Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Conversation, The (1974)

This is topic Conversation, The (1974) in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 04-03-2004, 09:32 PM:

I've been meaning to see this for years and finally got around to doing so, albeit not on film.

This is a very nice-looking DVD, especially compared with other films of the same era. Great film, too, and Gene Hackman is great (as always). It's also oddly relevant in this age of increased government surveilance of private individuals. There are some great shots of vintage Nagra (SN) and Uher (5000?) tape recorders and even an early portable Sony "portable" 1/2" video system.

Check this one out. Hopefully there are good 35mm prints in circulation of this title, too. (Does anyone know? The rep houses never seem to book it.)

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-04-2004, 04:24 AM:

It was rereleased on 35mm in Britain in March 2002. Sadly I didn't get to see it (I don't think it got far outside London, and it certainly didn't show in York). A friend who did said that the print was so-so; but apparently they remixed the sound for 5.1 which he didn't like (and I don't think I would have done, either).

I'll never forget reading the paragraph describing it in a 16mm rental catalogue when I was running a student film society about 10 years ago: 'In this tense thriller, Gene Hackman plays a master bugger (surveillance expert)...'

On the subject of vintage a/v kit, a 1970s security CCTV system which records onto 2" VT can be seen in Le Cercle Rouge.

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 04-04-2004, 04:49 AM:

it played here in 1998. obviously the sound design is an integral part of the film so i'm curious how the remix turned out.

when john woo rereleased le cercle rouge last year, it was in mono.

carl

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-04-2004, 08:59 AM:

Same here... I guess the UK and US rereleases must have come from the same source, if they happened around the same time. The print I saw was beautifully timed and graded: in particular, the opening scenes showing Alain Delon's escape from the train had a misty, grainy blueish-green look to them, so if the camera negs were faded to any significant degree, someone must have done a lot of work in the reprinting. A lot of French '60s and '70s colour features look horrid when they come to be rereleased now, so either there was a happy accident (i.e. the camera negs were stored cool and dry as soon as the first run of prints was made), or some serious restoration was done.

The only little drawback for me was that I saw it in a cinema which had to show it in 1:1.85 because it didn't have lenses and plates for 1:1.75, and I did find that the cropping on close-ups more noticeable than perhaps I should have done.

Posted by Jeff Joseph (Member # 511) on 04-04-2004, 08:55 PM:

Original prints of this title in 1974 were both Eastmancolor and dye-transfer Technicolor.

Jeff

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-05-2004, 03:33 PM:

That makes sense: presumably some decent seps existed from the outset, hence the film still looks so good now.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 04-05-2004, 04:31 PM:

Why are you all discussing the theatrical film version here instead of the DVD, guys? [Smile]

-Claude