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King Kong (1933) - Criterion Commentary (Released)

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hey guys,

I just finished capturing the Ronald Haver commentary off the Criterion Laserdisc and was wondering if anyone was interested in it. I have leeched quite a few things off of you guys from myspleen, and just wanted to give something back that to my knowledge hasn’t been offered here before and isn’t on any DVDs anywhere. <span class=“Italics”>note:</span> I have only been reading this forum for a few months, so it might have been put out sometime, but it didnt’ come up in the search box.

I was contemplating posting it on a newsgroup somewhere, but I don’t really want to do that and be labelled a source in some lawsuit, plus I have no idea how to do that anyway. PM me if you would like it, and I can send it to you on AIM or something.

Also, if someone has some webspace and bandwidth and would like to post it for people to download, that might be a little more secure than just throwing our IP addresses all around the usenet.

I have the raw wav that is 506 MB, a flac file that’s 293 MB, and a 128 kB/sec mp3 that’s 91.2 MB.

Here’s what I wrote in the nfo file:

<span class=“Italics”>This is a laserdisc audio capture of Ronald Haver’s commentary for Merian C. Cooper’s “King Kong” (1933) from Criterion’s release. It has the distinction of being the first commentary ever published with a home video, opening with the lines, “Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m Ronald Haver, and I’m here to do something that we feel is rather unique. I’m going to take you on a lecture tour of King Kong as you watch the film.”</span>

<span class=“Italics”>As far as commentaries go, it’s not all that great. He doesn’t even directly reference the image that is on the screen for twenty minutes or so, but since it was the first commentary and not available on any DVD to which I have access, I decided to capture it and share it. The stories are second hand from Cooper, and Haver seems to do his best to suck all the fun out of them. Very professorial.</span>

<span class=“Italics”>Also, please realize that this has not been modified to sync up with any DVD’s video stream, so it’s more just for audio use only. I suppose you could play both simulataneously, but the audio might get off at the side changes of the LD. If you want to hack it up to make it match the video, knock yourself out.</span>

Let me know if you’re interested,
–bdev

Criterion Projects done: She's Gotta Have It, The Princess Bride, The Fisher King

In Progress Criterions: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (99% done), Taxi Driver (90% done), Citizen Kane (50% done), Othello (99.99% done)

Possibly coming next: Ghostbusters, The Magnificent Ambersons (the theatrical cut, a reconstruction according to Prof. Carringer's script analysis, and the colorized version)
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I'm definitely interested. A few months ago, I made a plea for someone to do the same (upload the commentary as an audio file) after their LD preservation project fell through.

Tried to send a PM but it didn't go through. Are your PMs turned on?

Also, maybe you can upload one of the files to yousendit.com or something?
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Yep. They were off. They're on now.

--bdev
Criterion Projects done: She's Gotta Have It, The Princess Bride, The Fisher King

In Progress Criterions: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (99% done), Taxi Driver (90% done), Citizen Kane (50% done), Othello (99.99% done)

Possibly coming next: Ghostbusters, The Magnificent Ambersons (the theatrical cut, a reconstruction according to Prof. Carringer's script analysis, and the colorized version)
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Thanks!

Is the file NTSC? I tried syncing up the audio to the new DVD, but it kinda falls out of sync after a few minutes.
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I would love to get the commentary. It would be even better if someone made a dvd preservation of the laserdisc. The game criterion dvd is just awesome.
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Yeah. I would like to do a LD transfer, but alas no video capture hardware.

The disc is NTSC as far as I know, so I don't know why the audio would get out of sync like that. It could be the player I suppose.....just some cheap industrial LD player that I found at a thrift store for 15 dollars. Maybe it plays it too fast. I don't even know if that's a techincal possibility or not.

by the way, if anyone else wants the file, just PM me your email address and I can send it via yousendit.com or give me your AIM address and I can transfer it to you directly.

--bdev
Criterion Projects done: She's Gotta Have It, The Princess Bride, The Fisher King

In Progress Criterions: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (99% done), Taxi Driver (90% done), Citizen Kane (50% done), Othello (99.99% done)

Possibly coming next: Ghostbusters, The Magnificent Ambersons (the theatrical cut, a reconstruction according to Prof. Carringer's script analysis, and the colorized version)
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From what it looks like, the commentary is the only thing worth preserving from the Criterion LD. I doubt the video from the LD can compete with the new DVD's.
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true, although there is a visual essay compiled by the same guy who does the commentary, which could be interesting to transfer. I was thinking that an interesting project would be a "lost criterion extras" set that just compiled the supplements when subsequent DVD releases have surpassed the criterion's quality.

