A few words about...™ West Side Story -- in Blu-ray - Page 20

I saw that and to me it just appears that it will be a single disc release while the prior releases were multidisc. I seriously doubt the April release will include any fixes other than what's been done so far (if you can call it a fix ).

I saw the box yesterday at Best Buy and wanted to get it so badly...but I will not support these types of silly mistakes when it comes to the classics.

My returned WSS blu-rays were received by Fox on 01/19/12. I just called them to find out when I can expect them to send my replacements and I was told that they are on back order and they don't know when they will be sending out the replacements, but it is likely to be at least several weeks. If it was delayed because they were working on a better fix I wouldn't mind, but under the circumstances this is just aggravating.

Same here. Sent mine in on around the same time. I didn't even watch the blu ray before sending back. I just called and the Fox customer service rep told me it could be up to one or two months (!) before I get the corrected discs. Since what I will be getting is not even a corrected fix, I am beginning to think I should have kept the fade to black discs.

I just got my replacement in the mail yesterday. It was the three disc version with the Blu-ray feature, Blu-ray bonus disc and one SD DVD version, box and slip-sleeve included just as you'd buy it in the store.

Yes, during the Overture the screen goes too dark at the infamous moment and there is an inexplicable flash of green I don't recall ever seeing in any theatrical screening of WSS. Was that what the previous fade-out/fade-in was meant to mask? Who knows what anybody was thinking, if they gave it any thought at all.

Also, without going back through the previous home video incarnations, does anybody else remember a fuzz ball or hair strand being stuck at the bottom edge of the screen during the end credit sequence? I'm talking about from the moment the credit, "starring Natalie Wood as Maria", appears on screen. At that point it looks like a fuzz ball. It seems to disappear for a moment and then reappears as the credits for the Sharks are listed. Then it looks like a wiggling hair. Left to right, the glob is about two thirds of the way across the bottom edge of the image.

Maybe it has always been there. But wouldn't somebody think to eliminate it with modern technology for a Blu-ray release? Sorry, I used the word "think" again.

Anyway, on balance I suppose I prefer what I've got now over the screen going blank during the Overture. Although "prefer" might be too strong a word as well.

My replacement discs arrived today. Last week I called and was told it was back ordered and would take weeks to get so I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived. I had purchased the Target digibook and only returned the movie discs, not the extra features disc or packaging. In return they sent me the entire 3 disc package, case, blu-ray, dvd and extra features. This is actually better for holding the discs than the digibook so that works out just fine. Haven't looked at it yet so I don't have an opinion about the "fix"

I want this film on blu-ray badly, but will not even consider it at this time.

Same here. I'd like to own this title, but will pass until they make a proper fix - not only picture-wise but audio-wise as well. I'll wait for a new mix using the restored original tracks, rather than a 7.1 mix created from a 4.0 element. Chances are, I'll never own this on Blu-Ray.

I got my replacement BRD yesterday, but I haven't viewed it yet.  I might look at the opening today. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crawdaddy

Sounds like FOX / MGM have spent a lot of money taking discs back and sending out new ones and for what who knows. I wonder how much this is costing the company only to have people still mad that nothing was really helped on the release. It is s shame, total waste of everyone's time.

The only benefit I can ferret out of this clumsy exercise at a "fix" is that MGM has inadvertently replaced what might have been mistaken as an intentional fade-out/fade-in during the Overture section with what now at least looks clearly like what it is, a home video transfer glitch.

That previous fade-out/fade-in might have gone into the ages for future viewers who hadn't seen the movie in any other format as a conventional, less than inspired method for the filmmakers (Saul Bass) to bring in the opening West Side Story title, as though it was intended to be brought in after a fade-out/fade-in. But almost nobody can watch that sudden and incomprehensible flash of green and see it as anything but a disc glitch or transfer error. Whether they meant to or not, MGM has now taken ownership of that glitch rather than making it look as though the idea never crossed Saul Bass' mind to introduce the opening West Side Story title in a less conventional, far more interesting and magical way.

In a desperate search for something positive in this train wreck, that's the one surviving baby in the last passenger car I've been able to find.

My take on what happened here, based on my own digital editing experience, is they created a master which contained the odd transition we now see as the "fixed" version. (It seems to be the same version that was posted as the MGM-HD broadcast master) While in the timeline of the editing software, seeing the dissolve as awkward, a technician decided (or was instructed) to lay a black out over the offending area book-ended with a fade down and back up. When the enthusiasts balked and demanded a fix, they simply went back to the editing process and removed the black patch. There is it. Fixed. I may be wrong, but to me that seems the obvious chain of events.

