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MY FAIR LADY ON BLU?

post #1 of 15
4/23/10 at 12:53am
Thread Starter 

A message for Robert Harris
You worked extensively on My Fair Lady resulting in a beautiful 70mm restoration back in the early 90's. As I am sure you are aware, his landmark musical has since been taken over by Paramount for home distribution. I hear ,although consider this rumor dept, that several 70mm sound reels have gone missing in the intervening years (according to the BFI in the UK) and as a result it is highly improbable we will see a blu ray release any time soon as I would assume Paramount would try to use 70mm elements for a blu ray remaster. Do you have any further comments or observations on this? Thank you

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post #2 of 15
4/23/10 at 11:09am
Why does the dvd of MFL have an aspect ratio of 2:35 when Super Panavision 70 should be 2:20. Were the recent 70mm restoration showings really 35mm blowups?
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post #3 of 15
4/23/10 at 11:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CULTMAN1 View Post

A message for Robert Harris
You worked extensively on My Fair Lady resulting in a beautiful 70mm restoration back in the early 90's. As I am sure you are aware, his landmark musical has since been taken over by Paramount for home distribution. I hear ,although consider this rumor dept, that several 70mm sound reels have gone missing in the intervening years (according to the BFI in the UK) and as a result it is highly improbable we will see a blu ray release any time soon as I would assume Paramount would try to use 70mm elements for a blu ray remaster. Do you have any further comments or observations on this? Thank you


Rumor.
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post #4 of 15
4/23/10 at 11:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by trajan View Post

Why does the dvd of MFL have an aspect ratio of 2:35 when Super Panavision 70 should be 2:20. Were the recent 70mm restoration showings really 35mm blowups?

The current video incarnations of MFL are derived from a specially produced 35mm interpositive.  This element would allow any aspect ratio as it exposes all 65mm information out to the frame lines on all sides.  The current DVD has a wider aspect ratio because more information is exposed at the sides.  This information would have been covered by magnetic tracks in 70mm.
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post #5 of 15
4/23/10 at 7:14pm
Mr Harris- Thanks for info.
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post #6 of 15
4/25/10 at 1:53pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you for your update. I am encouraged by your remarks. Lets us all hope that My Fair Lady does indeed get the Blu Ray Treatment in the future
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post #7 of 15
4/30/10 at 10:05pm
Did anyone here ever see the first laserdisc incarnation of MFL? Warner Bros. (?) put it out prior to Robert Harris's restoration. I'm guessing it was a three-strip film that had shrunk independently of one another, resulting in an image that looked very much like an anaglyph 3-D picture viewed without glasses.
I returned the disc for a refund (from the late, lamented 'Daves Video', who were expecting the return!) and now regret it. I wish I had it to show how ridiculous it looked and how extraordinary that it could have been released that way.
Another related anecdote that might be of interest to RAH: When 'Lawrence of Arabia' was first released on VHS (I paid something like $120 for it - In PAN AND SCAN - long before Mr. Harris's heroic rescue!), the stereo (this was early days for stereo on VHS) was reversed, so that when O'Toole and Sharif first meet and have their dialog by the well, the dialog from one came from the direction of the other. I returned it to Columbia (before Sony bought it) who replaced it with a properly placed track and sent a VHS copy of 'Bridge on the River Kwai' along with it to make up for the 'inconvenience'. What class! Anyway, I wish now I'd kept the original as a collector's piece, but $120 was a fortune to me in those days.
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post #8 of 15
8/17/11 at 3:13am
Thread Starter 
Well it seems possibly a dream come true... My Fair Lady on blu ray this November from Warner?
Its listed on Digital Bits and Walmart Site $29.99
Has any work been done on the elements since our last correspondence a year ago? Hopefully it will appear in a book format like the other Warner releases.
Comments please...
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post #9 of 15
8/21/11 at 4:01am
Thread Starter 
Following on from my previous posting does anyone know if any work has gone into remastering My Fair lady for its eventual Blu Ray release in November?
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post #10 of 15
8/27/11 at 9:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CULTMAN1 View Post

Well it seems possibly a dream come true... My Fair Lady on blu ray this November from Warner?
Its listed on Digital Bits and Walmart Site $29.99
Has any work been done on the elements since our last correspondence a year ago? Hopefully it will appear in a book format like the other Warner releases.
Comments please...

This Blu-ray release will be from Paramount (who've held the rights on MFL again for a couple of years now - they re-released the film on DVD not too long ago). It's all to do with how Jack Warner negotiated the rights to make the film in the first place.
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post #11 of 15
8/27/11 at 9:46pm
As I recall, the first LD of MFL was from CBS/FOX as part of their "widescreen" series and I really remember the color being almost non-existent. Returned to to Dave's Video, as well:(
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post #12 of 15
9/25/11 at 9:00pm

Starlight Cinemas' Cinema City Theaters in Anaheim Hills, CA will be screening My Fair Lady on Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 7pm. Admission is $7.

 

Cinema City Theatres
5635 E. La Palma Ave.
Anaheim Hills, California 92807

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post #13 of 15
9/28/11 at 9:41pm
Does anyone know what the aspect ratio for the bluray will be.?
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post #14 of 15
10/4/11 at 2:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by AbbyNormal View Post

As I recall, the first LD of MFL was from CBS/FOX as part of their "widescreen" series and I really remember the color being almost non-existent. Returned to to Dave's Video, as well:(

In fact, CBS/Fox released a pan and scan version of MFL on laserdisc. I had a copy. The color was better, or at least more vivid, than the later widescreen laserdisc. However, the sound on the P&S disc - oh, the sound! Horrible. It was stereo, but if you tried to play it through a ProLogic circuit the voices would just kind of travel around among the speakers, there was absolutely no directionality at all. At least the sound on the widescreen laserdisc, as poor as the color was, was more focused. I recall thinking of both of those discs that it was a very sad state of affairs for a Best Picture winner and one of Warner's top efforts of all time.

I returned my share of discs to Dave's as well, but I did keep the MFL widescreen disc. If that was the only way to own a treasured title then it would have to be.


KP
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post #15 of 15
10/20/11 at 2:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by trajan View Post

Does anyone know what the aspect ratio for the bluray will be.?


Anywhere between 2.35 and 2.21:1 works.

 

RAH

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