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How about an anamorphic SE of Cabaret?

#1
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2/8/06 at 3:17pm
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I know Warners are doing an amazing job with their back-catalog issues and SE reissues, so I hope this doesn't come across as a gripe. But I've been puzzled that they have never upgraded their original DVD of Cabaret to an anamorphic Special Edition. I hope it won't be too much longer before this is rectified. Would anyone else welcome a Cabaret SE?

Bruce Morrison

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#2
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2/26/06 at 10:53am
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Cabaret

Im wondering why nobody has said anything at these Warner chats about the horrible copy of Cabaret that Warner has out. It looks as bad as Return of the Pink Panther....Ill use that as an example. Its not 16.9 its not 5.1 and looks like it was run over several times. It won so many Oscars too which is why im so puzzled it hasn't gotten better treatment
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#3
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2/26/06 at 11:03am
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Excellent questions, Warner needs to address this shortcoming. Next year is it's 35th anniversary.






Crawdaddy
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#4
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2/26/06 at 2:39pm
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I'm confused. There are already 2 releases of Cabaret, one is called a "Special Edition" and I thought at least one of them was anamorphic.

http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_ite...6&tab=5&back=1

http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_ite...8&tab=5&back=1
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#5
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2/26/06 at 2:54pm
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I'm confused. There are already 2 releases of Cabaret, one is called a "Special Edition" and I thought at least one of them was anamorphic.

The linked thread below explains it all except Warner's motives for releasing a non-anamorphic dvd again.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...85#post1693985




Crawdaddy
G.W. McLintock: Camille, you're on your own.
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#6
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2/26/06 at 3:11pm
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The 2nd "release" was the exact same disc, just repackaged.

I absolutely agree that a proper Hi-Definition 16x9 transfer is in order, and I would think this must be in WB's plans, unless there's a problem....

This film has dual ownership.

In the U.S., it's owned by WB because Lorimar purchased Allied Artists, who held domestic rights.

Overseas, it's owned by Disney, because ABC Pictures was purchased by Disney, and ABC had overseas rights.

So, the question is, is there a good anamorphic DVD elsewhere in the international market?
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#7
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2/26/06 at 4:09pm
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One of my favorites. Wish it would be given an acceptable transfer. At least ... perhaps... a reason to look forward to high definition?
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#8
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2/26/06 at 6:18pm
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You could sign me up for a 35th anniversary upgrade, Robert!

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#9
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2/26/06 at 10:21pm
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If I recall, Allied Artists junked the original negative for some reason. I don't know if it's true or not, but it could explain why it wasn't remastered for DVD.

Tell The Weinstein Company to release Richard Williams' animated masterpiece The Thief and the Cobbler on DVD in Panavision widescreen and uncut! See and hear what you're missing from their Bitsy Award winner of Worst Standard Edition DVD of 2006 on YouTube!
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#10
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2/27/06 at 2:43pm
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The other thing yet to be mentioned in this thread is the TERRIBLE audio on the current DVD and laser. The 2-channel stereo LP and CD soundtrack sound INCREDIBLE...yet the songs and the entire film sound so muddy, so lacking in HF detail that it sounds like a bad cassette tape not recorded for noise reduction played back with Dolby C.

If they could at *least* re-mix the musical numbers so they could be incorporated in hi-fi stereo back into the movie ala Rocky Horror, that would be better than leaving everything sounding bad all the time. I can handle some flat mono-sounding dialogue from a 70s movie...but when Liza starts to crank-out Mein Heir...I want to hear the speakers explode with life like they do with the CD soundtrack.
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#11
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2/27/06 at 7:59pm
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I bought FremantleMedia's region 0 PAL version in the UK, which claimed it was 16x9 anamorphic (I could always convert it to 24p), but it was not.

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#12
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2/28/06 at 12:36am
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I understand that the audio that Warners used is the best that they have.
Using audio from the cd/lp version could be tough. It has a lot of added album reverb on the vocals and that doesn't go well with a vid mix. It doesn't look as if the singing is coming out of the actors mouths.
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#13
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2/28/06 at 7:19am
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I've spent a lot of time with that soundtrack album and I'm convinced that 99% of the "reverb" is actually real acoustic information in the mix. In fact, the Japanese import CD (which was available well before it was on CD in the US) is a boni-fide "audiophile" recording...one of the most analog sounding CDs I own.

In any case, the audio of Rocky Horror is very similar in that the character of the sound changes dramatically from the regular movie dialogue to the musical numbers. But it works well and the music sounds great.

Certainly, using the CD elements as a source couldn't sound any *worse* than the DVD currently does!

dave
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#14
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2/28/06 at 9:55am
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David Boulet - listen to the actual film of cabaret - listen to Wilkomen. Listen to liza sing Maybe This Time, Mein Herr and Cabaret.
There aint no reverb there. The tracks that made the movie are also that tracks that made the soundtrack album, and as in most soundtracks in those days, reverb was added.
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#15
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2/28/06 at 10:57am
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Joe Caps - listen to the actual film of Cabaret. The audio is so muffled and filtered and noise-gated that any acoustic decay that might have been there in the session tapes has been filtered away leaving a very dead, lifeless result that sounds much less "accurate" than the CD recordings...reverb or no reverb. The sound of the audio on the laser and DVD does not indicate whether the "decay" in the CD recording is added reverb or is real acoustic information present in the original source tapes. I've heard that WB had to get rid of an electronic buz/humm in one of the channels so they filtered all the HF out of both channels to get a buzz-free balanced result. I'd imagine that such serious filtering could have removed a great degree of real musical information making the audio we hear on our home-video media bear little resemblance to the session takes.

