I LOVE IT when Barnes and Noble has their 50 percent off Criteria dvd specials. I get an extra 10 percent off so it really is a deal. Only time I buy Criteria is when B&N has their sale,which is about twice a year.
The box set was released after the disc correction, so it should have the corrected disc (which people are still unhappy about). The UPC of the box set with the corrected disc is 88390424521681 to verify. If you have the incorrect disc, you can fill out the online form to have it replaced. The disc replacements started in January 2012.
I just wish I were more excited about the Blu-ray transfer. There were major problems with it initially, enough that MGM/Fox had to redo the discs and offer to exchange them.
Apparently, during the famous line art title sequence, just before the end of the overture, the entire screen dipped to black for several seconds. Something went wrong, obviously. Then in the opening shots of the buildings (from a bird's eye view) there was serious "jitter" during the pans. Supposedly, they fixed the dip to black, but with the wrong color, and the jitter was toned down, but is still there.
Other than that, I hear the movie looks pretty good overall and is definitely a step up from the previous DVD.
Still, I haven't ordered it as of yet, because of the complaints from purists and home video collectors. I'd rather have it without all the collector's stuff, though. I don't need a book, a watch, Chino's pistol, Anita's Black Orchid perfume bottle, etc. It's too much.
I have two of those big boxes (Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind), and I stopped after that. I just want the movie, looking as good as it possibly can.
I'm still surprised that the fade to black problem ever happened in the first place. Surely they didn't intentionally make that change during the transfer? And how could something like that have gone unnoticed? Was it a technical glitch that happened at some point after the transfer during production of the discs?
Incidentally, TCM showed the movie the other night and the fade to black during the title sequence was there.
From across the pond in the UK, the company I work for has some great offers on some great world cinema titles including Oscar Winner A Separation, Melancholia, We Need To Talk About Kevin and Pina Artificial Eye bargains
I want to invest in a Blu-Ray player that can also play Region 1 & 2 DVDs, but the info out there is so conflicting, it's nearly impossible to know what to buy.
I'm still surprised that the fade to black problem ever happened in the first place.
The only way I can think of it happening is that the title sequence was recreated, rather than restored. It actually makes sense that they would do it that way, and they have done it before on other films with static title images or cards over music. There is no reason to restore every single frame of film for a static image that sits on screen for several seconds before cross-fading to another static image.
The answer is to scan a single cleaned-up frame of each image (or in the WSS title sequence's case, each different color of the line art city), and then get an editor to cross-fade them with the same timing seen in the film.
This means the editor screwed up, and his last card, right before the fade into the live footage of the city was missing. So it dipped to black for those few seconds instead. Then popped back up again as the fade occurred.
Really stupid that nobody checked it. And the "quick fix" was just as stupid. They replaced it with an image that was the wrong color, according to people who know the title sequence well.
I think part of the problem is having QC people in these restoration or home video departments that aren't really familiar with the films. They should call in one of the "experts" out there. In Hollywood, there are plenty of them who know every frame of certain films.
It's a minor flub to some, but there's really no need for such sloppiness on a restoration project like this.
Don't know if anyone has Blockbuster around them still or not, but definitely worth checking out, if the store is closing. This was a couple of weeks ago, but my store was selling the used rental dvds for $2.99 a piece. They were selling brand new stuff for 60% off. They also had single discs with just paper or plastic covers for 49 cents a piece. Maybe that was their Total Access program stuff? Don't know. But, I walked out of there with about 12 movies for $15 or $16.
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joined:9/4/05
Posted: 11/24/11 at 02:21pm