The Rocketeer (1 Viewer)

[JustinCleveland]

Watching the trailer for Sky Captain has reminded me of the interest I had in this old title. While it's not one of my favorites, I'd be happy to pick up a new SE of this disc with a nice transfer. Hey Disney, capitalize!

 

[JonZ]

Rocketeer was supposed to be a trilogy, but the first one bombing killed that idea.

Too bad:frowning:

As mentioned above, Im considering getting the UK anamorphic version.

 

[Chad A Wright]

Surely they would not come out and say that. If your movie is not strong enough to do well without a cartoon short in front of it, you shouldn't be making movies.

On the other hand, I think Rocketeer is a fantastic movie and should have done better. I just wouldnt' go around blaming it's failure on the lake aof a short. I would love a special edition. I also thought of it when I saw the trailers for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Can't wait for that one either.

 

[JohnAP]

I saw this in the theater. One of the few comic superhero movies that gets it right. I'd love to see a special edition.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I love this film. Never saw it in the theater or even heard of it (if it "flopped" it is because it wasn't adequately distributed and promoted) but it happens to be the first movie I ever bought on laserdisc. I also own the current DVD and it is crying out for a new SE with an anamorphic transfer. Disney has reissued far less deserving films, they need to get off their butts and get a decent version of this one in the pipeline.

...but, someone once told me that a UK anamorphic release, when they're isn't a US one is not a proper anamorphic print.

"Anamorphic" as it applies to DVDs has nothing at all to do with "anamporphic" film prints or the anamorphic photography process, which is one reason why it is an unfortunate choice of words to describe what might better be called "enhanced widescreen" DVDs. You don't need a anamorphic print to do an "enhanced for widescreen TV" DVD, and having an anamorphic print does not ensure that a DVD will get an "anamorphic" transfer. Any film with an aspect ratio of greater than 1.33:1 can get an "anamorphic" DVD transfer, period.

All it means when the PAL version is anamorphic and that NTSC version isn't is that whoever was in charge of doing the PAL release invested the extra time and money in doing a new digital master to create the DVD. Probably the UK rights were owned by someone other than Disney. In the U.S. Disney did what a lot of studios did in the early days of DVD - they took an existing letterboxed laserdisc transfer and slapped it onto a DVD. (Disney actually had a policy of not doing enhanced widescreen releases at the time, because they were not happy about how certain players down-converted them for 4:3 TVs.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[Adam Tyner]

Probably the UK rights were owned by someone other than Disney.

No, Buena Vista is also responsible for the 16x9-enhanced R2. There are a number of instances like this, where the R1 is merely letterboxed and the R2 is in anamorphic widescreen -- She's All That is another. International arms of large corporate entities don't necessarily make the same choices as their domestic counterparts.

 

[Steve Christou]

Count me in as a big fan of this film, watched my r2 dvd copy over Xmas and I'm very happy with it, very nice picture and sound. I'd buy it again if it gets re-released with extras, but I doubt it will ever happen.

I challenge anyone to watch this film and not fall in love with Jennifer Connelly, she's absolutely gorgeous. There is one shot I love, near the end, on the airship when a spotlight lights up her face, wow, baby!

 

[Jake Johnson]

Bring me a special edition.
Bring me Jennifer Connelly's chest as well. What a magnificent piece of art.

 

[David Lambert]

Jake! :b

 

[JulianK]

The current R2 anamorphic DVD is OK, but the film could definitely use a fresh transfer and a bit of cleanup.

It's also worth noting that the R2 version has 5.0 audio, whilst the R1 version is 2.0.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

The R1 version is indeed 5.x (the back cover has a misprint).

- Steve

 

[JulianK]

The R1 version is indeed 5.x (the back cover has a misprint).

OK - good to know, thanks, Steve.

 

[Nathan*W]

Jake! :b

It's not his fault, everyone keeps mentioning bosoms!

 

[Bryan Tuck]

Thought I'd bump this thread back up. I was listening to the soundtrack for this the other day, and thinking about how much I enjoyed the film.

I would certainly like to see a new edition of this. It wouldn't even need to be a full-blown special edition (although it'd be nice); I'd settle for a nice new anamorphic transfer in the right ratio.

 

[Paul_Scott]

an anamorphic transfer would only go part of the way in rectifying whats wrong with this title.

every past home video version of this has had an awful sepia style haze over it- definitely not the way i remember it in the theater and it amounts to another one of those 'brilliant' editorial decisions for home video that makes sense in theory but looks awful in practice (much like Badhams decision to desaturate the home video releases of Dracula).

 

[Josh Simpson]

I've also held off buying this one and would grab an anamorphic dvd of this in a heartbeat.

 

[Ray H]

This would make a good candidate for the Vista Series line. What ever happened to that anyway?

 

[Jake Johnson]

This would be a cool Vista Series. A REAL Vista Series, that is. Signs does not count in my book. But, yes. It is definitely about time for a special edition of this.

 

[Travis_W]

After seeing the AWESOME trailer for 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow' I can't hold off on buying the current disc any longer.

My father and I saw this film at least three times while it was out theatrically...still got the movie adaptation comic, the figure, and the Nintendo game somewhere.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

The Rocketeer, wow the mention of this movie takes me back, I would definitely buy a SE of this movie if 1 were to be released.