Some people (who don’t have it yet) have told me that this DVD (collecting together several of the director’s rarities and some new works) does not have English subtitles, yet http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/f39749_les_tresors_caches_de_michel_ocelot.html and http://www.devedenaute.fr/index.php?page=produit&id=D39749&mco=dvdfr suggest that it does. Today I decided that the only way to find out for sure is get hold it myself, so I ordered http://www.journaux.fr/revue.php?id=134920 which I hope is the same DVD with a magazine bundled with it (it just happened to be the same price as everywhere else but has slightly cheaper shipping, possibly because the shipping is normally for magazines rather than DVDs).

Some examples of its content can be seen in the first of the two videos at http://jadering.blogspot.com/2008/10/do-treasures-remain-treasures-when-they.html (the second has extracts from several other French animated short films; I particularly like the operatic one which bizarrely but thankfully is subtitled in English).

The good news: It does have English subtitles! Not only for the films themselves but also for the documentaries, which are the most interesting part of it (not to to belittle the beauty, intrigue and magic of the films themselves).

The bad news: The two widescreen items are both letterboxed! This is only something which applies to a relatively small number of them, but this is the second time that “Earth Intruders” has been relapsed on DVD and it was letterboxed then as well. I’m now fearing the next volume of Björk’s collected videos on DVD, which will give it a third chance to be anamorphic but a chance that, going by past experience, is unlikely to be made use of. The case of L’Invité aux noces is possibly even more annoying as the position of the subtitles make watching it windowboxed a necessity.

Oh, and it’s certainly worth getting it packed with the magazine, as this contains hi-res stills from Kirikou et la sorcière which make details I would never have noticed by watching it on DVD perceptible (the exception being if you already have the picture book version of this film, as it’s the same images as in there).