Celia (1988)/Tale Of Ruby Rose (1987/Umbrella PAL Import DVDs)/Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald 4K (2018/Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Melies Fairy Tales In Color (1899 - 1909/Flicker Alley Blu-ray w/DVD)

4K Ultra HD Picture: A Picture: C+/B/B & C+ Sound: C+/A/C+ Extras: C/B/B- Films: C/B/B

PLEASE NOTE: The Celia/Tale Of Ruby Rose Import DVD set is now only available from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment in Australia, can only play on DVD, 4K and Blu-ray players that can handle the PAL DVD and can be ordered from the link below.

Fantasy tales may be seen as childish to some and big commercial filmmaking has not helped, hut the combination of offerings this time out show that is not always the case...

Ann Turner's Celia (1988) and Roger Scholes' Tale Of Ruby Rose (1987) are two films form the same producers within the same year of release set in the Australian past about two young women in problematic positions of oppression that include an ambiguous role of religion (Christianity in some form or another) that has either helped them or ruined their lives further. Apparently separate releases originally, Umbrella has issued both DVDs as a set.

Celia (a very young Rebecca Smart) has religious parents who are not doing well in their marriage and that leads to her being somewhat neglected, made worse by the sad loss of her grandmother under unfortunate circumstances. She is the victim of psychological issues and none of the adults have a clue as to what this is, especially being it is the time no one knows what that means.

Ruby Rose (Melita Jurisic) has a husband and stepson in the 1930s, but they are hardly around and this pushes her into an isolated loneliness that damages her mental health and she retreats into mental illness and it is not a good thing. How will she survive, especially again when no one knows what that is and she is so isolated?

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on both discs are from restored film elements and look as good as they can in the format, so there is no issue there, while Rose is in lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 and Celia as lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound, but there is very little sonic difference for the dialogue-based films.

Extras are only on Celia and includes a Stills Gallery, Original Theatrical Trailer, Peter Thompson interviewing Director Turner and audio interview with David Stratton.

The Harry Potter Universe continues to expand with the follow-up to J.K. Rowling's Potter prequel, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them (2016), with the dark follow-up The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018).

To check out my review of the first Fantastic Beasts film (with a set of Harry Potter 4K upgrades), go here...

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/14846/Fantastic+Beasts+and+Where+To+Find+Them+(2

The Crimes of Grindelwald wasn't as successful with audiences as previous entries in the franchise, which is surprising as there is a lot to like here, in my opinion. As a quick note, the first film is essential viewing before seeing this one in order to understand fully what's going on here. Continuing the adventures of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) escapes custody and sets out against humanity to wage a war with pure-blood wizards. Along the way, we're reacquainted with many of the characters from the first film, and a few of the creatures as well, and get a glimpse of the early days of Hogwarts.

So far the Fantastic Beasts films have been a great companion to the original Harry Potter titles, taking the franchise back to its origins, and cleverly throwing subtle shout-outs to the hardcore fans. Unlike the previous Potter series, however, Rowling debuts these stories as feature films as opposed to a novelization first, so fans don't have any way of knowing what's to come. The special effects are top notch as usual and Johnny Depp plays an adversary I quite prefer to Voldemort.

The Crimes of Grindelwald also stars Ezra Miller, Katherine Waterson, Zoe Kravitz, Claudia Kim, Kevin Guthrie, and Dan Fogler to name a few. The film is directed by Harry Potter director David Yates with a screenplay by franchise creator J.K. Rowling.

The film is presented in The 2160p HEVC/H.265, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image and a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and a great sounding audio mix in Dolby Atmos 11.1 lossless sound. This is a demo worthy disc for sure, as it picks up several more layers of texture and detail as opposed to the also included 1080p Blu-ray disc. The film has a similar color palette to the Harry Potter films with a slightly desaturated yet vibrant color, and detail seen prominently in clothing especially. For a film as visually stunning and expensive as this one, the 4K UHD format helps bring about things you won't see in lesser resolution.

A digital copy is also included.

Special Features include...

