Maleficent

On caps-a-holic there is a comparison between the Diamond Edition Blu-ray and the Ultimate Collector’s Edition Ultra HD Blu-ray for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I think the colors look more natural on the UHD, and you see more detail than on the Blu-ray. However, I did notice a strange difference in one image:

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=1&x=533&y=287&d1=18652&d2=18650&s1=220679&s2=220621&l=0&i=3&go=1

If you move your mouse over the image, you can switch between the two versions. On the Blu-ray, you can see thick black lines on the cape, which are probably meant to represent the wrinkles. On the UHD, these lines have disappeared. Personally, the fine wrinkles look more natural on the UHD, but what about the thick lines on the Blu-ray? Which is closer to the original?

That sounds interesting! But if these are prints that were used in cinemas, isn’t there a risk that the quality of these prints has deteriorated due to frequent use and/or their age and/or poor storage?

One issue that also interests me is the references to the scans of “original negatives” that are often used to advertise films on Blu-Ray.
An example: On the Blu-Ray of the film Ben Hur (1959) it says: “Carefully restored frame by frame and digitally remastered using the original 65mm camera negative”.

But how is that supposed to work? For one thing, I wonder if this original camera negative (I assume it is the film that was in the camera during the shoot) is of the same quality after more than 50 years as it was back then. For another, I wonder how this is supposed to work. You use the original negatives, which surely have scenes on them that are not in the film (alternate takes, bloopers, etc.). Do you then have to re-cut the film?

I am interested in the topic, but unfortunately I know too little about it. What exactly does “35mm scan” mean? I assume that it means that an original camera negative is scanned and not just any copy of a copy of this negative? What are the advantages of a 35mm scan?

I have become very cautious after many bad purchases. About 16 years ago I read a review of the Cinderella DVD in a DVD magazine (which called itself a “professional magazine”). It praised the outstanding, restored picture, which was now free of dirt and offered beautiful colours due to the remastering.
I then bought this DVD without knowing what terrible things had been done to the picture …

I found another example of a possible improvement here:
https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=1&x=400&y=128&d1=18304&d2=18305&s1=212240&s2=212224&l=0&i=0&go=1

The lines on the bedspread, on Cinderella’s dress and in her hair, which are missing on the Blu-ray, are back on the UHD.

I can’t see much difference in the colour of the famous silver dress, which was dyed blue in later releases:
https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=1&x=443&y=198&d1=18304&d2=18305&s1=212249&s2=212233&l=0&i=9&go=1

I searched the internet for Production Cels of this dress to see what the colour (and Cinderella’s hair) really looked like, and I think the UHD is pretty close to the original, especially with the hair.

• https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path[2%2F4%2F3%2F3%2F2%2F24332737]%2Csizedata[850x600]&call=url[file%3Aproduct.chain]

• https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LLpCS5a4YHE/Vqu6jQgV9MI/AAAAAAAADAA/0R591npHyWQ/s1600/Cinderellacel%2526bkgb.jpg

However, I would be cautious not to get too excited, as it is possible that other scenes have been distorted by the use of colour filters or similar. Perhaps someone already has this UHD and can report on it? By the way, I’m not a fan of this film either, but if this release is really perfect and shows the film as it was made, then maybe there’s hope that the other Disney films will also get proper releases.

I read that in the previous versions of Cinderella, not only did details like the folds in the dresses disappear, but the colours were also incorrect. Cinderella’s hair, the silver dress, the background colours, etc. suddenly had different colours.
Even though the wrinkles are visible on this UHD, I don’t know if the rest is OK. (Sorry for my bad english, btw!)

Greetings,
Maleficent

Hello!

I recently came across the great post by “Doctor M” and wanted to thank you for the information as well. I could have saved myself some bad purchases if I had found this thread earlier …

Today, the caps-a-holic website posted an image comparison between the UK Blu-Ray and UK UHD of the film Cinderella (1950). I don’t know what to make of the UHD. In this comparison you can see that on the UHD the wrinkles in Cinderella’s dress and in her veil are visible, while on the Blu-Ray they are missing.

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=1&x=253&y=314&d1=18304&d2=18305&s1=212255&s2=212239&l=0&i=15&go=1

What do you think of the UHD?

Greetings,
Maleficent