@C.C. 95
I came across this edition recently whilst browsing the net. I liked the look of it, so did some research and found the glowing review on BD Forum. Check it out.
According to the review, although stated to be Region B, the discs are in fact Region ABC (free). The French sub-titles are also optional and can be turned off.
The set had been out of stock for a while at Amazon and the resellers had upped their prices accordingly (EUR 50+), so I held off, hoping that it hadn't gone out of print. Fortunately, it came back into stock a couple of days ago, so I got my order in from amazon.es, having checked which of Amazon's sites had the lowest price. I should have it in my possession by this Thursday and I'm really looking forward to revisiting these films.
Given the marvellous job they've done here, I'm really hoping that Carlotta Films have a future release planned of "Chimes at Midnight". A while back, when we were having that discourse on Shakespeare on film, I actually went through my collection and listed all those that I possessed on Blu-ray or DVD. I then went through the list and whittled it down to my favourite top 10, and it was Chimes that made my number 1 spot, against some fairly stiff competition from the likes of Laurence Olivier and Franco Zeffirelli!
One anecdote that has always made me wonder how it would have turned out, had it actually taken place, concerns Olivier's film adaptation of "Richard III" (1955). When Olivier was casting his production, his first choice for the role of Buckingham was Welles! Unfortunately for posterity, Ralph Richardson, who was a friend of Olivier's, got in first and asked if he could have the part. Olivier felt obliged to acquiesce and the rest, as they say, is history. Surely, one of the great 'What Ifs?' Can you imagine the sparks that would have ensued with those two Shakespearean giants playing off each other?
On the subject of "Macbeth", I'm looking forward to seeing the new film with Michael Fassbender in the title role, which opens in the UK next Friday. Unusually for a new Shakespeare film, it looks to be a traditional production, so I'll be interested to compare it to not only the Orson Welles adaptation, but also the 1971 version from Roman Polanski.