The deep - Page 2

Re: The deep

I am ready for this one. Had the VHS, got the laserdisc and now have the DVD and I still have the vinyl record soundtrack that was pressed on blue vinyl.

Nothing like that John Barry soundtrack and Donna Summer singing the title song. Well there is that shot of Jacqueline Bisset that beats all of the above.

 Well, I got my copy of the Blu-ray, watched it last night and thought I would post a few words about it in this sub forum, since it seems more fans of the film are here.
I'm absolutely THRILLED with the job Sony did here. While I would have been happy just to have a competent bare bones Bd release, they actually did try to go above an beyond including the TV broadcast "Making Of" (Complete with the nostalgia inducing CBS Special Presentation bumper) hosted by Robert Shaw; as well as about a half dozen deleted scenes- including the wreck of the Goliath prologue.
If I have any quibbles it is that the disc lacks the one extended scene I do vividly remember which was David and Gail at dinner before Cloche shows up. Also, as is the usual custom with Sony Bds, we get trailers- but only for other movies.
Other than those two minor points, Sony did a superlative job. A Very natural looking transfer- no undue digital manipulation like DNR and EE. There may be people who aren't impressed with this, but I commend Sony for showing admirable restraint and not going in with the digital toolbox to make it look 'better' than it should. As it is, the underwater scenes are frequently astonishing in their clarity and vibrancy- more so than the location and interior shots.
After giving Sony a tongue lashing a few years back in this thread, I have to admit that this year they have rehabilitated themselves and right now are  probably the best studio out there- for both formats.

For any fan of the film, I highly recommend this release.

Paul,

Thanks for the BD info on this one.  I haven't yet entered the BD mkt but I've wanted a remastered (std) anamorphic release of the Deep for a long time and since this BD release happened, it's a little tougher to wait it out on entering the BD scene.  I only with that Sony had re-released this one in Std remastered (anamor) format recently.

Thanks for reviewing the new Blue-ray edition.
The Deep is one of my favorite adventure films from the 1970s.
I'll order it right  now.

I also enjoyed this film. 

[TREECE (Robert Shaw) discusses the potential value of a piece of jewelry found during a treasure dive with DAVID (Nick Nolte) and GAIL (Jacqueline Bisset).]

TREECE: The ocean’s not a jewelry store.  You don’t get no receipts. You’ve got to prove that that’s authentic.

DAVID:  (Exasperated). Well, anybody can see it’s authentic. 

TREECE:  You don’t understand me, boy.  There’s a lot of counterfeit on the market today.  I mean it’s real gold, it’s real gems, but it’s false.  Now you have to establish a provenance.  You got to do that first.  You’ve got to find a proof that it’s real.  Now if we could find in here (referring to the ship manifests) a verifying record, a description of any piece down there.  That makes it all worth a bloody fortune. 

Rich,  that's great

A short line that I liked from Shaw was (I believe in that same scene)

[Treece] "But then again, you'd have left it down there if I hadn't known it for what it was.  So that rows me aboard as well."

I thought that Louis Gossett Jr also did a great job as that "heavy":

[Cloche] "Have a good dinner....go dancing....but be off the island by tomorrow morning".

Man, I'd die for a remastered std anamorphic release of this one.  If there are enough of the older films released in BR (anamorphic) I may have to jump to BR sooner than expected.

Except that this film hasn't been released in both formats.

Where's the SD release Sony?

 No, this release isn't available on sd, but Sony has pulled a lot of great stuff out of its vaults this year, and put out some fine, economical packages. The screwball sets, the martini movies, the Toho set, Rita Hayworth, Jack Lemmon, and on and on. I've been quick to castigate Sony in the past, it's only fair I praise them when I see them doing good.

I don't know if this is going to run afoul of the rules here, but I was planning on putting up one of my Bd players for auction in the next few weeks. It's a Sony, but only a profile 1.0, so I don't expect to get much for it. But if someone here wants a very cheap gateway to Bd, feel free to  PM me and I'll give you more details.
  

Paul,

I do have the original '98 SD release of The Deep but it's letterboxed at 2.35:1 .  Fortunately, during my early movie-DVD buying days, I didn't buy a lot of those non-anamorphic releases.  I've been upgrading a few of my favorite non-anam movie DVD's recently though.

OT but Kudos to WB for their early Std anamorphic release policy.  Otherwise, I'd have upgraded a lot more of the early Std non-anam stuff.

I regret getting rid of my original widescreen DVD of this as it seems that version is no longer available. I was browsing the BluRay section of my local movie shop and picked up the hi-def version just out of curiosity (I have yet to dive into the format) and was shocked to read that there's a 3-hour version of this movie. I would've purchased a BluRay player right then and there if this were a real special edition with the extended version. If anyone who bought this version can tell me how is the picture quality? Does it look like Sony did a new transfer?

The DVD is a decade old so it's definitely a new transfer on the Blu-ray.

I have an SD copy of The Deep which is anamorphic that I want to sell      SOLD
Edited by Jeff Whitford - 7/15/2009 at 07:43 pm GMT