HTF REVIEW: "A Hard Day's Night" (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[george kaplan]

That's not really true. Most properly ISF-calibrated hdtv sets will still have enough overscan so that you won't see black bars on 1.66:1 material.

 

[Kajs]

I'm gonna say it, I prefer the MPI version. The picture looks grainier on this new one, and the new 5.1 sound mix for the music sounds muffled or something.
Screenshot comparison
MPI on top
Miramax on the bottom
Sorry this isn't the same exact shot, but the idea is still there.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I think the Miramax version resolves the film grain pattern a little better due to the increased vertical resolution. I would give the new transfer the edge. I think the straight mono parts of the soundtrack sound better than they have on previous releases, but agree that the mono processed to 5.1 Beatle music tracks sound pretty disappointing.

Regards,

 

[James David Walley]

Anyone else who can compare this to the MPI release?
I went to Costco to grab some other new releases, and picked this up while I was at it. I have the MPI disc, and figured this would be more of a "special edition."
Before opening it, I went over the DVDFile review, and followed it up by checking this one out. What I have found is that:
1) The Running, Jumping, And Standing Still Film, present on the MPI disc, is gone.
2) The main extras seem to be a bunch of interviews that might be interesting, but don't live up to what I was expecting.
3) (from the DVDFile) The 1.66:1 ratio of the new release is rather arbitrary, since the original film was shot in 1.33:1 and projected in a number of different ratios worldwide. Moreover, the current framing makes it "tight on the top and bottom."
4) (from here) The 5.1 mix isn't all that good, and it's better to listen to the pure stereo mix (which is on the MPI).
At this point, my new purchase is still unopened. I'm thinking that, unless I can find some compelling argument in favor of the current release, I'd be better off returning it and sticking with the MPI. I really don't have shelf space for both, so if I decide on the Miramax, I'll probably be selling the MPI. Any input?

 

[Ted Kontos]

I'll tell you...I'm not one to complain often about DVD transfers, but Disney really screwed the pooch on this one! Last night, I watched the first 1/2 hour of the new Miramax AHDN and within the first 5 minutes I noticed 2 things that jumped out at me: 1) The amount of speckles and dirt in the opening "A Walter Shenson Production" title card, and more importantly, 2) The fact that the ending 12-string ringing notes of the title song were COMPLETELY CHOPPED OFF!!! The song ended abruptly as the
boys were surrounded by cheers and screaming. To assure myself that my mind was not failing me, I pulled out my MPI DVD (full-frame) and sure enough, the opening title card was spotless AND the end of the title song was there! The sound mix on the MPI disc was noticeably better (though not unflawed): clearer and less muddy than the Disney version. The music on the MPI disc also "flows" into stereo, much like Amadeus, rather than the abrupt "Hey I just switched on the Dolby Digital for the music" approach that Miramax used. As for the transfer, I couldn't see much improvement in Disney's "enhanced" picture, other than it being a bit lighter than the MPI transfer and matted, for better or worse (I haven't made up my mind on that one yet). To add insult to injury, the MPI special features include a
detailed restoration description for the film. What was done between 1996 and 2002 by Miramax to lessen the quality of this film???? I'm extremely disappointed in the new release, and exceedingly glad that I didn't sell my
MPI release like I was thinking of a couple of weeks ago!

Bottom line: I think I'll watch the film on the MPI disc and the supplements on the new disc.

 

[Kajs]

I'll agree with everything he said.

 

[Chas_T]

Thanks for the review Ron. Well done!!! Agreed on the 5.1 soundtrack.

Memories, memories, memories. I always found the Beatle's film's refreshing because they were natural, funny and having a wonderful time enjoying their fame. It was such an innocent time period of their lives when they began their musical dynasty.

I can still remember living to my transistor radio late at night, with an ear piece so my mom would not make me shut that radio off listening to the Beatles.

For anyone living in the Northeast, I am sure they remember 77 WABC AM or WA-Beatle-C as they named the station in the height of Beatlemania. Cousin Brucy, Scott Muny and Herb Oscar Anderson. What memories.

Then came Sgt. Peppers. Another dimension in time.

Thanks again Ron.

 

[JerryLA]

All in all, I'm quite pleased with this release. I think the last time I saw this was in a theatre in Dallas at the age of about 13. A little dissapointed with the soundtrack. I'm not sure what I expected but it fell a bit short. I'll have to re-watch and evaluate it again. It was such a thrill to watch it and rel-live some of those early childhood memories. My wife had never seen it and was quite impressed with the overall experience. Paul's grandfather is a treat. I was hoping Anthology might be out for Christmas but from what I've read, the powers to be are holding out till early 2003.
Jerry

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

The fact that the ending 12-string ringing notes of the title song were COMPLETELY CHOPPED OFF!!!

...exactly as it was intended in the original theatrical mix before it was subverted by the 1982 and subsequent versions using the stereo album mixes of the song and not truncating it like in the film.

Other than presenting the mono music tracks in fake 5.1 stereo, this mix did most everything right. The laserdisc and MPI DVD releases dropped in the stereo mixes (some of which had different vocal arrangements as far as single/double tracked parts) and not only deleted some foley effects, but changed the way the mix was edited as well. A lot of us have only heard it wrong and are presuming that the new one is wrong because it is different. Same goes for the 1.66:1 framing.

The opening and closing scenes have a lot of problems on both the MPI and Miramax versions because:

a) The first and last reel of the negative had "gone missing" and an IP had to be used for the 1996 restoration

and, more significantly,

b) They are a few generations down due to the opticals necessary for the titles. Rather than try to recreate the titles, they used the best source they had for the original titles which was not as good as the rest of the film.

