Godfather Blu-ray Confirmed - Page 12

Mike Williams · 10-06-2008, 06:10 PM

Paramount raped my childhood. Those original burned-in subtitles were an endearing part of my life for over 30 years. Now they're gone. The film I grew up has been altered. The original burned-in subtitles were good enough for the first two films to win Best Picture Oscars. Now they're not??? Those bastards.

No original burned-in subtitles = NO SALE!!!

Britton · 10-06-2008, 07:55 PM

The player generated subtitles aren't a problem. However, I am interested to hear some explanation about missing cue on the end credits for Part II if the parties involved in the restoration feel inclinded to contribute. The audio glitches on the TrueHD track NEED to be addressed IMO. I'll keep harping on that point!

Vincent_P · 10-06-2008, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh Steinberg

Robert Harris can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd venture to guess that removing the burned-in subs were a necessary part of the restoration. To get the best possible image, RAH and his team would have gone back to the original negatives, which would not yet have had the subtitles burned in. If they would have gone with the original subtitles, they would have had to use the dupe negative sections which did have the subtitles burned on, but the quality would be lesser than the portions of the films without subtitles.

At least, that's my guess for why that was done.

While this is basically true, as I understand it- based on what was written in I think the American Cinematographer article- the subtitles weren't "recreated". Harris actually had access to the separate film elements that contained JUST the subtitles (which would then have been used back in the 1970s to combine with the original footage and create the optical shots with the subs burned in). That element was then scanned at greater-than-4K resolution, and then digitally reimposed over the raw images. I haven't seen the BD, but at the very least the 35mm prints of the restoration DO have the "original" subtitles that were created all those years ago, albeit reimposed over a cleaner underlying image that was scanned from the original negatives when possible.

Vincent

Robert Harris · 10-07-2008, 08:50 AM

Subtitles are generally repurposed for home video for size and clarity. Subs created for prints to be projected on 40 foot screens are not necessarily appropriate for home video, which has been found to have slightly smaller screens.

PaulDA · 10-07-2008, 10:09 AM

Slightly smaller?

Seriously, though--subtitles and a ten second (at most) change of a concluding sustained chord are the biggest gripes? I'd say this makes the restoration a resounding success. I have not gotten to the second film (so I have not experienced the glitch that some have with the audio--though I'm not "lossless" capable--perhaps it won't show in the "core" audio). While I plan to watch all of them over the next little while (time permitting), I've already planned a March Break film marathon (which will include all three back to back)--it's a fair bit of a wait, but the wife and kids will be gone for 9 days so I'll have the luxury of some "alone time" for an extended period. And these days, 5 months go by in the blink of an eye, so it seems.

Michael Reuben · 10-07-2008, 10:38 AM

I watched GF2 this weekend. If anything, it was more of a revolution than GF1. The blackness of the blacks, the intensity of colors in the Cuba and early Tahoe scenes, the detail in even the darkest scenes (including the final conversation between Michael and his mother, which is the scene where Gordon Willis once said he "went too far" in Visions of Light) -- all of these made me feel like I was seeing something new and yet familiar. The sequences at Ellis Island and in Little Italy, always among the film's most powerful, only gain in impact with this restoration.

I did not hear the audio anomaly referred to above, although I'd selected the TrueHD track. I'm not saying it wasn't there, simply that it didn't catch my attention.

M.

Britton · 10-07-2008, 11:59 AM

I selected Bitsteam out on my PS3 so it was sending a DD 5.1 "core" to my receiver and I still heard all the audio glitches. It doesn't matter whether or not my PS3 is decoding the audio.

norrisMc · 10-19-2008, 05:23 AM

Hi All,

I have a query... can someone have a look at their "Godfather" blu-ray box set?

My "Godfather II" disc looks different from the other 3 discs in the set. Infact, it looks like a DVD. On the non-label side it has a white centre ring around the whole and doesn't look as silver as the other bluray discs.

I'm worried that I might have a DVD instead of a bluray! Has anybody else noticed this? Are other peoples "Godfather II" discs like this?

Thanks!!! :thumbsup:

Carlo Medina · 10-19-2008, 11:32 AM

Mine has the white ring too, but I can't tell if it's "not as silver" as the others.

But when I play it, it's clearly a BD. Just look at the codec and bit rate. DVD can't play back AVC at ~25Mbps.

Why don't you just pop your disc into your player and find out if you did get a DVD or BD?

norrisMc · 10-19-2008, 01:45 PM

How can I tell what the codec is from my player/tv ?

TonyD · 10-19-2008, 02:03 PM

cant you tell just by the menu if it is a dvd or a blu ray.
have you put it in the player yet.
put it in a regular dvd player, if it doesnt work it's a blu-ray.

norris your making this more complicated then it needs to be.