Product Details

• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001PL3VB8

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost Uknown in the U.S., June 12, 2009

By 

D. Ross "shonokin" (San Francisco, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Adventures of Corto Maltese 7-DVD Set (La Cour Secrète des Arcanes / Sous le Signe du Capricorne / La Ballade de la Mer Salée / Les Celtiques / La maison Dorée de Samarkand / Têtes et Champignons / La Conga des Bananes / Concerto en O' Mineur / Le Coup de Grâce / D'autres Roméo & d'autres) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - France ] (DVD)

About the only way people in the U.S. might recognize the name "Corto Maltese" is through Frank Miller's DARK KNIGHT comics of the 80s and from there the name propagated into other comics in the DC universe and even into Tim Burton's BATMAN movie. The inclusion of the name in Miller's DARK KNIGHT was an homage to Hugo Pratt's character. It's there that I learned the name and thought it might be some true to life obscure geographical location.

Only a few weeks ago did I come to know who Corto Maltese really was. A comic book hero/anti-hero created by Hugo Pratt in the 1960's.

Maltese was a wandering gentlemen rogue of WWI era Europe and a sailor on the Seven Seas. His adventures ranged from locales such as Venice, the Congo and China to Siberia. If you have read Maurice LeBlanc's ARSENE LUPIN (made famous in the 70's til now by Lupin III), read Milt Caniff's TERRY AND THE PIRATES and watched the original JONNY QUEST, mix all of these together and you will have an idea of what the world of Corto Maltese is like.

In the 1980s an American publishing firm, Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing Inc. published several collections of Corto Maltese, but have long gone out of print and fetch rather disturbingly high prices on the collectors market. I hope that sometime in the near future the comics will be reprinted in English with correct translations. Apparently the NBM collections were seriously edited and re-arranged.

How did I come to know of this character? I ran into one of these animated movies and it piqued my interest. I have now collected a few of the more easily found movies such as "La Cour Secrète des Arcanes", "Sous le Signe du Capricorne" and "La Ballade de la Mer Salée". Though it doesn't advertise it on the boxes, all of these films have English subtitles.

I ran across this listing for the boxed set and really wish it was in stock. But apparently it has disappeared off the face of the earth as it cannot be found anywhere that I know of. I've searched European and Asian DVD retailers and have been unable to find it "in stock".

Well, here is to hoping that one day this set or one very similar to it will once again be available and that the comics will get reprinted. Until then you may have to track down each film individually, but I think it is worth it. The animation is fluid, the drama is impactfull, the action is at times almost shockingly brutal, and the music is amazing. From what I've seen so far, these are all pretty faithful adaptations of the original stories.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One3 of the best animation ever, June 9, 2009

By 

Mathias Faux - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Adventures of Corto Maltese 7-DVD Set (La Cour Secrète des Arcanes / Sous le Signe du Capricorne / La Ballade de la Mer Salée / Les Celtiques / La maison Dorée de Samarkand / Têtes et Champignons / La Conga des Bananes / Concerto en O' Mineur / Le Coup de Grâce / D'autres Roméo & d'autres) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - France ] (DVD)

If you like beautiful drawings, stories and texts this is for you. Corto Maltese is a must have. If you speak French or Italian it's better, the subtitles I saw are good though if it is the same set. By the way you need a multi-region DVD to read this disk or read it with your PC using dvd region free. It is worth the pane caused by greedy production companies that locked the region all over the world.