Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) - Italian BD

(Italian title: L'invasione degli ultracorpi)

• Release date: Mar. 18, 2014
• Publisher: Sinister Film
• Region code: Free? (A/B)
  Region code is not explicitly stated on the package and disc,
  but at least I had no problem for playback on my PC with region-A setup.
  

The Packaging

There's no insert or booklet.

Menu

Menus are not animated, but w/ the opening title music.
No popup menu is available.

Setup

English

While I could not find the way to turn off Italian subtitles in this menu,
I could eventually turn them off from the player's menu.

Chapters

Extras

All the extras seem to be in SD thus likely PAL.
But I can't confirm as I saw them only on PC,
which effectively ignore those differences.

• Kevin McCarthy (6:45)
  An interview conducted by Tom Hatten.
  Though recording date and other details are not stated,
  I believe this is the same one in the US laserdisc
  from Republic many years ago.
  
  
• The Night America Trembled (1957/BW/52:42)
  
  
  An episode from CBS's "Studio One"
  originally aired on Sep. 9, 1957, hosted by Edward R. Murrow.
  
  
  This is a dramatization of the (in)famous incident caused by
  Orson Welles' radio broadcast of "The War of the Worlds".
  Video/audio quality is not very good but serviceable.
  
  
  Here it's included with Westing House commercials.
  
  
• Presentation by Luigi Cozzi (9:12)
  
  
  Naturally, it's in Italian with no subtitles.
  
• Gallery (1:51)
  A slideshow of various publicity materials from Italy and US.
  No narration, no music, no captions.
  
• Trailer (BW/2:15)
  US version. It has some scratches.
  

Video/audio quality

I watched this BD projected onto 60" screen first, then on 27' PC monitor.

It looks and sounds good to me.
The picture is clean, without blemishes that often plague old movies.

One can argue picture is slightly too soft
(especially when you freeze frame to check the details)
and black levels need to be a bit deeper,
but I think they are nitpicking.

I've only listened to English dts-HD track, which is also clean.

Navigation problem

I'm not sure if this happens in other environment,
but I had problems for navigation
with PowerDVD and WinDVD.

The disc doesn't allow me to skip chapters, move forward/backward etc.
Both the main feature and extras have the same problem.
(For the main feature, you can go back to the chapter menu and select a scene, though.)

Conclusion

With good video/audio quality, some interesting extras,
and fairly low price (when I got it, at least),
I think this is a better choice
than US BD from Olive Films.

"Thunderbirds Are Go" (2015) BD coming in Japan

Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's 2015 TV series
"Thunderbirds Are Go"
is to be released on BD (and DVD) in Japan in May.

Here's what I can tell about the BD boxset.

Basic information

"Thunderbirds Are Go" Blu-ray Collector's Box Vol.1

• Release date: May 11, 2016
• Publisher: NBC Universal Entertainment
• Cat. #: GNXF-1993
• Discs: BDx4
• Region code: ALL
• Video: 16:9 HD
• Audio: English dts-HD MA 5.1 / Japanese LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Subtitles: Japanese / English / Japanese for Japanese dubbs
• Contents: Episodes 1-13
• Runtime: 286 mins (+ 60 mins of extras)
• SRP: 19200 Yen (+ tax)

Extras

• Reggie & Thunderbirds: No Strings Attached
  British TV special aired prior to the series,
  which includes behind-the-scenes,
  interviews with Richard Taylor (executive producer), Rosamund Pike (Lady Penelope), etc.
  
• Shôji Kawamori on Thunderbird S - Part 1
  Interview with Japanese artist Shôji Kawamori (perhaps best known for "Macross" anime franchise), who designed "Thunderbird S" for this new series.
  Here he talked about how he came into the project, where he got the idea for the design, the evolution of the design, also his childhood experiences with the original "Thunderbirds" show.
  
• Slideshow (stills)
  

The Package

• Digipack with slipcase
• Full color booklet (32 pages)
• Postcard ("Thunderbird S" design sketch by Shôji Kawamori)

Notes

• This is a limited edition, initial press only.
• Vol.2 is not announced yet.

As you know, in UK, ITV released the show only on DVD,
and reportedly they have no plan for BD release for now.
It's a strange decision when the show was made and aired in HD in the first place.

Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's shows have been VERY popular in Japan,
especially the original "Thunderbirds".

The original show was released on BD s few years back, in the original 4:3 AR,
unlike 16:9 trimmed version in the UK.

That boxset has long been OOP but, it's to be reissued on the same date.
(minus the booklet included in the previous set.)

"Thunderbird" Blu-ray BOX


I wrote about the previous boxset here (near the bottom).

Links

• Japanese official website of the show (in Japanese only)
• NBC-UNI's information page of BD boxset
• Shôji Kawamori's official website (partially in English)

"Hard to be a God" Japanese BD includes "Playback" documentary

Aleksey German's "Hard to be a God" has been available on BD in US and UK
with different extras, as reviewed by
Blu-ray.com and DVDBeaver, respectively.

Based on these reviews, both BDs have good extras,
but there's one notable material missing:
"Playback"(2012),
a documentary movie on ther making of "Hard to be a God".
(For the details of "Playback", please read Film Divider's article.)

But the recent Japanese BD includes it.
As far as I know, this is the first time "Playback" is available on BD/DVD.




Japanese BD basic specs

• Video: VistaVision (16x9 enhanced)
• Audio: Russion
• Subtitles: Japanese
• Region code: ALL
• Discs: BDx2 (Disc 1: DL, Disc 2: SL)
• Publisher: IVC
• Release date Dec. 18, 2015
• Runtime: 177 mins

Disc 2 is devoted to "Playback" (67 mins).
Also comes with a 28-page leaflet with essays by Japanese critics.

Of course, even if you can ignore its high price,
the Japanese BD wouldn't attract many foreigners
as it only has Japanese subtitles,

I have no plan to get it for the present, because
I'm rather skeptical of the A/V quality of the products from IVC.