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alleycat

User Group
Members
Join date
21-Oct-2019
Last activity
18-Jan-2024
Posts
30

Post History

Post
#1484723
Topic
NOW RELEASED: The Godfather: 1901-1980 Epic Edit
Time

Does anyone happen to have the original NBC 1977 broadcast version of The Novel For Television? I gather there was a betamax recording around at some point. I’ve got a VHS recording of a later (90s) showing on AMC but I’m not sure if the two are identical. It’s still 4 parts and approx the same length but there could have been slight differences in the 1977 version. I’ve tried messaging the Godfather Museum and FanFiltration but doesn’t look like either are still active. I’m planning a new project and need it as a reference. Thanks

Post
#1349798
Topic
Righting Wrongs aka Above The Law - Special Edition (Released)
Time

Ok first off the video source for this project is from the Hong Kong Blu Ray, which is from an upscaled master. There is no HD print, so the image is far from perfect and is soft, but overall I still found it very watchable. The print suffered from dust and dirt so I’ve removed some of this. The audio has mainly been adjusted losslessly using delaycut, with the exception of the tracks from the German DVD as they needed the speed adjusting.

• BD25 with animated menus, background video, pop up menus and resume function
• Video taken from Hong Kong Blu Ray with dirt and dust removal
• Cantonese 2.0 Mono AC3 (192 kbps) taken from the Dragon Dynasty DVD
• Cantonese 5.1 AC3 (448 kbps) taken from the Dragon Dynasty DVD
• Mandarin 5.1 AC3 (640 kbps) taken from the HK Blu Ray
• English 2.0 AC3 (384 kbps) taken from the German DVD
• English 5.1 AC3 (448 kbps) taken from the Dragon Dynasty DVD
• German 1.0 AC3 (256 kbps) taken from the German DVD
• Audio Commentary by HK Cinema Expert Bey Logan taken from the Dragon Dynasty DVD
• Audio Commentary by star Cynthia Rothrock taken from the Laserdisc
• English (based on the Dragon Dynasty translation), French and Spanish Subtitles
• Interview with Yuen Biao (English subtitles)
• Interview with Cynthia Rothrock
• Interview with Peter Cunningham
• Theatrical Trailer
• Alternate Ending

PM me for the links, contributing/long term members only please. The photos below of the menu aren’t great as the only way I could get them is from my phone while the disc is playing, software players disabled the screenshot function.

PS. Cover and disc art to follow







Post
#1346418
Topic
Mortal Kombat - Special Edition (Released)
Time

Another project complete – I thought this was going to be nice and simple but it wasn’t! I acquired a disc many years ago full of vintage special features, however it turns out it had many different issues. All of the 4:3 was authored with a 16:9 header, all of the audio was 5.1 with the extra channels empty and everything was out of sync. The TV documentary in particular was progressively out of sync and then when each commercial break occurred, the level of out of sync changed. The only way to fix it was to split it into commercial break segment, fix them one at a time by adjusting the audio length then recombining them – that alone took a week.

The main issue with this project is the audio. I had to use the DTS from the blu ray which is lacking in comparison to the laserdisc DTS. Unfortunately that disc is quite expensive but if anyone has it and is able to capture the DTS I would be happy to release a Version 2.

  • BD25 with animated menus, background video, pop up menus and resume function
  • Video taken from the Blu Ray
  • English DTS, French AC3 and Spanish AC3 taken from the Blu Ray
  • Commentary track from the laserdisc featuring Producer Lawrence Kasanoff and Visual Effects Supervisor Alison Savitch
  • English, French and Spanish Subtitles
  • A Journey Behind The Scenes
  • Behind The Dragon TNT Special
  • Behind Some Scenes Featurette
  • British Premiere Featurette
  • LA Premiere
  • Siskel & Ebert Review
  • 3 TV Interviews with Christopher Lambert
  • Theatrical Trailer, Theatrical Trailer Workprint and 5 TV Spots
  • Custom Cover, Disc Art and 8 page booklet featuring the Hollywood Reporter interview

PM me for the links, contributing/long term members only please. The photos below of the menu aren’t great as the only way I could get them is from my phone while the disc is playing, software players disabled the screenshot function.