Regards,

 

[Keith Paynter]

AHDN made it Canadian debut today, so after finally running through it, here a few more observations...

- I'm really starting to get cheesed of with the Canadian home video industry, where multi-language cover artwork is concerned. Paramount is bad enough, now Alliance.

- After having been exposed to A Hard Day's Night on film long before it was ever a video release, thanks to our public library's 16mm free loan collection - now sadly demised (I remember the original B&W United Artists logo pretty well) - I cannot help but continue to be disappointed that every 'new and improved' version continues to be an aural disappointment. The re-processed music now seems loud and out of character with the rest of the film. The only exception is the reprise of 'Can't Buy Me Love' in the final chase scene, which remains intact as originally released because the original dialogue and foley could not be separated. The ambient thickening of the mono songs is now downright muddy (as has been mentioned before), although there is definitely a better presence than has been available since the bland-sounding CD release. Even George Martin's orchestral track 'Ringo's Theme (This Boy)' sounds fine in its dated mag-track source. I would have been a lot happier if the French soundtrack was scrapped and the original mono had been put in its place, with French subtitles.

Having said that, I doubt that the film's original mono mix tapes that were given to United Artists exist anymore (done prior to the official album mixes so that the music scenes could be shot to playback).

- After seeing this film many times, I still don't understand why there were technical problems with all the musical numbers shot in the theater, because playback for all these numbers is so slow, while all other inserts are spot on! Surely John and Paul would have said something like 'Why is that playback so slow?'.

- Visually, I am impressed, especially since comparing it to the MPI laserdisc version, which is more soft and grainy. Comparing the visuals between the two, there are instances where it seems that footage was shot with and without mattes in camera, since a handful of shots seem to fill the same areas in both versions, while the majority is finally viewable in hard-matted widescreen. If for no other reason, this is why I enjoy this disc.

- The documentary of Disc One is done quite well, and it makes the use of complete versions of the interviews on Disc 2 seem superfluous, except for the interview regarding Paul's cut scene. I always wondered while Ringo had a feature bit, George had one, and John had a small scene, but Paul didn't get to have his solo bit.


To call this a restoration is a bit of a mislabel. Having grown up watching this film on an optical 16mm projector, the dialogue sounds much like I remember it, but the music continues to seem out of place with the rest of the film. Just like many who prefer the original mono soundtrack of Jaws and continue to be denied, this DVD is a double-edged sword. At least I can watch my Rocky Horror Picture Show DVD and still get the feeling that I am watching (and listening to) a "film".

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

To call this a restoration is a bit of a mislabel.

Well, the film was restored in 1996 by Paul Rutan Jr. and the original mono track was preserved from the best available elements. They used the restoration as the basis for this release, but then "enhanced" (i.e. screwed up) the audio during the Beatles musical performance sequences.
Regards,

 

[Grant B]

1) The Running, Jumping, And Standing Still Film, present on the MPI disc, is gone.

Can anyone tell me what versions of the film this is available on
LDs or DVD...I think I will buy back my 1st version of HDN soon...should buy it for alot less than the $90 I sold it for

 

[RaulR]

- I'm really starting to get cheesed of with the Canadian home video industry, where multi-language cover artwork is concerned. Paramount is bad enough, now Alliance.

You wanna be cheesed off even further? Compare the packaging of the Alliance version with the screenshots Ron included with his review. The pictures on the Alliance package are washed out, grainy, enlarged and badly cropped.

 

[Keith Paynter]

Those scenes were shot 25 fps to synch up with the frame rate of the video monitors.

That was my suspicion, but I thought that 25 fps was a European film speed, not a video speed. I thought that was the distinction between 30 fps drop-frame and non-drop-frame, but that wouldn't be enough to radically alter the music pitch.

 

[Derek Miner]

Thanks Ken for supplying all the information about the audio issues. The one thing about the audio that puzzled me was that there was NOTHING out of the center channel during most of the songs. The music remixes sounded more stereo than they did in the theater, but they seem louder at home than they did in the theater as well.

I am quite pleased with the visuals, however. And from the image comparison earlier in the thread, I'm even more convinced that the 1:66 framing is accurate.

I haven't watched a lot of the stuff on disc 2 yet, but am I correct that the "You Can't Do That" clip is nowhere to be found on this release?

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

The one thing about the audio that puzzled me was that there was NOTHING out of the center channel during most of the songs. The music remixes sounded more stereo than they did in the theater, but they seem louder at home than they did in the theater as well.

The recipe for the fake stereoization of the music tracks seems to have gone something like this: Start with mono track. Decorrelate and send to left and right channels. Send faint reverbed version of same to rear channels. Leave center channel blank. Pump up bass severely via LFE.

If you listent to a pro-logic down-mix, the surround levels go up significantly (due to the out of phase info in the fronts bleeding to the surrounds), some of the signal goes to the center, and the bass actually sounds reasonably musical again due to the absence of LFE.

Regards,

 

[RaulR]

What's with the portion of the Richard Lester interview on disc 2 where the picture fades out and is suddenly windowboxed for a short time for no apparent reason? It happens from 09:57 to 10:09. It looks like a mistake.

 

[Robert_eb]

What is the correct oar for this film? Was it 1.33.1 or 1.66:1? I thought this was shot 1.33:1.

If the oar is 1.33:1 why would they release this in 1.66:1?

 

[TedD]

I'll guarantee you it's not 1.33:1 because I have part of the last reel and the end title is hard matted to 1.66:1 on the 35mm print.

Ted

 

[ScottR]

So how much different is the soundtrack for the songs than the original theatrical release? It appeared to me in several sections that lips and sound did not match up and the sound waivered during the songs.