For the people who think this is simply a minor inconvenience - no. It's film history. There is no excuse for this other than sheer ineptitude. Make a mistake, put a Band-Aid on it without fixing it - that's chutzpah. I wonder how people who are accepting of this would react if, say, at the end of the shower scene in Psycho, instead of the amazing dissolve from the drain to Janet Leigh's eye, the image faded out at the drain, then faded in at the eye. Why do I suspect the outcry would be much more vocal? And then, let's say, they "fix" it by making the fade out less of a fade out but STILL a fade out rather than a dissolve and somewhere in that less of a fadeout a flash of green happened. Everyone would cry bloody murder, which is what everyone should be doing about this. Although, that said, perhaps there would be a few people who simply didn't know Psycho well enough and who'd think the fade out/fade in was okay and not that big a deal

I agree, Bruce. It's a VERY big deal. What's worse, there's absolutely no reason for the error.

Thank you RAH for the update. I think, however, you meant to date it February 15 instead of March 15, though

This is sad news indeed, and I am now waiting for both "West Side Story" and "Big Country" to be corrected. I sincerely appreciate this forum where I can get information on problematic releases prior to making a purchase.

I couldn't help wondering what if the glitch during the Overture had occurred in the musical soundtrack instead of in the visual graphic. Let's say that as the Overture transitioned from the mambo segment to the quintet segment the visual graphic was exactly right as it was in the theatrical version but the entire percussion section of the orchestra faded out at that point and then faded back in a moment later. Or maybe if it were the horn section. Then imagine a "fix" that put the percussion or horn section back into the audio track but where they put it back the drums suddenly and inexplicably shifted to a 3/4 waltz time or the horns' notes took an ear-bending turn up or down a couple of lines on the chart, utterly out of tune with the rest of the orchestra.

Would the people at MGM still not have noticed? Would anyone still shrug off the glitch as not worth making a fuss over? (not that anyone has done that here).

What is clear is that this transfer used whatever the source material was for the previous DVD release, where the inexplicable green appeared. I think I was the only one who came out and said it was an awful screwup - but that was the DVD days - not like now. When I first saw the Blu-ray I pretty much said (as the first person to report the problem) that I believed they'd done the fade out/in to cover the green. The "fix" has caused a flash of the green so now we know that it's the same source. What they did NOT do was go back to the original negative and work from that. Nor did they pull an IB Tech reference print to even seen what it SHOULD look like. This is only one of the greatest movies ever made. It's just shocking. Sadly, the recall Mr. Harris would like, as would all of us, will never happen.

Is there a way we can voice our complaints and actually have them heard? Is there someone who we could contact other than a customer service representative?

This one thing towers over all others to boggle the mind.

 

I had a fantasy a while ago (before making the first Manhattan) that the story of corporate incompetence TWICE bungling one of the most popular and beloved movies in modern times, was on the eleven o'clock news on "all three" networks, with articles following in Time and Newsweek, all sporting photos of red-faced executives promising to oversee a re-do of one of the greatest movies ever released...with additional coverage of the thousands of "typical" movie lovers across the country, lined up in front of video stores, anxious to get their corrected discs...

 

There should be a hospital for movies. They go there to get well and to get face-lifts. RAH could be the doctor in charge. Follow-up appointments would be a requirement.

I recieved my replacement disc yesterday. For those who might be interested...............

I sent my old disc on Jan 9, they recieved it on Jan 16 and I got back the 'fixed' disc Feb 16. It was sent UPS in a soft gray bubble pack.

I took a gamble- I only sent them the DVD and Blu-ray features discs and NOT the Blu-ray movie (because it said they would not be responsible for lost discs) That way I would have the movie on Blu-ray for sure and if they refused to send the replacement--so be it.

It paid off and now I have two versions of this screw-up. lol
In any case I can now send one to my daughter and I can keep the other. So, two Blu-rays that are in error for $16. I would have rather have one that was perfect but.........

They should NEVER have required the return of the discs--ONLY the original package art!

Right then. Not gonna buy.

Before RAH's second review I was sort of trying to convince myself that I could overlook these problems, but no way. I'm not going to foot the bill for this kind of ineptitude.

Every release of West Side Story on a digital format has had a problem. The first dvd was missing whistles before the rumble, the deluxe dvd was out of sync during "Tonight," and now this mess. It's too bad that WB isn't handling the releases of this film. And my audience is bummed...we were going to watch this on the big screen under the stars this summer...not now...I've replaced it with Meet Me in St. Louis.

What a mess, really.

 

Here's my problem - I never heard about any of these issues until after I had WSS on my wish list for Christmas and I got it, so it was too late to tell my aunt that Fox messed up and I didn't want the movie. So had to do the exchange program.

 

I'm still glad to have WSS in high-def, but I would prefer it if it were the version that Robert Wise put in theaters.

I give up. I bought the Target Exclusive version just to have it before it sold out. I never opened it, waiting for the dust from this debacle to settle; I patiently awaited word on the "fix."

Enough. I paid $15 for it, but now I think even that is more than I want to spend on a botch-job. I'm returning it.

I've also been trying to convince myself that I could deal with the problems -- but I will not give Fox a cent of my money to "reward" their half-assed efforts on this title.

After WSS and My Fair Lady, I've given up on pre-ordering classic releases until reviews are out. Many thanks to RAH and the other intrepid reviewers/members of HTF for their continued, valued guidance.