"Laura" Blu-ray Release on February 5th! (2 Viewers)

[Lromero1396]

DELETED

 

[Lromero1396]

Yes this is what I meant. The DVD you could tell. I watched the movie twice and i felt the whole extended looked not as good just silightly but that is my crazy thinking. Please buy the movie anyone it is great.

So it looked decidedly Standard-def? And I already have the DVD and love the film! But I would like to see someone like Robert Harris weigh in on this issue, which is not only a marketing issue, but a potential preservation problem.

 

[haineshisway]

Yes this is what I meant. The DVD you could tell. I watched the movie twice and i felt the whole extended looked not as good just silightly but that is my crazy thinking. Please buy the movie anyone it is great. The trailer of course looks awful. The soundtrack....... Bruce I screwed up and bought from Screen Archives. Which of course states I will not get it until March. I am just glad I have a copy. I was afraid of a sell out. The bonus is that from the the Laura/ Forever Amber/Bad and Beautiful CD??

Screen Archives will have them just a few days after we get them, so you won't have to wait. The bonus is what was previously on the Arista CD - which was one long suite of twenty-seven minutes, which was missing about ten minutes of score on one track. Our CD has the complete score on separate tracks, plus that suite, plus some test demos. The sound is improved from the Arista release.

 

[haineshisway]

So it looked decidedly Standard-def? And I already have the DVD and love the film! But I would like to see someone like Robert Harris weigh in on this issue, which is not only a marketing issue, but a potential preservation problem.

I haven't watched the extended as I have no interest in it whatsoever, since I'm an "as it was released originally" kind of guy. That presentation looks pretty excellent. I watched the deleted scene (which is the only difference - it's less than a minute, I think) and it seemed not of the same quality.

 

[Will Krupp]

Originally Posted by haineshisway
I haven't watched the extended as I have no interest in it whatsoever, since I'm an "as it was released originally" kind of guy.

See, here's the thing about that. Up until the DVD release the story we were always told was that the "deleted" scene WAS part of the original release and removed because of some issue with the music rights when it was sold to television. It makes sense too because it is a different piece of music (not heard anywhere else in the course of the film) that plays under the entire length of that particular montage and the flow of the flashback is, IMO disrupted by its removal.
The DVD comes out and that's the first time I ever heard that the scene was removed PRIOR to release. And it was supposedly removed because Fox thought that little montage was too "decadent" for wartime audiences? Did they not see the bevy of louche characters and decadent situations in the REST of the movie? I'm sorry I just don't buy it. The scene is completely scored and all of the dissolves and fades are intact as though it existed as part of a printing master (which doesn't jibe with condition of "deleted" scenes I've seen that survive from that era.) Not to mention that I don't think Waldo and Laura's story plays nearly as well without it. I would have called it bullshit from the get-go if it was anyone OTHER than Rudy Behlmer telling the story but even from Rudy's mouth I'm having a hard time swallowing it.

 

[Mark Collins]

Screen Archives will have them just a few days after we get them, so you won't have to wait. The bonus is what was previously on the Arista CD - which was one long suite of twenty-seven minutes, which was missing about ten minutes of score on one track. Our CD has the complete score on separate tracks, plus that suite, plus some test demos. The sound is improved from the Arista release.

Thanks Bruce! I watched the original and then watched up to the deleted scene on the extended movie and thought it was soft hence the movie had not been restored on the extended version. I never once meant to say do not buy. The orginal looks great with just a few audio background scratching noises. The audio as a whole is great. Buy the movie and do not cheat yourself of it.

 

[haineshisway]

See, here's the thing about that.  Up until the DVD release the story we were always told was that the "deleted" scene WAS part of the original release and removed because of some issue with the music rights when it was sold to television.  It makes sense too because it is a different piece of music (not heard anywhere else in the course of the film) that plays under the entire length of that particular montage and the flow of the flashback is, IMO disrupted by its removal. The DVD comes out and that's the first time I ever heard that the scene was removed PRIOR to release.  And it was supposedly removed because Fox thought that little montage was too "decadent" for wartime audiences?  Did they not see the bevy of louche characters and decadent situations in the REST of the movie? I'm sorry I just don't buy it.  The scene is completely scored and all of the dissolves and fades are intact as though it existed as part of a printing master (which doesn't jibe with condition of "deleted" scenes I've seen that survive from that era.)  Not to mention that I don't think Waldo and Laura's story plays nearly as well without it.  I would have called it bullshit from the get-go if it was anyone OTHER than Rudy Behlmer telling the story but even from Rudy's mouth I'm having a hard time swallowing it.

