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

[Robert Harris]

Robert; could you be so kind as to explain the above so that even an idiot like myself can understand? Are you saying the distortion is part of the film itself and not as a result of any error in the transfer?
My copy arrived today - I couldn't be more pleased.

Apologies, John

The tests show that the distortion is not a product of the original optics, but rather, the decompression of the transfer

R

 

[John Hodson]

Thank you Robert; it was "The tiny distortion we see may have been a part of the quick shoot" that had me a little baffled. It's harder to spot in motion than I'd thought from various caps and thankfully doesn't impinge - for me at least - on the overall experience. I'd still hope, however, for a fix down the line...

 

[ahollis]

Sorry a slight of hand trick I performed on my self. There is no post.

 

[Charles Smith]

What a disappointment. Now you owe us one!

 

[filmarchive]

I just screened the new Big Country Blu Ray on my reference system, an Electrohome Marquee projection system from HDMI Blu Ray output and noticed the improper squeeze, but also became concerned about a "pulsing or flickering" in the image pretty much throughout.
Any comments of this defect in the transfer. It is a faint change in brightness.
Rich Burgess
RB Multi-Media

 

[ScottHM]

See post #25

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/312356/a-few-words-about-the-big-country-in-blu-ray#post_3823502
I just screened the new Big Country Blu Ray on my reference system, an Electrohome Marquee projection system from HDMI Blu Ray output and noticed the improper squeeze, but also became concerned about a "pulsing or flickering" in the image pretty much throughout.
Any comments of this defect in the transfer. It is a faint change in brightness.
Rich Burgess
RB Multi-Media

 

[filmarchive]

I see the earlier comments about the pulsing exposures being a defect in lab separations. I guess I am confused a bit. An earlier post by Mr. Harris says the original materials had faded.
But then he states that a defect in lab processing in the separations caused the flicker.
If the original Technirama Eastman elements had started fading, was this the source of the restoration? Separations would generally be the original black & white materials sensitive to each color used originally by Technicolor to create original dye transfer release prints.
Are these newer separations that were made much later instead of in 1958? If the separations were made from faded material that would answer this question.

 

[KODACHROME64]

I discover you , if I may be so bold, not only as a great archivist, but as a movie buff with his heart in the right place.
THE BIG COUNTRY cannot be overpraised, the same goes for Technirama.
FRANZ PLANER links another great movie: THE UNFORGIVEN (HUSTON)
Thank you for your work. I was getting tired of getting through tens of Amazon reviews to find a BR appraisal.
Olivier Comte

 

[KODACHROME64]

I discover you , if I may be so bold, not only as a great archivist, but as a movie buff with his heart in the right place.
THE BIG COUNTRY cannot be overpraised, the same goes for Technirama.
FRANZ PLANER links another great movie: THE UNFORGIVEN (HUSTON)
Thank you for your work. I was getting tired of getting through tens of Amazon reviews to find a BR appraisal.
Olivier Comte

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by filmarchive /t/312356/a-few-words-about-the-big-country-in-blu-ray/120#post_3880075
I see the earlier comments about the pulsing exposures being a defect in lab separations. I guess I am confused a bit. An earlier post by Mr. Harris says the original materials had faded.
But then he states that a defect in lab processing in the separations caused the flicker.
If the original Technirama Eastman elements had started fading, was this the source of the restoration? Separations would generally be the original black & white materials sensitive to each color used originally by Technicolor to create original dye transfer release prints.
Are these newer separations that were made much later instead of in 1958? If the separations were made from faded material that would answer this question.

The work was performed from the OCN, which had faded. AMPAS, which did the restoration, did everything possible at the time to create the finest possible image. While I originally presumed that seps had been used, that information was incorrect.

RAH

 

[filmarchive]

Previous versions on LaserDisc and DVD do not have the pulsing effect at all. If the OCN was used, then color correction was done to improve the image quality, so what is causing the pulsing?

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by filmarchive /t/312356/a-few-words-about-the-big-country-in-blu-ray/120#post_3881283
Previous versions on LaserDisc and DVD do not have the pulsing effect at all. If the OCN was used, then color correction was done to improve the image quality, so what is causing the pulsing?

Most probably caused by an unequally faded yellow dye layer.

 

[iDarren]

So did this squished image ever get corrected? I am one person to whom the "fat head" appearance in the screencaps is painfully obvious. I have always been a huge fan of Charlton Heston and to a slightly lesser degree Gregory Peck, and I am adept at recognizing their cranial proportions .

 

[williammossop]

Very sad that 20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment is still releasing as great a film as THE BIG COUNTRY in its distorted Blu-Ray state, overly stretched horizontally so that Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston both appear about 5'6" instead of the 6'4" both were. Best solution: buy the old/imperfect DVD which nevertheless was manufactured in its correct ratio proportions.

 

Very sad that 20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment is still releasing as great a film as THE BIG COUNTRY in its distorted Blu-Ray state, overly stretched horizontally so that Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston both appear about 5'6" instead of the 6'4" both were. Best solution: buy the old/imperfect DVD which nevertheless was manufactured in its correct ratio proportions.

More bothersome to me is the brightness flickering in the second half of the film.

 

[OliverK]

Very sad that 20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment is still releasing as great a film as THE BIG COUNTRY in its distorted Blu-Ray state, overly stretched horizontally so that Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston both appear about 5'6" instead of the 6'4" both were. Best solution: buy the old/imperfect DVD which nevertheless was manufactured in its correct ratio proportions.

THE BIG COUNTRY is an MGM property, Fox is just releasing it so better to direct your displeasure towards MGM. Maybe they can divert some of the dollars that came in with Skyfall to The Big Country...

 

[WadeM]

Very sad that 20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment is still releasing as great a film as THE BIG COUNTRY in its distorted Blu-Ray state, overly stretched horizontally so that Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston both appear about 5'6" instead of the 6'4" both were. Best solution: buy the old/imperfect DVD which nevertheless was manufactured in its correct ratio proportions.

ughhh... I knew that I should have read reviews before ordering this one a couple of days ago!

 

ughhh... I knew that I should have read reviews before ordering this one a couple of days ago!

I think it's still worth the rather cheap price it is going for today, but let's hope they fix the shortcomings in the future. When I showed it to a group of friends no one mentioned the "squashed" picture, but it is there.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

I watched this the other night with friends and that incorrect ratio nagged at me all night .. it's excusable for a technician to make such a simple slip, but inexcusable to let it be released uncorrected. Maybe the studio still doesn't know it got it wrong ......

 

[Rick Thompson]

What bugs me is the wrong color on the main titles. That light copper wash should much stronger than it is on the Blu-ray (though it's a big improvement on the DVD, which has those parts in black and white!). It was correct on the VHS.