Any Reviews of New Frank Sinatra Collections?

Wayne_j · 05-15-2008, 12:13 PM

Does anyone know of any reviews of Warner's new Frank Sinatra "The Early Years", "The Golden Years", and "Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly" collections that came out on Tuesday? I picked up the Early Years and Golden Years collections but haven't had a chance to watch them yet. I am waiting for news on transfer quality for the Sinatra/Kelly set since I already own 2 of the 3 movies in that collection.

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CinéKarine · 05-15-2008, 12:25 PM

I posted a bunch of links to reviews in the dedicated thread here, so you might want to check that out.

Here are some:
DVD Talk Review: Frank Sinatra - The Golden Years Collection (Some Came Running, The Man With the Golden Arm, None But the Brave, and More)
On DVD: Frank Sinatra: The Golden Years - Film.com
DVD Verdict Review - Frank Sinatra: The Early Years
DVD Verdict Review - Frank Sinatra: The Golden Years
The Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly Collection
DVD review of Frank Sinatra: The Early Years - DVDTOWN.com

Wayne_j · 05-15-2008, 12:51 PM

Thank you, I checked back a week before posting and just missed the original thread. It looks like I will just get "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" as a single since I already have identical editions of the other two Sinatra/Kelly films.

Ken_McAlinden · 05-16-2008, 08:24 AM

As soon as I finish typing it I will have an "Early Years" review up (hopefully later today).

I am almost through viewing the "Golden Years" set, and have come across one glitch of which potential purchasers should be aware. On None But the Brave, there is no ability to watch it with subtitles only during the Japanese language portions of the film. The only available subtitle stream is an English SDH stream that translates the Japanese portions but also adds subtitles and captions for audio cues for the English portions of the film.

Mike*HTF · 05-17-2008, 03:02 AM

Thanks, Ken - I was planning on buying this for None But the Brave but may now wait to see if WB plans on offering a corrected replacement disc.

haroldS · 05-21-2008, 06:58 PM

I have a question for any one who knows about or has seen "The Man With The Golden Arm" in the "Golden Years" collection. The film is out of copyright and has been issued by many companies including Mill Creek Entertainment and St. Claire. I don't believe WB or MGM distributed the film theatrically. So where did WBHE get it's film elements from? Was it licensed for the set? And is quality of the DVD in the set any better then the one from Mill Creek or St. Claire?

Mike*HTF · 05-21-2008, 10:05 PM

here's a review.

Quote:

The Video:
For the most part, all of the video transfers for the Frank Sinatra: The Golden Years boxed set look particularly good. First, all are anamorphically enhanced for 16:9 TVs. Second, all the titles, except for The Man With the Golden Arm are presented in their original CinemaScope ratios of 2.35:1. These titles look remarkably bright and clear, with super-sharp pictures, little or no compressions issues I could spot on my widescreen monitor, and gorgeously hued color values. Bit rates are more than adequate. As for The Man With the Golden Arm, my understanding is that the film has been in public domain for quite some time. I don't know if Warners was able to go back to the original source material, but the matted letterboxed image here (at 1.85:1) looks a little tight to me, with heads slightly cropped at times which would seem unlikely for Preminger. As well, there is grain and a surprising amount of scratches (including a big white one running at the beginning of the film) that indicates to me that either the original source materials are compromised, or more likely, Warners had to go with a beat-up print. Still, it looks far better than the print I've seen it on TCM lately, so overall, it's a positive.

Ken_McAlinden · 05-22-2008, 08:13 AM

I'm working on my "Golden Years Collection" review as I type this. Here is my video assessment: The Man with the Golden Arm looks better than any previous DVD verson I have seen in terms of contrast and sharpness, although the element used has some noticeable nicks and quite a few vertical scratches, particularly in the first reel. It also appears slightly overmatted at 16:9.

As far as the two 2.55:1 CinemaScope titles, there are no apparent transfer, compression, or video artifact issues. The Tender Trap has that somewhat smeared early Eastman Color look to it amplified by the extremely bright high key lighting used throughout the film. Some Came Running replicates the arty cinematography well, is a little on the soft side, but otherwise looks very nice.

Of the two 2.35:1 Panavision titles from 1965, None But the Brave looks just about perfect with natural but not excessive film grain and nice shadow detail. Marriage on the Rocks is similarly very sharp, but carries a bit more noticeable film grain and suffers from occasional edge ringing.

Regards,

Mike*HTF · 05-22-2008, 12:26 PM

Ken - are you still experiencing the problem with the subtitles on None But the Brave? I haven't heard about this in other reviews and would really like to pick up the set if it isn't a bonafide problem.

Ken_McAlinden · 05-22-2008, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike*HTF

Ken - are you still experiencing the problem with the subtitles on None But the Brave? I haven't heard about this in other reviews and would really like to pick up the set if it isn't a bonafide problem.

It is a bonafide problem. I tried the disc on several different players ranging from an old Pioneer DVD/laserdisc combo to my Panasonic Blu-Ray Disc player. Maybe the other reviewers simply understand spoken Japanese better than me? I try not to read other reviews until I finish mine, after which I read them all, so I cannot confirm or offer an opinion on their comments yet.

BTW, as far as the audio goes:

The Tender Trap gets a 5.1 remix that sounds quite good. The mix is appropriately conservative given the source material, but offers nice fidelity with little noise or artifacts. None But the Brave is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (no surround flag). The stereo separation is fairly minor, and the dynamic range is limited. I was actually more impressed by the Dolby Digital 1.0 mono track for Marriage on the Rocks which sounds like it was sourced from a high quality magnetic tape source. The only audio blemish is some audible "pops" during the Trini Lopez musical number, probably an artifact of the source recording of the song. The Man with the Golden Arm is presented with a 1.0 mono track that is a big improvement over the fake stereo 5.1 track that was included on the previous PD release, but it is still somewhat limited in fidelity. Some Came Running also receives a DD 1.0 mono track that overall is quite strong, although not quite as smooth sounding as Marriage on the Rocks.

Regards,

Mark Edward Heuck · 05-23-2008, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by haroldS

I have a question for any one who knows about or has seen "The Man With The Golden Arm" in the "Golden Years" collection. The film is out of copyright and has been issued by many companies including Mill Creek Entertainment and St. Claire. I don't believe WB or MGM distributed the film theatrically. So where did WBHE get it's film elements from? Was it licensed for the set? And is quality of the DVD in the set any better then the one from Mill Creek or St. Claire?

Otto Preminger's estate holds the negative and the prime elements for MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM, and made a deal with WB for all the Preminger films they own outright (MOON IS BLUE, ADVISE AND CONSENT, THE CARDINAL). WB previously released it on VHS through the same license, and before the film fell into the public domain, the Preminger family licensed it and MOON IS BLUE to Magnetic Video; likely, many of the PD editions have been sourced from the latter tape. To their credit, Hart Sharp took pains to find clean print material for their PD release of the film, and created unique supplements that make it worth keeping.