World of Blue - Archived Forum 2007-2022

Recently saw this fantastic movie for the first time, and it immediately cemented itself as a favorite, right up there with Eraserhead.

I badly want to own it, but it seems there are a number of out-of-print and non-U.S. releases. What are my best options for a region-free or region 1/A release?

There's the U.S. DVD, a Chinese Blu-Ray of questionable legality (?? honestly not sure; I never assume region-free Chinese releases are on the up and up, but this is still available in small numbers at a reasonable price on Amazon), the German Blu-Ray set that seems to be out-of-print and which has recently spiked in price, apparently there's a Japanese Lnych Blu-Ray set coming out in the fall, etc.

Any recommendations? Should I settle with a U.S. DVD if I can find it? The Chinese Blu since it's still available (no idea what the quality is like, which is my main reservation)?

Thanks a ton. It's a shame this hasn't gotten a premium release stateside. Hopefully Criterion releases more Lynch films at some point.

The US DVD has the extras (More Things That Happened, Lynch One, Lynch Two, Quinoa and the dancing thing), so I'd recommend getting that anyway.

I believe the Blu Ray release sorted some of the motion interpolation problems that were there on the DVD, although as it was shot standard-def it will look very similar, albeit with slightly better compression. I don't know about the Chinese one, but if you have a region free player there's also a BD release in the UK which uses the same master as the German one.

Metamorphia wrote:The US DVD has the extras (More Things That Happened, Lynch One, Lynch Two, Quinoa and the dancing thing), so I'd recommend getting that anyway.

I believe the Blu Ray release sorted some of the motion interpolation problems that were there on the DVD, although as it was shot standard-def it will look very similar, albeit with slightly better compression. I don't know about the Chinese one, but if you have a region free player there's also a BD release in the UK which uses the same master as the German one.

Thanks! This was an extremely helpful answer. Didn't even think about the extras, nor the fact that it was shot in standard definition.

Cipher wrote:Recently saw this fantastic movie for the first time, and it immediately cemented itself as a favorite, right up there with Eraserhead...I badly want to own it

How did you get to view it to begin with? I 've been to iTunes and amazon, but can't find it available for 'rent' or such. I haven't seen it, ever.
My town's last surviving movie rental shop closed business earlier this summer, sadly I know they might have had it. So the process of searching for these online is new to me ; (

Framed_Angel wrote:

Cipher wrote:Recently saw this fantastic movie for the first time, and it immediately cemented itself as a favorite, right up there with Eraserhead...I badly want to own it

How did you get to view it to begin with? I 've been to iTunes and amazon, but can't find it available for 'rent' or such. I haven't seen it, ever.
My town's last surviving movie rental shop closed business earlier this summer, sadly I know they might have had it. So the process of searching for these online is new to me ; (

I turned to questionable resources.

Is any U.S. BD planned for this, or would be possible? Of course the quality wouldn't be much better, but the last time I watched it on DVD was the first on a new set which has "full pixel" and gives you the whole image free from overscan. The DVD had a very clear line down the right edge of the image. I assume this would be corrected on a BD. Know what I'm talking about?

IcedOver wrote:Is any U.S. BD planned for this, or would be possible? Of course the quality wouldn't be much better, but the last time I watched it on DVD was the first on a new set which has "full pixel" and gives you the whole image free from overscan. The DVD had a very clear line down the right edge of the image. I assume this would be corrected on a BD. Know what I'm talking about?

I haven't heard of any new releases planned, but I wouldn't be surprised if Criterion gets it eventually since Lynch owns the US rights (I think) and his films have been slowly making their way onto the label.

I don't recall the line down the right edge of the image, but that is probably because I haven't watched the DVD in a long time. I've only watched the Blu-rays ever since I acquired them. I own both the German and UK blu-rays.

For those wondering, the Blu-ray does make a difference. Oh, it still looks like it looks, but it provides a truer image with less defects.

That said, the US DVD is still the definitive release of the film. While there are some extras on the UK release that aren't available on the US release, the US release is the only one that has Lynch's preferred extras, including More Things That Happened, which for those that don't know are deleted scenes edited into a 70-minute film that one can consider as both part of the events of the story Lynch is telling (as they are "more things that happened") or simply as deleted scenes; it's basically a precursor to what Lynch did with The Missing Pieces eight years later.

Also, and this is very important, the US DVD is the only one that has perfect/correct English subtitles. I say that mainly because there is a key piece of Polish dialogue at the beginning of the film that isn't subtitled properly, or at least isn't the same as it is on the US DVD, or as it was in US theaters. The line is a small but important one as it is later spoken/echoed/mocked by another character two hours later. Without that subtitled line, you miss out on something pretty concrete that aids in one possible interpretation of the madness. I don't like the fact that the line is altered in two different ways on both the Blu-rays, but I still watch it anyway since I'm so familiar with the line as it is supposed to be subtitled.

