Open City
|
Our Price: $88.47 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $12.90 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Open City
Movie Review: A visceral film; exceptionally natural and real.
Summary: 4 Stars
"Oh, it's not difficult to die well," a character opines in this film; "the difficult thing is to live right." "Open City" ends with a firing squard executing this man (in the back, no less), for having "lived right" against Nazi occupation. This film has a you-are-there visceral feel to it and shows how Italians were united against their Nazi occupation---thus the film utilizes 3 diverse, but interconnected, focal points: a man and his pregnant girlfriend on the eve of their wedding, a leader of the Communist resistance, and a Catholic priest. It is a film worthy of watching (albeit overpriced). CheersMovie Review: Great film but poor subtile ( DVD version )
Summary: 4 Stars
I hope Amazon can change their rating system so that I can give this film a fair rating. This is a great film ( 5 stars ) but quality of DVD is not great ( 2-3 stars )although still watchable. My biggest complaint is that Image Ent has done such a bad job on subtile which is not only brief but about 20% of dialogue were not even translated. Maybe the VHS tape version is a better choice. Just want to alert other DVD collectors.Movie Review: Rossellini's Breakthrough
Summary: 3 Stars
Italian film owes much to Roberto Rossellini. World film owes him more than he's worth, I'm afraid. Made under some of the most impoverished conditions an underground film ever had to face, Rome Open City has its moments of almost "documentary" realness. But then Rossellini had to tell a hopelessly melodramatic story of partisans betrayed by faithless women (most assuredly not Anna Magnani!) tortured by Nazis without betraying a single comrade, while an Italian priest watches over it all like Edmond O'Brien and invokes the wrath of God on the Germans. Far less "neo-realist" than propagandistic. Yet Rossellini got a career (and Ingrid Bergman) out of it.Movie Review: DVD quality poor...Actual Movie Excellent.
Summary: 3 Stars
A beautiful and gripping story is marred by the use of poor movie print when transferred to DVD. I would have to believe there is a better copy of the movie available to transfer to DVD. A five star movie is reduced to 3 stars by the poor DVD.Movie Review: a great film ruined by bad transfer
Summary: 2 Stars
I agree with many reviewers here that this is truly a great film. Someone mentioned that the story is melodramatic or even propagandistic, which is true, but it is really beside the point in this case. What is important here is how the simple story is told in even simpler way in this ground-breaking film, transporting the viewers to the breathtaking moments of last days of WWII in Rome. However, I think many reviews actually refer to VHS version because DVD (released by Image, I think, from Blackwell Films) is even worse than VHS (released by Connoisseur). I bought this title as soon as I heard it was on DVD, and I was much disappointed to say the least. The transfer is substandard in overall, subtitles miss whole bulk of dialogues, and most of all, there is even a missing shot from the film (It is the famous shot in which the resistant is being tortured with torchblow). My advice is: Buy VHS (Connoisseur one), or better yet ask Image for new restored release.