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Sergio Leone Preservations - Dollars Trilogy, Fistful of Dynamite, Once Upon a Time in the West (Released) — Page 5

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I wrote to a DVD magazine in 1999 complaining about incomplete DVDs of For a Few Dollars More. Gave up and created my own DVD in 2006. 

Now after 14 frustrating years, there is an uncut Blu-ray of For a Few Dollars More released in Germany with the original English mono track.

It has the complete beating scene including a missing shot from the Italian Blu-Ray, Indio's extended laugh and Clint's awesome longer entrance.

I'm having a drink.

Now for a decent version of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly on Blu-ray

 

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For a Few Dollars More - Uncut version (1965)

 

As a matter of fact, the new German BluRay is fully uncut, including 1 second missing from the Italian BluRay and all the cuts from the MGM source.

The only thing wrong with this release is the German intro text ("Where life had no value...").

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Can anyone PM me where I can get West & Duck You Sucker by leonenut preservations? I haven't been able to find them anywhere. Thanks.

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Digging into the LD versions recently has gotten all this rushing back. Glad to hear that the German FAFDM is uncut with Enlish mono.

The LD mono for all three is wonderful, relatively clean and unfiltered like the DVD/BDs, sounding exactly like the 35mm prints both vintage and restored.

So in order to do this correctly,

AFOD-Italian restoration uses original Techniscope negative, MGM had Triage labs scan their best source as they don't hold the rights, which resulted in a differently colored and framed transfer. Best english audio still on LD, ufiltered.

FAFDM-MGM had access to o-neg which was scanned by Triage, German source uses this but adds cut scenes. The LD audio is great but sadly censored. The film is edited all over the place for some unknown reason.

GBU-Italian Mondo disc from the Italian restoration from correct elements. But we'd have to perform some edits to the Italian cut in order to match the English audio which would be sourced from LD, where it is lossless and unfiltered. In order to reform the Italian release version the cut scenes could have the Italian mono dropped in with the English subtitles. The grotto scene is an extra.

 

I'm almost positive the print source for the old MGM LDs and DVD is what Triage used to drop in and spot check color timing for the SE cut. It is most likely the IP for the international cut as the initial releases have Italian on-screen captions which were simply excised and replaced with US ones in later releases.

I still get confused on the intended edits for OUATITW vs. the restored 165 min cut.

As far as DYS is concerned, if we could drop in the remastered LD mono track, all that remains to do is find a good source for the final flashback with correct music. The LD mono is like the Dollars films, untouched, unfiltered and far more dynamic than you'd think.

Is it just me or did the SE DVD of DYS appear to be timed a bit incorrectly?

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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captainsolo said:

GBU-Italian Mondo disc from the Italian restoration from correct elements. But we'd have to perform some edits to the Italian cut in order to match the English audio which would be sourced from LD, where it is lossless and unfiltered. In order to reform the Italian release version the cut scenes could have the Italian mono dropped in with the English subtitles. The grotto scene is an extra.

I'm almost positive the print source for the old MGM LDs and DVD is what Triage used to drop in and spot check color timing for the SE cut. It is most likely the IP for the international cut as the initial releases have Italian on-screen captions which were simply excised and replaced with US ones in later releases.

There are actually 2 different sources used for the LD widescreen format.

The early release (1990 & 1993 box set) is commonly believed to have been sourced from an Italian print due to the Italian onscreen titles. However, the opening credits and end title are in English, the beating scene is the International cut, the sequence where Blondie says, "Sorry, Tuco" is intact, and Tuco yells, "Just a dirty son of a bitch!" instead of " "Sei il figlio di una grandissima puttana!" It is indeed a release print as reel change markers are present but it's a cut version of the International cut of the film with Italian onscreen titles for the characters.

The 1998 LD (and DVD) are from a different source; it is not a release print, it's an uncut version of the International film, and English onscreen titles are used instead. One minor difference between the LD and DVD is that a short segment is cut on the DVD of Blondie holstering his pistol after shooting the 3 bounty hunters. It is intact on the LD.

I have lossless, bit-perfect captures of the 1990/93 and 1998 LD audio. At first I was planning to simply sync the audio to the Mondo/Moviemax video. I decided to pull the plug on that (for now) because I'd rather make my own fan edit: International cut plus the fort ("The Strong") scene where AE/Sentenza bribes the soldier for info on Bill Carson's whereabouts.

Since I have a Mac, I will be working in Final Cut Pro to delete from the Mondo BD the other scenes not used in the International cut. Then I will use the MGM BD to insert/substitute scenes that are unique to the International cut (e.g. the Tuco beating scene, "Sorry, Tuco" at Sadhill and Tuco's final line). Lastly, the LD PCM audio will be synced to the hybrid video.

I have already converted both BDs to Apple Prores 422 HD. Now the editing begins...

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That would be cool! Anyone who have the Leonenuts edits, I would like to trade (or cover your costs) for those.

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Never noticed the DVD omission...how many tweaks and edits are there in Leone video editions? ;) Good luck with your edit.

