"South Pacific" Disc of the year? - Page 4

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

I have been on the internet for 12 years. No need to welcome me. But the Home Theater Forum has standards, and that's why I don't go to threads on films I detest. I happen to loathe some very well-loved films (in genres I tend to like) that I will not mention. Some are winners of mutiple Oscars. But I don't drop a bomb like "this movie sucks" here. That's IMDb caliber behavior.

This isn't the first time this has happened here. Someone who disliked a film said so in one sentence, but also mentioned that he disliked its DVD treatment more in principle and expressed sympathy and support to those who actually liked the film and would have bought a better DVD version if it existed. It didn't derail the thread.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

I think the audio is a miracle and I wouldn't want it to sound like today's films.
It would be something to experience to see how Alfred Newman would have utilised today's recording technology with his amazing talent for conducting and his technical know-how in music recording.
As good as this track sounds, it would have been interesting to hear the 6-track in it's original configuration, which is technically possible for Dolby to do, rather than a mixed - down 6:4 or a 4-track mix. I'm not sure how the 5.1 was derived for this disc.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

Sigh. Typical. My comments and those of others were at least concerning the film that's the basis of the disc, as well as the quality of the disc itself.

The thread was hardly derailed until you made that the point of the thread, as opposed to the film and disc.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

No. You were the first one to come in and attack the film, assuming the BD would make you dislike it less. It was not I who crashed the party saying how much I detest the film. There were 80 posts devoted to the contents of the disc, the picture and sound quality, and the baffling decision to include the roadshow version in SD only while some extras were in HD. Then you came in saying "Dear God, I find this film dreadful." This was not a debate on the film itself until you made it so.

I only made the comments I did because I am sick and tired of threadcraps like this. Not just this film but any film. This is not personal, and I find it unnecessary for you to say something like "Sigh. Typical."

EDIT: I'm retiring from this thread before I say anything that may cost me my membership. Say what you want. If you feel personally insulted then I apologize.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

Matthew, I don't feel personally insulted and there's no need for you to apologize. You are simply incorrect about my initial post, nor more, no less.

I do not believe it was a threadcrap, or anyway near that. I specifically stated I BOUGHT the blu-ray to support this release, as well as future R&H releases AND other Fox musicals on blu-ray even though I dislike the film. I find it very odd that you believe "Someone who disliked a film said so in one sentence, but also mentioned that he disliked its DVD treatment more in principle and expressed sympathy and support to those who actually liked the film and would have bought a better DVD version if it existed" is MORE supportive than someone who actually bought the blu-ray being discussed.

And the reason I said "Sigh...typical" is that this is not about threadcrapping, but about people who cannot deal with people holding an opinion other their own. Had I come in and said "this movie sucks" (which I didn't) or "anyone who likes this movie has no taste" (which I didn't) or "how can anyone like this film?" (which I didn't) then you would have had a point. But that is not what transpired. I simply stated "I find the film dreadful" (key words: "I find" NOT "this film is") , others asked why and I answered them. All of which was on point for this thread. It did not derail from discussing the disc until it became about no one should be allowed to criticise the film in this thread.

This ends my discussion of anything outside the film or the disc here.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

I pretty much agree with John's assessment of the film itself; however, I STILL like it (for whatever weird reasoning).

I just think South Pacific is one of those frustrating "almost a hit" situations in which had they just spent ten minutes more thinking it through, then it would have been a classic for the right reasons, not notorious for the color filters and some peculiar acting choices on the part of John Kerr, Ray Walston, etc. But I still love the movie; it will never be perfect, no matter how good it looks on BluRay. It is what it is--

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

Well I just received mine and to me Fox should be congratulated for presenting this film superbly. The picture is SOTAwith an excellent sound transfer. Even no stupid graphics over the overture, etc .Their usual inclusion is a bugbear for me. My only nit picks are the cover art and the inclusion of that total nonsense called a commentary track from Barrios. That's how good it is.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

Yes..I think that pretty much nails it. It was a poor choice of words, on my part, to classify the script as "puerile". It did need some really dynamic personalities to work though, and in my estimation, the only outstanding performances come from Juanita Hall and an under-appreciated France Nuyen (admittedly not the most demanding role of all time). For the most part however, when the music stops and the exposition begins, I head to the lobby for a snack (AKA my pantry, where I keep the microwave popcorn).

