DVD Review HTF REVIEW: The Sound of Music - 40th Anniversary Edition (1 Viewer)

[RobertSiegel]

Hey David, which theater in DC? Do they have a website? The reason I ask is that there is a 70mm theater in Minneapolis called the "Heights" and they recently showed Oklahoma in 70mm (wow, how much better it looked than the new dvd), so I want to tell them where so they can check into the possibility of getting that print, though I understand there are several 70mm prints made from the new Academy Archive restoration.

Joel, I agree with you on all aspects of the new SOM dvd. It also struck me how much cleaner the sound is.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Hey Rob!

It's called the "AFI" and they have a theater in LA that hosts them and they own a restored deco theater in Silver Spring MD:

http://www.afi.com/about/directions.aspx#ss

Check it out. They're open to feedback and info so let them know what you know about Oklahoma!

...I'm just a girl who can't say no....

 

[Mark-P]

I'm quoting myself here. Well, I just got my copies of "Oklahoma!" and "State Fair" in the mail today. I did a comparison of the 2 versions of "Oklahoma" with my DLP projector on my 81" wide screen and here's what I have to say. Oh my God, the Todd-AO version IS just as bad as everyone says. The colors a dark and muted and everything is hazy. It's like watching the movie through smudged up sunglasses. The only positive thing about it (picture-wise) is that the the 30 frame-per-second rate gave it a very smooth, jitter-free look.
On the other hand the CinemaScope version was simply gorgeous. They obviously used all their resources on restoring that version and the Todd-AO was just tacked on as a sloppy extra with no care given to it whatsoever.

 

[Joel Vardy]

Having now looked at the whole gamut of new extras on SOM I have to say that independent of the PQ/SQ improvements (which I have already noted to be significant) they are worth the price of admition alone. From the dual commentaries to the A&E documentary to the reunion of the children and Julie and Christopher. Any fan of this musical is sure to get quite a bit out of this selection as both documentary and movie-related extras for me define the 'gold standard' of Special Edition. Well done .

Joel

 

[RobertSiegel]

David, thanks....in the over 300 times I've seen Sound of Music, I've never once seen it in 70mm. I may just have to visit DC for the first time

 

[DaViD Boulet]

If you do come down let me know and let's all go to the movies!

dave

 

[MatthewA]

I'll try to get up for the whole Lehman festival, but I cannot promise.

 

[ScottR]

I wasn't going to pick this up, but I was at Target today and they were sold out of Kicking and Screaming (no, I wasn't going to buy that either.) I saw this on the shelf with a sign that read, "Sorry, we are out of Kicking and Screaming. You may substitute The Sound of Music for $8.88." WOW, what a deal!

 

[Bradley-E]

I watched it over the weekend. The picture really seemed soft to me most of the time; can't say I am really impressed by this release. FOX is usually pretty reliable.

 

[Marvin]

That was my impression as well. Actually, I never had any problems with the previous (5 Star) version (go ahead, laugh). I wonder if this means I have the sharpness set too low on my TV? (It's a Toshiba 50H72.) I calibrated it with Video Essentials and turned the sharpness way down (to about 13, if that means anything to anyone here).

Also, I've read where people say that Sony DVD players (which I have) are known for soft pictures. I wonder if either of these things explain why I never noticed the edge enhancement of the old version or why the picture of the new version seems so soft.

 

[Citizen87645]

Marvin, I think you can set sharpness on the Toshiba to "50." I have a Toshiba as well and my understanding is the "50" setting is the zero point on Toshibas.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Are you sure about that? When sharpness control is set to the lowest level that simply means it passes on the signal with no modification - therefore you can't have anything less than none. Once you go a step up from completely off, then its all about how much "sharpness" you want added to the signal. In most cases, adding sharpness also adds artificial artifacts into the picture, and creates edge enhancement.

 

[Marvin]

That's how I understand it.

Anyway, I don't mean to take this thread off into a tangent. I just wonder if I'm the only one that didn't see a problem with the previous edition.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

There is no standard for where the "flat" level (unmodified pass-through) is for any given display. And just like with tone-controls on your old receiver, the setting can be set lower which will actually *soften* the picture beyond its native appearance. So yes, you actually *can* have less than none in the case of the sharpness-control behavior on many consumer displays.

Each display is different. Some have "flat" at "0" while others may have flat anywhere above or below the 0 mark.

 

[Citizen87645]

Where's Micheal TLV when you need him?

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

For what it's worth, my Toshiba widescreen's (42H81) sharpness is set at 37 and that's after using Video Essentials. Granted, correctly setting sharpness is in its own way a bit more challenging and subjective than getting the constrast and brightness set right.

 

[GregK]

For those who enjoy comparing the various video versions of the Sound of Music, it is scheduled to air next Saturday (Dec 17th) on ABC, who will probably run it again in 720p HDTV. It's worth noting the last time it ran on ABC in HD, the original aspect ratio was used for the opening credits only. After that is was cropped to 1.78:1 for the HD version, and 1.33:1 for the NTSC version.

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

Doesn't the version that normally airs on network television have some fairly significant cuts for time?

 

[Carlos_M_Nash]

I finally got around to buying the new release of The Sound of Music. The picture is a bit softer, but it doesn't suffer from the horrible edge enhancement as much the 5 Star Collection does. The colour aren't that bad either.

As for the extras, the new interviews are terrific. I quite enjoyed the reunioun of the actors who played the children. Also, has anyone else noticed they replaced the 'isolated music' track. On the 5 Star Collection, the isolated music was awfully brassy and tinny. On the 40th anniversary release, it's a bit bassier, but it has Foley effects. I think they lifted the audio from the tracks used to dub the foreign language versions which kind of sucks because some of the additional music found in the 5 Star Collection is not in the final release version of the film.