A Few Words About A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Tom M]

The soundtrack changes were done by director Randal Kleiser who admitted that he was just "fooling around" with the mix when it was locked for the 1998 release.

My guess is that Kleiser actually likes the new mix or he would've had something done about it.

Although I'm fine with the new mix, it does not mean I love it. I do miss the original music that played during the original Paramount logo which now seems gone forever. There are other things as well. Like the sound FX at the end of Hopelessly Devoted that ScottR mentioned.

While we're on the subject of audio, I wish they would put out a new soundtrack CD with the versions of the songs used in the film along with the few minutes of original score. Never gonna happen but I can dream.

 

[Tucker J]

Tom,that's interesting and that explains why the remix is horrible(in my opinion) because that's exactly what it sounds like"someone fooling around"
The fact that the original track isn't included is really annoying.Looks like i might have to stick with the video.
Now,what does vhs look like on a lcd?mmmm

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Well, if you get Panasonic's new BD80 VHS/Blu-Ray combo deck, you can upscale your VHS to 1080p.

 

[MatthewA]

Didn't they release an "expanded" CD with an extra disc in addition to the same album versions we've had for 30 years? Supposedly the disc had a couple extra tracks of value (like the Rydell School Song), some stupid remixes, but not the complete music of the film (which I agree needs to be done but, like most post-1960 musicals won't be because the American Federation of Musicians will tie it up for years)?

 

[Geoff_D]

Yes, the titles are windowboxed, yes, the remix ain't all that great, but after watching this BD I'm grinning from ear to ear because I still get such a kick from Grease.

And, miraculously, it still looks vaguely like film and not an overly processed aberration, unlike pretty much every Paramount catalogue title I've ever laid eyes on (Godfather aside, natch ).

I never thought I'd say this: thanks Paramount.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

I agree it couldn't have been because of the previous post comment stating Coca-Cola didn't like the "raunchy" subject matter. Hello look at all the other films even made before and during and after Grease that were Rated R so the subject matter had nothing to do with it.

We all need to just deal with the fact it was always shown this way and it can't be corrected until George Lucas buys the rights to the film and fixes it. Haha.

 

[Hank E]

Well, I just watched this. The picture quality is pretty great, for the most part. But there's something about this and multiple other catalog titles that I don't understand, maybe some of you more knowledgeable tech guys can help. Why do some scenes look crystal clear, while others look blurry? One example is during "Hopelessly Devoted To You", there's a shot of Olivia walking over and leaning against a post. That one shot is noticeably blurred when compared to the rest of the scene.
Is it DNR? Is the original source out of focus? Is it the film stock? What??

 

[Felix Martinez]

IIRC, that is a long tracking shot with several camera positions and I think the focus puller was a little off when she hit the mark at the post. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

I've seen this movie countless times, but it's funny how the non-editorial approach to that song really hit me this time. I had to skip back and watch it again. So simple and elegant. Maybe it's detox from the MTV style of the last 25 years...?

 

[Chuck Pennington]

Wow, I guess I wasn't watching the same Blu-Ray disc as everyone else.

The image looks to be harvested from the same master made for the "Rockin' Rydell" DVD release from several years ago, which in and of itself was a big improvement over the original DVD. However, faces are waxy and scrubbed of any fine detail, and even the actors' hair (check out Newton-John's during a closeup in "You're the One That I Want") globs together in a very unnatural way. I'm going to call excessive DVNR on this one, for sure.

The audio is the horrible remix, with hollow and rather shrill music, and all kinds of mixing errors. Listen and you'll hear Travolta's "It's electrifyin'!" line TWICE on the soundtrack (after he falls to the ground during the beginning of "You're the One That I Want" and Newton-John looks back at her friends and they direct her to put out her cigarette - there is a strange repeat of the line low in the mix where it NEVER was in any previous version). Listen for the chorus suddenly added to "Hopelessly Devoted to You", and how they are AHEAD of Newton-John, starting the lyrics BEFORE she does! Terrible reverb has been added to all the vocals also, which is more apparent when comparing the sound to any of the older releases. I will see if I can find a way to post excerpts online comparing the mixes, which will of course have compressed sound and not compare to my original source but will perhaps show up some of these issues regardless.

Oh, another weird moment is when Newton-John is singing the reprise of "Sandra Dee" and Didi Conn runs to her. Newton-John's vocal goes in and out of heavy reverb quite sloppily when Conn runs up at the beginning exclaiming "We won!" and near the end of the song when she yells, "Come on, Sandy!" It literally sounds like the engineer was potting the reverb knob up and down to try to cover just the vocal on Newton-John but somehow Conn's lines were on the same track and they didn't want those affected.

