JayArgonaut

Blu-ray grabs taken from The Hitchcock Zone:
http://hitchwiki.com/h/114fd

The HDTV broadcast is covered with grain and also has a slightly larger vertical image (compare the vertical cropping of the hotel room and office shots in the Blu-ray) and there is marked difference in monochrome tones between the two.

I know that despite what Hollywood execs and some websites would have us believe, many films are simply grainy by their nature because of the film stock that was used (Aliens, Predator) and were never meant to look over polished, glossy and pristine. With this in mind, which is a more accurate representation of the film, the smooth, softer looking Blu-ray or the grainy HDTV airing?

I’d be interested in your opinions.

Wazzles said:

JayArgonaut said:
Iron Man was digitally altered for its home release (and TV airings) to avoid litigation over the photograph that’s seen during the penultimate moments when Stark is reading the newspaper and reflecting on his adventures.

European home video versions of Avengers Assemble were digitally altered to censor the fatal impalement of a lead character.

Could you guys provide a source for these ones? I couldn’t find anything on them.

Really? That’s a surprise.

Here you go 😃

http://collider.com/iron-man-censored/

From the theatrical version:

The home video and TV version:

Now for Avengers Assemble…

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/news/article/marvel's-avengers-assemble-blu-ray-censorship-row-disney-uk-speaks-out/13225

European home video release:

The rest of the world:

Already discussed and discounted from consideration on the first page.

Wazzles said:
The major area I want to focus on is digital alterations, as this is a troubling trend that I find very interesting.

Recent releases of The Rescuers have been digitally altered on home video to remove images of a nude woman that were inserted as a joke and apparently only became noticeable when people were able to rewind and freeze-frame at their leisure.

Iron Man was digitally altered for its home release (and TV airings) to avoid litigation over the photograph that’s seen during the penultimate moments when Stark is reading the newspaper and reflecting on his adventures.

European home video versions of Avengers Assemble were digitally altered to censor the fatal impalement of a lead character.

EJones216 said:

Michael Mann films like “Heat”, “Ali”, “The Last of the Mohicans” and “Manhunter” were altered by the director on video (though I believe the latter two do have their theatrical versions on modern formats).

The Blu-ray release of Heat has been altered very slightly. The DVD with the theatrical cut remains in print and widely available.

EJones216 said:
“The Devil’s Advocate” had to digitally alter an artwork for legal reasons.

The LD and earlier production runs of the DVD contain the unaltered artwork.

EJones216 said:
Do the “Raiders” alterations still exist on the Blu-ray? I recall Spielberg a few years ago changing his stance on special editions (comparing his newfound agreement with purists to how outraged he would be if someone did wire removal on George Pal’s “The War of the Worlds”).

For the Blu-ray release, Spielberg removed the alterations that are present on the DVD and also omitted the further alterations that were made for the Lowry restoration that crops up on TV periodically, where Gobler’s death sequence has been updated with CGI.

Try DVD Flick, this was my default program on the PC for such tasks and it recognises nearly every format and to top it all, is free - really free, no adware or spyware.

http://www.dvdflick.net

Great stuff! 😃

Neglify said:

One that hasn’t been brought up yet is Mulholland Dr. For home release David Lynch blurred Laura Harring’s bush in her full frontal scene. I didn’t see it in the theater so I’m not completely sure it was unblurred originally or it was always censored.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166924/alternateversions?ref_=tt_ql_trv_5

The DVD and VHS versions of the film were self-censored by Lynch for sexual content. He had an additional blurring effect added to Laura Harring’s crotch in the scene where she climbs into bed with ‘Naomi Watts (I)’. The blurring was requested by David Lynch himself because he disapproved of nude pictures of Harring being distributed on the Internet.

“An additional blurring effect”, seems like the scene was already blurred in the theatrical version and he increased it.

Understood, everyone on here suffers from the effects of Real Life Syndrome and patience is a virtue, after all, as some things in life are well worth waiting for. I’m not rolling in it at the moment but I’ll happily make a donation to the cause. Can you PM me with the details of how to go about this please?

Wonderful! Can’t wait for the screencaps. 😃

Done! 😃

Jp4195 said:
would anyone like to start a list of tv versions with me ?

I’d be happy to contribute to such a list. Would it be made into a sticky?

Colson said:

Could you post some matching screens of the DVD with correct aspect ratio?

There are several DVD versions, some are 4:3, others are 1:66.1 non-anormorphic and the theatrical OAR was 1:85.1 but I don’t have any copies from which to make screengrabs.

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=25698

AntcuFaalb said:

JayArgonaut said:

This is, without a doubt, just a very good upscale from an analog master which was stored in the composite domain. Look at the PAL rainbowing on the rooftop in the quoted image.