In fairness, I think there is only one segment of the film that falls beneath the level of flatline mediocrity. I wish the action scenes had been dropped onto the cutting room floor. The unnecessary comic relief of Billis parachuting to safety, played like something from the TV sitcom "McHale's Navy", and the island set for the war operation looked less convincing then any random episode of "Combat".

Overall though, I'm glad South Pacific was produced. The extraordinary score is arranged and performed to perfection, and overbearing filters notwithstanding, the musical sequences are very well staged. I've watched the movie upteen times, so despite this movie's considerable limitations, I was among the first in line to buy this disc.

BTW, I listened to the commentary track last night (disc 1) and enjoyed it very much. Gerard Allesandrini and Ted Chapin are quite relaxed, and offer some interesting insight, particularly about the casting (I guess I'm not the only one to lament the rejection of Doris Day as Nellie).

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

I have always loved that story too. And frankly, she was soo right.

I just received the BD, finally. Could only view a few scenes yet - wow!

This is the sort of movie, I love to just sit down and enjoy watching.
Not even judging the quality of the movie itself in a meticulous way while doing so (given the fact that it's not horrendous to begin with). It's going to happen this weekend, among some other music.


A fine disc to own.


Cees

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

Sorry for being off-topic, but:

I am in a conventional dither,
With a conventional star in my eye.
And you will note there's a lump in my throat
When I speak of that wonderful guy!

I'm as trite and as gay as a daisy
in May, A cliché comin' true!
I'm bromidic and bright
As a moon-happy night
Pourin' light on the dew!

I'm as corny as Kansas in August,
High as a flag on the Fourth of July!
If you'll excuse an expression I use,
I'm in love, I'm in love,
I'm in love, I'm in love,
I'm in love with a wonderful guy!

Nobody did it better than Oscar!



Back on topic: My copy of South Pacific is on it's way from amazon.com! Can't wait! It will be accompanying The Robe! There's a double bill!

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

They could have reduced the saturation of the filters, but I don't think they could have removed them. We don't have the technology to remove them even today.

Unless...

they shot alternate versions of scenes without the filters for protection?

Evidence? Take a look at the trailer. It seems to me I noticed a shot of "A Wonderful Guy" in there that was in "real" color with no filter or vignette effect.... Interesting!

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

In Joshua Logan's autobiography he talks about the controversy of the filters. He wrote that he was told by the lab that if he did not like the way they looked, the colors could be removed. He did not like the look and when he said so, they told him they could not be removed. He said he was upset but there was nothing he could do about it. On a lighter side, he told a story of when he was in England and someone came up to him and wanted to ask a question about the filters. He took a deep breath and immediately said he did not like them and wished he did not use them. The surprised person, stated that he liked the filters and just wanted to know if it was his brilliant idea to use them. Mr. Logan goes on to say that he received many compliments on the use of the filters during his visit. He still did not like them.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

I love that line! I'm not even a musical fan and I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, especially given the lush spectacle of the Blu-ray presentation. Musicals tend by their very nature to be fairly trite, but you've got to give R&H credit in that they at least try to introduce some weighty topics, if only to give an operatic feel to their films.

Blu-ray of the year? maybe not. We've still got half a year to go and a lot of cool stuff in the hopper, but South Pacific is definitely demo quality disk, filters and all, IMHO and a damn fine example of epic Hollywood musicals.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

My viewpoint is that it is always about the film, first and foremost particularly when the thread title has 'disc of the year' attached. No matter how good the disc is nobody is going to vote any film disc of the year unless the film matters.

Having said that, that doesn't mean that we can't appreciate a studio putting out a fine release of a classic film. It also doesn't mean someone should come in and dump a thread fart either.