Post
#1343092
Topic
The Killer - Criterion Preservation (Released)
Time

This project started life as the one done by IcePrick, which was the Dragon Dynasty Blu Ray, deinterlaced and decimated back to 23.976 fps (thanks IcePrick!). I then ran through some mild dust and dirt filters and combined with the opening and closing credits from the Chinese blu ray, which themselves were run through several filters to try and get them to match the rest of the footage. The whole movie was then regraded with Dr Dre, using the criterion as the source, using over 40 different LUTs. The opening logos were also taken from the Chinese as they were cropped in the Drago Dynasty disc. Unfortunately none of the sources were perfect, so it’s never going to be amazing short of a new scan and shot by shot restoration, but I’m still happy with the results.

Massive things to CSchmidlapp for providing me with some of the materials, giving me guidance on the different versions and for testing the final video.

  • BD25 with animated menus that look and behave like the official Criterion discs, with a background video, pop up menus and resume function
  • Video taken from the Iceprick project, with scene by scene colour correction
  • Original chapter stops used on the DVD
  • Cantonese 1.0 Mono LPCM taken from the laserdisc
  • Cantonese 2.0 Mono AC3 taken from the Scandanavian DVD
  • Audio Commentary by director John Woo and production executive Terence Chang
  • English (based on the Criterion translation), French, German and Spanish Subtitles
  • Five Deleted Scenes
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • DVD Credits

PM me for the links, contributing/long term members only please. The photos below of the menu aren’t great as the only way I could get them is from my phone while the disc is playing, software players disabled the screenshot function.

Post
#1342728
Topic
Stephen King’s The Stand - Uncompressed Laserdisc Audio (Released)
Time

The 1994 Mini Series of Stephen King’s The Stand was released on Blu Ray with a 1080p remaster, much to the surprise of the Director who did not think it was possible. The video is a huge improvement over the DVD but unfortunately the audio is the same AC3 track from the DVD, likely to keep the disc space low to maximise the video bitrate. I managed to get hold of the laserdisc and sent it to williarob who kindly captured the uncompressed audio (massive thanks to williarob!).

  • 2 x BD25 with menus, pop up menus and resume (I went with 2 x BD25 instead of a BD50 as they tend to be much more expensive, especially printable discs)
  • Uncompressed 2.0 English Audio
  • Audio Commentary track
  • English, Danish, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish subtitles
  • Vintage Making Of

PM me for the links, contributing/long term members only please.

Post
#1342702
Topic
Hard Boiled - Criterion Preservation (Released)
Time

  • BD25 with animated menus that look and behave like the official Criterion discs, with a background video, pop up menus and resume function
  • Video taken from the HK Rescue project, full credit to them
  • Original chapter stops used on the DVD
  • Cantonese 1.0 Mono AC3 taken from the DVD
  • Cantonese 2.0 LPCM taken from the laserdisc
  • English 1.0 Mono AC3 taken from the DVD
  • Audio commentary by director John Woo, producer Terence Chang, filmmaker Roger Avary and critic Dave Kehr
  • English, French, German and Spanish Subtitles
  • Student Film Accidentally
  • Notes on Hard Boiled
  • Guide to Hong Kong crime films
  • John Woo’s Hong Kong movie trailers
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • DVD Credits

PM me for the links, contributing/long term members only please. The photos below of the menu aren’t great as the only way I could get them is from my phone while the disc is playing, software players disabled the screenshot function.

Post
#1336415
Topic
Dead Presidents - Criterion Preservation V2 (Released)
Time

This was the first project I did and the menu structure has evolved slightly since then, plus for V1 I didn’t use the original Criterion chapter stops and finally when I did the colour correction I applied just one LUT to the entire project, this time I have redone the correction using 47 LUTs.

