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"My Fair Lady" Blu-ray November 15th

post #1 of 116
8/14/11 at 2:54am
Thread Starter 

"My Fair Lady" is finally up for pre-order at Walmart. Release date Nov 15th $29

Should be a great week for classic 70MM films - also coming around that time: "West Side Story" and "Mutiny on the Bounty"

 

htf ad My Fair Lady English.jpg

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My Fair Lady [Blu-ray]
post #2 of 116
8/14/11 at 3:56am
Is this going to be a WalMart exclusive?
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post #3 of 116
8/14/11 at 4:23am
I think this is going to be the best Blu-ray Christmas yet! So many great catalogue titles released.
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post #4 of 116
8/14/11 at 5:29am

Very excited about this news! I'm really looking forward to a stunning Blu-ray picture.

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post #5 of 116
8/14/11 at 5:32am

And just below this thread, I see Little Big Man coming up as well.  Amazing!

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post #6 of 116
8/14/11 at 9:20am
Very excited about this! One of my favourite films of all-time.
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post #7 of 116
8/14/11 at 9:36am
I always get a bit nostalgic about My Fair Lady. Out of all the DVDs I could have bought for my new Toshiba DVD player in 1998, it was the first My Fair Lady release. Sometimes I think about putting the thing in a shadow box and hanging it on my wall. smile.gif

Looking forward to this being in HD!
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post #8 of 116
8/14/11 at 9:58am
Is this release going to have the correct 2.20:1 aspect ratio for Super Panavision 70?
Edited by trajan - 8/14/11 at 10:08am
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post #9 of 116
8/14/11 at 10:20am
Thread Starter 

HTF MFL NYTimes.jpg

 

 

Roadshow Ad

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post #10 of 116
8/14/11 at 10:27am
Thread Starter 

It would great to have an alternate track to watch the film with Audrey Hepburn's original vocals of the songs.

 

I have heard tapes of Audrey singing to a piano playback and she sounds okay (better than on the Laserdisc issued in 1994).

She's about 80% there, much would have to be sweetened with todays tech and maybe some high notes dubbed over with Marni Nixon's originals.

 

Audrey will never sound like a Legit Sophrano, but her voice is passable and real and would make an interesting feature on a Blu-ray. Plus she acts the role a bit better than Marni Nixon. Plus is would add sales value for all the Hepburn fans

 

If today's techonogly can make someone like Renee Zellweger or Johnny Depp sound passable, they could do the same with Audrey Hepburn

 

General Release:

mfl htf.jpg


Edited by GMpasqua - 8/14/11 at 10:44am
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post #11 of 116
8/14/11 at 10:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by GMpasqua View Post

It would great to have an alternate track to watch the film with Audrey Hepburn's original vocals of the songs.

 

I have heard tapes of Audrey singing to a piano playback and she sounds okay (better than on the Laserdisc issued in 1994).

She's about 80% there, much would have to be sweetened with todays tech and maybe some high notes dubbed over with Marni Nixon's originals.

 

Audrey will never sound like a Legit Sophrano, but her voice is passable and real and would make an interesting feature on a Blu-ray. Plus she acts the role a bit better than Marni Nixon. Plus is would add sales value for all the Hepburn fans

 

If today's techonogly can make someone like Renee Zellweger or Johnny Depp sound passable, they could do the same with Audrey Hepburn


IIRC, the 30th anniversary laserdisc had this on the analog track for the two songs they had found. But if even they have those vocals, they have not found individual music and effects stems or an M&E track (CBS probably tossed it). If they included it as an alternate track I would rather they not try to correct anything. It would work better to hear her voice as it was, warts and all.

 

Even so, I have high hopes for the transfer and hope that the extras from the Warner 2-disc set are ported over.

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post #12 of 116
8/14/11 at 10:47am
OMG--I want specs, and I want 'em now! Is this a port from the dvd? Is this the same restored version from 1993? Was Robert Harris involved? Were any changes or upgrades made?

