UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ My Fair Lady-- in 4k UHD Blu-ray (2 Viewers)

[roxy1927]

Historically, movie screens were not necessarily and uniformly as large as we think today. Many modern viewers would find the screens at single auditorium venues to be much smaller than they expected. I think a lot of movie fans would frankly be shocked if they could take a time machine back to view Academy ratio films in their original venues.

 

[Jeffrey D]

At least you skipped the VHS and the two different blu-rays (the first was garbage and then they wisely brought on Mr. Harris). Oh that first laserdisc was awful, wasn't it? Not only was it pan and scan and dreadful color, but the sound was so unstable - you could really tell if you played it through a Dolby Prologic decoder - it bounced around from speaker to speaker. I think I finally hit the mono switch.

And in point of fact there were THREE laserdisc editions - pan and scan with dreadful color, widescreen with horribly faded color (but better sound than the first) and then the box set laser from Mr. Harris' restoration.

So my tally is: VHS, laser, laser, laser, DVD, blu, blu, 4K. I win. (LOL)

Don't even ask me how many times I have bought The Sound of Music. Remember CED?

Maybe someone can jog my memory- I used to have a phone book style laserdisc review.
If memory serves, it was orange in color, and in it were countless films, and the reviewer’s take on the video /audio quality. The guy(s) who looked at these discs pulled absolutely no punches, good or bad. I remember the write up of the first widescreen laserdisc of MFL, and the word used in the review was
“appalling”, due to its lack of color. I probably have watched this film scanned/cropped, but don’t remember the experience. My guess is it looks as wrong as the scanned/cropped It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

 

[PMF]

I was disappointed with the clip included in my set. I really wanted something with Audrey Hepburn. Instead I got Rex Harrison and Wilfred Hyde-White at the ball. Oh well!!

Heck, with My Fair Lady, even a 70MM clip from its leader would’ve been pretty darned cool to me.

 

[RichMurphy]

Speaking of film clips (although this is probably off-topic), I was challenged last year to decorate a four-foot Christmas tree with movie-themed decorations. My garland was a length of film from a faded 70mm print of the infamous "Gone With The Wind" blowup. Thank you, eBay.

 

[JoshZ]

Maybe someone can jog my memory- I used to have a phone book style laserdisc review.
If memory serves, it was orange in color, and in it were countless films, and the reviewer’s take on the video /audio quality. The guy(s) who looked at these discs pulled absolutely no punches, good or bad. I remember the write up of the first widescreen laserdisc of MFL, and the word used in the review was
“appalling”, due to its lack of color.

Enjoy.

"The flower market scene, one of the few instances in the film where there is a true assortment of colors, is appalling."

Good memory.

 

[Indy Guy]

Pre internet days, Doug Pratt's "Laser Disc Newsletter" was the monthly go to for upcoming disc info and reviews. I had a complete set of his newsletters until Covid. Then I spent some time reducing clutter and the newsletters were history. I did reread a few before letting them go. We were easily pleased by less than perfection back then and thought nothing of spending more than $30 for a regular LD or $125 for a boxed set of SD quality. I only had one LD from Japan (Cutthroat Island) that used anamorphic compression. Everything in the US was letterboxed. And that gave dvd a major quality boost even though it would have been an easy implementation for LD.
I think Doug's newsletter reviews were compiled into that massive volume.

 

[JoshZ]

I think Doug's newsletter reviews were compiled into that massive volume.

Yes, exactly. The book is 970 pages of his Laserdisc Newsletter reviews up through 1995. (He continued to publish for several years after that, changing the name to the DVD/Laserdisc Newsletter.) They're printed in small text, three columns per page. The book has a staggering number of reviews in it, though I will note that most of them have been condensed from the original Newsletter published versions.

Pratt tried to maintain a web site that archived the full Newletter reviews for a time, but that's been offline for a while, sadly.

 

[roxy1927]

I was having trouble with my computer which is why I posted Josh Steinberg's comment twice.
Yes screens were small in large movie palaces until Cinerama and CinemaScope. I was very surprised at how small the screen was for Singin in the Rain at Radio City despite it being such a dazzling print. I thought all these great films were playing on the Music Hall screen in this size since '33? An usher back then called it a postage stamp. How people in the back of movie palaces and in balconies could pay attention I have no idea. There is a Hirschfeld drawing of a packed movie palace with people intently staring at a very small screen. I guess the smaller the house the larger the screen appeared. At the Hall It wasn't until they lopped off the bottom and top of Shane did a decent size image appear. And it was great seeing 7 Brides for 7 brothers there in its original 2.55 ratio. The only time I saw a film in that ratio. The barn raising scene was exhilarating in a way I had never seen it before or since. I don't know when CinemaScope went to 2.35. I would have very much liked to have seen all the other films filmed in that ratio there like Brigadoon, The Student Prince and Hit the Deck.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Enjoy.

"The flower market scene, one of the few instances in the film where there is a true assortment of colors, is appalling."

Good memory.

View attachment 212227


View attachment 212228

Thank you much, Josh. I really enjoyed that book. I wish I kept it.

