Best Pictures on and not on Blu Ray (1 Viewer)

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by Ed Lachmann
How about the Photoplay Medal of Honor Best Picture winners. Here are the top films from 1920 to 1928. The Photoplay awards predate the Oscars and were chosen by thousands of readers who would write in what film they thought deserved the award. And the winners were:
1920-HUMORESQUE (Frank Borzage)
1921-TOL'ABLE DAVID (Henry King)
1922-ROBIN HOOD (Alan Dwan/Douglas Fairbanks)
1923-THE COVERED WAGON (James Cruze)
1924-ABRAHAM LINCOLN (J. Searle Dawley-Only a Fragment Survives)
1925-THE BIG PARADE (King Vidor)
1926-BEAU GESTE (Herbert Brenon/Ronald Coleman)
1927-SEVENTH HEAVEN (Frank Borzage) which tied with...
1927-THE GENERAL (Buster Keaton)
1928-FOUR SONS (John Ford)
Only the 1927 tied winners are available on BD, THE GENERAL through Kino and SEVENTH HEAVEN in a Region B French release by Carlotta. Word is that THE BIG PARADE is coming from Warners this year.

Robin Hood is one of the Fairbanks titles Cohen Media has via their purchase of the Rohauer library. I can see it being something they would consider releasing in the next couple years.

 

[battlebeast]

Originally Posted by PODER
I'm now replacing all my Oscar winners for Best Picture ... on DVD ... with the same on Blu-Ray. However, it seems to me that I read a
list somewhere detailing those Blu-Rays to AVOID. Could anyone steer me in the right direction, or just list those where the consensus
seems to be HANG ONTO YOUR DVD!!
Many thanks in advance for any help on this ...

I too am doing this very same thing. I would also like to know which Blu Rays to avoid...

 

I'm watching "Kramer vs. Kramer" tonight. I've read that it is a pretty good transfer. I would avoid: 1. "West Side Story" (problems with the colors in the Overture, and the dupe sections. Opening whistles do not surround the room.) 2. "My Fair Lady" (faded around the edges and all around poor looking transfer) 3. "Amadeus" (only avoid if you don't like the Director's Cut...the theatrical version that won the Oscar isn't on blu-ray.) 4. "Unforgiven" (poor transfer) 5. "American Beauty" (poor transfer) Other factors: 1. "Dances With Wolves" has been released in the U.S. in its Extended Version only. International releases are the theatrical cut. 2. "The Sting" has been criticized for too much digital manipulation. 3. "Out of Africa" (see "The Sting.") 4. "Annie Hall" (reports of audio sync problems and subtitles not matching the audio sync.) 5. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (lossy audio only.) 6. "Silence of the Lambs" (some DNR) 7. "Gone With the Wind" (reports among the net indicate that this is being re-released within the next year or so for its 75th Anniversary. I found the current blu-ray to be fine, but any improvements are the icing on the cake.) Hope this helps some. Of course, these are just my opinion and subjective.

 

[Ejanss]

I'm watching "Kramer vs. Kramer" tonight. I've read that it is a pretty good transfer. I would avoid: 3. "Amadeus" (only avoid if you don't like the Director's Cut...the theatrical version that won the Oscar isn't on blu-ray.)

And the DC is a pretty good reason to avoid it-- The other changes aren't as bad, just longer monologues and needless side-plots, but even Forman reportedly didn't like the extended version of the scene where Constanze brings the sheet music to Salieri, which tried to turn it into a sexual-repression metaphor, rather than his pure creative jealousy. It explains a key scene later, but destroys the moment completely vs. the momentum of the theatrical scene.

 

[Ignatius]

Just thought I would mention that the 'other' Best Picture from 1927-28 - Sunrise is also available on Blu, but as an import.

It's also worth mentioning that said Blu is region-free, contains the silent Czech print in HD as an extra, and is an absolutely essential release. I severely doubt that any eventual US release could match it. The distributor offers free shipping from their store page here. I would add the Amazon UK link but I don't believe HTF receives any benefit from them.

 

[PODER]

Dear Ignatius ... thanks for the import link. They have several Blu-Rays I'd like to order, but I can't find any way to read more about each title. Are they ALL Region Free? Or do I just order a few and cross my fingers? Any further info would be much appreciated!