A $29.00 price point makes me think that this is at least a two-disc set, but other than that it is as yet impossible to guess what this release will really be. Come on, Wal-Mart...give us the details!!!
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post #13 of 116
8/14/11 at 10:54am
Thread Starter 



 

Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewA View Post




IIRC, the 30th anniversary laserdisc had this on the analog track for the two songs they had found. But if even they have those vocals, they have not found individual music and effects stems or an M&E track (CBS probably tossed it). If they included it as an alternate track I would rather they not try to correct anything. It would work better to hear her voice as it was, warts and all.

 

Even so, I have high hopes for the transfer and hope that the extras from the Warner 2-disc set are ported over.



warts and all might work an an extra, but to watch with the film - the vocals need to be re-mixed and sweetened.

 

When I've mixed singers we always punch in better notes from different takes and sweeten the sound. They is so much you can do today

 

It was never planned for Audrey to sing the entire score - the high notes were always to be dubbed. For every line of music Audrey hit's all the notes, but the higher ones she can't sustain and some do not sound pretty. You can hear where she knew they wouldn't use the high notes as she doesn't sing them as loud.  But much of the lower register sounds fine.

 

Her version of "Wouldn't it Be Loverly" sounds better than Marni's version, to bad they can't find the original track she filmed to - but who knows it could be out there somewhere.

 

Her version of "I Could have Danced All night" sounds okay, but she can't hit the high notes gracefully - but this would be easy to fix.

 

"Without You" sounds good (again the high notes kill it but they could be fixed) and this song and  "Just You Wait" are funnier with Audrey's entire track.  Audrey had a great sense of comic timing.

 

 

If you don't mind her singing in "Funny Face" you may like these. Her tracks would sound similar since she sings with a breathy voice and not a legit soprano

 

The only song she can't pull off is "Show Me" and ironicaly that is the only other vocal included on the laser disc

 

But since Hepburn seems to increase in popularity each year and is one of Paramount's top selling actresses on catalog video, it would be worth the small investment to someday put together a Hepburn Track .  If they could piece together Marlon Brando in "Guys and Dolls" they could do the same here

 

In the end, you would always have Marni Nixon's wonderfully sung version to watch the film with, as Audrey's take is completely different  ( but so was Barbra Streisand's vocals on "Hello Dolly" her songs were completely re-arranged and Streisands never sings them in the style of Carol Channing

 

 

mfl art.jpg


Edited by GMpasqua - 8/14/11 at 11:19am
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post #14 of 116
8/14/11 at 2:27pm
Thread Starter 

criterion hft mfl htf long.jpg

 

        Criterion Theater

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post #15 of 116
8/14/11 at 2:43pm

thank you Paramount, man that list is starting to come true, my question is this, i know that theis is the Paramount release of this, how long are the rights reverted to Paramount? the reason is that WB had the wonderful 2 disc SE dvd and anyone expecting those extras ported over might not get what they want. but this seems to be a solid release, lots of surprises and every one of them welcomed biggrin.gif

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post #16 of 116
8/14/11 at 10:06pm


 

Quote:
Originally Posted by dana martin View Post

thank you Paramount, man that list is starting to come true, my question is this, i know that theis is the Paramount release of this, how long are the rights reverted to Paramount? the reason is that WB had the wonderful 2 disc SE dvd and anyone expecting those extras ported over might not get what they want. but this seems to be a solid release, lots of surprises and every one of them welcomed biggrin.gif

 

 

Except for the commentary, which was done for the first DVD, most of the extras were done for the 30th Anniversary Laserdisc, which was done by CBS when Fox distributed their stuff. They should still own it. I still have the laserdisc box set, as the non-disc extras are unlikely to be ported anywhere (Cecil Beaton's book, for instance). I would like not to have to keep the 2-disc Warner DVD.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Ethan Riley View Post

OMG--I want specs, and I want 'em now! Is this a port from the dvd? Is this the same restored version from 1993? Was Robert Harris involved? Were any changes or upgrades made?

A $29.00 price point makes me think that this is at least a two-disc set, but other than that it is as yet impossible to guess what this release will really be. Come on, Wal-Mart...give us the details!!!