After direct comparison of the 1993 box set and 1998 LD and 1998 DVD, I'm almost 100% sure that the overall source is the same. The damage marks are in the same places, albeit a bit cleaned up on the 1998 version along with less video noise. (Like the Fistful print was cleaned up for the 1st DVD vs. the Laserdisc) The mono audio is the exact same track with the same dropouts in the same places.

Damage example to check is lines running through the print when Tuco staggers back into town from being abandoned in the desert.

Audio dropout example to check are blips in the first master shot of the final duel, in the rising trumpets.

Can you say where the reel change marks are? I didn't see any, but am only spot checking the '93 disc. It also doesn't seem to be cropped like many say the regular letterbox version was.

What I'd really like to do is restore the International version and then the Italian release version with the current HD versions, which would only leave the grotto scene (for an extra or to make the premiere version), "Sorry Tuco", English final line shot and International edit of the Tuco torture sequence to be sourced from the dnr MGM source.

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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You must be "Sensitive Mule" over at SLWB. It appears we're having the same discussion both here and there!

Anyways, I noted all the reel change markers throughout the film but can't find my notes right now. I recall 2 scenes where you can see the oval marker in the top right corner of the film. The first is in the monastery when Tuco is trying to persuade Blondie to tell him the name of the grave and gets a cupful of coffee in the face. An intermission was placed immediately after this scene so I expected to find a reel change marker here. Another marker can be seen when AE's henchman walks back to the rest of his gang who are bivouacked outside of camp and tells them they'll stick around and keep an eye on things.

Thanks for pointing out where the audio/video damage is the same in both LD releases. I'll have a look at this closely.

One thing worth mentioning is that the waveform of the 98 LD is inverted compared with the 90/93 LD. I don't know much about the technical aspects of audio, but it suggests to me that some sort of processing was done that led to this inversion. Here is a screenshot showing the waveforms of the 3 LD releases as well as the Mondo BD:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/trailerparkboy/BBCGBUPCMtracks_zpsff3ef3de.png

The Mondo BD waveform is taken to another level but even the 98 LD (inverted) waveform is beefed up compared with 90/93 LD.

There seems to be subtle differences between most of the various home releases (VHS, LD, DVD, BD). For instance, the widescreen VHS uses English and Italian onscreen titles. The 90/93 LD has a cut opening scene (when the 3 bounty killers walk into town towards the tavern where Tuco's having a hearty meal) and Stephens/AE dining scene is also cut.

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Yep, that'd be me. ;)

Nice work, I wouldn't at all be surprised about the processing in 1998 since the others were done this way for their first DVD issues, and the EQ/noise reduction removes noise but sadly some atmospherics and dynamic range to go with it.

I'll have to check those spots for changeover cues. I'll admit I didn't notice the slight edits to the opening, are they rather large?

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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I blew up the the waveforms of all 3 LD releases (90, 93 box set, 98):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/trailerparkboy/98LDinvertedwaveform_zps660fbba9.png

As you can see, the 98 waveform is inverted compared with 90 and 93.

You'll have to compare the scenes on the 90 or 93 LD while, say, viewing the same scenes from any DVD/BD on your computer and you'll clearly notice that the scenes are cut. For instance, before the dialogue begins during the dining scene, some of the shots during the back and forth close-ups of Stephens and AE are missing. Similarly, during the opening scene some of the back and forth shots between Al Mulock and the pair of bounty hunters approaching the tavern from the opposite end of town are missing.

 

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On the inversion issue it may be as simple as old school noise reduction. Especially with mono audio it was a common practice to simply invert the track in order to cut down on inherent noise, some people still do this when capturing mono vinyl records.

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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Interesting, I didn't know that. Have you had a chance to view the cut scenes yet?

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Got my hands on GBU Leone nut. Sadly, the presentation is now technically lacking. There are strobes in all pan shots, and jumps in audio levels when one source is used to patch the other. Also all the pictures changes are distracting (it would have been cooler to just use one source for each scene, rather than mixing them).

However these are nice tries, perhaps it could be cool to update them.

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Greetings

  I'm new to this forum, but it looks very interesting.

I recently got the Italian Blu and the German Blu of FAFDM. Since there is no english track on the Italian Blu, I synched the German english audio track to the Italian video. There were quite a few cuts and delays to do this. I have an avisynth script that anyone can use to create their own if interested and they have both Blu's. 

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Sent you a PM. I completely agree with the fact that the Italian video looks better. The colors are wonderful and look more similar to the RHV FOD and Mondo GBU. Also, most of the detail in the DE BD is EE, really noticeable in a western.

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I appreciate this is slightly off topic, but figured some of you would probably be interested in this.

Like pretty much everyone I was irritated with the MGM blu-ray release of GBU - the DNR is dreadful, possibly the worst I've ever seen (although Amadeus is maybe as bad). I saw some screenshots of the Mondo version which looked miles better, so I started googling around for a fanedit that used the Mondo video and the English audio... and found it on The Pirate Bay, of all places.

I've only seen the first few minutes so far but compared with the blu-ray it's a HUGE improvement - no DNR at all that I can, just a beautiful crisp HD image. Assuming the video/audio stays synched throughout this will be my new go-to GBU.

