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

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by GMpasqua /t/315932/a-few-words-about-my-fair-lady-in-blu-ray/480#post_3945905

They made millions off their $400,000 investment - which is why they restored the film in 1994. It's a gold mine

For which they have little respect.

RAH

 

[FoxyMulder]

:EDIT: Not in the mood for an argument regarding the "re-issue" of Out of Africa.

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by GMpasqua /t/315932/a-few-words-about-my-fair-lady-in-blu-ray/480#post_3945905
CBS backed the original Broadway production of "My Fair Lady" for $400,000 of course they made their money back on the show (it ran 5+ years) plus they owned the Cast Recording - which made a ton of money.

Actually 6+ years: March 1956 - September 1962, and the biggest mystery was why the producers closed it. By then it had transferred to the Broadway from the Mark Hellinger, but was still operating quite profitably.

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by MattH. /t/315932/a-few-words-about-my-fair-lady-in-blu-ray/480#post_3945981

Actually 6+ years: March 1956 - September 1962, and the biggest mystery was why the producers closed it. By then it had transferred to the Broadway from the Mark Hellinger, but was still operating quite profitably.

Hearing of shows and long runs, I'm reminded of two of my lesser evenings at shows as a kid.

Two shows, tickets purchased far in advance, and I'm there for one of the first (in one case the first) nights with a second cast.

For MFL, I ended up with Edward Mulhare and Sally Ann Howes. They were fine, and I'd later rediscover Ms. Howes in ChittyCBB. But they weren't the original cast.

More unfortunate was going to The Music Man, especially as a huge fan of Robert Preston...

and being there for the first night of a very nervous Bert Parks.

RAH

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris /t/315932/a-few-words-about-my-fair-lady-in-blu-ray/480#post_3945992

Hearing of shows and long runs, I'm reminded of two of my lesser evenings at shows as a kid.

Two shows, tickets purchased far in advance, and I'm there for one of the first (in one case the first) nights with a second cast.

For MFL, I ended up with Edward Mulhare and Sally Ann Howes. They were fine, and I'd later rediscover Ms. Howes in ChittyCBB. But they weren't the original cast.

More unfortunate was going to The Music Man, especially as a huge fan of Robert Preston...

and being there for the first night of a very nervous Bert Parks.

RAH

Yes, I saw Edward Mulhare and Sally Ann Howes also in My Fair Lady. It was my very first trip to New York City, and my memories are vague, but I do remember a standing ovation in the middle of the show for "Get Me to the Church on Time," something that seemed very peculiar to me as a young kid. I remember being fascinated with the turntable, too. And the Orangeaid at intermission.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

My first encounter with 'My Fair Lady' was in Melbourne Australia on its premiere run there, with the wonderful actors Robin Bailey and Bunty Turner. I think I was about 12 or 13.
Meantime, in an uncanny presage of shared tastes, my wife Robyn watched the same cast some 600 miles away in Sydney ... but not on the same night. That really would have been 'My Fair Lady' meets 'The Twight Zone".....

 

[KPmusmag]

For those in Los Angeles, MY FAIR LADY will be screened in 70mm at the Egyptian (American Cinemateque) in Hollywood on 9/28/12.

 

[rsmithjr]

For those in Los Angeles, MY FAIR LADY will be screened in 70mm at the Egyptian (American Cinemateque) in Hollywood on 9/28/12.

Yes, unhappily during the Cinerama festival, I chose Cinerama.

 

[rsmithjr]

Hearing of shows and long runs, I'm reminded of two of my lesser evenings at shows as a kid.
Two shows, tickets purchased far in advance, and I'm there for one of the first (in one case the first) nights with a second cast.
For MFL, I ended up with Edward Mulhare and Sally Ann Howes.  They were fine, and I'd later rediscover Ms. Howes in ChittyCBB.  But they weren't the original cast.
More unfortunate was going to The Music Man, especially as a huge fan of Robert Preston...
and being there for the first night of a very nervous Bert Parks.
RAH

Reminds me, I was in NYC in 1959 with my parents when Bert Parks was playing the role. I very much wanted to go, but my parents decided that Broadway shows were too expensive.
As a consolation prize, I got to see North by Northwest at the Radio City Music Hall. It worked out well.

 

[Oblivion138]

Audrey Hepburn is the maindraw at this point (though Paramount has only released two of her films and no other companies have released any of her films)

Criterion released Charade two years ago.

 

[GMpasqua]

Originally Posted by Oblivion138 /t/315932/a-few-words-about-my-fair-lady-in-blu-ray/480#post_3979125
Criterion released Charade two years ago.

....and I own "Charade" on Blu-ray (although "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is also out now)

 

[lukejosephchung]

Paramount France has also released region-free blu-rays of "Funny Face" & "Sabrina", which have sparkling HD transfers...

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by GMpasqua /t/315932/a-few-words-about-my-fair-lady-in-blu-ray/480#post_3979246
....and I own "Charade" on Blu-ray (although "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is also out now)

Me too, very happy with the quality of it too, i'd love Roman Holiday someday soon, 60th anniversary next year so perhaps then.

