RAINTREE COUNTY on Blu? (2 Viewers)

[Matt Hough]

A heads up: TCM will air Raintree today at 1.15pm ET!

I'm looking forward to watching it in full for the first time in several years.

I have it set to record.

The other day I happened on a brief Elizabeth Taylor-narrated tribute to Montgomery Clift, and at one point they showed a clip from Raintree County that had beautiful color, far better than I've ever seen on the laserdisc I have or the spot checks I've done with the film on previous TCM showings. Where did THAT clip come from?

 

[David_B_K]

I sure hope today's cloud cover does not cause my DISH signal to go out.

 

[Matt Hough]

This was a beautiful print of the film, far sharper and more colorful than I remember my laserdisc being. I guess it wasn't the lengthier version (not sure; I didn't watch the whole thing), but it certainly looked the best I've ever seen it look.

Yes, there were specks and blotches here and there, but I would take this on Blu-ray in a heartbeat if Warners doesn't want to spend any money on sprucing it up or doing anything with the Camera 65 master (if there is anything that can be done).

Give us Raintree County, please!

 

[Konstantinos]

This was a beautiful print of the film, far sharper and more colorful than I remember my laserdisc being. I guess it wasn't the lengthier version (not sure; I didn't watch the whole thing), but it certainly looked the best I've ever seen it look.

Yes, there were specks and blotches here and there, but I would take this on Blu-ray in a heartbeat if Warners doesn't want to spend any money on sprucing it up or doing anything with the Camera 65 master (if there is anything that can be done).

Give us Raintree County, please!

I wish I could watch TCM here.

What was its aspect ratio?

 

[Roger Grodsky]

"Lenses by Panavision" (looked like 2:35); no MGM Camera 65 title card.
Had overture, entr'acte (no exit music) and panned dialogue.
Makes you wish that TCM would hurry up and upgrade to true high-def.

 

[Konstantinos]

"Lenses by Panavision" (looked like 2:35); no MGM Camera 65 title card.
Had overture, entr'acte (no exit music) and panned dialogue.
Makes you wish that TCM would hurry up and upgrade to true high-def.

So, it was the roadshow version since it had overture and entr'acte?

 

[Roger Grodsky]

So, it was the roadshow version since it had overture and entr'acte?

I don't know the film well enough to say. As I said, there was no Camera 65 card. I assume the Panavision prints also had stereo sound. It (just) fit into a 3-hour time slot (including the usual TCM introduction) if that helps.

 

[Konstantinos]

I don't know the film well enough to say. As I said, there was no Camera 65 card. I assume the Panavision prints also had stereo sound. It (just) fit into a 3-hour time slot (including the usual TCM introduction) if that helps.

If you saw the beginning of the film, you can tell if it's the roadshow version or not by this:
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/281248/Raintree-County-Movie-Clip-Picture-Taking-Orgy.html
the scene between Eva-Marie Saint and Rod Taylor at 1.00 is from the Roadshow version.
If the broadcast didn't have this scene, then it's not.

 

[Doug Bull]

That scene is not in the recent Australian DVD disaster.
So now we know that the Australian disc is the shorter version.
But with the dreadful quality of that DVD, it doesn't really matter, because it's unwatchable anyway.

Doug.

 

[Roger Grodsky]

If you saw the beginning of the film, you can tell if it's the roadshow version or not by this:
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/281248/Raintree-County-Movie-Clip-Picture-Taking-Orgy.html
the scene between Eva-Marie Saint and Rod Taylor at 1.00 is from the Roadshow version.
If the broadcast didn't have this scene, then it's not.

The scene with Rod Taylor was not in the broadcast (it cut right to the scene with Montgomery Clift).

 

[Robin9]

That sequence with Rod Taylor is not in the Italian DVD either.

 

[Konstantinos]

That sequence with Rod Taylor is not in the Italian DVD either.

Oh, there is an Italian DVD too?
I thought the only official one was a Spanish one.

 

[Robin9]

Oh, there is an Italian DVD too?
I thought the only official one was a Spanish one.

I'm saying it's Italian. I'm not saying it's official!

