Auf die Kontrast- und Farbprobleme während der letzten 71 Minuten auf der BFI-Blu-ray von Luchino Viscontis “Der Leopard / Il gattopardo” [I / F 1963] hatte ich nicht nur im Screenshot-Vergleich, sondern auch im Criterion Forum hingewiesen. Dort ist nun eine Stellungnahme des BFI veröffentlicht worden.

Dear Criterion Forum members and readers,

We have investigated this issue thoroughly and can now confirm there is a problem on the first pressing of the BFI’s Blu-ray edition of THE LEOPARD.

At 1:54.28 there is a significant change in black levels and contrast settings, evident from the first shot at this time code and remaining for the rest of the feature. This is demonstrated by a comparatively heavier look where blacks are crushed, whites are burnt out, the and the overall grain/noise structure becomes much more active – in short a rather abrupt and ugly gamma shift for the last 70+ minutes of the feature.

We are still investigating the source of the error with the facilities involved, but at present it seems that the fault can be traced to an error in the settings in one of the HD decks used during the final stages of this project. This has now been corrected, and the new pressing of THE LEOPARD will reflect this correction.

We appreciate the members of Criterion Forum for pointing out this issue to us. This is an error we certainly should have spotted before release, but this is a situation we’ve never encountered before, and the masters we signed off on were correct. Although we strive to be as careful as possible, occasionally human error rears its head. As Blu-ray technology develops, we find we’re learning new things all the time.

As MichaelB has mentioned, we do read the forums regularly and take your comments very seriously. We work hard to ensure every title we release is delivered at the highest possible quality, but occasionally we may miss something. If there’s a possibility that one of our releases contains a technical issue or fault, we will investigate thoroughly and work to correct it as soon as possible.

Thanks again for helping us out on this one and stay tuned for an announcement in the New Year regarding replacement of your LEOPARD Blu-rays, should you have purchased a copy from the first pressing.

BFI Video Publishing