 

For that money it should be 3 discs, considering the MGM exclusives were $10.

 

At the very least, I have high hopes for the transfer considering Paramount's stellar work on The Ten Commandments and White Christmas as well as Fox's discs of The Sound of Music and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Before the restoration it was "worst laserdisc of the year" 2 years running, hopefully this will be among the best Blu-Rays of 2011.

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post #17 of 116
8/14/11 at 10:43pm
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my fair lady chicago.jpg

 

mfl .jpg

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post #18 of 116
8/14/11 at 10:43pm
I will be happy to purchase this as i have never seen it. Ever.

I was looking for a microscopic Nina incorporated somewhere into that Hirshfeld poster,perhaps
Rex Harrison's fine combed hair,but i found it and it couldn't be more obvious.
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post #19 of 116
8/15/11 at 4:18am

Great news, of course.  Really strange that Paramount threw

this title to Walmart as an exclusive.  Doesn't sound like the

type of title that would go under the major release radar like that.

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post #20 of 116
8/15/11 at 6:43am

This is interesting news.  I last had contact with techs from CBS/Viacom a couple of years ago, at which time I made them aware that the elements produced in 1994, were in several ways not ready for Blu-ray consumption.

 

We were a bit ahead of the game 17 years ago, but were still constrained by both asset and early digital anomalies.

 

These need to be corrected for the film to be in absolute top shape for Blu-ray image and un-compressed audio.

 

RAH

 

 

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post #21 of 116
8/15/11 at 6:57am
How about audio that is not over processed. the track for this restoration has always had the high end cut off, reverb added to all the songs and the origianl surrounds are not on this film.
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post #22 of 116
8/15/11 at 7:12am
Looking forward to this release.

Hopefully someday with the magic of AutoTune we can have an alternate track with Audrey AutoTuned to hit all of the notes! (j/k...but I'm afraid I just gave some studio suits an idea for a future release...Audrey Hepburn sings My Fair Lady...T-Pain style!) biggrin.gif
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post #23 of 116
8/15/11 at 7:13am
Thread Starter 

Ron how do we know this and "Little Big Man" are Wal-mart exclusives? "Scrooge" was also listed at Wal-Mart for about a week before Amazon and others added it to their web sites. Many of the exlcusives at Wal-Mart and Best Buy were anounced a few weeks before release date, amd not the usual three months

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post #24 of 116
8/16/11 at 1:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewA View Post

At the very least, I have high hopes for the transfer considering Paramount's stellar work on The Ten Commandments and White Christmas as well as Fox's discs of The Sound of Music and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Before the restoration it was "worst laserdisc of the year" 2 years running, hopefully this will be among the best Blu-Rays of 2011.

'Worst laserdisc of the year' is the understatement of the century. In those days, you had to have an affidavit from a government official to return anything, even for an exchange, much less a refund. But that's exactly what happened with the first laserdisc issue of MFL. Dave's Video in California was actually expecting them to be returned and refunds given, no questions asked. The result was like looking at an anaglyph image without the glasses. That one of the best-loved films ever could have been released in such condition still boggles my mind. I wish now I'd kept the darn thing as a souvenir.
It wasn't until much later, from reading Robert Harris and others, that I learned about shrinkage and other evils that film could be subject to. Needless to say, the sumptuos 30th Anniversay box set of Mr. Harris's restoration made me feel like I'd died and gone to heaven.
What worries me now is, if MFL got the Ten Commandments treatment, or some kind of upgrade to ready it for Blu-ray, how come no one here - including, apparently, Mr. Harris - knew about it? Ron Epstein seems to have the same concerns as I about such a prestigious film being released under the radar, with no fanfare and, of all things, a WalMart exclusive.
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post #25 of 116
8/16/11 at 5:23am

I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some reservations about this release, but as Paramount has delivered stunning quality on older vault titles like The African Queen, The Ten Commandments, and White Christmas (three of my all-time favorite vault title releases in terms of video splendor) and the three CBS/Paramount titles I reviewed a couple of months ago (Big Jake, Rio Lobo, A Man Called Horse) were also nicely done, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt before passing judgment.