I Netflixed South Pacific on blu-ray. Fantastic eye-candy. Other than the first reel, the film looks terrific. I'm also a fan of the music of the film. A lot of terrific songs. I have not seen this film in a very long time. I was surprised at the production numbers, it all looks like the film was done on the cheap.

Regarding the colored filters/effects I didn't mind it for the Bali Hai scene but thought it was ill-conceived for the other scenes. I think the audience can make the mental leap that the girl is swept up by the beauty all around her without gong for the Vaseline on the edges of the lens look.

Mitzi Gaynor was a huge error in casting. Quite frankly, it's hard to watch her scenes. Rossano Brazzi? Good singer and good film presence but it's cringeable watching him portray a Frenchman. At the very least, they should have coached him to say 'bonjour' correctly.

So, terrific video transfer of a mediocre film does not a 'disc of the year' make. If Fox does this kind of work with some of their other films, I'm sure many film fans will be quite happy.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

I can't find it now but, years ago someone used Photo Shop or something to remove the filters and they came out excellent in the screen shots that were shown. So, it can be done.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

I'm pretty sure he was dubbed.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

Yes, the singing was done by Giorgio Tozzi.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

I got my copy of the BD in today's mail.

Plopped in the disc with only a few minutes to spot check some of the musical numbers. I started with "Nothing Like a Dame." I was horrified by how it looked! I was really expecting something special and was much-less-than-impressed. Then I saw some flashes of pink and realized I was watching the Roadshow version (Disc #2 was located on the right side of the case and disc #1 was covered by some paper inserts).

I quickly swapped the discs and reveled in how beautiful this film looked and sounded.

I always get so said when the beautiful colors return after the segments which use the filters. Logan was fairly uncreative with his use of the camera and choreography in most of those musical numbers.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

Joel: I can't tell you how often I go around saying that I'm bromidic!

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

Yes, you have all judged correctly...this is a beautiful picture on the BD.
I've purchased nearly every incarnation of this film on home video, and I've never seen it or heard it like this before.

My favorite part of the package was the new documentary, hosted by the engaging Mitzi Gaynor. It was truly in-depth, and far lengthier than most doc's from Fox.
Great job.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

I should have said we barely have the capability today. After all, doesn't filming with strong color filters like those basically destroy one (or more) of the color separations? It renders a whole area of the color spectrum almost unrecoverable because the levels of whichever color aren't even being recorded on the film.

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

I guess it doesn't remove any colors. I emailed the guy who did it back in 2005. He has an example, not that great to his standards, but you can see it on youtube.com:

YouTube - "Wonderful Guy" Colour Test - filters removed

YouTube - South Pacific - A Wonderful Guy - with filters

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

If only other Classic Blu-ray titles looked this good.
Fox are to be congratulated on doing a magnificent job.

SOUTH PACIFIC looks and sounds absolutely stunning.

Does anybody know the source history of this new Blu-ray version?

I thought that only printed-down 35mm Cinemascope copies existed outside of the original Todd-AO 70mm Roadshow version.
This Blu-ray version has the Todd-AO screen credit and the 70mm aspect ratio to match.
If it has come from a 70mm source then that could explain why it looks so Goddam good.
If it's from 35mm Cinemascope then it's a miracle.

ps. Anybody having trouble with the lip sync on this Blu-ray disc?

Re: "South Pacific" Disc of the year?

Doug,

seems that they did an 8k scan of the 70mm IP for the Blu-Ray, so not a miracle but still a very nice disc

 Anyone else find the dialog a tad low?

Nope.

Just crank the volume until the dialog is clearly intelligible and let the levels of the rest of the track fall where it may. 

This was originally 70mm 6 track mag which had a much wider dynamic range than the optical tracks of the day.

Vern

Recently watched this Blu-Ray. Absolutely stunning HD transfer. I can't imagine the movie ever looked this good in its theatrical run. Really, some of the most beautiful images I've ever had on my screen. How is it that movies don't look like this anymore? Softer colors? Different cinematography? Someone should make something this satisfying to look at; audiences would eat it up. (Even Avatar, visual marvel that it is, had many images of CG detail that just aren't the same as a Hawaiian sunset.)
Oh yeah, the movie was great too!