|
|
|
End Of The World AKA La fin du monde
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Kino Lorber Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (17th July 2023). |
|
The Film
 After 1927's epic "Napoleon" Abel Gance was the talk of the town in France, his riveting take on the legendary figure was a crowd pleasing hit, and a massively ambitious production that ran for five and a half hours! Having tackled such a gigantic production so successfully the producer of "La fin du monde" had their man. Abel would take on France's first ever talkie. The problems would start as soon as the announcement was made and the ink had barely any time to dry on the contracts. The film tells the story of two brothers, Jean (Abel Gance) and Martial (Victor Francen) who happen to be in love with the same woman, Genevieve (Colette Darfeuil). Jean is the typical working actor, broke and an idealistic dreamer. Despite his love for Genevieve he is hesitant to share in his life with her knowing we won't be able to provide and lead a life of suffering. His brother, Martial, on the other hand is a successful astronomer who discovers the return of Lexell's Comet, which is on a collision course for Earth. The world is going to end. What ensues is a portrait of wealthy influence and the constant threat of war. Amid all the chaos the brothers embark on a mission to unify all the nations of the world and have a Universal Republic proclaimed in an attempt to improve society, an idealistic mission that is opposed by the elite class and government official that try to maintain a grip on their power and influence. Story aside the film's scope and sound were the initial challenges faced by Gance that ended up costing an astounding amount of money to produce back in the 30's, Gance's vision of a sound picture of grandiose scale would be his undoing. Casting himself in the lead also didn't help. His vision was for a three hour epic would be foiled by his producer who lost patience with the filmmaker and ultimately took the film from him. Cutting the film down to just under 95 minutes, almost removing Gance's character from the film in an effort to save their investment. The result was a mess, the film nearly incomprehensible that makes feel unfinished. The resulting picture would torpedo Gance's career and cause irreparable harm to his reputation. Sadly we will never be able to see Gance's version of this film, so what we'er left with is this 95 version, which has been restored by Gaumont in 2K. The film has many technical limitation, which can be forgiven considering the era its from and the fact that this was France's first "talkie", Kino Lorber has released a curiosity from the long gone era of films. It's a fascinating look at were filmmakers have come from, evolved from.
Video
Presented in an original ratio of 1.20:1 the film features a brand new 1080p 24/fps transfer using AVC-MPEG4 compression and has been created via the use of a 2K restoration conducted by the CNC in 2021 courtesy of Gaumont. I'm sure this film has never looked this good, possibly the best it'll ever look since it's 1931 debut. The black and white image isn't perfect, after all this is a 90 year-old film, but the detail shows off a decent amount of depth. Natural film grain is present and I couldn't spot any compression related issues. Overall it's a very good image that preserves a bygone era film.
Audio
A single French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track is presented here, nothing too spectacular, it's a fairly basic track that lacks depth and robustness, but once again, this was the first French sound film so the technical limitations will be evident and can be forgiven. Dialogue is clear, music is very focused. Optional subtitles are included in English.
Extras
Only two extras adorn this release, a series of interviews and a theatrical trailer is also included. "On the Trail of a Dream: Interviews About the Film with Laurent Véray, Serge Bromberg, Christophe Gauthier and Léon Rousseau" These participants comment on the director's career and provide insights into the process of making this film and the struggles Gance faced. It runs for 38 minutes 21 seconds. The only other extra is the film's theatrical trailer which runs for 5 minutes 15 seconds.
Packaging
Packaged in a blu-ray case housed in a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
|
|||||
|