captainsolo

I noticed the color in TOD comes across differently, especially the deep reds inside the temple itself. Think I'll find a used BD set eventually.

It has been said the WS LD was remixed, but nothing I have found points to this. Some claimed a few sound effects were different, but I haven't found any. This track has music panning not in the DVD 5.1 which was created from the 70mm mix. Perhaps it could be either the Dolby original or abandoned VistaSonic original mix which was supposed to have mixed in stereo surrounds. Either way it would be helpful to compare against the old pan n' scan disc for differences.

I'm pretty sure the reflection is fully there. There might be a way of incorporating that single element with upscaling along with the rods but I agree the resolution loss would be very great. Of course we nitpick here, as it is part of the OT membership card. ;)

Gah, no the worst ever remix was the botched extended 5.1 for The Good The Bad and The Ugly with 2004 era brand new effects mutilating the original sound design.

At least the Vertigo track resembled the original, and was only done at the last minute due to stupid studio mandate. Additionally the BD seems to go back to the restorer's original intent of bringing the mono into modern 5.1 systems more faithfully.

I really need to get on board with these. From what I've heard the German FAFDM used MGM's transfer but did so without the extra processing and DNR MGM applied so that specks, dirt and grain are more visible.

Also does anyone have the new German double feature Blu for Fistful and FAFDM? I'm wondering if it is also region free.

I thought I remembered there was a regrade of OUATIA, but when was OUTITW done?

Tell me if I'm crazy, but would it be possible to buy an old Mac Power G5 with higher end specs (8gb ram and so on, optical in and out) for around $300 and then either work in Mac programs or go with XP for an editing machine?

IMO I now think the best color-wise for both are the original DVDs because they struck a video master from the restored prints. Of course you then have to factor in the fluctuations caused by a 2000 era process but still at least for RW, the old DVD just has that spark that is lacking in even the new BD.

Vertigo plays far better in HD due to the massaging done, but both need a new and proper job done. Neither compares to their respective restorations. I have only seen the 35mm reduction of the 96 restoration, and none of the video editions come close to replicating the fine detail or grain structure let a lone color. RW was printed during the short lived IB revival and was just mind blowingly vivid.

Since I got the cheap UK set, I still need a US VERTIGO for the mono. Uni loves making us buy films dozens of times.

And nobody cares about poor TMWKTM, which was downright mutilated on the 2005 master which was then poorly redone for BD, leaving the 2001 DVD sourced from the LD analog era as the only respectable video copy.

And don't even get me started on the others....Family Plot is arguably the worst BD ever issued by a major studio.

I was recently thinking about passing on my DVDs and picking up the BD set...but why is it that we come up with even more things that are different?

It now seems that a hybrid cross-format version is called for, one that would primarily use the BD and WOWOW as the basis. The snake reflection can be had from the snippet on the documentary disc (LD master, 4:3 interlaced letterbox).

The LD audio is a must. I still only watch the trilogy this way because the picture is good to outstanding, and the sound has yet to be beaten.

Are there also major differences in the sequels across DVD-WOWOW-BD?

Exactly. Hopefully the video license will go back to Criterion, because otherwise Uni will ruin it too. My only other concern is perhaps preserving the Dolby Surround PCM from LD since the 1991 restoration was mixed for that format.

doubleofive said:

The time has come for you to start getting the bands back together:

Rock Band is back, baby!

They're working on making the instruments and all the tracks compatible, as long as you stuck with the same company's console this generation.

I'm so excited you guys.

 Words failed me when this was announced. So fricking excited for this. A few months ago I finally found a Beatles drum kit which has none of the problems of the stock 1 and 2 kits.

This and Arkham Knight are making me get a PS4 as soon as possible. The last time I was excited for gaming was virtually never.

If anybody wants to play RB3 online, I'm down.

That book is the essential tome.

I try each year to watch as many Unis as I can stomach but after the initial wave of classics and the fresh start in 1939, they really peter out in quality very quickly.

