Sorcerer Blu ray

I can't work Friedkin out.

I mean no disrespect to him, but he has a habit of making claims about releases of his films that turn out to be completely untrue, never explains what happened, and then moves on to telling the next fairytale about the next release without even looking back.

He did the same thing with Cruising, when it was finally released on DVD. For more than a year, he kept up running updates on various internet forums about all the work he was doing on preparing the film, including the newly-rediscovered footage that had been cut after the film's premiere, that he had found (he said) and was restoring and regrading so it would fit seamlessly back into the transfer of the film. A lot of people really wanted that footage restored, and I think he was feeding their wishes, as he repeaedly told of how pleased he was with how it was coming along, how great it was going to look, how much depth and cohesiveness it was going to put back into the narrative ...

And then the DVD came out, and there was no extra footage restored to the film at all. None. And when people complained to the studio, its official story was that the cut footage hadn't been found at all, and that the records showed it had in fact been destroyed immediately after it was cut from the film at Friedkin's instructions.

What game could he possibly be playing?

He did the same with The Exorcist, where he talked ardently about the new colour grading he'd done for the most recent Blu-ray release, how it was how he'd always wanted the film to look. And then the Blu-ray came out, and the discs, and the transfer they contain, are exactly identical to the previous release. No explanation.

I don't know the point of the stories. For Sorcerer, he not only claimed he'd done a commentary track, but he also said the disc would contain a new documentary about the making of the film that was in fact longer than the film itself. But where is it? The release is bare-bones, on a single-layer disc.

Maybe he just enjoys telling tales. Me, I'd prefer it if he stuck with telling them in his films, or his opera productions, and stopped messing with his fans' heads.



You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

That is odd. I mean, he's already super wealthy so I'm not sure why he would need to hype things that aren't going to happen. I didn't even buy the Sorcerer blu because I was pissed about the bare bones treatment.

I was looking forward to having Sorcerer on Blu myself, but I shied away when I saw screen shots of the colour washes he'd imposed over the thing, the same way he'd done with The Exorcist. It completely ruins the tense scene at the log bridge, imo, suddenly having everything in shades of an unnatural blue.

I hate the way some directors see a Blu-ray release as an opportunity to "re-invent" the way they look at a film (such as Friedkin also did with The French Connection.) If they're going to do that, they should at least also give us the film looking the way it did in the cinema, so at least we have the choice.



You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

No, it does NOT have commentary,
but includes a long interview with Friedkin (near 80 mins),
and more.

I wrote a product review (not a movie review) in my blog,
with photos and screenshots:
http://jadow81.blogspot.com/2015/12/william-friedkins-sorcerer-french-bd.html

Although it has some problems for non-French speakers,
overall a better product than US BD, IMO.