LateReg wrote:Also, and this is very important, the US DVD is the only one that has perfect/correct English subtitles. I say that mainly because there is a key piece of Polish dialogue at the beginning of the film that isn't subtitled properly, or at least isn't the same as it is on the US DVD, or as it was in US theaters. The line is a small but important one as it is later spoken/echoed/mocked by another character two hours later. Without that subtitled line, you miss out on something pretty concrete that aids in one possible interpretation of the madness. I don't like the fact that the line is altered in two different ways on both the Blu-rays, but I still watch it anyway since I'm so familiar with the line as it is supposed to be subtitled.

Could you elaborate on the differences in the subtitles, and what the correct line is supposed to be, exactly?

Rainwater wrote:

LateReg wrote:Also, and this is very important, the US DVD is the only one that has perfect/correct English subtitles. I say that mainly because there is a key piece of Polish dialogue at the beginning of the film that isn't subtitled properly, or at least isn't the same as it is on the US DVD, or as it was in US theaters. The line is a small but important one as it is later spoken/echoed/mocked by another character two hours later. Without that subtitled line, you miss out on something pretty concrete that aids in one possible interpretation of the madness. I don't like the fact that the line is altered in two different ways on both the Blu-rays, but I still watch it anyway since I'm so familiar with the line as it is supposed to be subtitled.

Could you elaborate on the differences in the subtitles, and what the correct line is supposed to be, exactly?

I'm not 100% sure which Blu-ray does what off the top of my head, but the line at the beginning with the Polish lovers is supposed to be subtitled as: "Where am I? I'm afraid." That is how it is subtitled on the US DVD as well as in its US theatrical presentation. The line occurs as the man lays on top of the woman and the scene starts to fade/blur.

I believe one of the Blu-rays doesn't subtitle those lines at all, while the other only subtitles the "I'm afraid" line. I wish I could remember more precisely, but I know for sure that neither the German nor UK Blu-ray includes that exact subtitle. And it's important because those lines are repeated verbatim, in that order, 2 hours later, by a different character.

This is all from memory, so I apologize if I got any of that wrong. But I know for sure what the line is supposed to be.

LateReg wrote:

Rainwater wrote:

LateReg wrote:Also, and this is very important, the US DVD is the only one that has perfect/correct English subtitles. I say that mainly because there is a key piece of Polish dialogue at the beginning of the film that isn't subtitled properly, or at least isn't the same as it is on the US DVD, or as it was in US theaters. The line is a small but important one as it is later spoken/echoed/mocked by another character two hours later. Without that subtitled line, you miss out on something pretty concrete that aids in one possible interpretation of the madness. I don't like the fact that the line is altered in two different ways on both the Blu-rays, but I still watch it anyway since I'm so familiar with the line as it is supposed to be subtitled.

Could you elaborate on the differences in the subtitles, and what the correct line is supposed to be, exactly?

I'm not 100% sure which Blu-ray does what off the top of my head, but the line at the beginning with the Polish lovers is supposed to be subtitled as: "Where am I? I'm afraid." That is how it is subtitled on the US DVD as well as in its US theatrical presentation. The line occurs as the man lays on top of the woman and the scene starts to fade/blur.

I believe one of the Blu-rays doesn't subtitle those lines at all, while the other only subtitles the "I'm afraid" line. I wish I could remember more precisely, but I know for sure that neither the German nor UK Blu-ray includes that exact subtitle. And it's important because those lines are repeated verbatim, in that order, 2 hours later, by a different character.

This is all from memory, so I apologize if I got any of that wrong. But I know for sure what the line is supposed to be.

Oh yeah, I've only ever seen that moment subtitled as "I'm afraid". That's interesting, thanks. She does clearly whisper a few words that aren't subtitled.
I always recognized what the line in the latter part of the film was mocking, but it didn't occur to me that half of it was missing in the subtitles earlier. Nice catch.

I’m pretty sure the Hong Kong Blu-ray subtitles that line correctly, but funnily enough it gets wrong some of the words the Asian lady is saying IN ENGLISH at the end.

The only problem with this disc is that if you want any of the parts to be subtitled your only option is to have all of the dialogue subtitled or none of it.

I just turned the English subtitles on and off at different points.

I just watched this Blu-ray and I will definitely be going back to the US DVD next time, even though the picture is clearer here.