terenzio Cordova, Giuseppe Lo Presti, Camillo Milli, Aldo Barberito, Jean Rougeul, Dario Michaelis, Vittorio Fanfoni, Nino Drago, Néstor Garay, Felice Fulchignoni, Sennuccio Benelli, Furio Colombo, Ugo Zatterin, Blaise Morrissey, Gianni Farneti, Alessio Baume, Umberto D'Arrò, Salvo Licata, Giuseppe Rosselli, Ferruccio Parri, Michele Pantaleone, Arrigo Benedetti, Thyraud De Vosjoli, Francesco Rosi, Andrea Artoni, Edy Biagetti, Giovanna Gravina Volonté
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 9 months ago
Radiance tried to license it in 2023 but failed https://letterboxd.com/radiancefilms/list/failed-licenses-2023/ so not expecting home media release any time soon.
Overview
Enrico Mattei helped change Italy’s future, first as freedom-fighter against the Nazis, then as an investor in methane gas through a public company, A.G.I.P., and ultimately as the head of ENI, a state body formed for the development of oil resources. On October 27, 1962, he died when his private airplane crashed during a flight to Milan. Officially, it is declared an accident, but many journalists explore other plausible reasons for Mattei's untimely death.
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
> BFI 4K Blu-ray. caps Criterion presents the master as originally graded in SDR whereas FiM added HDR / Dolby Vision for the BFI.
Criterion 4K Blu-ray's audio mix has more detail than BFI’s and same applies to the subtitles, covering both English and France spoken word
Director: Luis Buñuel
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
For Blu-ray Criterion Demy Set > StudioCanal
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Gaumont Blu-ray but no English subtitles: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Deux-sous-de-violettes-Blu-ray/288976/
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Caps for France vs Germany vs UK vs Turkish release https://slow.pics/c/jYBS2CWE not sure what the correct grading is but Germany release looks too dark
Director: Carol Reed
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray or Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray/Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray (shared encode); slight improvement over the 2015 StudioCanal Blu-ray
StudioCanal/LG UHDs
StudioCanal/LG UHDs port the 1999 Criterion DVD, considered the best source
StudioCanal has a remastered Blu-ray, Lionsgate only a 4K Blu-ray
Director: Martin Scorsese
2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook
Sources: blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)
2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook fixes duplicate shot seen on the previous Columbia Classics release and has better encoding
Original mono mix: 1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1991 Columbia LaserDisc
The 4K Blu-ray mono is only minimally worse (see blah-ray).
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray
Director: David Lynch
Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray
Uncensored version: old DVD
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray, confirmed to be uncut
Director: Jean Rouch
Video format: HD Streaming
Sources: amazon.com (opens in a new tab)
Director: Robert Flaherty
Video format: HD Streaming
Sources: amazon.com (opens in a new tab)
Director: Shinji Aoyama
Video format: HD Streaming
Video format: HD Streaming
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Amazon US HD Streaming is from the 2018 UCLA restoration. Olive Films Blu-ray is from an older scan and quite rough. caps
Olive Films Blu-ray is again rough, with distortion, crackle and other issues, but sounds much more natural. With some EQ the restored track can be significantly improved
Director: David Butler
Video format: Only Unofficial Sources
Sources: archive.org (opens in a new tab)
The DVD isn't an official one, and according to a user review on Amazon:
This DVD comes from Archive.org, where the movie can be viewed for free. The original source, comes from the Fox Movie Channel
Director: Mariano Llinás
Video format: HD Streaming
Director: Mark Sandrich
Video format: HD Streaming
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · amazon.com (opens in a new tab)
IVC Japan Blu-ray is clearly from a higher generation film element and looks terrible. Comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/XUTwiv7B
Director: Kiyotaka Oshiyama
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
The 4K Blu-ray is an upscale with strong sharpening. Caps
2026 Japan Avex 4K Blu-ray
Includes original 5.1 and an Atmos remix. The HD disc only includes 5.1.
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