A Few Words About A few words about...™ How the West Was Won -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Mike Frezon]

We sang "that song" a LOT in grade school. "Low bridge, everybody down..."

For the apparent answer to your question, see THIS PAGE under "Canals."

 

[John Hodson]

Oddly enough, HTWWW turned me Blu too (shortly after George Feltenstein said that was EXACTLY what was happening and I vowed not to do the same ).

It is simpy gorgeous. I've just read (this may have been discussed already, so forgive me) in this review:

"Most recently, for example, I found the Blu-ray transfer of How the West Was Won to be largely exceptional, even though I heard through the grapevine that even some people involved in the background of the new release were incensed that an IB Technicolor print wasn't referenced for color timing."

Now were they 'incensed' because they felt that Warners went about things in the wrong manner, or where they incensed because they felt it harmed the end product? I'm quite curious.

 

[Sam Posten]

We got a demo of this on our Hollywood trip last week. The work that went into this was AMAZING. The really cool thing was how they showed us the 'making of' the smilebox version was really a simple hack, they created a curved surface in Maya (probably just a simple NURBS 'saddle') and then used a virtual projector to send the new restoration stream to this surface and a virtual camera to capture it! The rendering power needed to do it was enormous but the setup is really easy, even someone like me who only knows a little bit about Maya could have done it!

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

From the site Mike linked....

Some things never change. :rolleyes

It's noteworthy how transportation canals were important in the East but not in the West. The great period of transportation canal building in the East apparently was 1820-1840, immediately prior to the age of the railroads. By the time the West required more transportation infrastructure, the railroads were ready to supply it.

In addition, the West wasn't hospitable for canals anyway. There are only two navigable river systems going inland: the Columbia is navigable up to Lewiston Idaho, and the Sacramento is navigable up to Sacramento/Stockton. All the other rivers go down steep mountain gorges - or, e.g. the Colorado River, lie at the bottom of a big ditch. Where the geography is flat enough for canal building (e.g. Nevada and Utah) there isn't any water. Although the film didn't state this, the railroad technology was essential in taming the West.

The primary canal building in the West serves to transport the water itself, e.g. so LA can steal other people's water.

In regards the Civil War section, there were Confederate soldiers pictured: they weren't in uniform but rather ragged street clothes. That's history. A large percentage of Confederate troops never were issued uniforms since there were no textile mills in the South at that time and the Union blockade prevented the importation of cloth. The Western expansion could be said to the the cause of the Civil War as there was endless bickering in Congress whether new states would be admitted as free or slave states. The Civil War gave a great boost to railroad construction. It also showed a generation of farm boys how to travel huge distances and live off the land, skills that they could use to travel West. Finally, many of the Army officers who later killed off the Indians got their training in the Civil War (e.g. Sherman, Custer). Well, maybe not Custer.

 

[benbess]

Wow. Just rented and watched this movie over the last few days in the smile format. What a cast. And what a score. And the sound quality is amazing. The way they timed the opening of the score with the mgm lion roar was great. Listened to those first few minutes as the credits roll a dozen times.

Loved the songs at the beginning and in the intermission.

Fun movie, and somehow surprisingly emotional for me. Must be gettin old. Thinking of buying it..

 

[cineMANIAC]

I finally sat down to watch HTWWW for the first time ever (and since buying the DVD back in 08) and I absolutely loved it. What a great film! Enjoyed it so much I went right out and bought the BD version. My reaction was one of shock, mostly from noticing the huge difference in picture quality from DVD to hi-def: Holy Cow! I actually believe the DVD looks only slightly better than VHS. I remember reading an article online about how the studios deliberately release subpar product on DVD to get people to buy into Blu-ray. The studios not porting over the DVD extras to BD fueled my suspicions but now this has solidified my belief. In any case, now I want all of my classics collection on Blu-ray: Mutiny On the Bounty (another great movie I just saw for the first time), Bridge On the River Kwai, etc. They cant arrive fast enough!

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Originally Posted by Luisito34

I finally sat down to watch HTWWW for the first time ever (and since buying the DVD back in 08) and I absolutely loved it. What a great film! Enjoyed it so much I went right out and bought the BD version. My reaction was one of shock, mostly from noticing the huge difference in picture quality from DVD to hi-def: Holy Cow! I actually believe the DVD looks only slightly better than VHS. I remember reading an article online about how the studios deliberately release subpar product on DVD to get people to buy into Blu-ray. The studios not porting over the DVD extras to BD fueled my suspicions but now this has solidified my belief. In any case, now I want all of my classics collection on Blu-ray: Mutiny On the Bounty (another great movie I just saw for the first time), Bridge On the River Kwai, etc. They cant arrive fast enough!

The DVD that was released concurrently with the Blu-Ray looks fantastic and has no signs of being significantly "dumbed down" to make the BD look better by comparison. The original DVD release was an eyesore, though. I agree that the BD is a substantial improvement, but that's for all of the reasons a Blu-Ray *should* look better. I assume you are not comparing the "smilebox" presentation to the conventional letterboxed presentation as that is apples and oranges.

