Dick
Senior HTF Member
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- May 22, 1999
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- Rick
The most recent bunch of titles have arrived from the UK, Germany and Spain, and I wanted to offer a brief reaction to each of them.
FROM SPAIN:
SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE COMPLETE BBC SERIES (Jeremy Brett)
Pretty outstanding -- with vividly better picture quality than that of the U.S. DVD's. Everything that Brett ever did is here, including the five feature films. All but the final series "The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes" are in the 1.33 ratio, as filmed. The last season is widescreen, although, apparently because the original elements were unavailable, the first episode ("The Three Gables") is softer and has a weird anamorphic ratio of about 1.5:1.
There are no special features here at all, but for the incredible price of this set through Amazon Spain, who cares (how is about $1.50 per episode, shipped?) There is a flimsy cardboard wrap around five separate Blu-ray keep cases, each containing two discs. Unless you create your own cover art, you will be shelving these upside-down if you want the spine titles to face to the left.
The first case houses the five movies. Case #2 contains The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes, seasons 1 & 2. Disc one carries the first seven episodes, and disc 2 the remaining 6. Blu-ray case 3 contains the complete "Return Of Sherlock Holmes," with the first season (6 episodes) on disc 1, and the remaining 5 on disc 2. Blu-ray case #4 gives us all 6 episodes from "The Casebook Of Sherlock Holmes," three episodes per disc. Finally, case #5 carries the final 6 episodes spread across two more discs. Brett never had a chance to complete the 19 Conan Doyle stories that remained unfilmed, as he was too ill (and it shows in "The Memoirs" set). Shot on film, you would expect to see some grain, but it is mostly gone. Still -- excellent.
The text descriptions on the cases are all Spanish, although the titles are repeated in English. The disc menus offer titles in Spanish only, and the option to choose either Spanish dubbing or English. There is, unfortunately, no "Play All" link. Good news: these are all-region discs!
All in all, this is a big leap in quality, and I would recommend this set without hesitation.
FROM THE U.K.
WATERSHIP DOWN
Gorgeous Blu-ray from Universal (who has the rights in Europe). Picture and sound run rings around the domestic Warner Bros. DVD. The pastels look soft, but in fact that is the drawing style. The image is actually quite sharp, but without the kind of DNR smearing and edge enhancements that have plagued recent Disney releases. Aspect ratio is 1.78:1. Subtitles available in English only. Sound is 2.0 stereo, and sounds resoundingly crisper than the earlier release. Film grain is mild, probably compromised, but there is still a nice theatrical look to it. Extras consist of two interviews with the director, editor, and animators. Exceptional release.
FROM GERMANY
A SIMPLE PLAN
This remains my favorite Sam Raimi film. I read that this was a sub-standard transfer, but it doesn't appear that way to my eyes. Yes, most (not all) of the grain has been removed, but not at the expense of sharpness and (again, to my eyes) is without edge distortion. Note that the titles are in German ihis transfer, and the sound defaults to German dubbing, but you can choose English from the main menu. Aspect ratio is 1.78:1. Sound: dts HD or 5.1. Sole extra: Trailer.
THE LAST WAVE
Peter Weir's early near-masterpiece (misses that status due to a weak ending). Creepy, semi-supernatural story looks terrific on this disc, for anyone who doesn't wish to wait to see if Criterion ugrades our domestic DVD. Much less film grain than you would expect (and which I seem to recall from its theatrical run), so DNR has occurred, but rather carefully, as far as I can tell. Colors are rich, contrast spot-on with deep blacks and shadow detail. Aspect ratio is 1.85:1. Sound: dts HD 2.0 -- the original mono is not available. Has subtitles in many languages. Extras include a trailer.
ALLIGATOR & ALLIGATOR II
It was the first one (written by John Sayles) that I wanted, and the one I will describe. I have no interest in the sequel and haven't watched it. Had the first one looked better, I might have bothered.
Oh, well...not every import is going to look stellar. But this one looks like ofal. The only good thing I can say about it is that it enlists the (almost) correct aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The PQ is grotesque. There is almost no contrast -- you have to dial your brightness level down considerably to see any semblance of dark (of which there is meant to be quite a lot in this film). The color looks smeary, and the edges are all being danced upon by what I guess are the artifacts of digital sharpening. Although the domestic DVD release has quite a bit of aliasing, it is still preferable to this disaster, and also contains a commentary track, not included on the German edition. Sound is adequate (5.1) but no original mono is available. English language can be chosen from the main menu, otherwise the disc defaults to a German dub. What a shame! Maybe Shout! Factory can do better for us.
