This year marks the centenary of legendary Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini’s birth, and to celebrate, the folks over at Cult Films has made available four of his masterpieces on the high-definition home format Blu-ray. The four films are his most celebrated; 8 1/2, La Dolce Vita, Juliet of the Spirits and I Vitelloni.
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“Life’s a party, let’s live it together.”
The films speak for themselves – there is the filmmaker’s 1953 I Vitelloni, which stars Alberto Sordi and Franco Fabrizi, a film said to have hugely influenced Martin Scorsese for his ’70s movie Mean Streets, and also the slightly later American Graffiti from George Lucas. The film is also Fellini’s most personal, an autobiographical affair circling around a group of friends in their 30s who ‘can’t, or won’t grow up’. The new version on the disc has been re-graded for the HD format and comes with improved English subtitles. There is also a video essay by Italian cinema expert Prof. Guido Bonsaver as the solitary, though hugely interesting extra on the disc.
Also included is perhaps Fellini’s best-known feature, La Dolce Vita, a masterpiece that is remembered for Anita Ekber’s iconic scene in the Trevi fountain in Rome. Also amongst the cast are Marcello Mastroianni and Anouk Aimee, and the release includes an interview with Ekber and, once again, improved subtitles and the film has been completely remastered both visually and audibly with a new DTS-HD mono soundtrack, making this one of the best versions available on the home entertainment market currently.
Juliet of the Spirits, first released in 1965 and the most recent in this quadrilogy, is Fellini’s first film in colour and revolves around a 40-something housewife who catches her husband having an affair, and she must search for inner strength to find the bravery to leave him. Giulietta Masina, Sandra Milo, Mario Pisu, and Valentina Cortese lead the cast of this impressive film that is presented with a full audio commentary by film historian Kat Ellinger, another video essay by Prof. Guido Bonsaver, a restored HD picture and, once again, improved subtitles.
8 1/2, an Oscar-winner for Best Foreign language film, is the release presented with the most bonus material. There is an interview with Sandra Milo, another with Lina Wertmuller, Fellini’s assistant director on the film, an in-depth, 50-minute documentary titled ‘The Lost Ending’ which looks at the making of the film and, in particular, into a scene missing from the finished film. 8 1/2 ha also received new English subtitles as well as a new B+W transfer.
In all, this new collection is divine; a must for the cinematic collector. For those uninitiated with the legendary Fellini, it’s a very good way to introduce yourself with one of the cinematic greats. Superb in terms of its presentation with new picture transfers and enhanced sounds, and largely excellent bonus material to take you further into the making of the masterpieces. As a complete package, at a reasonable price for what you get, this comes highly recommended.
CultFilms presents 8 ½Blu-ray and Fellini: Four Films on Blu-ray. Both are now available.
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