In any event, the CD sounds BETTER to my ears...and I've even synced it with the DVD during key scenes a few times to "watch" some of the songs and it looked/sounded GREAT. (did the same thing with Willy Wonka...what fun)

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#16
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2/28/06 at 11:27am
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If they still have the session recordings sans reverb, they can just loop the songs in. Do they still exist?

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#17
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2/28/06 at 5:17pm
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No the sessions minus the reverb no longer exist.
I also have the old CBS/Fox laserdisc which is NOT muffled, etc and it does not have the reverb either.
These songs were recorded in a tiny studio in Rome that had no decay at all.
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#18
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2/28/06 at 8:19pm
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There's an older laserdisc with decent sound? Then there's our answer...WB can use the PCM of that master for a new DVD. I don't know why this obvious solution is so rarely used with DVD releases where 2.0 audio just pulled off the laser would easily beat the poor DVD-prepared audio!
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#19
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9/6/07 at 9:16pm
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Re: How about an anamorphic SE of Cabaret?

Hate to have to revive a long-dead thread, but...

It's the 35th anniversary. No remaster/restoration is on the horizon. Is there any more news?

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#20
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9/6/07 at 9:51pm
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Re: How about an anamorphic SE of Cabaret?

This needs a 2 disc SE.

Corey's most wanted R1 dvds:

Little Darlings (1980), My Cousin Rachel (1952), The Deep Blue Sea (1955), The White Cliffs of Dover (1944), Born to Be Bad (1950), Ivy (1947), Reckless (1935), Springtime in the Rockies (1942), The Barretts of Wimpole Street

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#21
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9/7/07 at 8:00am
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Re: How about an anamorphic SE of Cabaret?

I absolutely agree. One of the greatest movie musicals of all time deserves a better representation on DVD than the present release. I honestly find it hard to watch this any more after seeing the stunning high def versions of CHICAGO and DREAMGIRLS.
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#22
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9/7/07 at 8:06am
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Re: How about an anamorphic SE of Cabaret?

....and Liza loves to chat...perhaps a commentary? i agree. The present disc begs to be replaced.
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#23
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9/9/07 at 12:13pm
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Re: How about an anamorphic SE of Cabaret?

Quote:
Originally Posted by bob kaplan
....and Liza loves to chat...perhaps a commentary? i agree. The present disc begs to be replaced.

I couldn't agree more. Liza's commentary on her LIZA WITH A Z concert dvd was very entertaining. I bet she would have tons of anecdotes to talk about over a full film length 2 hour commentary.

WARNER, I'LL BUY A BLU-RAY DISC OF THIS ANYDAY!!!!!!!!!
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#24
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1/2/08 at 4:49pm
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Re: How about an anamorphic SE of Cabaret?

Bump to an older thread...any news on this? Maybe they will release a 36th year anniversary edition?

I just watched this again on New Year's Day. What a great movie. What a crappy transfer. Maybe if HTF has another Warner's chat someone could ask about this movie.

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#25
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1/2/08 at 5:17pm
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Re: How about an anamorphic SE of Cabaret?

Just yesterday I finally broke down and converted this to 16x9 at 7500 kbps. I attempted to sweeten some of the songs with the soundtrack, but it didn't work at all. The mix it just too different, and the reverb really sounds wrong against the visuals. Now that I have a 16x9 LCD I have become an anamorphic snob, and can not tolerate non-anamorphic discs.
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#26
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1/3/08 at 9:04am
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Re: How about an anamorphic SE of Cabaret?

Really, revisiting this is long, long overdue. I suspect it would be stunning in HD.

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#27
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1/3/08 at 9:09am
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Re: How about an anamorphic SE of Cabaret?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Zimmer
Really, revisiting this is long, long overdue. I suspect it would be stunning in HD.

In my opinion it is one of the most fantastically lit, shot, and edited films in history. Stunning is right......
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#28
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1/3/08 at 9:30am
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Re: How about an anamorphic SE of Cabaret?

I would really like to see a proper transfer of this film. The current one looks, well, "dirty", and the sound is muddy.

\"My opinion is that (a) anyone who actually works in a video store and does not understand letterboxing has given up on life, and (b) any customer who prefers to have the sides of a movie hacked off should not be licensed to operate a video player.\"-- Roger Ebert

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#29
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1/3/08 at 7:48pm
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Re: How about an anamorphic SE of Cabaret?

It's sad that Warner's has neglected its catalog of important musical titles like "Cabaret" etc. that are all in need of remastering. I show "Cabaret" to my college students every semester in my Comp I English class for their "evaluation essay" assignment, and every semester my students are amazed by this movie, and particularly by the talent of Minnelli, Grey, and Michael York (who they only know from "Austin Powers." This film deserves a beautiful new anamorphic transfer with an extra disc full of extras that should include:
a) the history of Cabaret: from short story to play to Broadway musical to film
b) new interviews with Minnelli, Grey, York, and Berenson
c) interviews with Martin Scorsesse, Roger Ebert, and other film scholars on the importance of Cabaret to the musical movie genre's development
d) deleted scenes
e) a comparison of "Cabaret" the film, to the 2000 stage show revivial
f) a documentary on the genius and turbulant life of Bob Fosse
g) a documentary on the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb
h) the extras from the previous dvd
Let's hope that Warner's will spend more time upgrading important catalog titles like Cabaret (and I'd include "On The Town" and "Gigi") that aren't specifically from the Warner Brothers studio.
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#30
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1/4/08 at 1:05am
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Re: How about an anamorphic SE of Cabaret?

A little bit off-topic, I know, but, since we're at it with Bob Fosse's filmography, why don't we get a reissue of his underrated STAR 80, this time in its original aspect ratio? Please?
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