International Frank Capra's Lost Horizon - Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[RMajidi]

Frank Capra's Lost Horizon is in pre-release here in Australia, slated for Sep 7 release.

Fantastic news for Capra-loving Aussies like yours truly, but also good news for film nuts everywhere ...as follows:

• Sony has restored this from a 4K scan (Via Vision/Madman are Sony's distributors here)
• Blu-rays by Madman are labelled Region-B, but are uniformly region-free
• With current exchange rates, the price (which is sure to drop significantly anyway, once it hits retailers like JB-HiFi here) will be a steal, even with shipping charges
• If you prefer to wait, this will no doubt be released by the likes of Twilight Time soon

Link: https://www.madman.com.au/catalogue/view/37344/lost-horizon-bluray

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Thanks! That link indicates that at least one sequence previously represented only with stills & soundtrack has been found (although from a worn 16mm print). Good news.

 

[ahollis]

Frank Capra's Lost Horizon is in pre-release here in Australia, slated for Sep 7 release.

Fantastic news for Capra-loving Aussies like yours truly, but also good news for film nuts everywhere ...as follows:

• Sony has restored this from a 4K scan (Via Vision/Madman are Sony's distributors here)
• Blu-rays by Madman are labelled Region-B, but are uniformly region-free
• With current exchange rates, the price (which is sure to drop significantly anyway, once it hits retailers like JB-HiFi here) will be a steal, even with shipping charges
• If you prefer to wait, this will no doubt be released by the likes of Twilight Time soon

Link: https://www.madman.com.au/catalogue/view/37344/lost-horizon-bluray

It may be Sony's holiday release as like the previous You Can't Take It With You.

 

[RMajidi]

It may be Sony's holiday release this as like the previous You Can't Take It With You.

You're likely very correct on this, Allen. This could well be next in line for Sony's Capra Collection Blu-ray series.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Thanks! That link indicates that at least one sequence previously represented only with stills & soundtrack has been found (although from a worn 16mm print). Good news.

Hopefully it looks better than similarly sourced material in The Complete Metropolis, although it is grand to have it after all these years in pretty much ANY condition.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

This 4K restoration was shown at the Film Forum in NYC in 2014 - I reported on it then, but in case you didn't see my older post, it's all good news. The movie looks and sounds fantastic, and is a major upgrade over the previous DVD. Although they still had to utilize 16mm footage for some sections, the digital restoration has really upgraded the apparent quality of this footage, and the transitions from 35mm to 16mm are far less jarring than they've ever been. And although there are some sections which are represented by still frames only, they did find some footage since the previous DVD to fill in - now the High Lama scenes are all film rather than stills.

Any Blu-ray made from this master will look fantastic.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

How do the High Lama scenes look, Josh?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

How do the High Lama scenes look, Josh?

Going from a two year old memory here, but they looked good. Some of the are from 35mm, so those look fantastic, but the 16mm material in both those scenes and throughout the film has really benefited from the new digital restoration. The restoration used on the previous DVD, which was state of the art at the time, was done in the analog realm on film, and each time they had to go to 16mm, it was very noticeable. In the new restoration, it's one of those things where you can notice it if you're looking for it, but if you're just watching the movie without trying to analyze the bits and pieces, it flows much better despite the patchwork collection of sources.

 

[Tony Bensley]

It's my understanding that like METROPOLIS (1927), LOST HORIZON (1937) is now only missing about 2 minutes of footage each?

When I saw the METROPOLIS restoration on TCM in 2010, I found the 35m to 16mm transitions were quite jarring (Although quite happy that it was even found!), mainly in that there was black framing around the smaller gauge 'Argentina' footage. Has this been issue been reduced with further utilization of digital software for LOST HORIZON footage, then?

It's fantastic that so much missing footage as been located and restored for both of these cinematic classics! Too bad that vinegar syndrome caused 2 minutes of the found METROPOLIS footage to be unusable - oh so close to complete, but not quite! I'd love to see another restoration of that Film!

CHEERS!

 

[B-ROLL]

Hi Llama ?

 

[Cine_Capsulas]

This 4K restoration was shown at the Film Forum in NYC in 2014 - I reported on it then, but in case you didn't see my older post, it's all good news. The movie looks and sounds fantastic, and is a major upgrade over the previous DVD. Although they still had to utilize 16mm footage for some sections, the digital restoration has really upgraded the apparent quality of this footage, and the transitions from 35mm to 16mm are far less jarring than they've ever been. And although there are some sections which are represented by still frames only, they did find some footage since the previous DVD to fill in - now the High Lama scenes are all film rather than stills.

Any Blu-ray made from this master will look fantastic.