The Old Dark House is a classic, should be fully restored and represented to the public in all its glory. It is pure Whale and glorious for being so. Kino's DVD is sourced from a LD master of a worn 16mm reduction and just pitiful.

The most underrated is Son of Frankenstein, a classic in its own right. This singlehandedly jump-started the second wave of Uni horrors.

For my money the only ones really worth anything are:

Dracula, Spanish version, Frankenstein, Bride, Son, TODH, The Mummy, Mummy's Hand, Invisible Man, Invisible Man Returns, Invisible Agent, Phantom '25, Man Who Laughs, Wolf Man, F. Meets the WM and Creature.

The rest can still have their charm but drag on, even the quickie hour long bottom bill fillers. When the new studio heads decided these would be cheap programmers it signaled the end of the horror film's prominence. The lesser films can have their moments, but are not very good. Like turning Karloff's tragic Imhotep into the pathetic Kharis. (Though I love Hand, Chaney's mummy is just awful.)

The non-monster ones really feel more B-picture. The Karloff and Lugosi starrers are made by their stars and not so much the story. The Black Cat works because of the atmosphere and star turns. It was cut to ribbons which damages the narrative terribly. The Raven is terribly silly but again made by the star turns. Otherwise the rest start to decline in quality terribly.

I like to have my brain stimulated in horrors. Not jump scares, which are stupid and pathetic. The problem is that only a few Unis were made by Whale, Freund, or even a Rowland V. Lee. After their quality left it was only in the few great horrors pre-Curse of Frankenstein that anything worthwhile happened. And Hammer had the same problem of quality lessening over time, due to studio desires to make program filler and increase profit margins with talent leaving over time.

This just made me think, you know Night of the Demon cannot be praised enough. For all the discussion Cat People generates Demon is an unbelievably good picture.

Ryan McAvoy said:

Agree with all the rest of the stuff about Orson Welles because he is the greatest person to have ever lived! (Hope I'm not understating that sentiment LOL) but...

captainsolo said:

Touch of Evil

Orson's last picture that is visible in some state of it's intended self.

...what? He made at least 3 more masterpieces after TOE. Shame 'Chimes at Midnight' hasn't found it's way onto Hi-Def yet.

 I meant easily visible in terms of both cut and availability. Chimes is supposedly getting a new deal for Blu-ray and Criterion is rumored. I haven't been able to see it decently in years.

If I was ever asked the final question by James Lipton, about what I would want God to say when entering heaven, it would be the cuckoo clock speech with Orson's mercurial-jesting-slightly quizzical-bemused-darkly ironic beaming chuckle-grin.

And still he never gets the credit he deserves. Never. Ever.

Someone should license MGM's Stranger print. It is very clean and would blow away the Kino Blu. And of course Warner sits on their rear as far as Ambersons is concerned.

Restarted Brady's Citizen Welles. Easily the best in-detail Orson book out there. Callow's 2 volume mammoth got preachy IIRC, and Thomson's Rosebud was more about the Welles mystique.

DuracellEnergizer said:

I really need to get around to watching Citizen Kane one of these days.

 Why in the world are you putting it off? Do it now! ;)

Damn! Not only are these hugely impressive, but they reveal a total care for both films and how they should have been treated by their studios. Outstanding work guys.

I still miss the extended portions of T2 though. The brain chip and smiling scenes should have never been dropped theatrically IMO.

True Lies

Finally sat down and watched this. Better than I expected but for me, especially not being a Cameron fan and being a huge spy buff it was rather flat. The action was so over the top it was hard not to laugh, and the entire affair subplot went far too long and was frankly downright cruel in places. The supporting characters make the film, and to be honest I wanted more of them and less of the plot. Just having Art Malik (whom I've loved for years as Kamran Shah in TLD) is a bonus, but then you have all the wonderful real life bits of humor like the camera battery dying.

The DD 5.1 LD mix was pretty good but not great. Apparently they remixed this one for the home but not the DTS or DVD.

