CLEOPATRA Region Free BRD (1 Viewer)

[Paul Rossen]

You would think that they would learn from past indiscretions. 

I don't recall FOX ever correcting the wrong disc for the Entr'acte music. Though I believe they correctly added the Exit music after it was originally left off the 2nd disc.

 

[trajan]

Thats correct.

 

[DP 70]

It was me who posted about entr,acte being at the end of disc 1, after a title appears after please insert disc 2 .
.

 

[DP 70]

The picture is not as vibrant as the original Todd-AO print , its more like the 70mm DTS print but it still looks great all the same.

 

[OliverK]

I hate caps and would never go by them, but in looking at the before and after here, the Blu-ray caps are entirely accurate, color-wise. If the Blu actually looks that good, I'm going to be VERY happy.

The DVD obviously is too reddish plus plagued by low resolution and compression artefacts.
The Blu-Ray leaning very much to the blue side does also seem very strange though as I cannot remember another film from that era having that look, so I stand by my words that I cannot imagine that the film is supposed to look so blue.
As I said the newly struck 70mm print I saw was more in between those two extremes and to me it looked more believable than both the DVD and the Blu-Ray so I will use the color controls available on my equipment to make Cleopatra look a bit warmer. Textures and detail seem to be among the best that is currently available so I am looking forward to a very pleasant viewing experience

 

[DP 70]

i think this looks miles better than The Sound of Music, but not as film like as Ben Hur, why do the people doing this transfers not check though a
print first.
These people have never even seen or heard about a roadshow screening.

 

[Alan Tully]

I cancelled my pre-order after looking at those grabs. About eight months ago I saw a bit of Cleo's entry into Rome on Sky Movies HD, & it all looked far too cold, downright drab, but it wasn't my telly so I thought it could be the set up. Those grabs look like what I saw, so I think I'll wait & read a few reviews first, baring in mind that as long as it's sharp some people will give it 10 out of 10. To me the colour is a big part of this film, vibrant blues, golds, cherry reds, if it's all a bit subdued then I'll pass & keep the DVD, it's a film I only watch about every 4-5 years.

 

[OliverK]

Those grabs look like what I saw, so I think I'll wait & read a few reviews first, baring in mind that as long as it's sharp some people will give it 10 out of 10. To me the colour is a big part of this film, vibrant blues, golds, cherry reds, if it's all a bit subdued then I'll pass & keep the DVD, it's a film I only watch about every 4-5 years.

Unfortunately very little regard is given to having correct color balance and timing and I agree about the sky airing - saw that, too and it looked like the Blu-Ray, very drab and bluish.
I am sure that there will be enough of the following arguments to support this disc as it seems to have plenty of detail and texture with little to no visible DNR from what I see:
- we never know how this was supposed to look anyway
- even though we are not supposed to know how it has to look it is perfectly clear that this version is definitely correct, with regard to color timing and not the LD/DVD/35mm Technicolor prints/70mm prints that look all different and obviously all of them were wrong.
- colors are subjective anyway and we should not care too much about them provided the disc has sufficient detail and no DNR
This is of course a bit tongue in cheek and I have to say from all the problems a disc can have a consistent bluish tint is much easier to deal with than missing detail and/or filmgrain

 

[Alan Tully]

Yep, all this should make interesting reading on the net over the next couple of weeks.

 

[DP 70]

I have just watched this and if you cancel this you are missing out .

 

[DP 70]

I have just watched this and if you cancel this you are missing out .

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Derek, glad to hear that!
Not sure if you've had a chance to check them out yet, but what are the new featurettes like?

 

[DP 70]

Hi Andrew,
Have only looked at Missing Footage which is really good in HD. I think 95% of people will be impressed with this 2 disc set enjoy.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Thanks, Derek! The Missing Footage is the one I'm most interested in.
My copy is listed as dispatching soon on Amazon, so I can't wait. Should get it by Thursday or Friday.

 

[haineshisway]

I will say again, you cannot judge based on caps. People canceling orders based on that, well - always best to not be so rash until someone has actually seen the thing, and now someone has and has said it's good. I'll have it on Monday or Tuesday, and since color is my bugaboo I will tell you true on whether it's accurate. It's not subjective at all - I've seen the film many times in the theater.

 

[Mark Collins]

Sorry guys but I am going to wait for the USA market. I had that plan from the start with the hope we might get further extras. I just cannot double dip with so many of my favorites going blue this year. I will not say the concerns here have not helped my choice but was maybe 20 percent that choice.

 

[Alan Tully]

I will say again, you cannot judge based on caps. People canceling orders based on that, well - always best to not be so rash until someone has actually seen the thing, and now someone has and has said it's good. I'll have it on Monday or Tuesday, and since color is my bugaboo I will tell you true on whether it's accurate. It's not subjective at all - I've seen the film many times in the theater.

Well that's fair enough, I'll look forward to seeing what you think. I hope it's good, I'd really like to buy it, if there was one film made for Blu-ray, then it was this one.
I'm reading the new biography of Richard Burton by Tom Rubython, it's about a foot thick. I've been reading it all week & am only just coming up to his first Hollywood film, I reckon it will be the end of the week before I get to Cleopatra. He smoked between 40 & 100 cigarettes a day, drunk like a fish & had sex with almost every woman he met; the man was a force! Oh, & what an actor!

 

[willyTass]

Don Juanism at its best

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Well that's fair enough, I'll look forward to seeing what you think. I hope it's good, I'd really like to buy it, if there was one film made for Blu-ray, then it was this one.
I'm reading the new biography of Richard Burton by Tom Rubython, it's about a foot thick. I've been reading it all week & am only just coming up to his first Hollywood film, I reckon it will be the end of the week before I get to Cleopatra. He smoked between 40 & 100 cigarettes a day, drunk like a fish & had sex with almost every woman he met; the man was a force! Oh, & what an actor!

I read that book last summer. The author got a number of facts wrong about his relationship with Elizabeth (so I assume there are likely plenty more factual errors throughout the book), and it could have used some editing, but overall it was an interesting read that helped me understand him better. You should also read Melvyn Bragg's Burton biography if you haven't already.

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by haineshisway /t/315158/cleopatra-rumor/120#post_3892045
I will say again, you cannot judge based on caps. People canceling orders based on that, well - always best to not be so rash until someone has actually seen the thing, and now someone has and has said it's good. I'll have it on Monday or Tuesday, and since color is my bugaboo I will tell you true on whether it's accurate. It's not subjective at all - I've seen the film many times in the theater.

I am right there with you on screen caps. I remember a problem, which I think was with Fiddler On The Roof, where the poster of screen caps has to come back later and said his screen caps were saved with a wrong setting which caused them to be extremely poor. That was after many people canceled their pre-orders. I wait for the actual reviews, mostly here on HTF before I purchase a title if I am concerned about it.

I am looking forward to your thoughts on the release and especially if they did mess up the entr'acte again.