216 The Rules of the Game

[eerik]

The French Blu-ray release looks awful.

[tenia]

And is 1080i.

[Der Spieler]

Beavah review.

[ellipsis7]

OMG wonderful images... Just watched the CC Vigo package proving huge revelation in the resolution of older B&W movies, hence this is eagerly awaited above all....

[colinr0380]

Although if anyone sees that gorgeous squirrel and thinks this is going to be a film for animal lovers, they may be in for quite a shock!

[ellipsis7]

Pity the little rabbits , squirrels & hares, a precursor to the decimation of WWII... To steal a term or a title, LA REGLE is so great because it is so soft and so hard at the same time....

[ellipsis7]

Just screened this in the home ciinema - wow, the blu ray looks really great!... HD brings out the dimensionality and detail to make a superbly tactile presentation...

[Drucker]

Just screened this in the home ciinema - wow, the blu ray looks really great!... HD brings out the dimensionality and detail to make a superbly tactile presentation...

Agreed! Watched a little last night. I wouldn't say that it was overwhelmingly superior to the last edition, but I noticed far fewer specks and imperfections (the liner notes mention that a Tecline was used to clean it this year again). Also, the more rapid shots seemed to really improve. The car accident early on, for example, looked a lot better on the blu ray.

[aox]

This does look fantastic. So much grain! I bet Jeffrey Wells will have a heart attack.

The Blu-Ray is a triumph.

[domino harvey]

Found this while looking for something else and while it could easily go in the Rediculous thread, here we are: Bosley Crowther's scathing takedown of Renoir's film upon its American debut in 1950.

Exactly what Jean Renoir had in mind when he wrote, performed in and directed "The Rules of the Game," Saturday's French import at the Fifth Avenue Playhouse, is anybody's guess. This is the same M. Renoir, if you please, who gave us those notable imports, "Grand Illusion" and "The Human Beast," not to mention "The Southerner," from Hollywood. The new arrival, however, is really one for the buzzards.

Here we have a baffling mixture of stale sophistication, coy symbolism and galloping slapstick that almost defies analysis. The distributors claim that the picture, made shortly before the war, was banned by the Occupation on grounds of immorality. Rest assured it wasn't immortality. And there's nothing particularly sizzling in this account of some addle-headed lounge lizards tangling up their amours on a week-end house party in the country.

One minute they're making sleek Noel Coward talk about art and free love, the next they're behaving like a Li'l Abner family reunion, chasing each other from pantry to boudoir to the din of wrecked furniture, yelling and random gunfire. One carefully picturesque sequence, a rabbit hunt; may or may not be fraught with Renoir meaning, but the grand finale, in which everybody down to the cook joins in a hysterical conquest race, would shame the Keystone cops.

In the juicy role of a family friend, M. Renoir acts as though it were his last day on earth. The other principals, Dalio, Nora Gregor and Mila Parely, are right behind him. The picture ends abruptly with an unaccountable murder, whereupon one of the philanderers murmurs that the victim didn't learn the rules of the game. If the game is supposed to be life, love or hide-and-seek, which makes more sense, it's M. Renoir's own secret. At any rate, the master has dealt his admirers a pointless, thudding punch below the belt.

[matrixschmatrix]

Haha, it seems as though in Crowther's case it successfully defied analysis

[Gregory]

It was so widely hated upon initial releases that I'd have to do a little digging to figure out who were some of the first critics to hail it. (As is widely known, drastically cutting the film down made a mess of it, which makes the reception a little more understandable.) Here's an excerpt from Variety's review, which shows them not surprisingly bemused by the cut-down version, though they do admit that "photography is nifty."

[ellipsis7]

I believe Chris Faulkner is working on a reception history of RULES OF THE GAME, which will be fascinating...

[zedz]

Fascinating find, domino. To be charitable, and as Gregory notes, it's a film with a very slippery and complex tone, and it's easy to understand how butchery could collapse the film's infrastructure. I wonder if any of those 'pre-reconstruction' versions of the film have survived?

[ellipsis7]

The script evolution is documented in Curchod & Faulkner's OOP LA REGLE DU JEU Scenario Original, where you can see the structure evolve, excised scenes etc... The supplements on CC's REGLE outline the extant versions...

[ellipsis7]

Not so troubled by the CC BR, David, rather like it but have their DVD alongside on my shelf...

It clearly is and will be a valid issue with HD transfers on Blu & beyond, is it a question of blowing up grain or real detail? Presently I embrace the viscerality of the transfers on CC's RULES & VIGO...

[evillights]

I don't have the same problems with this disc that David does, labeling it a very shitty upgrade. I would add that I watched DESIGN FOR LIVING last night and it was the least-striking BD I've seen from Criterion, though there's definitely a bit more detail than would appear on a DVD in certain scenes, but far from stunning. Again, that's no fault of Criterion's. My issue with the RULES BD is that in much of the feature the right-hand third of the frame is out of focus, as though the film were perforated and bent backwards a smidge during the scan. But this comes and goes, and I can't remember whether or not it was the same on the DVD, but presumably/possibly so, especially if it's sourced from the same master.