Well, happily it's there for those who want it.

 

[John Skoda]

I just sat down to finally watch the LAURA blu-ray, and contrary to the back cover text, there are no commentary tracks. There are supposed to be two of them.

 

[Steven_M Grimes]

The commentaries are only on the theatrical version.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Steven_M Grimes
The commentaries are only on the theatrical version.

Correct, also there is a Behlmer commentary on the deleted scene which included in the film is the extended version of the film.
Crawdaddy

 

[John Skoda]

Ah, OK, good. Thanks!

 

[ahollis]

It was late in life that I found out Johnny Mercer wrote lyrics to The Theme from Laura.

 

[Trentrunner]

At Amazon's Laura blu-ray page today:

This item is currently unavailable because customers have told us there may be something wrong with our inventory of the item, the way we are shipping it, or the way it's described here. (Thanks for the tip!) We're working to fix the problem as quickly as possible.

Anyone know why?

 

[Persianimmortal]

I noted this in the other Laura thread a couple of days ago: it's probably because of the confusion over the cover art. I notice that there is a 1 Star rating on the Amazon page due to the cover art issue (brilliant idea - let's rate something 1 star due to cover art!), and some of the other customer reviews mention it. I can't think there would be any other reason for the disc to be pulled from Amazon. If the cover art is indeed the issue, then aside from affirming my belief that you really can't overestimate human stupidity, it raises the question of how viable the Amazon complaints system is if it can trigger a cease of sale for several days due to such a piddling issue. I really wish people would return the focus of Blu-ray discussions back to the actual bloody movies, rather than extras, cover artwork, slipcovers, steelbooks, digibooks, limited edition toys and all that other nonsense. It's like having car reviews that talk at length about the number and size of cupholders in the vehicle.

 

[Lromero1396]

I noted this in the other Laura thread a couple of days ago: it's probably because of the confusion over the cover art. I notice that there is a 1 Star rating on the Amazon page due to the cover art issue (brilliant idea - let's rate something 1 star due to cover art!), and some of the other customer reviews mention it. I can't think there would be any other reason for the disc to be pulled from Amazon. If the cover art is indeed the issue, then aside from affirming my belief that you really can't overestimate human stupidity, it raises the question of how viable the Amazon complaints system is if it can trigger a cease of sale for several days due to such a piddling issue. I really wish people would return the focus of Blu-ray discussions back to the actual bloody movies, rather than extras, cover artwork, slipcovers, steelbooks, digibooks, limited edition toys and all that other nonsense. It's like having car reviews that talk at length about the number and size of cupholders in the vehicle.

I completely agree. I'm really worried about the release getting pulled, but have other releases gotten pulled for this reason? I mean the cover art is poor but the release should not be pulle because of it. And does anyone know if this release is available at Costco?

 

[haineshisway]

If Amazon actually pulled a product because some idiot consumers complained about a cover - well, I should think Fox could come on rather strongly. If you don't like the cover and that's why you're purchasing a Blu-ray here's a little clew: DON'T BUY IT and walk away.

 

[ahollis]

If Amazon actually pulled a product because some idiot consumers complained about a cover - well, I should think Fox could come on rather strongly. If you don't like the cover and that's why you're purchasing a Blu-ray here's a little clew: DON'T BUY IT and walk away.

Never bought a title based on the cover. I buy the title for the transfer, story, direction, actors and/or cinematography. Certainly not for the cover. I know that a lot of people have opinions on it but I just don't see the problem. Now the sound flutter could be another thing.

 

[davidHartzog]

I think the Laura BD is excellent. I never thought that was GT on the cover, looks more like Deanna Durbin.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by ahollis
Never bought a title based on the cover. I buy the title for the transfer, story, direction, actors and/or cinematography. Certainly not for the cover. I know that a lot of people have opinions on it but I just don't see the problem. Now the sound flutter could be another thing.

I played back that scene in question and I don't understand the sound flutter complaint.
Crawdaddy

 

[ahollis]

I

I played back that scene in question and I don't understand the sound flutter complaint. Crawdaddy

I agree with you. I have watched the Blu-Ray four times and did not notice any sound flutter to my untrained ear. I guess I am just believing what others with a better trained ear than I do say about it. But I do shake my head at the cover complaints.