HTF DVD REVIEW: The Barbara Stanwyck Collection

 Except for the incorrect AR, I found the transfer of There's Always Tomorrow more pleasing than you did. It didn't seem muddy to me, in fact the grayscale and contrast (via my JVC DLA-350HD) looked pretty good, from the bright desert scenes at the resort to the extensive high-contrast interiors. I agree that it could have been a bit crisper, but that didn't detract that much from my enjoyment of the visuals.

Does anyone have an explanation as to how a pan and scan transfer of There's Always Tomorrow was used for this collection?  Especially since nice widescreen versions are available in France and England.

 

I guess Universal doing a replacement program for There's Always Tomorrow is not a possibility. :(

Let's be accurate, it's not a pan and scan but a full frame transfer of THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW. Still in its incorrect theatrical aspect ratio, of course. 

Has anyone actually done a comparison of Eureka's edition of There's Always Tomorrow to say for sure that the Uni release isn't P&S?

I can do one. Got both discs here.

Okay, here are the scenes. Took'em with WinDVD and converted the files to jpg with gimp using a quality of 100%:

 

First: Universal
Second: Eureka

 

You'll also see reel-change cues on the Universal There's Always Tomorrow, about 1/3 of the way down the right edge.

 

EDIT: Well, about half-way down:

 

 

Edited by Paul Penna - 6/3/10 at 1:54pm

It is nothing new for studios to give us 1.33:1 or LB transfers of films that actually were filmed for 1.85:1 or 2.35:1, then turn around and give the UK anamorphic OAR. Universal has done this to us with COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT, ICEMAN; Disney has done it with many of their films under all monikers (Disney, Touchstone, Hollywood) such as ARACHNOPHOBIA, QUIZ SHOW, THE HORSE WHISPERER, A CIVIL ACTION, the HONEY, I...films, SIRENS, etc; Warner Bros screwed us on OUTLAND (which, while 2.35:1 in the U.S., was non-anamorphic), MGM had a field day giving us letterbox editions of BLACK STALLION, PIT AND THE PENDULUM, ANNIE HALL and dozens of others while giving the UK 16x9; Sony passed us over with MATILDA, ANATOMY OF A MURDER, THREE WORLDS OF GULLIVER and many more.... Europeans seem to demand quality releases and get them, while we Americans just keep buying the LB and pan and scan crap and encouraging more of the same. Hopefully, Blu-ray will remedy much of this deplorable practice.

Thanks for the screencaps Marcel. Looks like the R1 is zoomed open-matte then.

There are many, many examples where European releases are inferior to their US counterparts; the grass isn't always greener...

 

Why Universal should supply Eureka with a decent OAR master of There's Always Tomorrow, then ignore the same themselves is just bizarre.

I'm working on a letter (of the snail mail variety) right now to Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment to complain about the inferior transfer for U.S. customers.  Not that I'll get an answer, or that Kornblau will care, or that Universal will undertake a replacement program, or that it will make any difference whatsoever -- but it will feel good to slip that letter through the mailbox slot. :)

If there were a petition accompanying the letter, I would gladly sign the petition.
 

Good luck, but remember this: Universal is the same company I wrote to AND sent a DVD to about how their release of SWEET CHARITY on DVD was missing a minute and a half of a key scene. They e-mailed me stating that it was EVERY OTHER EDITION of the film that was wrong by including the scene, specifying the VHS, Laserdisc, and cable releases of being from a "longer, later roadshow version and not the original theatrical version, which is what is on our DVD." Anyone who knows their film history knows roadshows were BEFORE a general release, not after. Anyway, they refused to acknowledge their mistake, and I replied stating that I hoped they updated their masters so that when the film IS reissued again that the scene would be included.

 

Three years later the film aired on HDNET MOVIES. The scene was back in. Still no corrected DVD.

Oh, I know my letter will result in a great big fat NOTHING.  But it still will make me feel good to send it. :)

Resuscitating this thread to ask PaulaJ. if Universal responded to her letter regarding There's Always Tomorrow.

The Eureka edition from the U.K. is lovely and comes with a thick booklet filled with information.

But that 4% PAL speed up puts the film at too high a pitch when played in the USA.

People don't move quite that fast, and their voices should be lower.

It never kicks into hyper overdrive like some region 2's (Tiara Tahiti, for example) so it doesn't spoil the film for me, but still ... why isn't there a right and proper USA release of There's Always Tomorrow?

 

I hear there's a Korean port of the region 2 transfer which is in NTSC. So I'm looking for that because maybe it will be as good as the Korean port The Tarnished Angels, ported from the Carlotta DVD in France and in NTSC. The Korean DVD is actually sharper than the transfer TCM is selling.

 

 

 

No.