A Few Words About A few words about...™ Leave Her to Heaven -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Lromero1396]

Sorry. I'm still not understanding your question.

There was a run of dye transfer prints, i.e. final orders in the early 1970s for both acetate as well as nitrate. Afaik, Fox, under the present archival leadership, has been doing proper quality asset protection of early safety three-strips. Was that your question?

RAH

I wasn't referring to today's asset protection efforts at all. I was wondering if the "copy and junk" method used on the Fox nitrate negatives also extended to the early safety negatives. I am referring to the so called 'asset protection' work done in the '70s.

 

[Robert Harris]

I wasn't referring to today's asset protection efforts at all. I was wondering if the "copy and junk" method used on the Fox nitrate negatives also extended to the early safety negatives. I am referring to the so called 'asset protection' work done in the '70s.

No. No reason to destroy early safety elements. They tended to self-destruct.

Quite unlike nitrate.

RAH

 

[Richard M S]

Fox did a superb job of protecting the world from nitrate. Not certain what your second question references. Prints survive on most titles, except the early safety era, which deteriorated.

RAH

Thanks for the response, which basically answers my second question. Had I phrased it properly, what I meant to ask was :

"However if any prints three strip Technicolor negatives actually did survive the purge, have any of those titles made it to dvd or Blu-ray yet?"

 

[Lromero1396]

Robert Harris, on 19 May 2013 - 9:45 PM, said:No. No reason to destroy early safety elements. They tended to self-destruct.Quite unlike nitrate.RAH

Were the ca. 1951-52 (example years) acetates duped ca. 1970s for asset protection? It seems like at least some of Fox's 3-strip acetate era productions may have been poorly copied in the '70s. I presume this due to registration problems as well as incorrect studio logos at the start. and a number that I've seen look like they come from dupes. Some examples of what I'm referring to would be Halls of Montezuma, David and Bathsheba, and Pony Soldier.

 

[ROclockCK]

After viewing the BD in its entirety this morning, I declare I'm very happy with the disc presentation. I think it's about as good as it going to look on any video format. On my grading system, I would give it a 4.5 based on 5 being perfect. I very enjoyable viewing experience this morning. A great way to start off the day.

Neatly sums up my reaction too Mr. Crawford. Considering the distressed (and distressing) state of the original film as described in Mr. Harris' OP, I'd steeled myself for the very worst, so I was happily surprised by the results of Shawn Belston's digital triage here.

And as I've often said since the earliest days of home video, "You can never truly keep a great film down...regardless of the medium or quality of presentation, its innate power will always shine through." So this one could have - and has - been treated much worse, and yet the infernal thing still fully engages me...every...single...time. That Fox and TT has showcased it so well, was just another level of delight on this occasion. All things considered, the old gal is looking mighty fine after nearly 70 years of 'hard knock' living.

BTW, has anyone else listened to the score isolated yet? What we have is yet another bell-ringer for this production team...heck, it occurs to me that Mr. Redman probably even had a hand in the salvage and preservation of those original audio masters. But whomever was directly responsible for restoring that particular piece of Fox heritage, sincere thanks...what a blast to have that classic Newman score in isolated form.

Very good show all round!

 

[Doug Otte]

BTW, has anyone else listened to the score isolated yet? What we have is yet another bell-ringer for this production team...heck, it occurs to me that Mr. Redman probably even had a hand in the salvage and preservation of those original audio masters. But whomever was directly responsible for restoring that particular piece of Fox heritage, sincere thanks...what a blast to have that classic Newman score in isolated form.

I had read in one review about the quality difference between the regular audio track and the isolated score, and sampled them both. Sure, enough, the regular track sounds a bit harsh and sibilant, but the isolated score sounds warmer and more natural.

 

[ROclockCK]

That's true for most isolated scores because they aren't mixdowns with effects and dialogue added. What we're hearing here is a lossless reproduction of Newman's original studio recordings in all of their pre-mixed glory...even including his session floor directions leading in and out of each segment.

Fox had such great sound throughout its history, but especially during the 40s and 50s.

 

[haineshisway]

Neatly sums up my reaction too Mr. Crawford. Considering the distressed (and distressing) state of the original film as described in Mr. Harris' OP, I'd steeled myself for the very worst, so I was happily surprised by the results of Shawn Belston's digital triage here.

And as I've often said since the earliest days of home video, "You can never truly keep a great film down...regardless of the medium or quality of presentation, its innate power will always shine through." So this one could have - and has - been treated much worse, and yet the infernal thing still fully engages me...every...single...time. That Fox and TT has showcased it so well, was just another level of delight on this occasion. All things considered, the old gal is looking mighty fine after nearly 70 years of 'hard knock' living.

BTW, has anyone else listened to the score isolated yet? What we have is yet another bell-ringer for this production team...heck, it occurs to me that Mr. Redman probably even had a hand in the salvage and preservation of those original audio masters. But whomever was directly responsible for restoring that particular piece of Fox heritage, sincere thanks...what a blast to have that classic Newman score in isolated form.

Very good show all round!

We issued the CD of the score a few weeks ago - sounds even better on CD.

 

[Rob_Ray]

We issued the CD of the score a few weeks ago - sounds even better on CD.

I have the CD and yes, it sounds very nice. As it's a short score, it's double-billed with another Jeanne Crain movie called "Take Care of My Little Girl" which happens to share an incidental tune with "Leave Her to Heaven." The music played on the train in Gene and Cornel's "meet-cute" scene is also used in the later film. Great liner notes, too, as always.

 

[Lromero1396]

That's true for most isolated scores because they aren't mixdowns with effects and dialogue added. What we're hearing here is a lossless reproduction of Newman's original studio recordings in all of their pre-mixed glory...even including his session floor directions leading in and out of each segment.

Fox had such great sound throughout its history, but especially during the 40s and 50s.

Very true, too bad we don't have the original nitrate sound negatives of those glorious recordings (except for perhaps some of the isolated music tracks) due to Fox's aforementioned junking.

 

[Persianimmortal]

Finally got my copy a few days ago and got around to watching it tonight. What a treat. I've only ever seen this movie once before many years ago, and I recall it looking quite poor. This TT release made it hard to believe that the film is almost 70 years old. The outdoor scenes in particular look very natural in terms of color and contrast. And I'd completely forgotten the twist towards the end of the movie, so that caught me out.If you haven't got it yet, grab a copy. I'd recommend it even as a blind buy.

 

[benbess]

I'm watching this color Film Noir again now. Leave Her to Heaven and Vertigo seem like two of the greatest of the color Film Noir movies, but I'm sure there are several others.