  • BD25 with animated menus that look and behave like the official Criterion discs, with a background video, pop up menus and resume function
  • Video taken from the HDTV broadcast, with scene by scene colour correction
  • Original chapter stops used on the Laserdisc
  • English 5.1 EAC3 from the HDTV Broadcast
  • Commentary track with the Directors The Hughes Brothers, Larenz Tate, Keith David, Lisa Rinzler, Dr Todd Boyd and Ari Merretazon
  • English, French, German and Spanish Subtitles
  • Deleted Scenes and Storyboard sequences
  • Vintage Featurette
  • Trailer and TV Spots
  • The Real Anthony, Ari Merretazon, Today
  • Dr Boyd’s Guide to Blaxploitation
  • Al Green in Pimpstrumental Color
  • Issac Hayes Walk On By Music Video
  • Laserdisc Credits

PM me for the links, contributing/long term members only please. The photos below aren’t great as the only way I could get them is from my phone while the disc is playing, software players disabled the screenshot function.










Post
#1334500
Topic
Menace II Society - Criterion Preservation (Released)
Time

Another project complete. The blu ray has drastically different colours when compared to the laserdisc so I have colour corrected it scene by scene, using over 50 Dr Dre LUTs and slightly adjusting the contrast levels in Premiere.

  • BD25 with animated menus that look and behave like the official Criterion discs, with a background video, pop up menus and resume function
  • Video taken from the official Blu Ray, with scene by scene colour correction
  • Original chapter stops used on the Laserdisc
  • English 2.0 from the Laserdisc (Thanks Alexpeden and Zoidberg!)
  • Two Criterion audio commentary tracks taken from Laserdisc
  • English, French, German and Spanish Subtitles
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Making Of A Menace: Introduction
  • Interview With The Hughes Brothers
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Storyboards
  • Film To Story Comparison
  • Shooting the Korean Grocery Store Scenes
  • Film School
  • 2Pac Brenda’s Got A Baby Music Video
  • Raw Fusion Throw Your Hands In The Air Music Video
  • Laserdisc Production Credits

PM me for the links, contributing/long term members only please. The photos below aren’t great as the only way I could get them is from my phone while the disc is playing, software players disabled the screenshot function. Also below is before and after colour correction images, original first then corrected.




















Post
#1332449
Topic
Bad Lieutenant - Original Uncut Audio (Released)
Time

From IMDB:

Led Zepplin threatened legal action against a track sounding slightly like “Kashmir”. The offending song has been removed from 4 points in the video. Street drug dealing just before Keitel arrives to buy crack: now no music at all. Nun’s rape originally to backing track “signifying rapper”: now church organ music. Long tracking shot following Keitel into the hospital: now no music at all. End credits: now have Abel Ferrara himself singing.

Post
#1331850
Topic
Jason And The Argonauts - Criterion Preservation (Released)
Time

Finally managed to get the extras from the Criterion Laserdisc captured so this project is now complete.

  • BD25 with animated menus that look and behave like the official Criterion discs, with a background video, pop up menus and resume function
  • Video taken from the official Blu Ray
  • Original chapter stops used on the Laserdisc
  • English 1.0 Mono LPCM from the Laserdisc (Thanks Bronan!)
  • Criterion audio commentary taken from Laserdisc
  • English, French, German and Spanish Subtitles
  • Early Animation The Elementals
  • Pre Production Drawings
  • Lobby Cards and the original one sheet
  • Casting Notes
  • Production Photos
  • Production Memos
  • Production Records
  • Creating The Hydra Sequence
  • Creating The Skeleton Sequence
  • Harryhausen Models and Artwork
  • Trailers for Jason and the Argonauts, It Came From Beneath The Sea, Earth Vs The Flying Saucers, The 7th Voyage Of
    Sinbad & Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger
  • Laserdisc Production Credits

PM me for the links, contributing members only please. The photos below aren’t great as the only way I could get them is from my phone while the disc is playing, software players disabled the screenshot function.





Post
#1331517
Topic
Bad Lieutenant - Original Uncut Audio (Released)
Time

This quick project takes the official blu ray and replaces the audio with the original uncut audio, captured uncompressed from the US laserdisc. Everything else about the blu ray remains the same.

When the movie was first released the soundtrack featured the song Signifying Rapper by Schoolly D, which contained the rhythm guitar figure from Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”. After a lawsuit all unsold copies of Bad Lieutenant were destroyed in 1994 so every DVD and Blu Ray released has featured the cut soundtrack.