3 balls out of 4. It does have Charlton Heston with an eyepatch which automatically gets a pass from me. ;)

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

Arguably the best swashbuckler of them all. Gorgeous B&W photography, top notch Selnick production, perfect casting, full of charm and romance and adventure. They do not in any sense of the word make them like this any more. One for the ages.

Timeless 4 out of 4. Essential viewing.

Broken Arrow

Pitifully dull, from the writer of Speed, and painfully so. While the earlier film gets by on some sense of charm, plot twists and action-this one has nothing. It tries and in the smaller moments with the actors there are bits of fun. But this again remains a painful example of how John Woo went from being the greatest maker of action pictures since Michael Curtiz to the maker of American dreck.

2.5 out of 4 at best.

Witness for the Prosecution

One of the great courtroom dramas, full of Wilder touches, but cannot shake off being an adaptation of a hit play. It works best when not knowing the end result and thus loses some staying power when coming back to it later. The best aspect is the actor's ensemble.

The LD was remarkably good from a great matted widescreen print.

4 out of 4.

The Third Man

Finally got to see this in 35mm from a very clean Rialto print.

What can one say? It is probably the moment in cinema in which the world fully realized being grown up in the aftermath of WWII. It defies all expectations and remains forever timeless, much like the flipped negative image of the inherent romanticism in Casablanca.

4 out of 4. One of the greatest motion pictures ever produced.

Touch of Evil

Orson's last picture that is visible in some state of it's intended self. A masterpiece. A dark, twisted, beautiful, honest, vile, nasty, exploitative and haunting portrait of the human condition. One of the best films ever made in this country and it still never gets the recognition it rightfully deserves. I saw the 1998 reconstruction again in 35mm, this time open matte. For ToE the 1.85 is much better IMO and what was intended. Some shots look better in Academy but the feel is far better when matted properly.

The film's influence on Psycho cannot be ignored as it is so blatantly obvious.

4 out of 4. One of the greats. Essential.

The Magnificent Ambersons

Arguably the most painful picture to ever watch. Overwhelmingly sad and infused with such a sense of death that it become unbearable. The wistfulness for times long gone in Kane dominates the entire film and the studio butchering only makes it worse. Halfway through things start to get incomprehensible and the entire third act is ruined. The whole picture is ruined, gutted and destroyed and all that we have left is the remnants of this half dead phoenix that remains one of the most unforgettable pieces of unreality ever produced in this life.

It is beyond time for a Blu-ray and a definite studio backed worldwide search for elements.

The Warner transfer is the best we've ever had, but the fan version by ElmoOxygen which combines the HD web upscale with the Criterion and foreign extras is a godsend. I watched my CAV Criterion all the way through for the first tome which thankfully isn't rotted and has such a great sense of soft focus and diffusion that isn't quite the same on the WB transfer. It evokes the film perfectly, just like the Criterion It's a Wonderful Life CAV.

4 out of 4. One of the greats, and still the biggest travesty in motion pictures. THE most important of lost films.

They were rebels for a time. The time period can be argued, but the death of the New Hollywood movement that emerged in the mid-60's (sparked by the French New Wave and the declines of studio fare with changing audiences) really commenced with the rise of commercialism in the 80's.

Few still have some of that mentality. Even fewer have made a picture worth a damn since.

These are films I'd love to see and am dying to make.

A great swashbuckler just like a 30's classic but in the form of a big epic.

The great Civil War film, the one that will actually tell it like it was.

More great classic literature adaptations. Especially a proper Sherlock picture complete with the romance of the stories.

A properly dark, honest and dramatic Western done practically in the vein of Leone, Peckinpah and Mann.

And anyone who knows me knows that beyond anything I want to make the first Bond film in decades that can at least stand alongside the novels and films properly.

Sequels that should be:

Mad Max 4 with Mel and shades of Apocalypse Now

Lethal Weapon 5-R rated, relentless, and actually made with a purpose.

The final Die Hard, rated a hard R, opens with McClane chain smoking and finally calling his ex-wife.

