A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Sound of Music -- in Blu-ray (2 Viewers)

[benbess]

Originally Posted by Bond1965
I got a copy at Target yesterday and the Blu-Ray of the movie wouldn't play. It locked up my Sony Blu-Ray player and I had to unplug it to get the player to reboot.

I've got the latest firmware on it so I haven't any clue why it's doing this.

Returned it today and copy #2 is doing the exact same thing.

Anyone else have this issue???

James

So far mine plays perfectly on my slim ps3. Haven't watched the whole thing though since I just saw it in the theater a little while ago.

 

[JohnMor]

James, mine played perfectly in my Sony. That's so strange. What model number do you have?

 

[Cinescott]

I have a Sony as well, an S570 and as with the new Alien Anthology, this title also loads extremely slowly, about a minute's length.

 

Just spot checked the disc.....WOW! OMG, the image is deep and rich....that's the perfect word for it....rich. I can't wait to spin this winner for my friends at my birthday party this weekend!!!!

 

[GMpasqua]

Watched "The Sound of Music" tonight - it looks very good - not as good as "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" but very good. "CCBB" had more of a 3D look to it, felt like I could have reached into the screen and picked up the actors.

The sound was great - picture quality also, but I did think the whites were too bright and lost some detail.

Many complained about the simmer on "Pyscho" but I found much more on "The Sound of Music" on many suits, aprons and shrubs.

I've seen "The Sound of Music" in 70MM and this was pretty much how it looked, and yes some of the scenes were filmed with a soft filter. Blacks were spot on, but whites and light colors and some fleash tones were a bit too bright on the Blu-ray and appeared to lose some detail. The film also seemed to be cropped a little bit tight on the sides, But still, the best it has ever looked on home video

 

[GMpasqua]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

As a bit of minutia, but important minutia, fans of Marni Nixon get to see her in Sound of Music. Just look for Sister Sophia in the Maria number. For those who may not know the name, just think of her as Liza Doolittle, Maria, Terry McKay, Anna Leonowens and others, all wrapped up into one incredibly talented package. While much of the film was dubbed with other singing voices, per Ms. Nixon, everyone in the Maria sequence was a professional singer, including Portia Nelson. The only actress to have a vocal replacement was Peggy Wood.

The Sound of Music was the Best Picture of 1965. It is still one of the greatest films every created.

This Blu-ray is up to the task of reproducing it.

Very Highly Recommended.

RAH

Actually Anna Lee's singing was dubbed, so not all the others nuns did their own singing. And Mr. Harris - You worked on the maginificent "My Fair Lady" restoration (Thank you) but ...it's Eliza Dolittle!

 

[Robert Harris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMpasqua

Actually Anna Lee's singing was dubbed, so not all the others nuns did their own singing. And Mr. Harris - You worked on the maginificent "My Fair Lady" restoration (Thank you) but ...it's Eliza Dolittle!

I was thinking of Liza, with a "Z," Doolittle. Eliza is quite correct. Just mixing my metaphors. And thinking what the play / film might be like with Liza, and her great voice doing the part.

 

[SteveGL]

Re: Eliza's name in MFL:

She refers to herself as "Liza" more than once in both film and play -- "I proclaim Liza Doolittle Day!" "Liza, sound the call!" -- and one of the play's working titles was either "Lady Liza" or "My Lady Liza" (sources differ).

 

[JohnMor]

Originally Posted by Cinescott
I have a Sony as well, an S570 and as with the new Alien Anthology, this title also loads extremely slowly, about a minute's length.

Scott, I have a much older model (S360) and this disc loads much faster than most of my other blus (about 20 seconds.) Very strange all the variations and problems.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

Originally Posted by Eric Scott Richard
Is this release really that bad? So, the apron slap WAS in the original 70mm release? Why is it missing then? The sound effects are not all missing from the song so why would that one be? Maybe the effects track was used for the foreign releases which is why the effect is on that track?

The apron slap and other sound effects (Maria's kiss in the reprise of "My Favorite Things") were very much present in all of the Laserdisc releases, and I don't know that much - if any - remixing was done on those at all. It was on the old 2-tape VHS set. It can all be heard on the 4.0 track, but the 7.1 mix has these sound effects either missing or mixed so terribly low that they can't be easily discerned. Once you've seen and heard a film SO many times, to see it and not hear elements of the sound if very strange.

 

I agree, Chuck. I'm just confused because on the sound restoration doc the team says that they used the original printmaster for the first time. It could be that for the first re-release the elements were remixed if the printmaster were damaged by that time. And perhaps that is what we heard all of these years. I wonder if the 4.0 was from a previous release? And how could the effects have been isolated from the music with the elements they used?