I agree that the Vigo presentation is perfect.

As for ÉLÉNA ET LES HOMMES, I have to say that I think it's one of the greatest films ever made, and one of the best Renoirs. A few years ago Andy Rector and I did a long conversation about it, because we felt it was very underrated and wanted to point out what we thought was extraordinary about the film, and things no-one had necessarily really spoken about before (at least as far as we were aware). Even the Cahiers' support of the film in the '50s never seemed to get beyond speaking about generalizations. Anyway, if you want to read it (it was published in full with all the grabs in the correct places, in Spanish translation, in the Versus DVD release's beautiful booklet), it's here.

[Cold Bishop]

The Crit Vigo is stunning. Perfect. Achingly beautiful. Could never be bettered.

mumble mumble 1990 edit mumble mumble

[guidedbyvoices]

Watched this for the first time last night, Netflix sent the old criterion DVD disc 1, doesn't appear they have the Blu Ray.

Man, the first hour, it just wasn't clicking for me. I liked how quickly I could identify from sight and personality all these different characters and their qualities, but mostly I just felt "it says nothing to me about my life", an old film that may have influenced others and been quite influential back in its day but kind of dated today.

Then as the party breaks up and it turns a bit, I really enjoyed it. Kind of like my reaction to first seeing Black Narcissus, where the first hour kind of plods on and didn't grab me when I first watched it, but the last chunk shows it was perfectly setting it up for the last part.

I felt dumb watching the extras that I didn't realize Renoir himself is Octave, the role I most identified with, and I guess what he intended us to relate to the most. Also watching the ending and version comparison extras, I can't see how this would've been considered an all time great before it was restored. To me the beauty is in the subtleties and making the main characters nuanced, not all mustache twirling immoral jerks, or saints. The extra showed how much was lopped out, mostly the parts I felt were the strongest

Definitely enjoyed it and running it through my head a bit today, not sure if it's something to my personal taste I'd watch again and again to warrant buying it (noir and visually striking films are more my preference)

[Numero Trois]

I can't see how this would've been considered an all time great

Once again- that's the problem with just about anything labeled "greatest ever," whether it be Shakespeare, Krazy Kat, Citizen Kane or Maria Falconetti's performance in The Passion of Joan of Arc. That particular label adds so much needless baggage. Just come back to the film at a later time. It's certainly not the kind of film that can be completely absorbed or appreciated with a single viewing.

[guidedbyvoices]

I can't see how this would've been considered an all time great

Once again- that's the problem with just about anything labeled "greatest ever," whether it be Shakespeare, Krazy Kat, Citizen Kane or Maria Falconetti's performance in The Passion of Joan of Arc. That particular label adds so much needless baggage. Just come back to the film at a later time. It's certainly not the kind of film that can be completely absorbed or appreciated with a single viewing.

You didn't read what I said, you clipped and responded out of context - before it was restored, the 80 minute version shown to audiences at the time, I don't see how THAT version would've been considered as one of the best of all time. The restored 100 minute or whatever version seemed to have all the bits that made the ending so strong. It was in the sight and sound poll top ten as the 80 minute edit before the late 50s restoration to 100 minutes.

[aox]

I can't see how this would've been considered an all time great

Once again- that's the problem with just about anything labeled "greatest ever," whether it be Shakespeare, Krazy Kat, Citizen Kane or Maria Falconetti's performance in The Passion of Joan of Arc. That particular label adds so much needless baggage. Just come back to the film at a later time. It's certainly not the kind of film that can be completely absorbed or appreciated with a single viewing.

You didn't read what I said, you clipped and responded out of context - before it was restored, the 80 minute version shown to audiences at the time, I don't see how THAT version would've been considered as one of the best of all time. The restored 100 minute or whatever version seemed to have all the bits that made the ending so strong. It was in the sight and sound poll top ten as the 80 minute edit before the late 50s restoration to 100 minutes.

Completely agreed. And an extra like that (along with thoughtful commentaries, e.g. L'avventua's Youngblood) is why CC is the best in the business.

[Stefan Andersson]

Criterion/Janus Films are co-partners in a 2021 4K restoration of The Rules of the Game:
https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/50877.html

Article on pre- and post-release cuts made to the film:
https://www.persee.fr/doc/1895_0769-095 ... _30_1_1468

Article on the early screenwriting phase:
https://www.persee.fr/doc/item_1167-510 ... _18_1_1220

[Never Cursed]

Wow, it seems like that new restoration will be of the the premiere version

[yoloswegmaster]

It doesn't look like the new restoration is of the premiere version, as the French UHD disc is at a runtime similar to that of the Criterion release