I highly recommend it.

FYI the file size is 12.69 gigs, it's easy to find on there.

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Yes, daneditor

  Rigby Reardon on avsforum.com (in 2009) made an avisynth script to use the US bluray audio and sync to the Italian bluray video HERE

That's what you found!

I have done the same for FAFDM as I said above. The Aluminum Falcon above has used my version and it seemed to have worked for him. I posted a how to on avsforum too HERE

 

I wouldn't be surprised that same thing happens with my script in the not to distant future!

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Tyee, thanks for the info! Very interesting.

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Well apparently the Italian blu ray for Once Upon a Time in the West came out and its from the same print as the US one.

Same color timing, same dvnr. Same edits.  Its not the Director's cut.

Is the LeoneNut DVD of the Director's Cut still available?

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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A 35mm GBU print has popped up on ebay, dated 1997 with the Italian captions like the 1993 LD. It would be the international and has proper color intact.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Clint-Eastwoods-THE-GOOD-THE-BAD-AND-THE-UGLY-on-35mm-film-/251486242442?pt=US_Film&hash=item3a8dbf868a

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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captainsolo said:

A 35mm GBU print has popped up on ebay, dated 1997 with the Italian captions like the 1993 LD. It would be the international and has proper color intact.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Clint-Eastwoods-THE-GOOD-THE-BAD-AND-THE-UGLY-on-35mm-film-/251486242442?pt=US_Film&hash=item3a8dbf868a

 I've been watching that like a hawk but its way too expensive for me. It would be great if we could get poita to do a transfer. Since it has the Italian for The Good/The Bad/The Ugly character intros it is the same print/transfer as the last letterbox laserdisc, opposed to the DVD which had English titles.

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The stand-alone remastered Blu-ray of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from 2014, has the original English Mono.
The gun sounds are all original etc. It obviously downmixes for the extra scenes, but it’s original everywhere else.
Surprised not a lot of people realise.

Also the Italian Blu-ray of Giu La Testa (Duck You Sucker) has the original English Mono track as well, with the correct music in the final flashback, but has Italian Audio for the final line “What About Me?”. But is infinitely better than the censored audio on the MGM discs.

Star Wars 1977-1983

Star Trek 1966-1991

LeoneNut's Edits

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LeoneNut said:

The stand-alone remastered Blu-ray of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from 2014, has the original English Mono.
The gun sounds are all original etc. It obviously downmixes for the extra scenes, but it’s original everywhere else.
Surprised not a lot of people realise.

Also the Italian Blu-ray of Giu La Testa (Duck You Sucker) has the original English Mono track as well, with the correct music in the final flashback, but has Italian Audio for the final line “What About Me?”. But is infinitely better than the censored audio on the MGM discs.

I’d rather have the Original English Mono in lossless and not lossy regarding the stand-alone 4K remastered with the weird color tint TGTBTU. Already own Duck, You Sucker! aka A Fistful of Dynamite MGM BD (for the bonus features and did image comparisons in PNG on Caps-a-Holic.com) and will eventually be buying the IT release. Have The Man with No Name MGM BD set with the corrected audio 4K TGTBTU as the stand-alone release. Keeping the USA MGM DVD Sergio Leone set. Going to buy the DE double feature for A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More.
Interested in the correctly color timed OG film appearance with proper blues and whites for TGTBTU, both longer cut and USA theatrical cut. Was going to buy the older MGM DVD for the latter but if you’ve made a custom BD25 or BD50, even better.
I don’t mind having a few extra BD discs to put with the releases I own and will eventually own. Thank Viva for those multi-disc cases.

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Theatrical cut of GBU coming to Blu-ray:

https://www.facebook.com/KinoLorberStudioClassics/photos/a.683404775049766.1073741828.682934655096778/1346813698708867/?type=3&theater

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1967) (50th Anniversary Edition)
Includes both Original U.S. Theatrical Cut, available for the first time in HD and the extended cut.
Disc 1:
• 4K transfer of the Original U.S. Theatrical Cut
• New Audio Commentary by Film Historian Tim Lucas
• “Trailers From Hell” with Ernest Dickerson
• Newly Restored 2.0 Mono Audio
• M.O.S. Deleted Scene of Blondie in the desert finding skeletons
• Trailers for Sergio Leone Westerns
• Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
• English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Audio
• AND MORE – to be announced
Disc 2:
• 4K transfer of the Extended Cut
• Newly Restored 2.0 Mono Audio
• Audio Commentary By Acclaimed Film Historian Richard Schickel
• Audio Commentary By Noted Cultural Historian Christopher Frayling
• Leone’s West: Making Of Documentary
• The Leone Style: On Sergio Leone Featurette
• The Man Who Lost The Civil War: Civil War Documentary
• Reconstruction The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
• II Maestro: Ennio Morricone and The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Featurette
• Deleted Scenes
• Original U.S. Theatrical Trailer
• Original French Theatrical Trailer
• English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Audio
• Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono

Now do the happy dance !!

Star Wars 1977-1983

Star Trek 1966-1991

LeoneNut's Edits

YouTube Clips