 

[James David Walley]

Hearing of shows and long runs, I'm reminded of two of my lesser evenings at shows as a kid.
Two shows, tickets purchased far in advance, and I'm there for one of the first (in one case the first) nights with a second cast.
For MFL, I ended up with Edward Mulhare and Sally Ann Howes.  They were fine, and I'd later rediscover Ms. Howes in ChittyCBB.  But they weren't the original cast.
More unfortunate was going to The Music Man, especially as a huge fan of Robert Preston...
and being there for the first night of a very nervous Bert Parks.
RAH

In 1980 (?), I made a big point of bringing my parents to L.A. to see the stage revival of Camelot, starring Richard Burton. (We'd all seen it in the early '60s, but either in the road-show production with some obscure actor playing Arthur, or in New York after Burton left the production.) We'd been looking forward to it for months. Anyway, we get to the theater that evening and, just as the lights are about to go down, we get the dreaded voice over the P.A. system that Burton was out sick, and the part tonight would be played by William Parry. If it had just been my wife and I, we would have taken the proffered refund on tickets and tried to catch the show later, but, with my parents going to all the effort to be there for the night, we had no choice but to stay on. As it turned out, Parry had absolutely no power or presence behind his not-very-royal performance...it would have been a little like watching Graham Chapman trying to play King Arthur straight.
As it turned out, returning the tickets and trying to see it later wouldn't have helped, as Burton (who had appeared in every performance until the night before we went) wound up being seriously ill and having to withdraw from the production, to be replaced by Richard Harris (whose performance in the film I found mediocre) for the rest of the run. As far as I know, Burton never played Arthur again, so we missed seeing him in his last performance ever by two days.
At any rate, thanks for the warning on MFL, as I'll stick with my "good-enough" DVD until Paramount wises up and revisits the title (which I hope will happen in a couple of years for the 50th anniversary). In the meantime, the only thing I could have wished for on that DVD would have been Greek subtitles...because that's the way I first experienced the film, in a cinema in Athens in early 1966.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

Sabrina, for region-free buyers, is also available in an excellent (and cheap) blu ray transfer here in Australia.
Try here: http://www.jbhifionline.com.au/support.aspx?post=1&results=10&source=all&bnSearch=Go!&q=sabrina+blu+ray&submit=Go
It's just under $A 16.

 

[Michael1]

Sorry I didn't have a chance to post until now, but I saw a 70mm screening of MY FAIR LADY at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater on Saturday, December 29. The house was pretty much packed. Before the screening, programmer Scott Foundas gave a wonderful but sad introductory speech about how great 70mm is and how 70mm prints of classic films are now extremely rare. He also read a statement from Robert M. Harris, who had planned to be there but couldn't make it because of bad weather. The point was made that we were about to see one of only three existing 70mm prints of MFL, that it costs approximately $50,000 to make a new print (not including any kind of restoration), and so on. The film looked and sounded pretty great overall until the second-to-last reel, when the film suddenly jammed. My heart stopped because I knew what was about to happen, and sure enough, the film began to burn before our eyes. The audience gasped, the projection bulb was turned off, the houselights came up. Foundas got up and explained what had happened, and said something like, "Well, there's an argument for digital projection." Meanwhile, a guy seated in back of me made a grim joke, saying:" "That's two 70mm prints left." The projectionists re-spliced the film, hopefully losing only a frame or two, and continued the screening till the end.

 

[Charles Smith]

Oh my god. I so wanted to be there, not even knowing how good the print might be, but the weather killed it.

 

[Techman707]

The projectionists re-spliced the film, hopefully losing only a frame or two.....

Wishful thinking. That theatre should be blacklisted for the protection of what 70mm films still exist in presentable condition. :td: It's a REAL SHAME that with the demolition of all the great movie palace’s in New York City and currently, all the nonsense that Mayor Bloomberg has wasted taxpayer money on, a decent venue doesn't exist in NYC for the "proper" presentation of 70mm films. Even when presenting some of the greatest films ever made, there's more to the movie going experience than four walls, some seats and an over priced concession stand. Unfortunately, the group that should have saved some of the demolished historic theatres in NYC, the Landmark and Preservation Commission, is irreparably broken and has failed miserably to protect ANY motion picture theatres. See this on Facebook for a sad example: https://www.facebook.com/groups/220242754654213/permalink/548173105194508/#!/groups/220242754654213/

 

[Dick]

Audrey Hepburn is the maindraw at this point (though Paramount has only released two of her films and no other companies have released any of her films)

Well, you're very nearly right. But Criterion released Universal's CHARADE, and there is Audrey, in gorgeous HD Technicolor.

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Dick
Well, you're very nearly right. But Criterion released Universal's CHARADE, and there is Audrey, in gorgeous HD Technicolor.

Ms. Hepburn was never captured in any film in Technicolor.
RAH