Paramount to re-do "Godfather" DVDs (1 Viewer)

[Bill J]

But if FFC's going to be recording anything, I'd rather it be for Apocalypse Now - now there's a film that could use a reissue, with both the original and redux version included, the 'Hearts Of Darkness' documentary, and a new commentary.

I would rather see Apocalypse Now reissued as well. Although the current discs have good audio and video quality, they are in desperate need of extras.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I would rather see Apocalypse Now reissued as well. Although the current discs have good audio and video quality, they are in desperate need of extras.

After relistening to The Godfather commentaries and just starting The Conversation commentary, I think Coppola should be recording commentaries for *all* of his films. He's an engaging, intellegent, articulate speaker, giving a good mix of technical details, historical anecdotes and personal stories. Unlike some directors, he doesn't try to take credit for everything and enjoys pointing out the contributions that everyone made to the film. Also, he's not afraid to say "oops, I could have done that better" instead of acting as though every frame is perfect. And, with the case of The Godfather, he was honest about the production battles rather than acting as though everything was perfect between himself and the studio. All in all, amazingly entertaining and informative listening.

Even for his lesser films, I'd love to hear a commentary. I now enjoy Godfather III much more having heard his thoughts, and understanding what he wanted the movie to be. Because of my own expectations of what it could or should have been, I was probably a bit too harsh on it - after hearing Coppola put it in perspective, as an epilogue, and saying that even he felt labeling it as GF3 was inappropriate, it becomes easier to just watch it for what it is instead of what I might have wanted something called GF3 to be.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

I'm very glad they are upgrading these...they need it.

Michael,
Have YOU SEEN these DVD's???
Too bad! :frowning:
Now your unable too say you have NEVER watched a movie, that was not OAR.
Sorry, these DVD's ruined your perfect record!

 

[Felix Martinez]

While the Godfather set looks fine on my 30 inch TVs, they are nearly unwatchable on my 92 inch screen. The image does not hold up IMHO - has nothing to do with film grain, etc.

And yes, I also found it odd that #3, the newest film, looks as bad as it does.

Let me temper my statement a bit, as I know a lot of work went into this set...

Let's just say, I haven't watched them more than once on my larger screen (and I'd like to).

Cheers,

 

[Carlo_M]

Now your unable too say you have NEVER watched a movie, that was not OAR.
Sorry, these DVD's ruined your perfect record!

Huh? Did I miss something? Can you explain what you mean by this?

 

[Damin J Toell]

Huh? Did I miss something? Can you explain what you mean by this?

I'm guessing Ed means that the DVDs are not OAR because they are 1.78:1 rather than 1.85:1. This is a rather common occurrence with 1.85:1 films, though.

DJ

 

[ScottR]

The Godfather DVD shows more picture info on all sides in comparison to the vhs widescreen copies.

 

[Carlo_M]

Oh I see. Well I'm not one of those who participates in the 1.78 vs. 1.85 or the 2.35 vs. 2.40 arguments, so I am not counting this as "not OAR."

YMMV.

 

[Ric Bagoly]

I've only watched Godfather 1 on my 46-inch widescreen and the transfer is TERRIBLE. Bad edge enhancement, video noise everywhere in the darker scenes, and the overall lack of effort to remaster stuck out like a sore thumb upon my viewing. One of my rules is if poor picture quality detracts from viewing a film I've always loved (Bonnie And Clyde, Where The Buffalo Roam, Goodfellas, etc.), then the studio should be ashamed to have put out this product. With Godfather, it's not so much a problem with what Coppola intended the film to look like, it's just that the darker scenes would look WAY better without the annoying pixels and such all around the picture...

 

[Andy_G]

isn't this a bit egocentric?

 

[Gary Tooze]

The Godfather DVD shows more picture info on all sides in comparison to the vhs widescreen copies.

The region 1's are slightly cropped on top (and bottom) and the Region 2's are badly cropped on both side edges... I have just compared all 4 discs (Region 1 vs. Region 2). You can see HERE

Regards,

 

[Geoff_D]

Thanks for that Gary. What most surprised me is that the R2 appears to be filtered more heavily than the R1! Lots of fine detail is missing from the R2 grabs, and shadow detail is also compromised. They still look okay for thirty-year-old films though, and unless Lowry's efforts are truly spectacular then I won't be upgrading.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

The Godfather DVD shows more picture info on all sides in comparison to the vhs widescreen copies.

ScottR,
Are you saying that this makes the DVD version better than the VHS (as far as ratio goes) or are you saying that makes the DVD presentation; OK?
Even though the DVD clearly is missing information.

Gary Tooze,
Thank you for the screen captures.

 

[Adam Tyner]

So I am not counting you as an OAR advocate.

I consider myself to be an OAR advocate, but even some of the most high profile DVD sites use 1.78:1 and 1.85:1 interchangably, and there's been considerable debate on this forum as to which aspect ratio 'scope' refers to...2.35:1, 2.39:1, or 2.40:1. I understand that you feel strongly about this, but I think completely dismissing someone's opinion because of a 2.09%-3.79% difference in image size...a difference virtually all of us, I'd imagine, would have considerable difficulty spotting after taking overscan into account...is unfair.

 

[Aaryn Chan]

I see they cut the sides because of burned negative.

 

[ScottR]

I see nothing wrong with the R1 ratio.....honestly, the framing looks very balanced.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I consider myself to be an OAR advocate, but even some of the most high profile DVD sites use 1.78:1 and 1.85:1 interchangably, and there's been considerable debate on this forum as to which aspect ratio 'scope' refers to...2.35:1, 2.39:1, or 2.40:1. I understand that you feel strongly about this, but I think completely dismissing someone's opinion because of a 2.09%-3.79% difference in image size...a difference virtually all of us, I'd imagine, would have considerable difficulty spotting after taking overscan into account...is unfair.

Agreed. It's like worrying about older 1.37:1 movies shown in 1.33:1 - it's such a tiny difference that it seems absurd to accuse someone of not caring about OAR because they don't fret over this.

Besides, given the overscan so common on many TVs, even a perfectly OAR DVD could end up as MAR on anyone's set...

 

[Patrick McCart]

Showing a 1.85:1 at 1.78:1 is just a matter of a few less lines of resolution being matted.

In fact, a lot of films, when matted EXACTLY, end up being tight in a few shots. It's better to have a little less matting than having too much.

 

[Bill J]

I don't know if this is old news or not, but...

Davis DVD says that a single disc version of the film will be released on May 11th and similar releases of the other two films are likely to follow.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

There is nothing wrong with the current set. It accurately represents the look of the film. The re-releases will probably just clean it up some and remove film grain and such, which should be there.

I agree, but would add that Lowry can do more than remove grain (a bad thing really), they can remove dirt and scratches.

I had the opportunity to see both Godfather 1 and 2 a few months ago at The Academy Theater in Beverly Hills. They were using their own archived prints. This is an absolute state of the art facility.

I can tell you that the DVD's, while not "reference" quality, do a pretty good job of accurately representing the look of these films. I think most of what people see in these DVD's that bothers them is inherent in the source.

This is something that Mr. Lowry will no doubt be able to improve upon. I just hope he doesn't go too far, and maintains the original look of the films. I know that is one of his goals.