Amarcord and Marriage Italian Style - The 4K Editions
Restorations that represent the best way to enjoy two great classics
On one side, Federico Fellini's imaginary Rimini, suspended between memories, dreams, and caricatures of an Italy that no longer exists; on the other, the passionate Naples recounted by Vittorio De Sica through the tormented relationship between Filumena Marturano and Domenico Soriano, played by Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. Two pillars of Italian Cinema find new life today thanks to the CG Entertainment 4K UHD editions.
Two Jewels of Italian Cinema in UHD
The work done on Amarcord is convincing from the very first minutes. Image format 1.85:1 (3840 x 2160/23.97p), HEVC encoding on a double-layer BD-66. The new master delivers superior definition, with generally well-preserved grain and colors that gain depth without losing the deliberately fairytale character of Giuseppe Rotunno's cinematography.
Even the most complex scenes maintain a good balance, while still showing some slight uncertainty in darker moments or those immersed in fog. A valuable set of special features completes the picture.
Marriage Italian Style also clearly benefits from the transition to Ultra HD. Image format 1.85:1 (3840 x 2160/23.97p), HEVC encoding on a double-layer BD-66. The protagonists' close-ups show a more refined definition and the settings gain greater consistency, while the color palette appears brighter compared to previous Blu-ray editions. In some moments, however, the grain is less uniform, alternating between very natural passages and more pronounced ones, probably due to the condition of the original material.
On the audio front, both releases respect the historical setup of the works, prioritizing cleanliness and fidelity without artifice with DTS-HD MA 2.0 (16 bit) and Dolby Digital 2.0. The most evident difference, however, concerns the extras: while Amarcord offers interesting materials ("How to explain Italy to extraterrestrials" and "Screen tests, cuts, and dubs" by Giuseppe Tornatore), Marriage Italian Style lacks additional content.
Overall, CG Entertainment offers restorations that today represent the best way to rediscover these classics on Home Video, with Amarcord emerging as the most complete edition and Marriage Italian Style focusing entirely on the quality of the new video transfer.