 

[Ignatius]

Looking them up on Blu-Ray.com is usually a good way to go. They tend to note in the video sections of their reviews if any of the discs have problems with region locking or PAL content. Just make sure you switch the flag in the search bar to 'United Kingdom'.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I have added a link to this list to the Blue box at the top of the forum as I think this list is quite valuable. Anyone want to take charge of keeping it updated for all of us?

 

[battlebeast]

Since best pictures and nominees are my specialty, I can certainly try to keep it updated. I'll give it my best!!

 

[Matt Hough]

Thanks, Warren. You're the perfect person for the job!

 

[battlebeast]

Fox announced that CAVALCADE will be released on Blu!
"[SIZE= 14px]HTF members and other voters weren’t shy about letting Fox know about additional titles they wanted as the write-in box was used over 8,000 times! It will come as no surprise to HTF members that the film that received the most requests via write-in was Cavalcade. Based on the overwhelming support it received Fox has decided to release it on Blu-ray this August![/SIZE]"
This is great news! I, personally, used the write-in box 14 times per day to vote for Cavalcade.
Thanks to everyone else who did as well!

 

[battlebeast]

I just hope Fox adds some more Bonus Features to the Cavalcade Blu. There are an abundance of posters floating the net, for a poster gallery, there is a Doc about Frank Lloyd, a doc about Noel Coward and two clips of him talking about Cavalcade. Surely Fox can come up with this and much more.

 

[battlebeast]

Keep your Crash DVD... the Blu-Ray is barebones, and the two-disc set is a directors cut and has several good bonus features.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Around the World in 80 Days would be a great Blu release with the proper care. The DVD was a revelation. Widescreen, beautiful color, and a great 5.1 track.

One thing worth mentioning is that there's two cuts: the 24fps version meant for the 35mm release and the 30fps version for Todd-AO 70mm. They could do a 2-disc set with both cuts. It was shot entirely in 65mm, so the quality could be great.

The DVD had some decent extras like Brian Sibley's outstanding commentary track, but there's a ton of materials Warner could license from the Library of Congress. While they included about 10 minutes of outtakes as an extra, there's at least three complete deleted scenes and hours of behind the scenes footage. They also seem to have a lot of materials that could help with preservation. The DVD looks very good, but it has a lot of odd issues like water damage in a few shots, strange frozen dissolves, and the end credits are littered with splices.

I know 80 Days isn't exactly the most cherished Best Picture, but it's a fun movie that could use some care on a Blu-Ray release. I'd love to see all that Library of Congress material finally show up to the public, along with the long-unseen Todd-AO version.

 

[Cine_Capsulas]

I'm dying for HD treatments for Tom Jones and The Best Years of Our Lives. The former, I think, has never been released on an anamorphic DVD!

 

[battlebeast]

I'm dying for HD treatments for Tom Jones and The Best Years of Our Lives. The former, I think, has never been released on an anamorphic DVD!

Apparently, Best Years is comming out in november, if the page on Amazon.ca is true.

 

[Cinescott]

Terms of Endearment and Ordinary People are two of my favorite BP winners from the 80s. Hopefully soon.

 

[Sumnernor]

Forgotten seems to be the Russian film "War and Peace" by Sergei Bondarchuk which won the Oscar for the best Foreign Language film 1968. Some consider this to be the BEST film ever.

 

[lukejosephchung]

Terms of Endearment and Ordinary People are two of my favorite BP winners from the 80s. Hopefully soon.

Considering this year is the 30th Anniversary of the theatrical release of "Terms Of Endearment" , I'll be very surprised if Paramount doesn't port this title through the catalog distribution agreement with Warner's by the 4th quarter...

 

[Adam_S]

In terms of Best Picture Nominees, The two films that should be highest priority are 1931 East Lynne and 1934 The White Parade.

Both are Fox titles.

Neither has ever been released on VHS anywhere in the world.

Neither has ever been released on LD anywhere in the world.

Neither has ever been released on DVD anywhere in the world

Neither has ever been aired on television anywhere in the world (to the best of my knowledge).

Both films exist, and are safe at UCLA, which has done SD transfers of their elements to DigiBeta in recent years.