Blu-ray Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Our Town -- in Blu-ray (2 Viewers)

[Cineman]

They ship to Thailand, but not Canada?

Did you buy it off eBay or the website?

Ah, my apologies for the confusion. I have ordered from both ClassicFlix and Amazon over the years and it had been some time since my initial pre-order of that title. So I had to go into my email notifications and saw messages from ClassicFlix letting me know it was ready for shipment and so on. So I assumed that order had been directly from ClassicFlix and that prompted my first reply about it here.

But then I saw another later email message from Amazon letting me know the "Great news!" about a refund of $10 from my initial pre-order.

That tells me you are right; at some point a few months back I shifted to Amazon for the order to get it shipped internationally to me. Oops.

I just now added a VERY LATE EDIT to my previous reply to that effect.

 

[battlebeast]

Ah, my apologies for the confusion. I have ordered from both ClassicFlix and Amazon over the years and it had been some time since my initial pre-order of that title. So I had to go into my email notifications and saw messages from ClassicFlix letting me know it was ready for shipment and so on. So I assumed that order had been directly from ClassicFlix and that prompted my first reply about it here.

But then I saw another later email message from Amazon letting me know the "Great news!" about a refund of $10 from my initial pre-order.

That tells me you are right; at some point a few months back I shifted to Amazon for the order to get it shipped internationally to me. Oops.

I just now added a VERY LATE EDIT to my previous reply to that effect.

No biggie.

 

[Ray Faiola]

Yes, the sound on Our Town leaves a lot to be desired. In the opening credits Aaron Copland's music sounds a semi-tone sharp to my years. With iZotope and other software programmes the producers could easily have worked wonders by re-mastering the M&E track. Unfortunately, they did not.

I have to step in here as the sound restorationist on OUR TOWN. First, John, I did use iZotope tools in working on this track. The 35mm tracks we had to work with had myriad problems including significant noise-to-signal ratios (some reels worse than others) and varying levels of "whistle". I don't know how far back the audio issues date but as anyone who has seen the various incarnations of the film knows, they were only compounded over the years. I actually have an original 16mm print that has a cleaner but decidedly narrower track. I even toyed with using it for the blu-ray but opted for the 35 which had far greater dynamics. I even mentioned the problematic track in my commentary, which I normally would not do but it would sort of be ignoring the elephant in the room if I hadn't. All that said, I would hope you would agree that the inherent ambience of the track still shines through. I'm sure other engineers would have simply EQ'd the hell out of the thing so the critics could say "No noise! Yay!". As always, I try to strike a delicate balance between retaining original ambience and repairing subsequent issues. My apologies to David for going public on this but I want to stress to those who have not yet bought the ClassicFlix edition of OUR TOWN that is the best you will have ever seen - or very possibly heard - this very fine film.

 

[Robert Harris]

I have to step in here as the sound restorationist on OUR TOWN. First, John, I did use iZotope tools in working on this track. The 35mm tracks we had to work with had myriad problems including significant noise-to-signal ratios (some reels worse than others) and varying levels of "whistle". I don't know how far back the audio issues date but as anyone who has seen the various incarnations of the film knows, they were only compounded over the years. I actually have an original 16mm print that has a cleaner but decidedly narrower track. I even toyed with using it for the blu-ray but opted for the 35 which had far greater dynamics. I even mentioned the problematic track in my commentary, which I normally would not do but it would sort of be ignoring the elephant in the room if I hadn't. All that said, I would hope you would agree that the inherent ambience of the track still shines through. I'm sure other engineers would have simply EQ'd the hell out of the thing so the critics could say "No noise! Yay!". As always, I try to strike a delicate balance between retaining original ambience and repairing subsequent issues. My apologies to David for going public on this but I want to stress to those who have not yet bought the ClassicFlix edition of OUR TOWN that is the best you will have ever seen - or very possibly heard - this very fine film.

Thank you for posting this.

Aeons ago, I had a 35 nitrate on Our Town, and the track - which was variable density - had been printed lighter than proper. The audio was noticeably problematic. We produced a 16 reduction dupe and re-recorded the track, but were not able to solve the problems.

The original negatives on the film do survive, but have not been accessed.

