Three Jesse James classics from Fox finally released in March of 2007, See Post #24 (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

That's strange because Amazon, DVD Empire or DDD still haven't changed the release status of those three titles. If true then my DVD-R recordings off my satallite will have to make due to next year.





Crawdaddy

 

[GregoryMesh]

All 3 titles are back on schedule for March 6.

 

[Simon Howson]

Great news

 

[Todd Mattraw]

I've never seen the laser disc version, but the new DVD of "Jesse James" looks absolutely awful, perhaps the worst 3 strip Technicolor title that I have seen so far on DVD. Colors are faded and inconsistent, dark scenes too murky, there's a segment near the end with registration problems --- all in all, a huge disappointment, bad enough that I have yet to open "The Return of Frank James" and in fact am toying with returning it.

I expected much more from Fox, and in the same week got a splendid looking "The Sun Also Rises" from them, but I'm shocked that they would release "Jesse James" looking the way it does, and I'm surprised that there has been no mention of this terrible transfer so far on the boards (I can't seem to find any reviews on line either, including at DVDBeaver, where "Frank James" has been reviewed but "Jesse" is missing in action).

When a DVD slipcase looks better than the film held within it, then you know you've got a problem.

Todd

 

[Will Krupp]

Wow Todd, you ain't kiddin'!! Just horrible (and such a disappointment since we waited so long for this one.)

 

[Bob Graham]

That sounds like the way the laser disc looked. It was so bad I never finished watching it and sold it off. This is an important film in the history of Fox, you'd think they'd take better care of it.

 

[Arnie G]

Todd. Check out DVDBeavers review of Return...

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDRe...rank_james.htm

 

[Todd Mattraw]

That looks better than "Jesse James", though it still doesn't look great and the colors look off to me (too much green in the skin tones?), and I note with further trepidation that he had trouble with a "hesitation issue" on playback --- my copy remains sealed until I hear more feedback on the PQ and on this possible playback problem. It's a shame, as I would have liked to watch the 2 films in successive nights, but given how little I was able to enjoy "Jesse", due to it's shortcomings, I guess it doesn't much matter when (or if) I watch "Frank".

 

[John Hodson]

The Beaver on Jesse James:

Although imperfect I thought the Technicolor looked very impressive for a film from 1939. The progressive image has very strong detail and frankly this DVD has an exceptional appearance. The transfer from Fox is dual-layered and has a few minor speckles. The mono audio seemed clear with no dropouts, hisses or pops - I didn't check the 2.0 channel stereo. There are optional English or Spanish subtitles.

No real extras - 2 MovieTone Newsreels, a trailer and there is a short, but competent, essay by Tom Weaver in the liner notes.

No one could tell me I wouldn't love a classic western with Power, Fonda and Scott. This was great fun with the era's standard obvious plot twists and one-dimensional characters. I love the older films of this genre and nothing about it disappoints on any front - I was especially enamored with the DVD image quality. We obviously recommend to fans of both classic and western films!

 

[Robert Harris]

I don't quite understand what "looked very impressive for a film from 1939" means. An odd caveat.

There are films from 1939 and before that look far superior to modern films.

RAH

 

[Todd Mattraw]

I couldn't disagree more strongly with DVDBeaver on this one. I don't know how one could look at the screencaps with the review (much less the DVD itself) and reach the above conclusion, that nothing disappoints and that the appearance is exceptional, and there are sections of the DVD that look even worse than those screencaps.

Todd

 

[Rod J]

I'd much rather see a less than pristine copy of a film than be told year after year after year "we're looking for better elements". And if they later find better source material and released it again, I can decide if it's worth the upgrade. I'm just glad to be able to see it.

C'mon FOX - John Ford's "Tobacco Road" deserves a place on the shelf next to "Grapes of Wrath" and "How Green was my Valley".

 

[Cees Alons]

I bought both, Jesse James and The Return of Frank James (of course) and although I must say they look better than the rather awkward VHS tapes I had, the image isn't really good.

I'm glad I can say that I can enjoy a movie I like even if the image isn't superb (which is a bit of an understatement in the case of JJ), but there are moments it looked like old NTSC material. TRoFJ is better than JJ in this respect, BTW.

That said, I'm still happy I have them, although I really must say that Fox isn't being good to us consumers and film-lovers lately.


Cees

 

[Robert Crawford]

I plan on watching both of these discs this weekend, therefore, I'll post my PQ comments in a couple of days.





Crawdaddy

 

[David_B_K]

I totally agree with that. I'm still hanging onto laserdiscs and VHS's in some cases. However, that said, Artisan's edition of The Quiet Man is really pushing it.

 

[Todd Mattraw]

Robert

I'm curious about what you thought of "Jesse James", provided you have had a chance to view it.

Todd

 

[Robert Crawford]

I got distracted with some other things, but I did view "Jesse James" in it's entirety. IMO, the video presentation was mediocre at best. However, it's still better than the VHS tape I bought years ago and the DVD-R that I recorded off the satellite last year. That being said, the dvd has too much dirt, specks and color inconsistency for me. There are some scenes that looked pretty good, but then the PQ would changed back to average or worse even. I don't know what conditions the film elements were in, but it doesn't appear any restoration work took place.

I hope to view "The Return of Frank James" for comparisons sake since that film was only made a year later. Anyhow, Gene Tierney in Technicolor is usually a good thing.






Crawdaddy

 

[Robert Crawford]

I watched Return of Frank James over the weekend and the presentation was better than Jesse James with more consistency throughout the entire dvd. Overall, I would say that I'm pleased with both dvds because they're an improvement over the video tapes and DVD-R copies, but Jesse James should have been better in my opinion.



Crawdaddy

 

[John Hodson]

I quite agree, 'Frank' is much better than 'Jesse' but the latter is far from a coaster. It wasn't until the final reel, the and quality suddenly improved by several notches, that I suddenly realised how much better it could have been overall.

It's also notable that there are far fewer scratches on the later film, which overall is very nice indeed. I wouldn't for a second like to think I'd persuaded anyone that 'Jesse' isn't worth buying. It is; it most certainly is.

I've only run through 'The True Story Jesse James', quickly but that looks to be really very good.