Durch meinen Screenshot-Vergleich und einigen Einträgen in internationalen DVD/BD-Foren hatte ich darauf aufmerksam gemacht, dass die – exklusiv bei HMV.co.uk erhältliche – “Der Leopard / Il gattopardo / The Leopard” [I / F 1963, Luchino Visconti] Blu-ray vom British Film Institute (BFI) fehlerhaft ist. Die letzten 71 Minuten des Films weisen auf dieser Disc falsche Kontrastwerte und somit auch geänderte Farbwerte auf. Im Dezember 2009 hatte sich das BFI dazu geäußert und einen Austausch der Blu-ray Discs in Aussicht gestellt. Im Criterion-Forum wurde nun bekannt gegeben, wie dieser vonstatten geht. Die fehlerfreie Disc soll am 21. Juni 2010 in den regulären Handel gelangen.

THE LEOPARD – FAULTY DISC REPLACEMENT SCHEME

As was highlighted in a detailed post on this forum, BFI’s November 2009 release of The Leopard on Blu-ray contained a fault which, unfortunately, affected the last third of the film. We are pleased to announce that this fault has now been fixed and that a new edition is shortly due for release. Further to this announcement, the BFI would like to offer those customers who purchased a faulty copy of the Blu-ray with a replacement disc.

Customers wanting to take advantage of this offer are asked to send the BFI only the faulty disc (please do not send the artwork, booklet or packaging) and to include details of their name, address and e-mail. Upon receipt of the faulty disc, BFI will post a replacement Blu-ray disc.

As a thank you for your patience and understanding on this matter (as well as in recognision of the fact that you will be incurring some postage fees), the BFI would also like to offer those customers returning faulty The Leopard Blu-ray discs a special discount price on any 2 Blu-ray or Dual Format editions released between now and December 2010. By redemption of a code, which will be supplied to you, you will be able to buy these editions at £10 each (inclusive of postage).

We would like to apologise for the frustration and disappointment that has been caused due to the original Blu-ray release of The Leopard and thank you once again for your patience during the period of time it has taken us to rectify the problem.

Please send faulty discs to: Trevona Thomson, Video Publishing, BFI, 21 Stephen Street, London, W1T 1LN, United Kingdom.