Just a few thoughts.
FROM SPAIN:
SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE COMPLETE BBC SERIES (Jeremy Brett)
Pretty outstanding -- with vividly better picture quality than that of the U.S. DVD's. Everything that Brett ever did is here, including the five feature films. All but the final series "The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes" are in the 1.33 ratio, as filmed. The last season is widescreen, although, apparently because the original elements were unavailable, the first episode ("The Three Gables") is softer and has a weird anamorphic ratio of about 1.5:1.
There are no special features here at all, but for the incredible price of this set through Amazon Spain, who cares (how is about $1.50 per episode, shipped?) There is a flimsy cardboard wrap around five separate Blu-ray keep cases, each containing two discs. Unless you create your own cover art, you will be shelving these upside-down if you want the spine titles to face to the left.
The first case houses the five movies. Case #2 contains The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes, seasons 1 & 2. Disc one carries the first seven episodes, and disc 2 the remaining 6. Blu-ray case 3 contains the complete "Return Of Sherlock Holmes," with the first season (6 episodes) on disc 1, and the remaining 5 on disc 2. Blu-ray case #4 gives us all 6 episodes from "The Casebook Of Sherlock Holmes," three episodes per disc. Finally, case #5 carries the final 6 episodes spread across two more discs. Brett never had a chance to complete the 19 Conan Doyle stories that remained unfilmed, as he was too ill (and it shows in "The Memoirs" set). Shot on film, you would expect to see some grain, but it is mostly gone. Still -- excellent.
The text descriptions on the cases are all Spanish, although the titles are repeated in English. The disc menus offer titles in Spanish only, and the option to choose either Spanish dubbing or English. There is, unfortunately, no "Play All" link. Good news: these are all-region discs!
All in all, this is a big leap in quality, and I would recommend this set without hesitation.
FROM THE U.K.
WATERSHIP DOWN
Gorgeous Blu-ray from Universal (who has the rights in Europe). Picture and sound run rings around the domestic Warner Bros. DVD. The pastels look soft, but in fact that is the drawing style. The image is actually quite sharp, but without the kind of DNR smearing and edge enhancements that have plagued recent Disney releases. Aspect ratio is 1.78:1. Subtitles available in English only. Sound is 2.0 stereo, and sounds resoundingly crisper than the earlier release. Film grain is mild, probably compromised, but there is still a nice theatrical look to it. Extras consist of two interviews with the director, editor, and animators. Exceptional release.
FROM GERMANY
A SIMPLE PLAN
This remains my favorite Sam Raimi film. I read that this was a sub-standard transfer, but it doesn't appear that way to my eyes. Yes, most (not all) of the grain has been removed, but not at the expense of sharpness and (again, to my eyes) is without edge distortion. Note that the titles are in German ihis transfer, and the sound defaults to German dubbing, but you can choose English from the main menu. Aspect ratio is 1.78:1. Sound: dts HD or 5.1. Sole extra: Trailer.
THE LAST WAVE
Peter Weir's early near-masterpiece (misses that status due to a weak ending). Creepy, semi-supernatural story looks terrific on this disc, for anyone who doesn't wish to wait to see if Criterion ugrades our domestic DVD. Much less film grain than you would expect (and which I seem to recall from its theatrical run), so DNR has occurred, but rather carefully, as far as I can tell. Colors are rich, contrast spot-on with deep blacks and shadow detail. Aspect ratio is 1.85:1. Sound: dts HD 2.0 -- the original mono is not available. Has subtitles in many languages. Extras include a trailer.
ALLIGATOR & ALLIGATOR II
It was the first one (written by John Sayles) that I wanted, and the one I will describe. I have no interest in the sequel and haven't watched it. Had the first one looked better, I might have bothered.
Oh, well...not every import is going to look stellar. But this one looks like ofal. The only good thing I can say about it is that it enlists the (almost) correct aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The PQ is grotesque. There is almost no contrast -- you have to dial your brightness level down considerably to see any semblance of dark (of which there is meant to be quite a lot in this film). The color looks smeary, and the edges are all being danced upon by what I guess are the artifacts of digital sharpening. Although the domestic DVD release has quite a bit of aliasing, it is still preferable to this disaster, and also contains a commentary track, not included on the German edition. Sound is adequate (5.1) but no original mono is available. English language can be chosen from the main menu, otherwise the disc defaults to a German dub. What a shame! Maybe Shout! Factory can do better for us.
Just a few thoughts.