Regards,

 

[cineMANIAC]

I sampled the smilebox version and while it appears to be even sharper than the conventional widescreen version, I don't know if I'll be able to view the entire film again in "curved" format (it just looks awkward to me). Regarding the superiority of the hi-def format, I keep forgetting that DVD only has 480 lines of resolution. For ten years I collected DVDs and was totally satisfied with them, then along comes an even better format that blows away everything before it. Every time I watch a DVD now it just doesn't feel "good enough" anymore.

 

[TonyD]

Luis do you have more info then just "I read an article"?


I've been seeing this said for a year or so but it seems more paranoia then fact.

 

[cineMANIAC]

Unfortunately, Tony, I don't recall exactly where I read it so I can't back up what I posted with a link. I do remember reading about it during the early days of the BD format, though. I wouldn't chalk it up to paranoia. Setting aside the arguments of hi-def resolution versus that of DVD for a moment, its easy to conclude that studios haven't put forth their best efforts when it concerns some transfers (on DVD).

Originally Posted by TonyD

Luis do you have more info then just "I read an article"?


I've been seeing this said for a year or so but it seems more paranoia then fact.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by TonyD
I've been seeing this said for a year or so but it seems more paranoia then fact.

I think it's 100% paranoia. What would be the point of dumbing down DVDs? The average consumer can't tell or doesn't care about the difference between a great DVD transfer and the transfer on one of the 'conspiracy' titles (plus, they're already assuming the Blu-ray is better because the guy at Best Buy told them it's HD) and the vast majority of people who can tell or desire the best presentation have already converted or want to convert to Blu-ray. So who would be the people that they're targeting with these dumbed down DVDs?


I have no problem saying that some studios have become lazy or don't pay attention to detail as much as they may have used to and that's the explanation for more shoddy DVD transfers but anything else doesn't make much sense to me.

 

[Robert George]

There is no real reason to "dunb down" a DVD compared to Blu-ray. DVD is already so technically inferior.

 

[benbess]

This movie is a lot of fun!


What a lot of talent involved in this film--in front of and behind the camera. I'm listening now to the commentary track on disc 1 and it's informative and entertaining. They've got a whole crew of people chatting together, including one of the stunt men who was along for the whole 10 month (!) shoot.


This film, among so many stars, has both the Bad (van Cleef) and the Ugly (Eli Wallach)...


Apparently Jimmy Stewart was a lot of fun on the set--telling stories and jokes to amuse people between takes.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

While I don't think HtWWW is an example of an SD transfer that could reasonably be considered "dumbed down", I think the reason that rumor is out there is that people are having trouble conceiving of any other possible explanation as to why such a large percentage of Warner's theatrical new release titles on SD DVD look so artifact-ridden in the "HD era", especially when their catalog releases do not seem to suffer from any of the same problems. I personally don't think the explanation holds up, as the same reasoning would dictate that their catalog releases on SD would be "dumbed down" compared to their BD counterparts, and that has not been the case.


Regards,

 

[PMF]

12 years later; and since this initial posting of RAH’s review; I found my BD of How the West Was Won to be still ever beautiful and strong.

Just saw it again, last night, and witnessed the remarkable landscapes, frontiers and pioneering days of our own BD futures. IMHO, this pressing still continues to amaze.

Could HTWWW become a candidate for the 4KUHD format? Only the experts can say.

And, yes, the Smilebox approach to this film is still inspired and my preferred way to view this classic film.

 

[Bernard McNair]

It is a wonderful Blu of this very entertaining movie. I cannot recall how many times I have watched it over the years but each viewing never ceases to entertain. One of my favourite cinema going experiences as a young boy was seeing the Cinerama films on the big screen during their initial release. I think that Smilebox does justice to the format.

 

[willyTass]

This would be an interesting release on UHD

 

[Josh Steinberg]

If the question is, do the film elements from HTWWW have enough resolution to be seen in 4K resolution, the answer is yes. If the question is, would the hypothetical sales figures support a release on the UHD disc format, that’s much harder to answer.

 

[Robert Harris]

If the question is, do the film elements from HTWWW have enough resolution to be seen in 4K resolution, the answer is yes. If the question is, would the hypothetical sales figures support a release on the UHD disc format, that’s much harder to answer.

The film elements would work beautifully with 4k. Only problem is dollars. Calling Dave Strohmaier!

 

[Richard Gallagher]

12 years later; and since this initial posting of RAH’s review; I found my BD of How the West Was Won to be still ever beautiful and strong.

Just saw it again, last night, and witnessed the remarkable landscapes, frontiers and pioneering days of our own BD futures. IMHO, this pressing still continues to amaze.

Could HTWWW become a candidate for the 4KUHD format? Only the experts can say.

And, yes, the Smilebox approach to this film is still inspired and my preferred way to view this classic film.

I agree with everything you say. I will add that Alfred Newman's theme music is one of my favorites. I have the entire soundtrack on CD.