--bdev
Criterion Projects done: She's Gotta Have It, The Princess Bride, The Fisher King

In Progress Criterions: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (99% done), Taxi Driver (90% done), Citizen Kane (50% done), Othello (99.99% done)

Possibly coming next: Ghostbusters, The Magnificent Ambersons (the theatrical cut, a reconstruction according to Prof. Carringer's script analysis, and the colorized version)
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If you feel like making the mp3 of the commentary available:

http://rapidshare.de/

Up it there, copy the link here that it gives you after you're done uploading, and it'll be available to download until nobody downloads it for 30 days...
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okay guys… here’s the rapidshare link

[LINK REMOVED]

let me know if there are any problems.

–bdev

Criterion Projects done: She's Gotta Have It, The Princess Bride, The Fisher King

In Progress Criterions: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (99% done), Taxi Driver (90% done), Citizen Kane (50% done), Othello (99.99% done)

Possibly coming next: Ghostbusters, The Magnificent Ambersons (the theatrical cut, a reconstruction according to Prof. Carringer's script analysis, and the colorized version)
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Hey, just want to let you know, it worked perfectly. Thank you. I hope others in the future will rip the commentary tracks from the old laserdiscs and post them like you did.

Much thanks.
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Many thanks for your efforts bdev!

Worked perfectly for me.
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Thanks for the upload (and the PM) bdev. Cracking stuff.

On a related note a 1968 comic adaption of the original Kong movie was recently posted to one of the newsgroups. I’ve uploaded it here:

[LINK REMOVED]
thanks to Hayleyfan for the original usenet post.

Enjoy

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Hi... uh... I'm sorry I brought back an old topic but, I am new here and the rapidshare link expired. Can anyone send it to me or maybe set up a permenant location? Thank you.
6x9=42
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<div class=“PostQuote”><span class=“Italics”>Originally posted by: <span class=“Bold”>bdev</span></span>
okay guys… here’s the rapidshare link

[LINK REMOVED]

let me know if there are any problems.

–bdev</div>

Can someone reupload this? I used to have it before a hard drive crash.

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<div class=“PostQuote”><span class=“Italics”>Originally posted by: <span class=“Bold”>s7en</span></span>
Thanks for the upload (and the PM) bdev. Cracking stuff.

On a related note a 1968 comic adaption of the original Kong movie was recently posted to one of the newsgroups. I’ve uploaded it here:

thanks to Hayleyfan for the original usenet post.

Enjoy </div>

File has been deleted. Can someone please re-upload it?

Same Make. Same Model. New Mission.

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Does anyone still have this? Would love to hear this.

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I realise this thread is mega-old now but I'd be really interested in listening to this commentary.

Does anyone still have it or know anywhere it is still available (I've tried the rapidshare link, Googling, The Spleen, etc.)?

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On that place search for rare commentaries 

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Ahh, thanks Mike. I should've been a bit more thorough in my searching.

Much appreciated!

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How difficult or easy would it be to sync this commentary with the official Blu-ray release? Any timing discrepancies?

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Hi. Sorry to bring back this old thing, but I was wondering where I can find the Criterion audio track commentary now so I can include it with my Blu-Ray.

Thanks to answer

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monks19 said:

Hi. Sorry to bring back this old thing, but I was wondering where I can find the Criterion audio track commentary now so I can include it with my Blu-ray.

Thanks to answer

I should still have it up on Mega and I’ll share a link. It’s either AC3 or I dunno. Wasn’t there another commentary besides the Criterion one?
I’ve many more Laserdisc commentaries.

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RayRogers said:

monks19 said:

Hi. Sorry to bring back this old thing, but I was wondering where I can find the Criterion audio track commentary now so I can include it with my Blu-ray.

Thanks to answer

I should still have it up on Mega and I’ll share a link. It’s either AC3 or I dunno. Wasn’t there another commentary besides the Criterion one?
I’ve many more Laserdisc commentaries.

For King Kong (1933), there’s the Criterion LD, but also the Image Intertainment one

http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/09584/I6003/King-Kong-(1933)

Do you have those two ?

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monks19 said:

RayRogers said:

monks19 said:

Hi. Sorry to bring back this old thing, but I was wondering where I can find the Criterion audio track commentary now so I can include it with my Blu-ray.

Thanks to answer

I should still have it up on Mega and I’ll share a link. It’s either AC3 or I dunno. Wasn’t there another commentary besides the Criterion one?
I’ve many more Laserdisc commentaries.

For King Kong (1933), there’s the Criterion LD, but also the Image Intertainment one

http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/09584/I6003/King-Kong-(1933)

Do you have those two ?

I shared the link to Mega for the Criterion commentary in a PM to you. I’ll look to see if I have the Image Entertainment commentary on my server.