Thursday, 8 September 2016

La dolce vita (1960)

The Criterion mono has undergone some severe high-frequency de-emphasis (EQ) and has been de-essed (all sibilance has been ‘fixed’). It does not, therefore, represent how it was originally heard in theatres, and how it continues to be shown in theatres even today. This is a case of Criterion doing ‘further restoration’ on the masters it receives from the team that did the actual restoration work, in this case Cineteca di Bologna. None of the other BD distributors felt the need to make additional modifications, and their representations of the original mix are a considerable improvement.

The Nouveaux (UK) blu-ray is frame accurate to the Criterion after a simple delay/trim, and is the best choice audio-wise. The Japanese blu-ray sounds more or less identical (albeit louder), but is missing 7 frames from the Paola/seaside restaurant scene.

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