Question about Woody Allen Collection quality

gomezfan69 · 05-16-2008, 03:34 PM

I just finally got around to picking up the entire Woody Allen Collection from MGM and am extremely disappointed with some of the transfers. "The Purple Rose of Cairo", "Radio Days" and especially "Another Woman" look atrocious to me. They look like old laserdisc transfers, soft and smeary. Reading the reviews online, I am bewildered when they state that these titles have good picture quality. Especially when they seem to think that these three titles quality is on par with the better looking titles like "Crimes and Misdemeanors" and "Hannah and Her Sisters". To me, these two and most of the other titles in the sets are sharp and clear and look acceptable. Did I somehow get defective discs of some of the titles?

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Jon Lidolt · 05-16-2008, 04:08 PM

I have both Radio Days and Purple Rose of Cairo on DVD and they look fine to me. However, I don't have the boxed set, could that explain the difference?

mike kaminski · 05-16-2008, 07:20 PM

I think they might actually just be the LD transfers. Personally I think MGM really dropped the ball with their woody allen library, and the sets are RIDICULOUSLY overpriced, they are a complete ripoff. I don't know if you got a defective disk, but even supposedly "good looking" disks like Hannah and Her Sisters is still pretty lousey looking to my eyes. I am guessing if the soft image quality is consistent across three different titles its the transfer itself and not a defect in those particular disks.

Woody Allen's films are in desperate need of special editions. I mean Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters? These deserve more than barebones releases with transfers taken from grainey prints. Kubrick's films got rectified, I hope Allen's films get some decent treatment some day.

Bob Cashill · 05-16-2008, 07:42 PM

Allen's pretty indifferent to home video, for all his insistence that MANHATTAN be letterboxed, and I think MGM is just following his lead.

Ronald Epstein · 05-17-2008, 05:19 AM

I think those boxes sets were one of the original first to be
releases to the DVD format back in 1997-1998 when the studios
were putting out mediocre transfers.

Surprised that none of them have been revamped after 10 years.



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