48 Hrs. 3

Midnight Run 2

A Better Tomorrow

Ronin 2

and many many more.

but most of all?  HARD BOILED 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the input guys. As I said this is all still pretty new to me and will likely be a work in progress for some time. Ideally this would be something I could use for capturing and processing, and as a good HTPC. Gaming would be nice but is much less important.

Plus I'm dying to try my hand at audio cleanup since getting a pair of Sennheiser wide range HD-380 pro monitors....they reveal quite a bit of distortion  even on so-called "restored" tracks!

I too would love an invite. T1 has become a favorite of mine since seeing it with the mono mix on LD, and T2 never seems to get a definitive treatment despite the multitudes of releases through the years.

How do the Surround LD versions compare to the CDS mix? I've only heard the extended LD PCM.

At this point again. I hope to use my tax refund to start building something that I can actually do work on, and use as an HTPC. Looks like I'll be able to start with around $400 or so and just wanted to ask around since this is all still really new to me.
Plus you guys understand more or the ins and outs of having to work with outdated formats.

DuracellEnergizer said:

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965)

I admit I loved this movie. Of course, that's probably due to Vincent Price's presence more than anything else in the film.

B

Same but really only because he has such a ball. It's really like an Egghead two-parter from the Batman series expanded to feature length.  Never watch the sequel however. Oh dear god....words fail me.

Being There

Admittedly not perfect-but a picture to be experienced each year. Less of a narrative experience, and more of a parable really. Deep, thought provoking and intricate to this day. And of course it completely hinges on what is arguably Peter Sellers finest performance--the one time where his usual feelings for a character's inner dignity are so complete that the performance becomes completely real and obliterates the fictional confines.

The Blu-ray gives a nice bump to HD but WB has gone in and done heavy DNR which is a damn shame.

Spy and Moonraker seem to have similar outcomes:

-Initial LD release with Dolby Stereo matrix

-THX remaster with different color, and sound coming across different in addition to a 5.1 remix.

-DVD ports

Eventual remasters.

Spy appears to have been redone for the THX series, that has different looking color and the new BD transfer looks like a balance between all sources and much more like the old LD. Arguably the first time it has been properly represented overall. Sound is tricky as it was a stereo release but not Dolby. I believe the mix was re-transferred and perhaps sweetened a bit for the THX process and remixed into 5.1 discrete. The old LD PCM sounds a bit more dirty and has a pop or two. The UE seems to use the same transfer but goes wild with the color and contrast in addition to having even more edge enhancement.

Moonraker has great sound on the original LD with a different looking picture that is terribly noisy on the CLV sides. The sound was remixed for the THX disc, leaving the PCM sounding a bit less robust than the older disc and the 5.1 version is identical. Perhaps they did the remixing and then just had each track finalized out of that? The colors are different when comparing old and THX, but the 4K Lowry image has the finer detail. It seems to have some leanenings of teal here and there and is not as accurate seeming to the source.

What I have really noticed is how different all the THX LDs and their DVD ports come across. In some instances they are appearing to be color and/or contrast boosted or even from a different source (OHMSS). It may very well be that these are not very good references for original presentation.

NSNA:

Everything appears to be the same master. The LD has a WB logo, everything else changes this to Orion. The DVDs are exactly the same, and the BD appears to be a higher generation version of the same source judging from capsaholic. If the LD PCM is added to the BD and a WB opening logo added, that's it.

Note the 5.1 remix is rather poor and the Dolby surround actually has more in the rears, though admittedly not very much. Very poor mix overall, rather mushy in the opening 20 minutes as well. Just compare the title song in the film to CD or vinyl. Huge difference.

I avoided Kingsman because I knew I'd get far too annoyed with the overall crass tone, overabundance of CGI and the fact that the "homage" basically crapped on the great elements of many classics, such as The Avengers. Some of these elements were what I hated in First Class despite it being one of the strongest X-Men films.