 

[Vern Dias]

I was having trouble with my computer which is why I posted Josh Steinberg's comment twice.
Yes screens were small in large movie palaces until Cinerama and CinemaScope. I was very surprised at how small the screen was for Singin in the Rain at Radio City despite it being such a dazzling print. I thought all these great films were playing on the Music Hall screen in this size since '33? An usher back then called it a postage stamp. How people in the back of movie palaces and in balconies could pay attention I have no idea. There is a Hirschfeld drawing of a packed movie palace with people intently staring at a very small screen. I guess the smaller the house the larger the screen appeared. At the Hall It wasn't until they lopped off the bottom and top of Shane did a decent size image appear. And it was great seeing 7 Brides for 7 brothers there in its original 2.55 ratio. The only time I saw a film in that ratio. The barn raising scene was exhilarating in a way I had never seen it before or since. I don't know when CinemaScope went to 2.35. I would have very much liked to have seen all the other films filmed in that ratio there like Brigadoon, The Student Prince and Hit the Deck.

2.55:1 was the standard AR for 'Scope magnetic sound prints since there was no optical track to take up space on the print. The center line of the image was also slightly different.

2.35:1 was the standard for AR for 'Scope optical sound prints.

When Fox introduced MagOptical prints back in 1956 or so (I don't recall the exact time frame) the inclusion of the optical track again reduced the available horizontal space and forced the AR back to 2.35:1.

Left image is a 2.55:1 mag print. Right image is comparing a 2.35:1 magoptical print and an optical print.

Images from Widescreen Museum web site.

 

[Worth]

Historically, movie screens were not necessarily and uniformly as large as we think today. Many modern viewers would find the screens at single auditorium venues to be much smaller than they expected. I think a lot of movie fans would frankly be shocked if they could take a time machine back to view Academy ratio films in their original venues.

Yes, the screens and viewing angles in the handful of older cinemas that are still around are much smaller than their modern counterparts. I actually find the newer screens a little too large most of the time. I usually sit in the back row now, versus closer to the middle in older theatres.

 

[roxy1927]

I find this on Amazon about the MFL 4k:

'There is so much data on this disk, it tends to overwhelm the blu ray and 4k TV. There are a numerous posts about the sound dropping and picture freezing. There are also a number of solutions posted on the web. If you have an issue with your system and your system has the latest firmware, shutting down mid disc and restarting and going forward to the scene seems to be the easiest work around. As the headline said, well worth working out the glitches for this remastered classic.'


Anybody else having problems with MFL? I am. When I first got it it played beautifully. Now I'm having clicks and pops and sound drop out. No freezing of the screen. My friend thinks it's my player and I need a need a new one. I just watched parts of the bluray of Mary Poppins and the 4k of Singin in the Rain and they played perfectly. Now here's the kicker I'm having the same problem with the 50th anniversary bluray! I feel like I'm going nuts. Maybe I need a more up to date player. What was nice about this one is that it is also region free. I hope it's not the TV!! Ugh.

 

[Roger Grodsky]

I returned mine because it kept freezing.

 

[RolandL]

I don't know when CinemaScope went to 2.35.

In 1955 when they added the mono track in addition to the 4-track stereo.

 

[roxy1927]

Do you know if certain films during that year were still in the 2.55 ratio like Hit the Deck, It's Always Fair Weather and Kismet?

 

[VisionMan]

Yes, exactly. The book is 970 pages of his Laserdisc Newsletter reviews up through 1995. (He continued to publish for several years after that, changing the name to the DVD/Laserdisc Newsletter.) They're printed in small text, three columns per page. The book has a staggering number of reviews in it, though I will note that most of them have been condensed from the original Newsletter published versions.

Pratt tried to maintain a web site that archived the full Newletter reviews for a time, but that's been offline for a while, sadly.

Doug Pratt's DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter is alive and well, and indeed celebrated its 39th Anniversary Issue last September. It continues to be an excellent source of information and commentary about physical media and the movies available on DVD, blu-ray and UHD blu ray. After over 30 years, I still look forward to its arrival every month. I encourage all readers of this Forum to check it out.

 

[Indy Guy]

Doug Pratt's DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter is alive and well, and indeed celebrated its 39th Anniversary Issue last September. It continues to be an excellent source of information and commentary about physical media and the movies available on DVD, blu-ray and UHD blu ray. After over 30 years, I still look forward to its arrival every month. I encourage all readers of this Forum to check it out.

Is it still mailed out or now gone digital?

 

[VisionMan]

Is it still mailed out or now gone digital?

I receive my physical copies via US mail every month. Please see the picture of several recent issues in the picture in my post, above.

 

[Roger Grodsky]

Is it still mailed out or now gone digital?

You can also get a PDF version delivered to your email address (it usually arrives on the first of every month).

 

[Indy Guy]

I receive my physical copies via US mail every month. Please see the picture of several recent issues in the picture in my post, above.

Thank you! I didn't look closely because the vintage title "DVD Laser Disc Newsletter" seemed like it would have been updated several times by now, but yes, zooming in I see the current issue dates...amazing.