tHe mAsTeR aPpRoVeS oF tHiS nEwS! Manos the "Hands" of fate comes to Blu! (1 Viewer)

[Tony J Case]

Those of you who didn't get in on the kickstarter, the Synapse blu ray is up for preorder at Amazon for 22 bucks (19 and change for the DVD).

 

[Edwin-S]

Terrible garbage like this makes it to Blu-ray, but I can't get a decent release of "The Plague Dogs". What a wonderful format.

 

[Radioman970]

Plague Dogs is far more depressing to watch than non-MST3K Manos!

 

[SilverWook]

Terrible garbage like this makes it to Blu-ray, but I can't get a decent release of "The Plague Dogs". What a wonderful format.

Oh, Edwin! If not for the original film elements being discovered, (and being in the public domain) and the Kickstarter campaign, I doubt this release would have even happened.


Save your scorn for those who own the rights to The Plague Dogs, and just sit on it.

 

[Tony J Case]

"This thing I don't like is being released! Phooey on people who like it! Why cant they release things that I like!"

 

[Brian McP]

Might get the dvd so I can watch the movie in widescreen (if needs be) -- I know it was shot on 16mm but what was it's original aspect ratio for theatres?


Since "Marty" went to bluray in the wrong aspect ratio, I'm wary of practically every movie of that era that turns up in 4:3 ratio, wondering if it was shot open matte.....

 

[Lord Dalek]

From the looks of the website, the oneg appears to have been composed for 1.85:1 but when it was blown up for 35mm, the prints were fairly zoomed in and a lot of headroom was lost making it less desirable to matte.

 

[Vincent_P]

From the looks of the website, the oneg appears to have been composed for 1.85:1 but when it was blown up for 35mm, the prints were fairly zoomed in and a lot of headroom was lost making it less desirable to matte.

I doubt this was this particular movie was "composed" for much of anything. They shot it with a non-sync sound 16mm camera, I doubt they bothered to make custom ground-glass markings for 1.85:1. Also, this was scanned from the 16mm originals, not 35mm blow ups.


Vincent

 

[Lord Dalek]

Well... again we're not talking about what the blu-ray used for a transfer (not the o-neg but close enough). This is about very bad 35mm prints done for the original blink and you miss it drive-in run and what ratio they were shown in. And si this is how the film might have looked if those prints were done correctly and soft-matted.


BEFORE:

AFTER:

Yes, pants leg is still there but the sandals are gone. Doesn't work with the entire film due to extreme closeups but many of the shots on the website extracts perfectly to 1.85.

 

[Tony J Case]

I have no idea what the OAR on Manos was - however I'll trust that after all this work and research into restoring the movie, that they wont fuck up something as simple as the ratio.

 

[Vincent_P]

So how would these shots work in 1.85:1?


Vincent

 

[Patrick McCart]

Manos is barely composed for 1.37:1 let alone any widescreen ratio.

 

[SilverWook]

It's like a home movie in many ways. But that is part of it's charm.

 

[Tony J Case]

An update to the project:

Backer Discs

I'm now exchanging e-mails with CAV, our disc replication plant in San Francisco. The backer order has been placed and paid for, and we'll find out by the end of next week how soon I can expect to have it on hand.


Once they're here, I'll be printing shipping labels, packing and sending each disc myself over the course of about two weeks. In the meantime, if you've moved and haven't yet sent me your new address, please do so now over the Kickstarter messaging system. I'll be adding them manually to our database, so prompt action (and proper spelling) is appreciated. Don't be alarmed if a confirmation from me doesn't immediately arrive- I'll be taking some time off work soon solely to handle this task.


Retail Discs

Retail discs, identical in every way to the backer discs, are now up for pre-order through major retailers. Amazon's pre-order price on the Blu-ray is currently only $14.99, so now's a great time to order if you're looking for spare copies to gift, or if you contributed at the "Thanks" or "Special Thanks" levels and want a copy. The official release date is still set for October 13th.


More updates will follow over the next few weeks, including a hard cutoff date for address updates.

So, four years in the making and we're almost there!

 

[Tony J Case]

Looks like the Synapse discs are on target because the Backer Discs are alllllmost ready to ship:

Hi everyone,


Backer discs are now on their way to me from the factory and will get here towards the end of next week. Accordingly, September 13th will be the last day I accept address updates.


This ensures that I have enough time to print the postage labels and prepare mailers for shipment. Once I have your discs, they will be mailed out as quickly as I can package them.


More news soon!

 

[Brian Kidd]

I have to confess that I've somehow missed Manos. I may have to remedy that soon. Question: Is it more "enjoyable" via MST3K or unexpurgated?

 

[TravisR]

^ Definitely as an MST episode but the movie itself has its own bizarre charm.

 

[Tony J Case]

Well, that's kind of the point of the kickstarter - the curator proposes that the shoddy presentation over the years has brought the film down:

A common refrain I’ve heard is that without Joel and the Bots, the movie is “unwatchable”, but I suspect a big part of that is the bad visual presentation that the movie has always had. When you divest Manosof its grimy, unpleasant patina, you are still left with a weirdly dubbed, strangely edited, small town, outsider horror film. But with a clearer view of the production design (paintings, metalwork, and stone sculptures by Tom Neyman, a local artist who played The Master), the off kilter handmade world the film presents, and the shaggy but poppy Ektachrome photography by Robert Guidry, 45 years later Manosassumes a different identity as a fascinating bit of 1966 ephemera.

Now, who knows if this is true or not. I don't think having Plan 9 From Outer Space in a beautiful, fully restored, DNRed remaster would make it any better - but it's an interesting theory.

 

[SilverWook]

Having seen the restoration demos, I'm convinced. The old video masters were dark, and heavily zoomed in.





Either you enjoy a "bad" movie for it's unique qualities or you don't. And seeing what audiences saw in 1966 is worth it for me.

 

[Tony J Case]

It's just a damn shame that they didnt get the Best Brains people to come in and do a segment. Not necessarily riff the movie or anything (since we already have that), but a piece on the movie itself. As much as I'm willing to give the movie a fair shake, without Joel and the Bots, nobody would have ever heard or cared about this flick.