National Velvet -- what a shame (1 Viewer)

[Casey C.]

I just rented "National Velvet" from Netflix. Wasn't expecting much -- a 1944 film about a girl and a horse -- but it was a little gem of a movie. You can see why Elizabeth Taylor became a star. I was horrified, however, by the video quality. The worst I've seen on any DVD, ever. The source elements were in terrible shape: scratches, tears, and in a few scenes the colors weren't even lined up correctly. As far as I can tell there are no plans in the works for a restoration, even in the wake of Miss Taylor's death. This movie is in dire need of it. And it may not be "Raging Bull," but I think it deserves it. What a shame. Come on Warner!

 

[MatthewA]

I agree that the current DVD isn't very good and it deserves a fully restored Blu-Ray. But there are far worse representations of Technicolor movies on DVD.

 

[Vegas 1]

never bought the dvd, but I do have the Laserdisc which I don't think is terrible for laserdisc anyway. The biggest problem I remember with the LD is the color, reminds me of the Quiet Man LD.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

I asked about this film during a WB chat about 6 years ago. I was told that this was one of their top sellers, and they didn't have plans to restore it. I'm hoping that this will be restored and included in some sort of Blu-ray commemorative boxed set for Elizabeth. She is woefully underrepresented on Blu-ray.