Does that mean they’ve very likely recycled the analogue master that was used to create this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Buster-1988-ID6569HB-Laserdisc-/381618716676?hash=item58da3f8004:g:Zr4AAOSwL7VWiBBQ

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Laserdisc-S-Buster-Phil-Collins-Julie-Walters-DSS-Extended-Play-/322112339562?hash=item4aff643e6a:g:TXEAAOSwYmZXEMqg

34 screen grabs available here: http://imgur.com/a/7QCUA

There probably won’t be a Blu-ray release and apparently the DVD’s aren’t that great, so when I learned that the BBC were airing this in HD, I was quite keen to record it. Straight away, it was disappointment time: the aspect ratio appears to be wrong and the picture quality doesn’t strike me as remotely close to HD - even though the EPG on my PVR lists it as an HD broadcast and also informs you when the content has been simply upscaled to HD.

The print doesn’t look exactly stellar either and a few of the actors have a “green” tone during the gym scene. Some sequences suffer from rainbowing artefacts. I know it’s an old film but countless other titles were produced during the same period and they look a million times better than this.

I’d like your opinions please. Would you regard this as HD and what’s behind the image looking so poor - substandard print, bad telecine etc?

Jetrell Fo said:

I uploaded it and it is still going so get it while you can because it is only up for a limited time.

😃

I’ve grabbed it, many thanks for doing that! I don’t have SKY and it saves me waiting for the chance that Channel 4 HD just might air it - and even then, it would be time compressed and very likely censored to fit a family viewing audience.

I wonder if Paramount will go DVNR mad on the impending Blu-ray…

Hopefully more knowledgeable souls will weigh in with their insights but from what I’ve read below about the (seemingly permanent) censorship of the Connery era Bond films, it appears that in the past, edits were definitely performed directly onto negatives.

http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/hitscr.htm

Thanks, S.W. Once again you lot have the answers. 😃

To me, the BD looks fantastic although there’s bound to be someone who disagrees. 😃

http://www.ebay.com/itm/16mm-Film-Feature-FORBIDDEN-PLANET-1956-Uncut-Sci-Fi-NEAR-MINT-Scope-/231941726345?hash=item3600cde089:g:ivkAAOSwInxXM9M5

I was curious as to the “uncut” status and found an explanation here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049223/alternateversions?ref_=tt_ql_trv_5

Apparently MGM censored some of the later prints to remove the kissing scenes with Anne Francis.

“anamorphic print, not letterboxed”, can someone elaborate for film print novice on what they mean by this?

The listing includes a YouTube link to the print being demonstrated so that you can see it in action and gauge the quality/condition.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blade-Runner-Full-Feature-Film-3-Reels-16mm-Color-Harrison-Ford-Ridley-Scott-/121935705326?hash=item1c63ef34ee:g:KhsAAOSwZtJW9W1K

Apologies if this has been posted before, I did perform a search with “originaltrilogy.com” and the listing but nothing came up. At that price, I’m not expecting anyone on here to buy it, which probably explains why it’s remain unsold since late December 2015 but here it is curiosity sake.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/16mm-Feature-STAR-WARS-EPISODE-VI-RETURN-OF-THE-JEDI-1983-Gorgeous-LPP-SCOPE-/281892263373?hash=item41a21695cd:g:jdMAAOSwZ1lWee~M

Check this out:

http://www.the-editing-room.com/batman-v-superman-dawn-of-justice.html

Channel 4 HD aired Alien just a few hours ago, here’s some screencaps straight from the .TS file.

What do you think of the colours?

yotsuya said:

Well, I can’t speak for the American market, but the BBC wanted copies destroyed or returned when the contract was up. I suspect that some US stations might have kept the contract going for years so they may have kept a copy that they might air periodically. But one a contract was up and not renewed, the tapes went back or got wiped. With the BBC’s bad archiving, lots of things got lost because of this. The occasional stray turns up that didn’t get destroyed or returned so the policy is well documented in hopes more strays turn up.

So my guess is that tapes sent out for broadcast were wiped afterward.

Thanks for the info. That explains why the TV archivists were so delighted to get their hands on the late Bob Monkhouse’s video library that he had obsessively recorded and maintained.

SilverWook said:

A “top man” around here is bidding on it. 😃

“A top man” who will save it from this fate… 😄

Wow!

Is someone on here bidding for this?

On a side note, I’ve always been curious about what was the agreement regarding master tapes for telecasts of a film like Star Wars. Would the broadcaster be allowed to retain the tapes in their library indefinitely and just negotiate for the TV rights whenever they wanted to show the film?

Jp4195 said:

More interesting things I found on IMDB

On the VHS version when E.T. is watching the Tom and Jerry cartoon, he gasps and starts yelling. The original version and 20th anniversary have him scream like he’s scared after the gasp.

In the original theatrical release of this film, in the scene where E.T. is drinking and getting Elliot drunk, Elliot used chalk and began drawing on thin air. This scene was later cut from video and subsequent theatrical releases, but is pictured in The E.T. Storybook.

I had a telesync copy of the theatrical release back in 1982 and I don’t remember the chalk scene. Interesting.

In the original cut, Elliot and his mom go to the principal after the frog incident. The principal was played by Harrison Ford, the screenwriter’s husband. Allegedly the scene was cut because too much attention was brought to Ford, and not to the scene. The scene is not restored in the 2002 edition.

This scene never made it to the theatrical release. Apparently it’s included as an extra on the 4 disc LD set, along with the alternate ending.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs8PxiYT8Z0