Never Say Never Again

Still as stodgy and dated as ever. Terrible in how held back it was. Everything seems to be based off the one LD era master, just that MGM snipped off the WB logo and substituted the Orion one. Need to snag the BD at some point. Surprising how the overall mix is very muddy and not dynamic. The Dolby Stereo matrix is far better than the discrete 5.1 remix which has virtually no rear effects.

stretch009 said:

EyeShotFirst said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

Dial M for Murder (1954)

Bland direction, no likable characters, and all that convoluted nonsense with the keys near the end make this one of the most overrated movies I've ever seen. Ray Milland's performance is the only real saving grace this picture has.

I'm positive that were it not for Hitchcock's name, this movie would've been forgotten decades ago.

C-

 I agree completely. I was going on a Hitchcock binge recently and Dial M for Murder was the only film I just couldn't get into. I just don't thing it grabs the audience like Hitchcock films do. Why is this considered one of his masterpieces, and Marnie considered a crapsterpiece?

 I really liked Dial M but it's definitely no masterpiece.  I've seen a lot of Hitchcock movies and Marnie is easily my least favorite. 

You must keep in mind it was one of his numerous "run for cover" films; films he would make to provide a greater response at the box office-especially after some of his more personal or artistic films hadn't done so well. Dial M was based on the stage play and Hitch felt it was a surefire hit. He couldn't really change anything and this combined with a short schedule and the extremely cumbersome 3D camera holds the film back. What is incredible is the depth of the photography visible even in 2D all these years, the attempted murder, the direct usage of camera technique to  underline story, the fact that we get to look at Grace Kelly, Anthony Dawson as the ill-fated blackmailee, and one of Ray Milland's finest performances. He truly is the picture.

Marnie is a flawed gem. Outdated, old-fashioned, dreamlike in places, held back by censors and MCA-Universal, and featuring a lead actress so remote and frigid that she works far better in this psychologically damaged character than in The Birds. Had Hitch been able to make the film as he wanted and kept Kelly in the role, it would be among the masterpieces. I still find it a striking and gorgeous at times masterpiece (I can somewhat criticize Hitch at times, but no one made pictures like him--even his heavily compromised ones.) but it is frustrating to watch because of all the heavy compromising and the fact that Hitch was losing touch with his audience at this time in addition to being reined in by the studio. BTW, Connery is outstanding here, steals the picture, and again proves how great he can be when given a direction to go in.

Reached #20 on my usual marathon which I do almost monthly at times.

Die Another Day-Dolby EX.

It's not necessarily bad, nor does it deserve it's terrible reputation. What cannot be ignored though is how the story seems to give up entirely after the first act. This is where the curse of Purvis & Wade really came into full force and has tarnished everything since. They cannot develop a single idea properly and in the Brosnan era which already had these sorts of problems it proved a deathblow. And what hurts even more is just how good Brosnan was getting into the role at this point. It is a shameful waste.

Some good moments, plenty of underdevelopment, terrible CG sequences, godawful director show-off bits of slo-mo, a flipping "yo mama" joke, weak villain ripping off Fleming's brilliant Hugo Drax, far too many nods to the past, product placement galore and of course the horror known only as Jinx. For all those who have a problem with the nuclear scientist in TWINE, I give you this annoying idiot. Thank god the proposed spinoff never happened!!!!

And still I give this somewhere around a 3.5 out of 4. At least it's well made.

In regard to Thunderball, my theory is that the problem is twofold: First the novel is based on the original treatment by Fleming, Wittingham and McClory. It lacks the usual panache of Fleming's other books and already on its own feels a bit long winded and has less zest. Then the film script was based around Richard Maibaum's original 1961 draft for when TB was proposed as the first Bond film.

Second: The original rough cut ran for four hours and Peter Hunt had to beg UA for more time to make something coherent out of it. This pushed the film to December '65 and resulted in many scenes being dropped. It seems the shoot held to the script which was rather faithful to the novel instead of essentially abridging the source for film as the previous three films had done. If Guy Hamilton had stayed on it would have all fallen apart. That's not a slight, just that Hamilton worked in the opposite way. At least with Terrence Young returning there was that drive again that instills vitality in scenes otherwise flat.