 

[Andrew Budgell]

This was a beautiful print of the film, far sharper and more colorful than I remember my laserdisc being. I guess it wasn't the lengthier version (not sure; I didn't watch the whole thing), but it certainly looked the best I've ever seen it look.

Yes, there were specks and blotches here and there, but I would take this on Blu-ray in a heartbeat if Warners doesn't want to spend any money on sprucing it up or doing anything with the Camera 65 master (if there is anything that can be done).

Give us Raintree County, please!

I DVR'd it and watched it last night and I, too, was astonished at how good it looked!

I hadn't seen the film on TCM in over three years (since their tribute marathon to Elizabeth Taylor after her death in 2011) so I can't recall how it looked then. As it's been mentioned already, they didn't show the roadshow version yesterday, which is odd because I thought that was the version they always screen. Why was yesterday an exception, I wonder? The roadshow version runs 172 minutes, and they had 3 hours blocked off for the film in their schedule, so they had just enough time to show it. I'm not well versed in these things like many of you are here... but is it possible that they recently re-scanned the elements so it would look better for TV? Maybe it's all this talk of how the film is in need of a restoration that I was going in expecting the worst, but while the occasional scene looked a little washed out (mostly outdoor scenes), many looked quite rich and beautiful. I was pleasantly surprised.

Obviously I'd love a restoration (although realistic enough not to expect WB to shell out the kind of money that they spent on say Ben-Hur), but if that's not even going to happen, like Matt I would also gladly take a Blu-ray based on the scan of what TCM aired yesterday. Couldn't it be released through the Warner Archive with some sort of a disclaimer? It would be a nice compromise for the fans who so badly want this film in their collections.

 

[Konstantinos]

Would it be possible to post 3-4 screenshots of this broadcast?

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Would it be possible to post 3-4 screenshots of this broadcast?

I wish I could, but I don't even know how! Sorry! Hopefully someone else might be able to...

 

[lionel59]

Actually the Road Show cut runs 188 mins and the General Release version is 168 mins (or 160 mins, possibly with Pal speedup). Great that MGM have obviously done a new HD master. I hope it comes to Warner Archive on blu (but with the Road Show cut as an extra!)

 

[OliverK]

Hi guys, they probably freshed up the old LD master a little bit. I have seen the best that TCM can do in SD and it is no indicator whatsoever of what this movie would look like on Blu-ray.Some of you may remember that there was a very nice looking DVD of King of Kings out there many years ago and I thought that this must come from a nice HD master - actually it did not and when aired in HD the HD version looked almost as bad (or good, depending on your point of view) as the DVD so even a very good DVD does not tell us much.So there is little indication that anything has been done to Raintree County except maybe that they improved their way of presenting the existing SD master. Any new scan would have to be done with the approval of Warner and that is highly unlikely given their quality standards. A scan of 35mm elements of the general release version just is not good enough from them and I would also be really disappointed about that after having waited so long for it to appear on home video!

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Hi Oliver, what you write makes sense. Thanks for the clarification. I have a strong feeling that my DVR recording of Raintree from Saturday night is the best we're going to get for quite sometime. I strongly suspect that the film Ron Epstein is referring to in this post is Raintree County:

There's one very prominent title that HTF members have been asking over and over again
to be released. When I talked to a studio exec about getting it out, he/she told me that their
studio is very well aware of the member requests, but based on the condition of the print,
it would cost an astronomical amount of money to prepare it for Blu-ray release. The studio
did not feel that the investment would pay off.
Of course, when I tell you these things, I am prohibited from mentioning the studio or title.
I simply want to give you an example of where things stand at the moment.

Of course someone will pipe up and it doesn't do any good to speculate on what film he's actually referring to since he isn't able to tell us, but Ron's response from the unnamed studio about the unnamed film sounds a lot like the what WAC has been telling fans on their Facebook page when they inquire about Raintree, with the exception of them having already made up their mind that the investment of funding a restoration would not pay off. So, as I've wondered before, at what point does WHV "hand off" Raintree to the Warner Archive Collection? It would be nice to have SOME sort of official release of this film. It's been in home video limbo far too long.

 

[David_B_K]

I thought the broadcast looked a lot like the laserdisc, but it seemed to have less aliasing/jagglies than the laserdisc.