Just an awful Blu-Ray. Eventually it will be redone, and let's pray for an original mix, or at least one now as misguided as this one. Surely at that point people will want SOME detail in the image also.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

This is admittedly a poor example owing to the limited dynamics of YouTube videos and the additional compression involved, but here it goes... The video in both cases is from the 2006 DVD.

Original Mix (sourced from a previous video release)


Remix (sourced from the 2006 "Rockin' Rydell" DVD)

 

[Cassy_w]

I've always felt that the new mix is inferior to the original and see no reason why they could not have included it here. As if there isn't any room.

 

[Ethan Riley]

I think for some reason Paramount wants us to forget about the original mix. Why? I don't know!

 

[Brian Borst]

Um, Chuck, it might be me but I clearly hear the repeated 'electrifying' on both versions.

 

[cafink]

Even in the original mix, there's an echo on the line "it's electrifying"--you can clearly hear it repeated at least twice.

This echo is retained for the remix. Additionally, the remix contains another repeat of the line. This one is a second or two later, unlike the original echoes, each of which immediately followed the previous. On Chuck's second video, you can clearly hear it just when the film cuts to the shot of Sandy's friends motioning for her to put out her cigarette.

 

[Brian Borst]

Oh yeah, I heard it now. It is a bit strange. But since the original mix isn't there, I was hesitant to buy it anyway. And since it's also Paramount we're talking about, I'm sure there will be a lot of re-releases down the line.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

Here is another example, albeit still with limitations owing to the compression required for YouTube. The added reverb for the remix is more noticeable when playing the scene back in surround sound, but here it goes...

Note how much richer the vocal is without the reverb? Listening to the scene with the uncompressed original mix (which, unfortunately, is not possible in this YouTube example) removes the horrible remix from being a valid option. Let's hope the original mix resurfaces someday.

Original Mix


Remix on the DVD and Blu-Ray

 

[Chuck Pennington]

You don't hear it on the original mix on the shot where the girls are directing Olivia to put out her cigarette. You DO on the remix. It is more apparent when listening to the Blu-Ray in full surround sound than listening to a YouTube video, but it is there and a fault of the remix.

Anyone else find it funny how LOUD the sound effect of the leather jackets being thrown to the ground is on the remix, and how pronounced the effect is to the extreme right and left of the soundtrack on the remix? There are many jarring moments like this in the remix, not to mention how disorienting it is for suddenly a massive reverb pop up every time someone drifts into song, yet disappears just as quickly during normal dialogue. It only serves to remove the viewer from the film.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

I agree that the reverb is very obvious, but to play devil's advocate, I can kinda see why Kleiser prefers the remix: with the reverb added, it reduces the obvious fact that the vocal is overdubbed, and given the technology of the time, that it sounds completely different from any live dialogue captured on location. Some reverb should've been in the original mix to reflect what high school hallways sound like and to obtain the desired similarity to dialogue captured on set, but the amount used here is overkill. Of course, I'm only referring to the Worse Things example; I haven't had a chance to watch the You're the One That I want scene yet.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

I disagree. The singing without the reverb plays much better in the film than with it. And since the dialogue BEFORE the singing does not have the reverb "to reflect what high school hallways sound like" (note that the scene is outside and not in a hallway), and since that dialogue is obviously looped and not original production audio anyway, the original mix clearly rules in this case.

I'm going to post the scene again with the remix and original mix but including some dialogue before the scene. After viewing both, let me know which you prefer. It is difficult to judge the merits of the original mix with no way to actually compare it save for digging out an old Laserdisc (only the early 80s pan/scan has the original mix, without digital audio or noise reduction - it is terribly noisy and was not used for this comparison) or VHS tape (the early 90s VHS release was used for this comparison and, believe it or not, it sounds better than the remix on either the DVD or Blu-Ray, TrueHD or not. Not that the Blu with TrueHD of the ORIGINAL MIX could not sound far better than the VHS - it certainly could - but since only the warped remix is on the disc...). The original mix has not been available on ANY home video release since 1998.

Original Mix excerpt


Remix excerpt

 

[litemakr]

The loud sound effects added throughout the movie are really annoying. During the dance off, the foley effects are way too loud.

The worst mistake (to me) during You're the One That I Want is during the last verse (that both characters sing). The male background vocals are WAY out of sync midway though, after "who can keep me satisfied" It is just inexcusably sloppy. You can hear the vcoals get abruptly turned down to try and cover it.

Also, at the end of the song, the vocals of some of the backgroud characters are missing. Plus there are some bad music edits. That song is just a mess.

Summer Nights has weird bass drum percussion thrown in the middle, Hopelessly Devoted has added background vocals. Love is A Many Splendored Thing is edited differently in the beginning beach scene. The instrument mix of We Go Together is wrong. There are so many mistakes and changes.