Extended Cut of the film (141 mins as opposed to the 134 min Theatrical Cut)

J.K. Rowling: A World Revealed

Wizards on Screen, Fans in Real Life

Distinctly Dumbledore

Unlocking Scene Secrets: The Return to Hogwarts

Unlocking Scene Secrets: Newt's Menagerie

Unlocking Scene Secrets: Credence, Nagini and the Circus Arcanus

Unlocking Scene Secrets: Paris and Place Cachee

Unlocking Scene Secrets: Ministere des Affaires Magiques

Unlocking Scene Secrets: Grindelwald's Escape and the Ring of Fire

and Deleted Scenes

The Crimes of Grindelwald is better than the first Fantastic Beasts film, and promises some exciting things to come. If you enjoy this title on the 4K UHD format, then I'd highly suggest getting the rest of the Harry Potter series in this 4K as well and checking out our reviews for those discs as well, elsewhere on this site.

Finally, we have a special collection of brilliant short films by Georges Melies, who you would know from his classic short film A Trip To The Moon (see the list below) and as the subject of Martin Scorsese's 3D hit film Hugo. Including some films only recently found, Melies Fairy Tales In Color (1899 - 1909) they include films only issued in black and white previously, but are in the color the director himself chose and approved of. It is fair to say they are among the earliest fantasy films ever made and tend to be remarkable, enduring, fun, energetic and more effective than you might think. With limited resources and technology, Melies and company let their imagination and creativity run wild, resulting in ideas and archetypes the genre still embraces 120 years later and counting. A few are literary adaptations, but all are innovative and deserve a very wide audience that would really get a big kick out of them.

The films include...

The Pillar of Fire (LA DANSE DU FEU, 1899, 1 min)

Joan of Arc (JEANNE D'ARC, 1900, 11 min) + narration

A Trip to the Moon (LE VOYAGE DANS LA LUNE, 1902, 15 min) + narration

Robinson Crusoe (LES AVENTURES DE ROBINSON CRUSOE, 1902, 12 min)

+ narration

The Kingdom of Fairies (LE ROYAUME DES FEES, 1903, 17 min) + narration

The Infernal Cauldron (LE CHAUDRON INFERNAL, 1903, 2 min)

The Impossible Voyage (VOYAGE A TRAVERS L'IMPOSSIBLE, 1904, 21 min) + narration

Rip's Dream (LA LEGENDE DE RIP VAN WINCKLE, 1905, 15 min) + narration

The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship (LE DIRIGEABLE FANTASTIQUE, 1905, 3 min)

The Merry Frolics of Satan (LES QUAT'CENTS FARCES DU DIABLE, 1906, 22 min) + narration

The Witch (LA FEE CARABOSSE ou LE POIGNARD FATAL, 1906, 13 min)

The Diabolic Tenant (UN LOCATAIRE DIABOLIQUE, 1906, 8 min)

Whimsical Illusions (LES ILLUSIONS FANTAISISTES, 1909, 5 min)

I look forward to showing them to friends and hope more are discovered, as Melies had to sell off his massive library when he needed money and most of his films were broken down for their raw materials and never saved, cataloged, etc., making these treasures all the more remarkable.

Extras include Narration Tracks featuring film historian Serge Bromberg, and adapted from George Melies' suggestions, these narrations are culled from Star Films distribution catalogues intended for the sale of these films to English-speaking territories and a thick, high quality Souvenir Booklet featuring a new forward to the collection by Serge Bromberg, along with rare images and the English-language narration text to several of the films.

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 color/black & white digital High Definition image transfers are centered in a 16 X 9/1.78 X 1 frame and look really good for their age, though the color cuts down on the definition and detail a bit, I like the use of color very much. The DVD has the same framing in an anamorphically enhanced presentation, but the color and detail are not as good, of course. Though I had hoped for some kind of lossless sound on the Blu-ray version, both the Blu-ray and DVD only offer lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo for either the music, original audio or narrated tracks. That's passable, but I wished for at least PCM of some sort with the HD.

You can get the 4K and Melies releases through us via Amazon, but if they run out of copies of the Melies set, you can order directly from this link...

https://www.flickeralley.com/classic-movies-2/#!/M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s-Fairy-Tales-in-Color/p/123006195/category=20414531

To order the Celia/Tale Of Ruby Rose Umbrella import DVD set, go to this link for ti and other hard to find titles at:

http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/

- Nicholas Sheffo and James Lockhart (4K)

https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/