Info: James Bond - Laserdisc Preservations: 1962-1971 — Page 21

Well i know in the modern Era they used super35 a lot for budgetary reasons.  Like on Star Trek VI but II was shot in scope.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy was shot in super35 but then cropped to 2:35:1 ratio.  Like Star Trek VI in the theatrical version.

In the Sixties/seventies they often used Techniscope because it was cheap too.  I know It was used on  a movie Kurtz worked on prior to working with Lucas, as well as on Graffiti and THX.  Oh and Sergio Leone used it in the dollars trilogy.

skyjedi2005 said:

Is it true that the man with the golden gun and Live and Let die were not shot in Cinemascope because the director hated it or the cinematographer?

I mean Diamond's was shot in scope and that was Guy Hamilton.  And All three films were shot by Ted Moore.

 

SilverWook said:

For some reason I thought it was for budgetary reasons? There seem to have been fewer scope films made around that period. (There might have been an financial inclination to shoot a film more "tv friendly" as well.) When Spy was made, scope films were coming back in a big way post Jaws.

From all my Bond knowledge, this is what I always thought. LALD and TMWTGG had overall approaches of toning it down, which DAF did as well. Ted Moore never gets the credit he deserves for shooting the Bond films, and to be honest, I really really really think they work better in flat than scope. The first three and the two initial Moore films seem more natural. Of course you don't get the grandeur of scope though.

Got burned on a Bond SE DVD that wasn't original factory seal for the second time. Hope this isn't a trend, as I still need a couple for the original 5.1 mixes.

I have a few, let me know what you may need. Have you ever found any with those few errors corrected? I'm starting to think it was a myth. If not I think I'll fill in my SE collection as well. I had been holding out for cheap boxsets.

Revisited AVTAK. Like Octopussy, the picture is improved, round 7 or 8 out of 10. The sound is deep and rich with a great natural sounding bass for a 10 out of 10.

Watched that full frame TMWTGG tonight. Very dodgy print, there's actually  several missing frames when Bond leaves Hai Fat's mansion! (Or else 007 has mastered the art of teleportation.) The soundtrack doesn't fare much better in spite of the PCM. It's almost like listening to it on a old tv set at times.

The only nice things I can say about this edition is the trailer is included, and the jacket matches the other MGM Bond LD's. (Bet I'm not the first to mistake it for one of the Letterbox editions.) Back to the drawing board!

I think those corrected SE's don't actually exist, or were pressed in very small quantities.

Going to try to watch TLD tomorrow night. That should be an audio treat!

TLD was wonderful in PCM, if anybody cares. ;)

Is there any known difference in the two SE DVD editions of Tomorrow Never Dies, aside from the covers? Also found out there was an earlier bare bones release with a pan and scan version included. (Need to track that down to see if the 4:3 title sequence is an "HBO Version".) TWINE may be the only Brosnan film without a full frame DVD release.

Told you so! ;)

Possible on TND. Will probably be the same as the VHS issue. I need to check all my old tapes for this. I'm pretty sure the silver cover and later SE disc are the same. (The silver uses similar art to the limited SE VHS box set I still have. Nice fake-autographed script too.) Even some of the old menus showed up on the UE bonus disc.

Listings for 16mm TLD and LTK...mouth watering and look like the LD/SE issues:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/16mm-Film-87-LIVING-DAYLIGHTS-James-Bond-LPP-SCOPE-/380601332671?pt=US_Film&hash=item589d9b73bf

http://www.ebay.com/itm/16mm-Film-89-LICENCE-TO-KILL-James-Bond-LPP-SCOPE-/310632982249?pt=US_Film&hash=item48532b26e9

Quite a few 16mm scope Bonds for sale at the moment! Pity the OHMSS print is faded.

Thanks for the TWINE info.

Got a full frame VTAK LD in the mail. Much to my surprise, the title sequence was letterboxed with purplish bars. I think those "HBO versions" Binder did are going to be harder to find than I thought.

Wish I could find that Youtube comparison video again to learn the source of the recomposed title sequence I saw.

