A Few Words About A few words about...™ Mary Poppins -- in Blu-ray (2 Viewers)

[rich_d]

First, a thanks to Reed for inviting us over last night to watch Mary Poppins on his large screen. It was a treat. I also agree with Charles in that:

1. The audio sounded terrific.

2. It was like being carted back to my youth, that's how absorbing the film is and that the blu-ray delivers on.

Now ... about the colors. Some scenes are more bright or bright white. And a turn toward blue did occur (compared to the 40th release) but the results do not take you out of the presentation nor is this a true muck-up or a reinvention of a modern palette or the like.

And, in general, just because things are different doesn't make them necessarily better or worse. Take a look at some screen grabs ... the first is the 40th DVD and then the 50th DVD version (always in that order. I don't have Blu-Ray capture ability. All of these were done by me using the same PowerDVD settings (color profile=original).

No doubt that faces are more pinkish for lack of another word ...

In the nursery scene ... over-white, over-bright. Yes, it does serve to understate the gold stripes in Mary's blouse (for example) but the reality is that when it plays out at 24 fps, it is not as noticeable as the screen capture would indicate.

From what I noticed while watching the film last night, this is the scene that differed the most. No doubt the scene has been 'warmed up.' Note: this is the last moment of the view of the city under the setting sun.

 

[Carabimero]

I remember even as a kid seeing the matte lines around the car and knowing something wasn't right. Glad all that is cleaned up. Thanks for the review.

 

[haineshisway]

Yeah, but my point is since I never saw this film theatrically, I am trying to figure out what the correct colors are. Maybe it is this "cool" palette for lack of a better word, but something tells me not. I am honestly not trying to find fault in what many perceive to be a perfect, faithful facsimile of projected film from 50 years ago. Even if I had seen it, I wouldn't trust my memory. It's a shame that virtually none of the principal filmmakers are around anymore to offer an opinion. I just find it hard to believe that many of the neutral colors would look so "ashen," or that there would be so few vibrant colors. It is true that whatever seems "off" to me seems to be consistent throughout, so it could be handled with an adjustment.

I am trying in my own mind to convince myself that this disc indeed represents (as close as possible) what theatergoers would have seen in 1964. If it is, good. If not, it's still good and the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.

The comment about so few vibrant colors makes me question how you are viewing your discs, because my disc of Mary Poppins is loaded with vibrant colors all the way through, and especially where they should be really vibrant, i.e. Jolly Holiday. Where they are not vibrant (the bank) is by design. What is it exactly that you're after, color-wise? More brown? More yellow? I've been trying to explain for a long time what carbon arc light sources were like and how they differ from Xenon. All prints up until the switch to Xenon were timed for carbon arc, which is a purer light which really brings out the blues, reds, greens and all colors. Do you think The Ten Commandments has off color as you do with Mary Poppins? Because that, too, has perfect color and tons of blue. If you were to see a dye transfer print of Mary Poppins projected the way it was in 1964, with carbon arc, it would, I promise you, look just like this disc - again, since you say it has few vibrant colors and since that is the exact opposite of what many in this very thread are saying, I would question your set-up first.

 

[haineshisway]

You cannot make judgments about color from previous video releases. Don't automatically assume those were correct - there was a shift toward blue in this transfer because that was the accurate way to go, not to repeat what had previously not been accurate on home video.

 

[bryan4999]

I do think that last set of screen caps does demonstrate something I like very much about this new transfer and that is that they got rid of a certain "muddiness" for lack of a better word that I think plagued every home video release of MP.

 

[Rob_Ray]

I do think that last set of screen caps does demonstrate something I like very much about this new transfer and that is that they got rid of a certain "muddiness" for lack of a better word that I think plagued every home video release of MP.

I agree. I never thought MARY POPPINS looked particularly bad in earlier releases, but this newest one finally looks right.

 

[moviebuff75]

The funny thing is that when I think of seeing "Mary Poppins" as a youngster, I always think of the color blue...especially when she is first landing at the Banks house. It always looked too bright and washed out on video. Not what I remembered. I remembered a colder look to the film.

 

[Reed Grele]

I'll be the first to admit that I know absolutely nothing about what Mary Poppins should or should not look or sound like.

I have never had a professional calibration done on any of my TVs or projectors.

My 7.1 sound system is not top of the line either, which really doesn't make much difference as I'm almost 60 years old, and my hearing isn't what it used to be. But I try to make do with what I have.

My vision however, is near perfect, and I have enough tools at my disposal to get a ballpark representation of a correct gray scale and color gamut.

That being said, I can find no fault at all with the picture or sound quality of the new Mary Poppins Blu-ray. Nothing whatsoever. And I had two HTF friends watching along with me who unanimously agreed.

Try not to be swayed too much by screen caps or negative reviews. Just buy this wonderful Blu-Ray, gather your friends and family around whatever size or quality home theater system that you can afford, and enjoy the heck out of it.

Life is too short.

 

[ahollis]

You cannot make judgments about color from previous video releases. Don't automatically assume those were correct - there was a shift toward blue in this transfer because that was the accurate way to go, not to repeat what had previously not been accurate on home video.