 

[Chuck Pennington]

The isolated music/effects track was on the 1994 Laserdisc release, so it has been around for a while and was used for the foreign dubs. It would make sense that the old VHS and probably the oldest Laserdiscs were derived from prints. A printmaster is a generation down from the finished mix, and apparently what they used for some previous released was a dub of the printmaster they couldn't previously utilize. But still - a printmaster is used to sound mag prints, and would be a generation down from the original itself.

My guess is they used this printmaster source for the dialog scenes, but all of the scenes with music were pretty much rebuilt from the different elements they had in an effort to "improve" things. This would also give them the necessary room to do remixing, especially for 7.1.

Originally Posted by Eric Scott Richard
I agree, Chuck. I'm just confused because on the sound restoration doc the team says that they used the original printmaster for the first time. It could be that for the first re-release the elements were remixed if the printmaster were damaged by that time. And perhaps that is what we heard all of these years. I wonder if the 4.0 was from a previous release? And how could the effects have been isolated from the music with the elements they used?

 

Ok. But I still don't understand how they built it from scratch...would they have a sound effects track separate from the music? Also, the apron slap was also buried in the mix for the last release....isn't this a new mix? And if this is wrong, would it be difficult for FOX, if they chose, to go back and correct these little mistakes?

 

[trajan]

Same problem with Pioneer bdp 120.

 

[urbo73]

One thing to note, and BTW this transfer looks absolutely PHENOMENAL, is that if you are having disc issues, besides the firmware updates, one thing to do that may help is to turn off BD-Live if you can and clear any cache the unit may have with information stored on it. With the OPPO BDP-83 at least, this solves many issues with load times, freezes, etc. The only time I've used BD-Live was for the PIP on Band of Brothers. Then I turned it back off and deleted the cache.

 

If it is true that the sound effects weren't used during the songs, then that is a shame considering how much music is in the film. Absolutely upsetting, actually.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

/forum/thread/305455/a-few-words-about-the-sound-of-music-in-blu-ray/30#post_3747263
If it is true that the sound effects weren't used during the songs, then that is a shame considering how much music is in the film. Absolutely upsetting, actually.

I haven't had a chance to sample the 4.0 Surround track, but Chuck a few posts back and others have said that it is more indicative of the earlier releases. If the subdued sound effects are a deal breaker for you, you can always stick with that instead.

 

[Rob_Ray]

I've found the foley to be almost identical to the last release. Everything's there, just very subdued. In this age of overdone foley, it doesn't bother me too much, as the music is the thing, not slapping sounds. Why not focus on things they finally got right after all these years, starting with the last release and continuing onto this one? One thing in particular that had bugged me ever since the seventies reissue: In the second act, after the Captain asks, "You are back to stay?" and Maria replies with "Only until arrangements can be made for another governess" there was a sloppy reel change which made the soft and lovely orchestration go offkey for a second. It took me out of the moment in theatres nearly 40 years ago, it took me out of the moment in all early video releases. They finally fixed it on DVD. I'll trade an apron slap for this fix any time.

 

[Joe Caps]

To answer some questions ( and actually having been there when some of it wasw done)
Previous laser transfers did NOT uase a print or a print master. Those are hardly ever used.
It used a first generration interpositive, an original six track mag (NOT a print master, which can be a generation or two down).
Its strange they would use raw music session tracks. The last time those were used was for the expanded soundtrack release on the onld laserdisc box set, and even then, they had only one play left in them, they were so corroded.

I am SOOOO hot happy with the picture quality on this new release. They have changed all of the backgrounds to blue whenever possible.
Maria sings in front of blue mountains, instead of green and fluffy light blue clouds instead of white.

All of the foreground sutff has gone reddish, including skin tones, hair that used to be blond is also red etc.
Maria enteres intothe von trapp villa for the first time. The walls which should be a light grayish to white are now also reddish too.
Yuck !! It is sad to write this, as I normally like the work of Shawn Belston at Fox. He has saved many a fox film, including some that I thought would never look good again - Fromthe Terrace, Kiss Them for Me, and many more.

 

[JohnMor]

Originally Posted by Joe Caps


I am SOOOO hot happy with the picture quality on this new release. They have changed all of the backgrounds to blue whenever possible.
Maria sings in front of blue mountains, instead of green and fluffy light blue clouds instead of white.

All of the foreground sutff has gone reddish, including skin tones, hair that used to be blond is also red etc.
Maria enteres intothe von trapp villa for the first time. The walls which should be a light grayish to white are now also reddish too.
Yuck !! It is sad to write this, as I normally like the work of Shawn Belston at Fox. He has saved many a fox film, including some that I thought would never look good again - Fromthe Terrace, Kiss Them for Me, and many more.

All I can say Joe, is that it isn't at all like that on my set-up. The clouds are white and the Von Trapp walls are greyish.