Re: *** Official Warner Archive DVD Review Thread
I'm not buying at the moment, but I certainly intend to. With that in mind I've been keeping track. The story so far for anybody interested:
Al Capone (1959)
“widescreen…Picture Quality..was very good---comparable to traditional DVD (pressed) releases for fifty year old films.” – Mike Kuhns #54
Along the Great Divide (1951)
“not widescreen…Picture Quality..was very good---comparable to traditional DVD (pressed) releases for fifty year old films.” – Mike Kuhns #54
Angel Baby (1961)
“look[s] great, with proper letterboxing and good black and white contrasts.” – Jobla #63
Baby Maker, The (1970)
“Another interlaced, 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation, though with a seemingly better encode than DREAM LOVER by a wide margin, even though the print used for the transfer is also less than optimal…Dolby Digital mono encoded at 192 kbps. Flat with slight hiss, though not sounding noisy like a typical optical track from a print might, the audio was neither so good or so bad that I look exception to it…I'm grateful to have it on DVD in anamorphic widescreen even though it appears no effort was made to correct some of the color and contrast fluctuations in the print.” + screen caps – Chuck Pennington #8
Betrayed (1954)
“shot in 1:33 x 1 and is presented in Full Screen with the audio in mono. Again I only viewed a small portion of the DVD and the video was excellent.” – Ernest #1
“BETRAYED was protected for Academy, but was composed and intended for widescreen presentation.” – Bob Furmanek #5
Bhowani Junction (1956)
“shot in widescreen 2:40 x 1 and are released in anamorphic widescreen 16 x 9. The audio is 2 channel stereo. I just viewed a small portion of each DVD and the video I saw was excellent.” – Ernest #1
Big Circus, The (1959)
“surpised how impressive it looked and sounded (beautifully photographed by Winston C. Hoch), the CinemaScope picture is vibrant and the sound is robust.” – Charles H #70
Brainstorm (1965)
“look[s] great, with proper letterboxing and good black and white contrasts.” – Jobla #63
Convicts 4 (1962)
“I thought the video presentation was very good except an 8 minute segment that was a little dupey and soft.” – Robert Crawford #64
Crowded Sky, The (1960)
“looks barely better than VHS” – BillyFeldman #58
“The least, visually speaking, of the 5 movies I ordered[A Lion is in the Streets, The Crowded Sky, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Made in Paris, A Dream of Kings]. The fine print at the end of the opening credits exhibited a throbbing effect (sharp/fuzzy/sharp/fuzzy) The whole movie looked a bit fuzzy. No trailer.” – Eric Vedowski #61
D.I., The (1957)
“looks okay” – BillyFeldman #58
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975)
“anamorphic widescreen in [its] original 1.85:1 aspect ratio…some minor (very minor) debris in the first few minutes which shows that it might receive further restoration in the future. The picture quality of the remainder of the film seems almost pristine. A trailer for the film is included on this DVD, and if you want to see how bad this film could look, then look no further than this unrestored trailer in 1.33.1 aspect ratio.” – Timothy E #24
Dream Lover (1986)
“The image is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen from a rather grainy and speckled element. Darker scenes, of which there are many, are rather murky with ill-defined contrast and compression blockiness. Exterior daylight scenes fare quite well with decent contrast and lighter grain, though the transfer never quite reaches beyond simply average even during its best moments. The encoding, however, introduces some major problems. Aside from the disappointment of being an interlaced encode, there is some strange vertical strobing in many of the dark scenes with the infrared lights…Though the packaging states mono, DREAM LOVER is presented in 2.0 Dolby Surround, and in some scenes is quite effective!...Well, at least this disc also came with a non-anamorphic widescreen trailer. Oh, and the movie is in anamorphic widescreen. Some of it looks okay. Sorry, not a lot of good words for this DVD, or for the movie. ” + screen caps – Chuck Pennington #7
A Dream of Kings (1969)
“Best of the bunch visually [out of A Lion is in the Streets, The Crowded Sky, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Made in Paris and this]-I imagine the source material hasn't had much wear & tear. No trailer.” – Eric Vedowski #61
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The (1962)
“shot in widescreen 2:40 x 1 and are released in anamorphic widescreen 16 x 9. The audio is 2 channel stereo. I just viewed a small portion of each DVD and the video I saw was excellent.” – Ernest #1
“Looked very good to me, sound seemed weak, the only time I had to turn up the volume. No trailer.” – Eric Vedowksi #61
George Raft Story, The (1961)
“widescreen…Picture Quality..was very good---comparable to traditional DVD (pressed) releases for fifty year old films.” – Mike Kuhns #54
“looks barely better than VHS.” – BillyFeldman #58