Director Abel Ferrara was angered by the incident, which he felt “ruined the movie”:

“Signifying Rapper” was out for five years, and there wasn’t a problem. Then the film had already been out for two years and they start bitching about it. […] It cost Schoolly like $50,000. It was a nightmare. And meanwhile, “Signifying Rapper” is 50 million times better than “Kashmir” ever thought of being. […] Why sue? You should be happy that somebody is paying homage to your work.

— Abel Ferrara, The A.V. Club interview[2]

PM me for the link, contributing members only please.

Post
#1328840
Topic
Flesh For Frankenstein - Criterion Preservation (Released)
Time

Like its companion film Blood for Dracula, Flesh for Frankenstein has never had a perfect HD release. The Australian Blu Ray is an upscale, the Japanese Blu Ray has optical censoring and the German Blu Ray was extremely limited, contained significant dirt + dust and had lossy audio.

The video source for this project is the German Blu Ray, with filters applied to remove most of the dirt and dust without touching the rest of the picture.

  • BD25 with animated menus that look and behave like the official Criterion discs, with a background video, pop up menus and resume function
  • 1080P Video with dust and dirt removal
  • Original chapter stops used on the Criterion DVD
  • English 1.0 Dolby Digital
  • English 2.0 DTS
  • Criterion audio commentary
  • English Subtitles
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
  • Still Gallery

PM me for the links, contributing members only please.








Post
#1328839
Topic
Blood For Dracula - Criterion Preservation (Released)
Time

Like its companion film Flesh for Frankenstein, Blood for Dracula has never had a perfect HD release. The Australian Blu Ray is an upscale, the Japanese Blu Ray has optical censoring and the German Blu Ray was extremely limited, contained significant dirt + dust and had lossy audio.

The video source for this project is the German Blu Ray, with filters applied to remove most of the dirt and dust without touching the rest of the picture.

  • BD25 with animated menus that look and behave like the official Criterion discs, with a background video, pop up menus and resume function
  • 1080P Video with dust and dirt removal
  • Original chapter stops used on the Criterion DVD
  • English 1.0 Dolby Digital
  • English 2.0 DTS
  • Criterion audio commentary
  • English Subtitles
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
  • Still Gallery

PM me for the links, contributing members only please.








Post
#1321300
Topic
Halloween - Criterion Laserdisc Preservation (Released)
Time

trillary dump said:

This looks fantastic! Do you have plans on giving other movies Criterion menus and features?

The first one that comes to mind for me is Se7en CCEHD which is an HD version of the movie color matched to the Criterion LaserDisc.

That one is actually on the list to do at some point, as are Hard Boiled, The Killer, Blood for Dracula, Flesh for Frankenstein, Menace II Society and Jason and the Argonauts.

Post
#1321161
Topic
Halloween - Criterion Laserdisc Preservation (Released)
Time

Another project complete. Pretty much all the credit for this goes to spoRv, as the video and audio is taken from the Halloween Fundamental Collection. Aside from being authored as a blu ray, the main benefit of this project is all the special features from the Criterion Laserdisc are preserved and as far as I am aware some of them never have been before.

  • BD25 with animated menus that look and behave like the official Criterion discs, with a background video, pop up menus and resume function
  • Video taken from the Halloween Fundamental Collection by spoRv
  • Original chapter stops used on the laserdisc
  • English 1.0 LPCM taken from the LD
  • Music & Effects Track 1.0 LPCM taken from the LD
  • Criterion audio commentary taken from the LD
  • English, French, German and Spanish Subtitles
  • Original Theatrical Trailer (HD)
  • The Night He Came Home (illustrated making of - SD)
  • Review by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert (SD)
  • Illustrated filmographies of John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence (SD)
  • Splatter: A Genre Guide (SD)
  • Extra scenes from the TV Version (SD)
  • Laserdisc Production Credits (SD)

Unfortunately it’s not easy to gets images of blu ray menus as a decent player like PowerDVD has the screenshot facility disabled and a not very good program like DVD Fab can’t handle the menus correctly, but I did manage to get the image below.

PM me for the links, contributing members only please.