The shift toward blue is correct. I distinctly remember the blue tones in all the London scenes. I did see it as a kid in its original release and then at least a 100 times during its early 70's as I was a theatre usher when it was re-released and we played it. As it was a single screen and I was always in the theatre patrolling I saw it many many times. London was blue, the park chalk drawings were vibrant, the inside of the Banks house was crisp and clear and the bank scenes were dark and gloomy. And that is what I see on the Blu-ray. I am very happy with this disc and think that this is the last time I buy this title.

 

[Mark-P]

For once, I am just going to sit back and enjoy. I've been through enough grief trying to get the word out about the alterations with "The Wizard of Oz" and trying to get WB to fix the errors. I think I deserve a break from all of the stress!

I wish you could do like the rest of us and just sit back and enjoy Oz too. There's a price to be paid for being a perfectionist!

 

[moviebuff75]

Mark, I wish I could too. But that movie means more to me than any other. I truly LOVE it. I do enjoy it, but I wince now. At any rate, I'm getting somewhere with WB...just very slowly. Mistakes with most movies bother me a little, but I can overlook them. I can't overlook the problems with this masterpiece. But, you are right! It does suck being a perfectionist!

 

[haineshisway]

I think it might be prudent to post this from Robert Siegel's treatise on Mary Poppins because it says everything that needs to be said about the color, most importantly that a dye transfer answer print was used as its basis. Sorry, that's really the end of the argument.

"According to Disney, the restoration of MARY POPPINS began with the scanning of all 28 A and B rolls of the original cut camera negative (Eastman 5251). This is the first time that the film negative had ever been scanned. The negative was scanned at a "4K" resolution on a Northlight 2 scanner, and all digital color grading and dirt clean-up/wire removal was done at Technicolor in Hollywood. The colorist was Lou Levinson. The animation sequence was restored by Reliance MediaWorks in Burbank. This was probably the most demanding part of the project as the sequence had a great deal of built-in optical printing artifacts and dirt/scratches. No grain management tools were used.
Also used was an original 1964 "dye-transfer Technicolor" 4-track stereo print to serve as the “as released” color and sound reference, and the prior film and video masters were used to confirm all fades and dissolves that had to be rebuilt from the negative scans. The original 35mm 3-track stereo magnetic masters were used for the new 5.1 and 7.1 mixes, and the original 3.0 mix is also available on the Blu-ray."

 

[bigshot]

The people reworking the animation are the problem.

 

[haineshisway]

When telecine artists look at color balance, the use skin tones as a guide. Do you know anyone as PINK as the people in the blu-ray? Those screen caps of the various releases are telling. Every release of this film seems to have worse color than the one before it.

Well, they didn't in this case - they used a 1964 dye transfer answer print as a guide - therefore what you may perceive as inaccuracies are apparently not inaccuracies at all, but a matching of color to the way it was back then. And again, who knows how you have your machinery set up or what you're even looking at. I would sorely love to visit a few homes to see exactly that - I should think that would be - well, illuminating

 

[Mark-P]

Isn't is interesting what a difference it makes scanning A and B rolls and digitally recreating all the opticals versus all the dupey opticals of a film like Giant?

 

[JohnMor]

The skin tones on my setup, without any adjustment, finally look normal to me. Not at all "shrimp" pink. But healthy, rosy and at long last not jaundiced. So many home video releases of this and other titles (Desk Set, comes to mind) had skin tones that were WAY off and way too orange-y as if everyone in the 50's and 60's used a cheap spray-on tan.

 

[Doug Bull]

Here is a scan of a 1964 dye transfer 35mm print as adjusted for Carbon Arc appearance by none other than Robert Harris.

The original film scan before the adjustments.

Another member's scan from the new Blu-ray, which has been criticised by others as not being accurate.
Maybe somebody can supply a new scan of this scene.

The top scan adjusted by Robert Harris is how I remember it looked the many times that I have projected it via Carbon Arc.
The prints that I projected were all of British origin and they tended to favour the yellow, so maybe folks in the USA saw things differently.

Doug.

 

[bigshot]

The top one looks right to me too. It has those distinctive 50s/60s neutral pearl grays.

 

[bigshot]

Well, they didn't in this case - they used a 1964 dye transfer answer print as a guide - therefore what you may perceive as inaccuracies are apparently not inaccuracies at all, but a matching of color to the way it was back then. And again, who knows how you have your machinery set up or what you're even looking at. I would sorely love to visit a few homes to see exactly that - I should think that would be - well, illuminating

Well, from past experience I've learned to take Disney press releases with a HUGE grain of salt. This is the only photo I could find of my screen. This was taken with my iPhone. It's from Great Piggy Bank Robbery.

 

[ahollis]

Here is a scan of a 1964 dye transfer 35mm print as adjusted for Carbon Arc appearance by none other than Robert Harris.

maryarcadjustment.jpgThe original film scan before the adjustments.

mpcompare1.jpgAnother member's scan from the new Blu-ray, which has been criticised by others as not being accurate.Maybe somebody can supply a new scan of this scene.

mpcompare2.jpgThe top scan adjusted by Robert Harris is how I remember it looked the many times that I have projected it via Carbon Arc.The prints that I projected were all of British origin and they tended to favour the yellow, so maybe folks in the USA saw things differently.Doug.

My Blu-ray does not look like the Blu-ray scan.