Olive Films Blu-ray Release and Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[bigshot]

I don't mind negative dust at all.

 

[ahollis]

I was just thinking but RAGTIME would make a great Blu-ray from Olive or Warner's. Just a thought since the OOP Dvd is going for about $50.

 

[trajan]

I was just thinking but RAGTIME would make a great Blu-ray from Olive or Warner's. Just a thought since the OOP Dvd is going for about $50.

Been waiting for RAGTIME for a long while. Anything by Milos Forman needs to be on bluray.

 

[Alan Tully]

I don't mind negative dust at all.

I hate it, & always notice it. I've been trying to get rid of it all of my working life, first in a film lab (where we called it sparkle) & then on telecine. Wetgate technology made all the difference, & I'm pleased to see there are wetgate scanners, they can be a pain in the arse, but they do the job so well. A day or two de-spot session can work wonders, that's de-spotting by hand, a good operator can make a huge difference in a couple of days. You really do notice this stuff on HD.

 

[bigshot]

Man, I am doling out the Betty Boop cartoons to myself like ice cream... just a few at a time. The second set is fantastic! I've seen many of these on the big screen at UCLA and the LA County Museum of Art and they never looked better. Betty Boop has always been poorly served on home video. The old laserdisc set was a car crash of poor transfers. It's nice to finally see them the way they deserve to be seen.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Man, I am doling out the Betty Boop cartoons to myself like ice cream... just a few at a time. The second set is fantastic! I've seen many of these on the big screen at UCLA and the LA County Museum of Art and they never looked better. Betty Boop has always been poorly served on home video. The old laserdisc set was a car crash of poor transfers. It's nice to finally see them the way they deserve to be seen.

Stretched?

 

[Ken_Martinez]

Olive has little interest in the Betty Boops other than for their marquee value. That's why so many BB shorts are persona non grata. That's why all the other Max Fleischer cartoons in the Republic library will probably never see the light of day.

 

[Richard V]

I have but a handful of Olive releases. So far, so good for me, but I suspect my movie palate is not as refined as some on the forum.

 

[davidHartzog]

Finally received Shack and Plunder Road, both looking pretty good.

 

[bigshot]

Olive has little interest in the Betty Boops other than for their marquee value. That's why so many BB shorts are persona non grata. That's why all the other Max Fleischer cartoons in the Republic library will probably never see the light of day.

Well for not caring about them, they did a fantastic job of transferring them to video! The Olive blurays are spectactular. Have you seen them or are you going by the opinion of internetaspies?

 

[JoHud]

I think there might have been some stretch in vol 2 as well but I had a very hard time noticing it (for example in Dizzy Dishes). Personally, it's something that sticks out more in live action.

 

[bigshot]

I think the whole thing about aspect ratio is blown out of proportion by folks who didn't get a job being consultants.

 

[Ken_Martinez]

Well for not caring about them, they did a fantastic job of transferring them to video! The Olive blurays are spectactular. Have you seen them or are you going by the opinion of internetaspies?

Not unless you consider Leonard Maltin an internetaspie too: http://blogs.indiewire.com/leonardmaltin/wanted-more-fleischer-cartoons?page=1#blogPostHeaderPanel

 

[Moe Dickstein]

If you're happy with inferior product then that's just lucky for you I guess.

 

[bigshot]

I was the one that brought the issue of aspect ratio up in the first place, back when the laserdiscs came out. I posted a video of Snow White in its full aperture on my blog. Every previous release of the Betty Boop cartoons CROPS to resolve this issue. Olive Films is the first to show the full frame. The stretching is totally imperceptable on the cartoons without live action.However, the laserdisc set had MASSIVE DVNR. Characters feet and hands were completely obliterated whenever the animation went on ones. I was told by a couple of people who worked on the Republic set that "it isn't really all that bad". One of those people is now beatiing the drum against the Olive blu-ray. It's ironic because the laserdisc set was a hundred times worse. We've been stuck with those massive DVNR distortions on the Betty Boop cartoons since the 90s. I'll take an imperceptable bit of stretching on a few cartoons over that any day of the week.This is sour grapes. It has nothing to do with image quality. Guess what? The people who are griping about this on their blog (you know who) don't even own a blu-ray player or high definition video system to watch it on.

 

[bigshot]

Not unless you consider Leonard Maltin an internetaspie too: http://blogs.indiewire.com/leonardmaltin/wanted-more-fleischer-cartoons?page=1#blogPostHeaderPanel

Are you referring to this?The good news: Betty Boop has never looked better, thanks to Olive Films’ new DVD and Blu-ray releases Betty Boop: The Essential Collection, Volumes 1 and 2, mastered in 4K from original 35mm materials. The bad news is that it’s taken well over a decade for someone to produce a legitimate DVD release of these cartoons, while bootlegs of inferior quality have flooded the Internet. -Leonard Maltin

 

[Ken_Martinez]

Well, it doesn't seem so bad if you take the first paragraph out of context and ignore the rest of the article.

It's no wonder that Olive couldn't even the AR right. They don't see the cartoons as important films, but are only putting them out based on the merchandisibility of Betty's image, That's why they've only resolved to put out a few dozen cartoons out of a filmography of 120+, without even doing research about which cartoons actually feature Betty. And in their ignorance, they're even releasing a few of the public domain films they said they emphatically weren't going to put out. And you can forget about the other cartoons in the Republic library, because Olive likely can't the the difference between Max Fleischer and Walter Lantz or Paul Terry.

Maybe if Olive brought "internetaspies" on board, things would be better.

 

[haineshisway]

A certain reviewer, who shall remain nameless gave it a 4.5 video rating. I just hope Bruce doesn't blow a gasket over such a rating.

I viewed From Here to Eternity tonight so I didn't get a chance to view The Big Combo yet. Hope to do so before the week's out.

Yes, that certain reviewer's score is more than a little peculiar given the huge amount of white negative dirt and scratches the source material has. I don't blow a gasket, I just scratch my head and wonder how anyone can take that seriously. I understand enjoying the film - I enjoyed it immensely and always have - but a reviewer's job on a Blu-ray site is to tell it like it is - and you cannot give that kind of score without straining credibility, IMO. Maybe out of five stars I'd give it 3, just because the photography is amazing and it does have very pleasing moments. But you can't ignore the blemishes, I'm afraid and he isn't even ignoring them, really - he's just kind of willfully giving it high marks where if it was another studio he'd be calling out the most minor of things and taking points off. And so it goes.

 

[bigshot]

I read the whole article. He never says that there is anything wrong with the blurays. I own the blu rays. I have a hidef projection system with a ten foot screen. I've screened these disks and they look amazing. You don't know what you're talking about.

 

[bigshot]

I'm referring to the Betty Boop disks, not Big Combo by the way. Big Combo is on the schedule for this weekend.