 

[cda1143]

I have to step in here as the sound restorationist on OUR TOWN. First, John, I did use iZotope tools in working on this track. The 35mm tracks we had to work with had myriad problems including significant noise-to-signal ratios (some reels worse than others) and varying levels of "whistle". I don't know how far back the audio issues date but as anyone who has seen the various incarnations of the film knows, they were only compounded over the years. I actually have an original 16mm print that has a cleaner but decidedly narrower track. I even toyed with using it for the blu-ray but opted for the 35 which had far greater dynamics. I even mentioned the problematic track in my commentary, which I normally would not do but it would sort of be ignoring the elephant in the room if I hadn't. All that said, I would hope you would agree that the inherent ambience of the track still shines through. I'm sure other engineers would have simply EQ'd the hell out of the thing so the critics could say "No noise! Yay!". As always, I try to strike a delicate balance between retaining original ambience and repairing subsequent issues. My apologies to David for going public on this but I want to stress to those who have not yet bought the ClassicFlix edition of OUR TOWN that is the best you will have ever seen - or very possibly heard - this very fine film.

Much appreciated explanation. Thank you so much for not eq-ing it to death.

 

[Jimbo.B]

When someone says that an original negative exists but can’t be accessed, what does that mean? Is it privately owned by a collector?

 

[Robert Crawford]

When someone says that an original negative exists but can’t be accessed, what does that mean? Is it privately owned by a collector?

It could mean it's in public domain, but one of the studios has the OCN in their vaults and won't allow any outside access to it.

 

[mskaye]

It could mean it's in public domain, but one of the studios has the OCN in their vaults and won't allow any outside access to it.

I think MEET JOHN DOE has a similar issue. A OCN that cannot be used for some reason.

 

[Robert Harris]

It could mean it's in public domain, but one of the studios has the OCN in their vaults and won't allow any outside access to it.

More complex, Robert. There’s underlying lit to which the studio must abide.

 

[Robert Crawford]

More complex, Robert. There’s underlying lit to which the studio must abide.

I’m sure it is more complex as I was just trying to provide one simple scenario to the question that was asked.

 

[JSLasher]

I have to step in here as the sound restorationist on OUR TOWN. First, John, I did use iZotope tools in working on this track. The 35mm tracks we had to work with had myriad problems including significant noise-to-signal ratios (some reels worse than others) and varying levels of "whistle". I don't know how far back the audio issues date but as anyone who has seen the various incarnations of the film knows, they were only compounded over the years. I actually have an original 16mm print that has a cleaner but decidedly narrower track. I even toyed with using it for the blu-ray but opted for the 35 which had far greater dynamics. I even mentioned the problematic track in my commentary, which I normally would not do but it would sort of be ignoring the elephant in the room if I hadn't. All that said, I would hope you would agree that the inherent ambience of the track still shines through. I'm sure other engineers would have simply EQ'd the hell out of the thing so the critics could say "No noise! Yay!". As always, I try to strike a delicate balance between retaining original ambience and repairing subsequent issues. My apologies to David for going public on this but I want to stress to those who have not yet bought the ClassicFlix edition of OUR TOWN that is the best you will have ever seen - or very possibly heard - this very fine film.

Yes, I understand the problems you encountered, Thanks for elaborating. It’s a fine film with a superb Copland score, which Jerome Moross (composer of “The Big Country”) orchestrated.

 

[filmfan101]

It is a pleasure at last to SEE Our Town, having suffered dreadful public domain copies of Sam Wood's lovely version. I gave up on those earlier releases.
But to HEAR this film is unbearable. From the opening titles, Aaron Copland's evocative score is riddled with distortion. Distortion across all frequencies. This distortion continues throughout the picture, giving the human voices a shrillness in the upper frequencies. The music especially is unbearable. The trailer for the Our Gang series that begins this Blu-ray has none of the levels of distortion exhibited in Our Town.
Optical sound recording in 1940 was amazingly sophisticated, employing a well-established noise reduction system known as high frequency pre-emphasis wherein high frequencies were boosted in the optical track, then brought back to normal on replay in the theatres via a filter known as the Academy Curve filter.
Audiences in 1940 would have never tolerated the sound heard on this Blu-ray issue.
After 30 minutes, I could tolerate it no longer. I still have yet to see (and hear) this film the way the makers intended.
Not since StudioCanal's Blu-ray release of the British film, Dead of Night (1945), has optical sound distortion been so appalling.

 

[Paul Penna]

It is a pleasure at last to SEE Our Town, having suffered dreadful public domain copies of Sam Wood's lovely version. I gave up on those earlier releases.
But to HEAR this film is unbearable. From the opening titles, Aaron Copland's evocative score is riddled with distortion. Distortion across all frequencies. This distortion continues throughout the picture, giving the human voices a shrillness in the upper frequencies. The music especially is unbearable. The trailer for the Our Gang series that begins this Blu-ray has none of the levels of distortion exhibited in Our Town.

Read this post from the person who worked on the audio.