Indeed, these are also on Comcast VOD free. Currently it's FRWL, GF, LALD, FYEO. They are the BDs at some heavy compressed state for cable with these putrid remixes.

A film like FYEO should look damn outstanding. Not a lot of reissues, good solid production, a film ripe for a straight proper re-transfer. Instead all we have is a 1080p bump of the old heavily scrubbing of an even older video master. At least it is one of the few 5.1 remixes that is relatively the same as the original track. However, the original isn't quite so boomy like the DTS version.

It's also funny how much the looks change with every release. For example, Loque's death is presented differently on every single copy of the film. VHS, LD, DVD, UE and BD. And even the underwater photography can't find a consistent shade of blue!

I'll try to get back to doing more comparisons soon.

Was there ever a 1080p version of the Goldeneye HDTV? I only have a 720p version and the difference in detail compared to the BD is staggering at times. I'm also wondering if the Dolby track's heavy LFE was intentional (or theatrical) as the PCM surround has a similar level and I've recently been reading up on the early format technical studies where each would have either a 10db increase or decrease in LFE.

Easiest way to see captures is via capsaholic. The HD site has BD vs. mostly UK UEs and the older SD version of the site has captures with UE and SEs. But remember there is some slight variation at times between R1 and PAL.

Once my PS3 gets back up and running I will finish comparing the others. Got my replacement FYEO SE to replace a rotted DVD and am only missing a few LD titles.

The extras I now have (89 TB, 89 YOLT, 91 OP, 80's TLD pan n' scan, Criterion GF CAV, GE THX) will probably go to ebay unless somebody here happens to want them badly or wish to trade for any of these I'm still looking for: (TND letterbox, 1989 DAF, DTS GE, DTS TND, THX DN, THX FRWL, THX GF, THX TB, THX Spy, or the single reissues of the first three Connerys with poster art.)

It's an odd beast. Finally saw this a year or so ago. What exactly they were thinking no one knows.

The period setting is done acceptably, the costumes aren't bad at all, but it's very gloomy and not a pleasant place to be in. Sounds fine for setting up an epic tale of heroic triumphs against villainy...oh wait I'm getting ahead of myself.

This picture drags and drags so badly that it is extremely difficult to maintain interest. And it shouldn't. Costner appears as if he were still drained by Dances With Wolves and provides for a Robin so un-affecting that it becomes near impossible to care for anything. The story takes many weird turns in the middle of cliche after cliche that you just want the darn thing to end. It should have not been this bad. All the necessary materials were there to at least make an interesting picture.

By the time the woefully miscast Christian Slater breaks the period setting fourth wall it's far too late to stop. The only good point is Alan Rickman much like Tim Curry in Disney's Three Musketeers a few years later. But he sticks out like a sore thumb due to some truly strange subplots (with the crone...avoiding spoiler....what was that!?!?!) and the fact that the entire climax hinges on not only wedding Marion but....uhm....did I see what I think I saw?????

Arguably the longest ever buildup for a Connery closeup. I'd rather see Robin & Marion again, and that was a low-ish budget confused muddle. For all the flack the 2010 Scott version took, it was rather enjoyable on the big screen for the mishmash of modern film character psychobabble and classical Hollywood.

The 1938 film is the technical pinnacle of the 30's swashbuckler, one of the greatest bits of escapism ever produced and is untouchable. However, I do feel that it does not cover nearly all of the aspects of the Robin Hood story, ones that were better covered in the classic silent version with Douglas Fairbanks. While they are some of my favorites and absolute masterpieces, I feel that both stars had better adventure vehicles-Fairbanks in Mark of Zorro which is arguably the first superhero film ever made, and Flynn in the stupefyingly awesome Captain Blood.

PoT may have its fans, but I'm not one. I found it extremely frustrating because I spent the entire 2.5 hours trying to like it. And if you're going to do Robin Hood all gloomy, at least have some adventure or escapism or...anything.