War of the Worlds SCE (George Pal) (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Swearingen]

The Bits is reporting that Paramount is scheduled to put out a collector's edition of War of the Worlds. Has anyone heard of what will make this better than the previous bare bones disc - or is this just a repackaging / Spielberg tie-in?

I know that there was some chatter in an old thread about the Orson Welles radio broadcast that people hoped would have been included on the Citizen Kane discs when I was searching earlier. It'd be a neat supplement - probably something I'd really be interested in if I didn't already own it on CD.

 

[JackKay]

I tried finding it at Amazon, but it's not up yet. I hope they do a good job and that Forbidden Planet comes out soon too.

Here is a wonderful link to Welles's Radio Shows you can listen to.

http://www.mercurytheatre.info/

 

[Al (alweho)]

Let's hope they finally offer the stereo track they did for the LD release. The DVD was mono only.

It would be nice to have a choice of either soundtrack for playback on this reissue.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Great news indeed

 

[Scott Kimball]

Street date and specs should be announced in a few weeks.

-Scott

 

[Jeff_HR]

Some extras would be nice. And certainly the stereo tracks.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Purists should know that the stereo tracks on the LD were newly created by Chace from dialogue, music and effects stems, and are not the original 3-track mix from 1953. This film was originally presented theatrically with a separate interlock 3-track 35mm magnetic audio, but that original stereo mix does not survive.

 

[Joe Caps]

Movie studios were using all kinds of gimmicks to lure patrons away from the tv sets and back into theaters.
stereo sound was certainly one of them and there were over sixty films in 1953 (before TheRobe) advertised as stereo sound, but some of these were not full stereo as we know it and several would only have a reel or two in stereo and the rest in mono.
ONe example - MGMs All the Brothers were Valiant but only the firstand last reel and the whale chace was stereo.
Paramount did some stereo films but a couple were basically mono with some odd surround effects bounced around thetheater at key moments. Other than that, the dialogue effects and music were mono.
This seems to be the case with war of the Worlds where occasionally zapping sounds from the aliens were bounced around the theater. Paramount did the same thing with Shane and just had some gun firing sounds zapped onthe surrounds. All else was mono.
I have heard the music tracks over at Paramount for WAR and they are all mono, so the Chace stereo track probably has more that sounds stereo than the original release did. It sounds pretty good too.

 

[Thomas T]

I believe the film's stars, Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, are still with us so hopefully the collector's edition will contain some commentary/interviews with them.

 

[Joe Caps]

I have been told that Miss Ann Robinson will be on a commentary track. I was at a private screening in L.A. of War and Miss Robinson was there and told us many great stories while the film was running.
She is a marvelous lady and enjoyable at all times.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

The stereo LPCM track on the LD always impressed me with it's frequency-response, dynamics, and general fidelity. If Chase did a "fake" stereo, they did a good one!

Would love a pristine film-tape transfer (HD) with no EE or compression/video noise on the new DVD...

-dave

p.s. another laserdisc that sounds really good is Forbidden Planet...much higher fidelity than the DVD audio for whatever reason...

 

[Ed St. Clair]

The stereo track for that release, also lacked the original multi track sound. FP, is another title , we have be waiting for the SE release (can you say; Batman?). How long has it been now, four or five years?

 

[Jim Barg]

Not only Miss Robinson, but Joe Dante and Bill Burns, too... or at least this thread at CHUD mentioned it.

 

[GregK]

Bob Burns should provide a great addition to the commentary track.

Re: the original stereo audio, Bob Furmanek is quite correct. Mr. Burns once had told me George Pal and Paramount had searched for the original stereo tracks in the early 1970's(?) for a theatrical re-release, but had no luck.

Unless some lost obscure 11th hour stereo master has surfaced, Paramount should provide two audio tracks, the recent remix and the original mono track. The previous deluxe edition laserdisc offered both mixes as well.

 

[Jim_K]

Any word on this?

Was this ever officially announced?

Is it up for pre-order anywhere?

Has this been cancelled, delayed or just pulled from the schedule altogether?

Or was this just a rumor?

I do know that DVDaficianado had a release date of June 14th but now it's status is changed to NOT ANNOUNCED. :frowning:


Curious minds want to know!

 

[Jim_K]

bump>>>

Any news?????

 

[Scott Kimball]

"War of the Worlds" is absent from Paramount's June release list, though it was listed earlier.

I'm trying to get some info from Paramount.

-Scott

 

[Haden]

Yeah, what happened to it? I thought it was a sure thing that it was coming in June to coincide with the release of the new War of the Worlds movie on July 1. They'd be stupid to neglect a good marketing tie-in like that. I guess if it doesnt happen in June maybe it'll be in the fall with the release of the new film on DVD.

 

[Scott Kimball]

Word from Paramount is that this title has been delayed. Looks like the studio is shooting for a late fall release, so it's a pretty significant delay.

Let's hope this means they are loading this up with extras...

-Scott

 

[Jim_K]

Scott,

Thanks for getting the scoop. Too bad about the delay, hopefully it'll be worth it.