How The West Was Won - Blu ray (1 Viewer)

[Brent Avery]

Say, is anyone familiar with U.S. and Canadian versions of this film? I noticed that the Canadian release is listed around 31.00 at the place I usually deal with and the U.S. one is 20.00 more. Hmmm... could it be that it is the same as the Ultimate Edition SD dvd? I never knew there would be a difference between the two but the pricing indicates something. September 9 is fast approaching! ( At least that is the release date up here ). Any insight on this?

 

[Ed St. Clair]

WoW
The three strip process lines in HD!
JJ
I heard they supposedly removed the lines for the last SD release.
Classic film making in HD!
This is a good thing.

 

[Jonny_L]

The difference in price you're seeing is simply the fact that even though for almost 2 years our Canadian dollar has been worth near the same or more then the American dollar, the movie studios will not change their SRP's in Canada. I have no idea why you say the American Version would be more. I would be buying elsewhere.

I've personally asked a few reps about this and gotten the run around about it. One suggested to do what I suggest, buy whatever you can from Amazon.com - theres no import duty and whatever you buy you just need to pay for exchange.

There is NO DIFFERENCE in this title in Canada, except there might be some French on the packaging.

 

[Chris S]

I vaguely remember reading an article a few months back showing how they had gone back and redid the line removal again . I wish I could recall where I read it though because it showed some nice comparisons between the different versions.

 

[frankie108]

I hope they did remove those lines and used all their power and magic to do it so that all we see is a pristine image.
Geeeeez. You don't suppose that some people will protest the removal of those lines do ya?

 

[Chris S]

From the comparison that I saw it looked pretty good (i.e. no image loss or degradation) so I would think there wouldn't be much opposition. There may be some detractors but I think the majority of discerning viewers will be happy.

 

[John Hermes]

The current SD DVD that's out there on this title is made from the old composite negative. There are obvious join lines with frequently different color balance in each "panel". The image is also from a worn negative with old scratches and debris. I was very disappointed with it when I got it. Hopefully, the new SD and BR discs will be revelations. This title deserves it.

 

[Chris S]

Well I still can't find that article... but here is one from HMM that should subside some of the join line fears.

Link

Also for a good example of the join lines from the previous DVD see this image from Wikipedia.

 

[RickardL]

There is a video documentary online here about film restoration which includes
HTWWW: BBC NEWS | Programmes | Click | Mission possible: Film restoration

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Yep!

 

[Brian-W]

For Los Angeles members - Arclight will be showing "How the West Was Won" in the 3-strip Cinerama projection in the Dome September 7th.

 

[Rob W]

I saw HTWWW in Cinerama at the Dome about 5 years ago ( and five years earlier in Seattle ) and it was one of the great moviegoing experiences of my life ( if you're a technology nut or a classics fan ). It was the primary reason for going to both cities and worth every dollar.

Not an especially great place to meet girls, though ! : )

 

[OliverK]

Don't you kid us - we all know that the hot girls are all over guys who watch 50 year old movies with John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart split into three different parts with visible lines on a huge screen - nothing hotter than that

 

[Bleddyn Williams]

Well, its two days until release. I don't see any reviews online and Warner hasn't shipped my preorder. I wonder if this is delayed?

 

[Joe Fisher]

The new release date is now September 9th. WHV has it up on their site.

http://whv.warnerbros.com/WHVPORTAL/....jsp?OID=49502

 

[Bleddyn Williams]

Thanks, Joe!

 

[DeeF]

Has anybody found this in NYC yet? I sure would like to watch it this weekend. Send me a PM if you know where to pick it up.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

I used a Best Buy gift certificate to buy this and the Blu-ray of Cool Hand Luke. I received an e-mail that Luke was shipped yesterday, but no work on HTWWW yet.

 

[Bob_L]

They've been showing a widescreen version of HTWWW on the Encore Westerns channel recently. It appears to me that this is the remastered version because the join lines between the Cinerama strips are nearly gone. You can still see some of the lens "distortion," of course. If this is what's going on Blu-ray, it could end up looking very, very good.

 

[Brian-W]

The showing today at the Arclight Hollywood Cinerama dome today of HTWWW was ok. I noticed people lining up at 9:00am this morning, wondering why since seats are assigned. Now I know - the first 100 ticket holders got copies of HTWWW on Blu-Ray as they entered the theater!

They had some of the actors and stunt men from the film present in the audience, and the showing today was ok. A big sound glitch marred the first reels about 1/3 the way in all the way to intermission. A high pitched whine developed and only disappeared during loud music/voices/singing. During the second set of reels (post intermission) they found a way to get around it (it would appear for a split second then go away, but happened consistantly).

It was a lot of fun today, I'm glad WB and Arclight did something for the release on BD.