Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Le Cercle Rouge (UK rerelease)

This is topic Le Cercle Rouge (UK rerelease) in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 09-04-2003, 06:59 AM:

Very stylish 1970 heist thriller set in Paris, directed by Jean-Pierre (Le Samouraï) Melville. Alain Delon (recently released from jail) and Gian-Maria Volonté (recently escaped from police custody) team up with an alcoholic, loner ex-police marksman to plan a raid on a jewellery showroom. The scenes showing how they defeat the 1970s surveillance technology are particularly interesting, not least the CCTV system which records onto a 2" Quadruplex VTR! And there's a suitably satisfying sting in the tail.

After the disappointing prints from the BFI's last major rerelease (Il Gattopardo) these are stunning. The grainy, washed-out shades of natural light colour created by Henri Decaë using very fast stock and minimal lighting show through brilliantly, and there isn't a hint of any Eastmancolor fading.

BTW, UK projectionists please note: this is definitely to be shown in 1-66 if you have a lens and plate for this ratio. It was shown in 1-85 when I saw it and the cropping was severe, including the main title being right off the bottom of the screen with the actor credits positioned right against the top. And Alain Delon's hat was somewhere in the ceiling. The subtitles appear to be printed as for 1-85 (i.e. almost in the middle of the picture if shown in 1-66), just to confuse people.

Posted by Darren Briggs (Member # 1071) on 09-04-2003, 01:20 PM:

The film is shot in 1.75:1 , shown in 1.66 you get black fuzzy bars top and bottom that vary shot to shot.
So 1.66:1 is a no no, so we have got a 1.75:1 focal length lens now. This was the first film in 3 years ive needed one!

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 09-04-2003, 03:39 PM:

That must have been a printing cockup - so much seemed to be cropped top and bottom. Does it look continuous contact printed (are there edge markings printed through from any previous generations)? I thought 1-75 was only used in Super 16...

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 09-06-2003, 02:33 PM:

A lot of French films were shot in 1:1.75, for instance "Huit Femmes (Eight Women)". I once had a retrospective of Vietnamese films at the Berlin Film Festival. Most of these were in 1:1.75. That seems to be a rudiment of the time when Vietnam was a French colony - all the leaders were in French too.