Post
#1308758
Topic
Dr No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger - Criterion Laserdisc Preservations (Released)
Time

Each movie is on it’s own BD25 with menus that look and behave like the official Criterion discs, with pop up menus and resume function. The video for each is taken from the Blu Ray with the original MGM / United Artists opening logos restored and they use the original Criterion chapter marks.

Special thanks to FanFiltration for the original DVD project and The Aluminium Falcon for the LD audio.

Dr No:

  • English 1.0 Mono PCM taken from the LD
  • Banned Criterion Commentary AC3 taken from the DVD Project
  • Music & Effects Track AC3 taken from the DVD Project
  • English, French, German and Spanish Subtitles
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Bond Bread Advert
  • Dr No Dossier Image Slideshow

From Russian With Love:

  • English 1.0 Mono AC3 taken from the DVD Project
  • Alternate English 2.0 Mono PCM taken from the LD
  • Banned Criterion Commentary AC3 taken from the DVD Project
  • English, French, German and Spanish Subtitles
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • S.P.E.C.T.R.E Files Image Slideshow

Goldfinger:

  • English 1.0 Mono AC3 taken from the DVD Project
  • Alternate English 2.0 Mono PCM taken from the LD
  • Banned Criterion Commentary AC3 taken from the DVD Project
  • Music & Effects Track AC3 taken from the DVD Project
  • English, French, German and Spanish Subtitles
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Bond Bread Advert
  • Bond Toy Advert
  • Goldfinger Vault Image Slideshow

PM me for the links.

Post
#1307120
Topic
Doctor Who - Mission To The Unknown Remade (available on youtube - Released)
Time

In case anyone missed this:

The Daleks are back! In black and white, and on YouTube! The metal monsters are once again menacing secret service agents from Earth on the planet Kembel, in a recreation of a Doctor Who adventure not seen since 1965.

Using the original script, replica props, vintage TV methods and the contemporary voice of the Daleks, Nicholas Briggs, the missing episode Mission to the Unknown has been remade by film and media students at the University of Central Lancashire. The recreation premiered on the official BBC Doctor Who YouTube channel at 5:50pm on 9 October, exactly 54 years after the story was broadcast for the one and only time.

It is unique in the original Doctor Who series for being the only episode not to feature the Tardis, Doctor or any of his companions. Instead, it was a standalone story starring arch-enemies the Daleks, which acted as a prequel to a later 12-part adventure The Daleks’ Master Plan (and quite possibly, in the mind of Dalek creator Terry Nation, as a pilot for a Dalek spinoff series that never materialised.)

Would a Dalek spinoff have worked in 1965? On this evidence, yes.

The episode sets up a galactic war between humans and Daleks, and an undercover security force sent from Earth to thwart them. It introduces an alliance of alien races, who are determined to invade the solar system alongside the Daleks. You can easily imagine a multitude of further stories set in this universe.

It is probably the only Doctor Who episode that could be completely remade convincingly in this way. The lack of regular cast involvement means there’s nobody trying to imitate William Hartnell as the Doctor, and the characters of Marc Cory and Gordon Lowery (played by Marco Simioni and Dan Gilligan) get to establish themselves on their own basis over the 25 minutes.

Inevitably, given the source material, it is a bit stilted, stagey and even slapstick at points. But the recreation of the Daleks, and the way they are shot in stark black-and-white, is effective. The Kembel jungle and the dangerous Varga plants look comparable to 60s Doctor Who sets, and the Dalek death ray effect is true to the source. The storyline is quite slight, though, making this an interesting curiosity rather than a ‘must see’.

It says something about the mythical status of the missing Doctor Who episodes that what is essentially a student project has ended up getting a run-out on the BBC’s official YouTube channel.

There are still 97 episodes of 60s Doctor Who missing. They occasionally turn up, most recently in October 2013. However, Mission to the Unknown was never sold overseas, meaning there is virtually zero chance of it ever being found.

The production took five days in February 2019, and former Blue Peter presenter Peter Purves, who played the Doctor’s companion Steven in 1965, visited the set, saying: “This is an absolutely wonderful project. I can remember at the time that Bill Hartnell and I were a bit miffed not to be included in any way at all … but it was a nice week off in the end!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW8yk-m5Ig8