Here's another interesting detail from the past...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WDFJXz8U84 (at approx 1:40)

Was the Red Cross disclaimer on any theatrical prints of TLD? Reminds me of the silly Zorin disclaimer on VTAK...

Yeah, it's really silly that they have to do things like that, especially in videogames...there's a lot of games that end up censoring any red crosses, which is kind of annoying since the red cross is practically the universal symbol for "this will heal you".

There is apparently a reason for that.

http://sleepawaycampfilms.com/article_redcross.htm

I remember those!! For some reason I think the legal dept. was going overboard in 85-87. There was a disclaimer on AVTAK that Zorin was merely a fictional character and didn't refer to any real person (think there was an industrialist named Zoran at the time) and the Red Cross one on TLD.

SilverWook said:

There is apparently a reason for that.

http://sleepawaycampfilms.com/article_redcross.htm

 Oh, I know, but it's still silly.

Especially in that example...as if a wounded soldier is going to accidentally grab a DVD boxed set instead of a medkit =)

Another TLD print, this time in 35mm!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/35mm-Print-THE-LIVING-DAYLIGHTS-007-JAMES-BOND-TIMOTHY-DALTON-/171027191478?pt=US_Film&hash=item27d203d6b6

Between this and the TPM print from the same seller, the studios come off as a bit lax in keeping track of these things. ;)

Itching to watch my new LTK Laserdisc, but the place is a mess.

NOT.

FAIR.

NEED. $300. AND. A. PROJECTOR.

Just look at those stills! A greater color depth that at first almost looks slightly desaturated until you look closer...and natural grain that belies great detail.

And they thought the same old >2K video master would suffice. Fail.

Bet the optical Dolby is a stunner.

Yeah, VCD resolution is not so hot. (A lot of them used the original poster art though.)  I've been eyeing some of those as a possible source for the Moore title sequences Maurice Binder recomposed for tv. Do you have any others?

Take a look at the completed listings, this guy is sitting on quite a stash of reels. (Especially look at what's piled up behind the Poltergeist 70mm.)

Definitely worth keeping an eye on...

Goldeneye is back on Netflix again, until May 1.

It shows the UE cover, but it's the uncropped version. I doubt it's any better quality than the SE, but it's there if anyone wants to capture it.

The SE DVD of OHMSS from the year 2000 seems to have great color timing and a good brightness level... well balanced.  The Blu-ray pumps up the contrast to much and blows out the image a bit too much.  How does the UE DVD rate in image quality vs. the other discs as far a color and brightness?  I know Lowry cleaned it up but is it less bright than the Blu-ray?  Also, is the recent DVD repackage that was released in 2012 exactly the same transfer as the UE DVD?

dvdmike said:

Does it have the god awful DNR?

 I can't get any of these stupid HDMI cables to work, so I can't find out =)

Flexicon9 said:

The SE DVD of OHMSS from the year 2000 seems to have great color timing and a good brightness level... well balanced.  The Blu-ray pumps up the contrast to much and blows out the image a bit too much.  How does the UE DVD rate in image quality vs. the other discs as far a color and brightness?  I know Lowry cleaned it up but is it less bright than the Blu-ray?  Also, is the recent DVD repackage that was released in 2012 exactly the same transfer as the UE DVD?

The BDs for all nine of the unreleased films are either exactly the same of tweaked.

The video mastered titles are pretty much the same (TLD, OP etc.)

The 4K remastered titles (YOLT, OHMSS, DAF) are tweaked to be slightly more accurate, but are brighter and colder too. OHMSS has the contrast blown out in addition to damage lines. The UE is on all DVD releases, and has correct contrast mostly, but with revisionist color timing that ruins some sequences.

TSWLM BD is an all new non-Lowry master. But the color is not fully correct either. No original audio too.

The question is this: Can the SE sources ever be cleaned up to a point of possible usage? They're so full of DVD nasties like Edge enhancement and heavy compression that it may not be possible. But they are by and large the LD transfers in 480p ala GOUT.