 

BTW, Breakfast at Tiffany's next month may tell us a lot about what to expect.

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post #26 of 116
8/16/11 at 5:25am

Quote:

Originally Posted by marsnkc View Post

'Worst laserdisc of the year' is the understatement of the century. In those days, you had to have an affidavit from a government official to return anything, even for an exchange, much less a refund. But that's exactly what happened with the first laserdisc issue of MFL. Dave's Video in California was actually expecting them to be returned and refunds given, no questions asked. The result was like looking at an anaglyph image without the glasses. That one of the best-loved films ever could have been released in such condition still boggles my mind. I wish now I'd kept the darn thing as a souvenir.
It wasn't until much later, from reading Robert Harris and others, that I learned about shrinkage and other evils that film could be subject to. Needless to say, the sumptuos 30th Anniversay box set of Mr. Harris's restoration made me feel like I'd died and gone to heaven.
What worries me now is, if MFL got the Ten Commandments treatment, or some kind of upgrade to ready it for Blu-ray, how come no one here - including, apparently, Mr. Harris - knew about it? Ron Epstein seems to have the same concerns as I about such a prestigious film being released under the radar, with no fanfare and, of all things, a WalMart exclusive.


It was CBS that made the move to save My Fair Lady as an asset.  The two executives behind it were Ken Ross and Ken Horowitz.  They're also responsible for the laserdisc edition.

 

As to Walmart, My Fair Lady is no longer on their site, now replaced by Spooky Buddies.

 

RAH

 

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post #27 of 116
8/16/11 at 9:50am
Thread Starter 

Mr. Harris is correct, Wal-mart no longer has it on there site.  Although the same thing happened with "Breakfast at Tiffany's" Amazon listed it and then it disappeared, only to re-appear a few weeks later with a new release date.

 

"Once Upon a Time inthe West" "Srcooge" and "Little Big Man" also did not have any rumored release when they were announced. (HTF's own RON Epstein was informed by Paramount that "Once Upon a Time in the West" wasn't coming to blu-ray - but it was announced shortly after that)

 

"It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" was also released without any advance notice by MGM/UA (announced less than 3 weeks before it was to street)

 

It seems 2011 is the year studios are keeping major catalog titles from internet news until they are offically announced.

 

Hopefully "My Fair Lady" will re-appear shortly. "Scrooge" was announced by Wal-mart a full week before Amazon and other posted the title. I highly doubt these Paramount titles are exclusive to Wal-mart

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post #28 of 116
8/16/11 at 12:11pm
Let's hope it wasn't just a complete fabrication on WalMart's part, but rather they put it up too early and Paramount made them take it down because they weren't ready to announce it yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is going to be a reality.
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post #29 of 116
8/16/11 at 12:18pm
No reason to think it isn't real. From Bluray.com:
Quote:
My Fair Lady and Little Big Man Heading to Blu-ray

Posted August 14, 2011 05:02 PM by Webmaster


In an early announcement to retailers, Paramount Pictures has revealed that it will release on Blu-ray George Cukor's My Fair Lady (1964), starring Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, and Stanley Holloway, and Arthur Penn's Little Big Man (1970), starring Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, and Martin Balsam. Street date for Little Big Man is November 8th. Street date for My Fair Lady is November 15th.
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post #30 of 116
8/16/11 at 12:23pm
Well there's never been an announcement on this forum or on the digital bits prior to the WalMart discovery.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertR View Post

No reason to think it isn't real. From Bluray.com:
Quote:
My Fair Lady and Little Big Man Heading to Blu-ray

Posted August 14, 2011 05:02 PM by Webmaster


In an early announcement to retailers, Paramount Pictures has revealed that it will release on Blu-ray George Cukor's My Fair Lady (1964), starring Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, and Stanley Holloway, and Arthur Penn's Little Big Man (1970), starring Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, and Martin Balsam. Street date for Little Big Man is November 8th. Street date for My Fair Lady is November 15th.
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