any laserdisc titles still worth owning? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff_HR]

"Robinson Crusoe on Mars".

 

[Nathan V]

Oh, hell yes. Taxi Driver with the legendary Scorsese commentary (Which I'm DYING to hear...I'm willing to do anything to listen to it, except buy an LD player of course)

Regards,
Nathan

 

[Mark-P]

Someone already mentioned John Wayne's "The Alamo" was the longer roadshow version on Lasedisc while the DVD is the shorter theatrical cut.

Same goes for "Hawaii" - 189 min. Roadshow on Laserdisc, 161 min theatrical cut on DVD.

 

[andySu]

It’s rather nice to see the name is being kept alive “Hail Laserdisc”!

There is one title I would like to own on laserdisc (Poltergeist)!

I have only but a few laserdiscs left over around 90 or so, it ended just when I had started with my first laserdisc (The Thing) PAL laserdisc back in 1994, and only a year or so later DVD was making the first rounds and everyone felt threatened by this new format. Well the rest is video history now laserdisc retired in the early years of the 21st century yet the laserdisc players are still out there and the titles Ebay is flooded with tons of goodies to pick up at next to nothing!

So if there was one more title I would like to add that would be (Poltergeist)!

Long live laserdisc!

PS. Oh I almost forgot, (Final Approach) scope 2.35:1 not on DVD has of yet! Great Dolby stereo sound mix!

 

[Albert Noel]

were any of the friday the 13th/halloween/nightmare on elm street series ever released fully uncut on laser?

 

[David_B_K]

I just thought of another interesting one I hung onto: The Big Country, from 1959. The most famous thing about the movie is its score by Jerome Moross, and main title sequence by Saul Bass. On the LD, the complete score is isolated on one of the analog tracks. Some of the cues are alternates, or merely cues that were left out of the movie. So, you can hear the "Old Thunder" music where it belongs in the film, even though the cue was not used.

There is also an audio essay of the score on one of the analog tracks by a musicologist who really dissects it, and plays specific cues on paino to make a point.

As to the main title, the dust jacket featured an interview with Saul Bass, in which he explained how he achieved the effect of the dust on the wagon wheel, etc. Interestingly, in the DVD, the shots in the main title of the galloping horses' heads are in B & W, whereas in the laserdisc version, they are in sepia.

The disc also had a period featurette narrated by Jean Simmons that was a sort of "Big Country diary", and there were a couple of short commentaries by some of the actors. All in all, a pretty good SE by laserdisc standards, much better than the barebones DVD release. I still watch the DVD because it's anamorphic, but I cannot part with the laserdisc.

 

[Peter Neski]

Picnic at Hanging Rock is longer on Laser,The Dvd is a directors cut which is cut
Also That Original Manhunter is out on Japanese dvd from MGM

 

[TravisR]

The only Nightmare movie that might be uncut on LD is NOES 5 since the VHS (but not DVD) was the X rated version too. Elite's NOES LD had the X rated footage as a supplement.

There's an old Japanese LD of the original Friday The 13th that was the X rated cut but no LDs are uncut in the US. Although Warner Brothers released the uncut version on DVD in Europe.

And I don't think that any of the Halloween movies had to cut stuff to avoid an X rating but I could be wrong.

 

[Matt Hough]

The commentaries on the Criterion SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (the late great Ron Haver) and on the THE ULTIMATE OZ (John Fricke uninterrupted by other additions) are very much worth seeking out bettering whatever is available in the DVDs.

The 1951 SHOWBOAT laserdisc (from THE COMPLETE SHOWBOAT set) features a stereo surround track and also the choice of having Annette Warren's dubbed vocals or Ava Gardner's originals by choosing the digital or analog track. The DVD of SHOWBOAT offers only mono sound.

Lots of second tier MGM musicals are on laserdisc but not on DVD. To name a few: TWO WEEKS WITH LOVE, I LOVE MELVIN, LOVELY TO LOOK AT, TEXAS CARNIVAL, and the list goes on and on.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Didn't Vince Maskeeper (I'm sure I'm misspelling his name) collect some sort of archive of old LD -- particularly Criterion -- commentary tracks as mp3s?

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory 25th Anniversary edition has an isolated music and sound effects track which is pretty cool- it includes one of my favorite 70s "computer/high-tech" sound effects.

 

[TonyD]

i think there was a CC spec ed that had a commentary among some other features.

http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc.php?id=4954

 

[TonyD]

the owner of this site

http://www.lddb.com/

posts here.

 

[Mark B]

1776, HAWAII, LOST HORIZON 1973, MAD MAD WORLD, NEW YORK NEW YORK, FUNNY FACE, MGM: WHEN THE LION ROARS, all of the MGM discs with audio sessions (a mother lode of tracks between all the releases - like being a fly on the wall of the MGM scoring stage) and many more......and I started collecting lasers and got my first player in 2004. Too many rarities I want that I fear will never see another release...especially the audio tracks.

 

[Richard M S]

And those awesome Warners box sets : the 2 Forbidden Hollywood Collections, the 2 Cavalcade of Vitaphone Shorts, and the 2 Cavalcade of MGM Shorts.

And on the Judy Garland, Gene Kelly and MGM Composer collection box sets, there is a treasure trove of musical material not replicated on DVD or even CD yet.

The 3 Volumes of Dawn of Sound still go for expensive prices on Ebay. I believe Broadway Melody and Hallelujah are the only 2 films thus far released onto DVD.

 

[Dave Simkiss]

The Criterion laserdisc of Se7en has a commentary from Audio commentary by David Fincher, 'Morgan Freeman' , screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, production designer 'Arthur Max' , make-up and effects artist Rob Bottin, and other key members of the cast and crew that was not ported over to the DVD release.

If anyone has this in any audio format or knows of any links to it in an audio format I would be forever in their debt.

 

[Thomas T]

Not only is David Raksin's Oscar nominated score isolated on the laser disc of Separate Tables but features the original main title without the Vic Damone vocal as an alternative.

 

[Geoffy]

I believe the Criterion of Dead Presidents has extras whereas the DVD releases are barebones. I think only the region 4 DVD is anamorphic as well.

 

[Ernest]

Some truly great titles are available on laserdisc such as ,
Fall of the Roman Empire
Quo Vadis
Circus Wrold
55 Days At Peking
El Cid
Alamo Extended Cut
Ransom Extended Cut
Mutiny on the Bounty

I am sure there are more those are just a few that came to mind.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

And, of course, there are all kinds of non-movie LDs. I'm not saying anyone wants How to Watch Pro Football, but classical, opera, and pop (concert and music-video) discs were released in plenty, and I suspect hold some interest. Philips called it "video LP" the first time around (analog audio), and then relaunched it as "CD-video", and the audio keeps some people coming back even for movie discs, so there must be something to it…