Grasshopper, The (1970)
“Presented in an interlaced, 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, THE GRASSHOPPER is quite watchable with only minor flaws consistent with the vintage of the film…There isn't much to report about this mono (DD 2.0 192 kbps) track: crisp-sounding music with low noise, lower in volume than I expected with no low end to speak of…The DVD from Warner Archive is satisfactory and better than I expected, though I do hope that progressive encoding as well as improved compression grace future releases.” + screen caps – Chuck Pennington #18
Heart Beat (1980)
“overall very good looking, to me. The old VHS is P&S and has a yellowish tint, as though a colorist was trying to create a visual feeling of nostalgia. The new DVD has much better color and is letterboxed, showing much more of the image.” – Jobla #63
A Lion is in the Streets (1953)
“Full screen/Technicolor-Looks as good as similar Doris Day/WB DVDs of the same vintage-which means decent, unrestored condition. No trailer. Great Cagney.” – Eric Vedowski #61
Made in Paris (1961)
“looks okay” – BillyFeldman #58
“Picture quality decent but not as good looking as 24 year old Ann-Margret. Trailer was 4x3 letterbox.” – Eric Vedowski #61
Mating Game, The (1959)
“I can't say I am overly impressed with what I saw. Video quality is quite watchable, but I would be very disappointed if this were a major studio release. Picture looked somewhat compressed as there were visible artifacts. The fact I was using a upconverting BD player probably magnified the transfer deficiencies. I mean, overall, the transfer looked just passable…audio..sounded very clean.” – Ronald Epstein #29
Screen Caps – Mark B #69
Money Trap, The (1965)
“looks great in its anamorphic scope transfer.” – BillyFeldman #58
“look[s] great, with proper letterboxing and good black and white contrasts.” – Jobla #63
My Blood Runs Cold (1965)
“look[s] great, with proper letterboxing and good black and white contrasts.” – Jobla #63
Sergeant, The (1968)
“There were some age-related white speckles throughout and the reel change markers were there, but the color was good and the close-ups were nice and sharp. There was some smearing in long shots, and I did notice a couple of places of interlaced shimmer, but they were minor instances, not major problems. Sound had some hiss, but actually, the film looked and sounded much as I remembered it in the theater when I saw a reissue of it in a revival theater (remember those?).” – MattH. #62
Sweet November (1968)
“It's just okay - quite soft - with what looks like a bit of edge ringing in some scenes. The software they are using for the compression seems to have problems with the color red…it did look quite soft and slightly fuzzy, like a dupe. Color was okay though, and the print seemed to be in good condition. I like that the original trailer was included. The compression and encoding didn't sport as many flaws as some of the other titles, but it was interlaced and lacked the fine definition of many other titles released to DVD from the same time period.” – Chuck Pennington #36 (screen caps), #59
“looks ugly, smoggy, muddy, with no vibrance to its look at all.” – Billy Feldman #58
This Woman is Dangerous (1952)
“This is the oldest film of the five I purchased from the Warner Archive and yet it has the best image quality! The image is framed at 1.33:1 and is impeccably clean with a grand grayscale, one that unfortunately shows up the limitations of the encoding…Presented in its original mono (Dolby Digital 2.0 - 192 kbps), the film sounds as other films from the era do: a bit shrill and sharp, but quite distinct and intelligible. Surface noise was never a problem, and I didn't detect any distortion or optical track funkiness…I'm pleased with the result, even if the fact that it is interlaced and features substandard encoding does give me pause. The theatrical trailer is also included, though not noted anywhere on the packaging or the Warner Archive website.” + screen caps – Chuck Pennington #16
Three Sailors and a Girl (1953)
“it does not look like a standard DVD...more like a VHS tape. The sound is good but the picture is not; one or so too many distractions (some flickering, some edge enhancement...).” – Edward Weinman #57
Screen Caps – Mark B #69
Westbound (1959)
“anamorphic widescreen in [its] original 1.85:1 aspect ratio…I found the video and audio quality to compare favorably with the other restored versions of the "Ranown" films on DVD...” - Timothy E #24
“looked decent, but was plagued with very minor video shifting and some minor compression artifacts…audio..sounded very clean.” – Ronald Epstein #29
“widescreen…color…Picture Quality..was very good---comparable to traditional DVD (pressed) releases for fifty year old films.” – Mike Kuhns #54
Wichita (1955)
“widescreen…color…Picture Quality..was very good---comparable to traditional DVD (pressed) releases for fifty year old films…quite a revelation. Aspect Ratio is 2.55x1.” – Mike Kuhns #54
“looks..good, which is a real treat” – BillyFeldman #58
Wow, Pete.