This is good news. I might upgrade. When I first watched the film on TV, I thought the still scenes were a stylistic choice! I had no idea there were parts of the actual film missing.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

When I saw the METROPOLIS restoration on TCM in 2010, I found the 35m to 16mm transitions were quite jarring (Although quite happy that it was even found!), mainly in that there was black framing around the smaller gauge 'Argentina' footage. Has this been issue been reduced with further utilization of digital software for LOST HORIZON footage, then?

AFAIK, there has never been any black framing around the 16mm footage in Lost Horizon, not in the previous restoration that's out on DVD, nor the current one that has yet to be released on disc. Although the quality of the footage looks different when switching from 35mm to 16mm and back again, the aspect ratio remains consistent throughout.

 

[B-ROLL]

AFAIK, there has never been any black framing around the 16mm footage in Lost Horizon, not in the previous restoration that's out on DVD, nor the current one that has yet to be released on disc. Although the quality of the footage looks different when switching from 35mm to 16mm and back again, the aspect ratio remains consistent throughout.

One of the issues with the 16mm Metropolis footage is that the actual AR is 1:37 as it was a silent movie.When the film was transferred to safety film, the company that did it did so with the sound AR 1:35 matte on it causing image loss ...

 

[Tony Bensley]

One of the issues with the 16mm Metropolis footage is that the actual AR is 1:37 as it was a silent movie.When the film was transferred to safety film, the company that did it did so with the sound AR 1:35 matte on it causing image loss ...

My recollection of viewing the restored METROPOLIS (1927) on TCM, was the difference seemed a bit more drastic than that, but perhaps my memory isn't quite accurate regarding that?

In any case, based on the slightly different Aspect Ratios, the only way to avoid the horizontal bars would be to either actually lose a bit of the imaging for the 35mm footage, or else slightly blow up the 16mm footage, which would cause even further cropping on already slightly compromised imaging, and wouldn't look right compared with the untouched 35mm segments, anyway!

Either way, it's a really difficult choice!

CHEERS!

 

[B-ROLL]

My recollection of viewing the restored METROPOLIS (1927) on TCM, was the difference seemed a bit more drastic than that, but perhaps my memory isn't quite accurate regarding that?

In any case, based on the slightly different Aspect Ratios, the only way to avoid the horizontal bars would be to either actually lose a bit of the imaging for the 35mm footage, or else slightly blow up the 16mm footage, which would cause even further cropping on already slightly compromised imaging, and wouldn't look right compared with the untouched 35mm segments, anyway!

Either way, it's a really difficult choice!

CHEERS!

Additionally, with Metropolis the owner of the 16mm print screened it fairly often adding to the damage ...

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Even though it's a two year old memory, I can say with 100% certainty that the new Lost Horizon restoration looks better, and is more seamless in its blending of sources, than Metropolis is.

I really can't express how happy I was with how good Lost Horizon looked. This is one of my top five all time favorite movies, a movie that inadvertently led me to the career I have now, and something that can make me feel good about humanity and the world in my most pessimistic moments. It's such a powerful movie to me that I watch it only rarely to preserve its power - I don't want to wear it out. The majority of the movie now looks as good as the very best Sony 4K restorations, and the rest of it is greatly improved.

 

[TheSteig]

Ill wait for the US release which is inevitable now. It probably will be in December and a digibook to boot

 

[Cranston37+]

Completely off topic but I've always seen this as ripe for a remake - without someone like Spielberg at the helm. Damn fine book, too.

 

[Tony Bensley]

My recollection of viewing the restored METROPOLIS (1927) on TCM, was the difference seemed a bit more drastic than that, but perhaps my memory isn't quite accurate regarding that?

In any case, based on the slightly different Aspect Ratios, the only way to avoid the horizontal bars would be to either actually lose a bit of the imaging for the 35mm footage, or else slightly blow up the 16mm footage, which would cause even further cropping on already slightly compromised imaging, and wouldn't look right compared with the untouched 35mm segments, anyway!

Either way, it's a really difficult choice!

CHEERS!

Additionally, with Metropolis the owner of the 16mm print screened it fairly often adding to the damage ...

I recall from the documentary that the owner had no idea his 16mm print of METROPOLIS (1927) included a significant amount of footage that was otherwise lost.

Still, thank goodness that fact was discovered before more of the 16mm footage was lost to damage. Missing 2 minutes or so is a lot better than what was previously considered non extant!

CHEERS!

 

[battlebeast]

I don't care if METROPOLIS is in the wrong aspect or has bars or whatnot. I'm just thankful to the higher powers that be that the missing footage was found at all! I don't care that it is in poor condition; I'm ecstatic that is is extant!

Same with LOST HORIZON. I can't wait to view it in its almost full glory!