A Few Words About A few words about...™ Warner Bros. Home Video & The WB Archive Collection -- in Blu-ray (2 Viewers)

[Alan Tully]

Just a hope and prayer that they remember the older classic fans and those that enjoy the historical epics. Even if it's only a very few, could we hope for the likes of HELEN OF TROY, LAND OF THE PHARAOHS, THE SILVER CHALICE, SCARAMOUCHE, AUNTIE MAME, IVANHOE and the '53 JULIUS CAESAR. Among the wonderful Paramount titles they have, could one dream of THE ROSE TATTOO, THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, THE NAKED JUNGLE, LADY IN A CAGE and GOODBYE LITTLE SHEBA as blu-rays? As for fans complaining about BD releases, for me there is one and only one that really is truly upsetting, Universal's SPARTACUS. Keep 'em coming WB!

As usual I echo Ed, what a lovely bunch of films. A couple of years ago the TV channel Film Four (UK) showed The Greatest Show On Earth in HD, but something was wrong, it looked worse than the DVD, like an uprez. gone wrong. Well three weeks ago they showed it again, I set my TiVo to record it just in case...& what a lovely surprise when I saw it, this time it's the real deal, sharp, solid colours, clean picture, in fact all bang on (I watched it over the weekend), so it's all there ready to release.

 

[davidmatychuk]

I like getting everyone's freely expressed and undiluted opinions. I also like it when people are respectful of the opinions of others. There's a wide range of movie lovers in this forum. I want the full benefit of your passion and experience, and I thank you all for it.

 

[warnerbro]

Warner Bros. is the best game in town when it comes to Bluray and classics done right. I'm especially happy with the way they handle the Looney Tunes. They use the best elements available and present them as is -- no scrubbing them clean and removing precious artwork like one company does.

 

[Jari K]

"The other is as slow and complicated as your budget allows."This is also true.

 

[EManT2200]

"I personally don't need every scratch, ding and piece of dirt digitally painted out of the image, so if it will speed things up to release Blu-rays without a ton of digital cleanup, I'm all for it. "I assume that the studios want to do it "right" for the first time (well, or the 2nd, or the 3rd.. Anyway!). I don't believe that you can really "speed things up" when it comes to film restoration. It's slow, complicated work.

I have to agree with this. I myself, actually enjoy an occasional snap, crackle. pop in a soundtrack on a classic movie, maybe an occasional scratch, or speck of dirt now and then. It reminds me of what it is that I am watching. Notice people, I said OCCASIONAL. I was a professional 35mm motion picture projectionist in the 70's, so, for me, those things are normal

 

[Mark-P]

I have to agree with this. I myself, actually enjoy an occasional snap, crackle. pop in a soundtrack on a classic movie, maybe an occasional scratch, or speck of dirt now and then. It reminds me of what it is that I am watching. Notice people, I said OCCASIONAL. I was a professional 35mm motion picture projectionist in the 70's, so, for me, those things are normal

Well I wouldn't say I enjoy those things as in wanting them to be there, but I do have a very high tolerance for them, and I wouldn't mind a little less polish if it meant getting more product out cheaply. But in listening to the Warner podcasts, I've learned that Warner has an extremely high standard when it comes to their Blu-ray product and have pledged not to put anything on Blu-ray that isn't the absolute best they can make it. This doesn't apply to their licensed Paramount releases however which quite often are re-pressings of earlier Paramount Blus or existing HD masters.

 

[Eastmancolor]

Well I wouldn't say I enjoy those things as in wanting them to be there, but I do have a very high tolerance for them, and I wouldn't mind a little less polish if it meant getting more product out cheaply. But in listening to the Warner podcasts, I've learned that Warner has an extremely high standard when it comes to their Blu-ray product and have pledged not to put anything on Blu-ray that isn't the absolute best they can make it. This doesn't apply to their licensed Paramount releases however which quite often are re-pressings of earlier Paramount Blus or existing HD masters.

While I appreciate having a Blu-ray that is "the absolute best they can make it," I'm a bit worried that the studios are going to give up on the format in the next handful of years and that time is running out on getting titles to market.

I certainly don't want shoddy product released. Scene to scene color and density timing should be done, significant damage removed, etc., but if it will save time to leave intermittent dirt specks and the occasional scratch, so be it.

I of course love "perfect," but "very good" to "excellent" is fine too.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

Excellent is good enough for me. Perfect tempts the gods ....
At least with Warner Bros we may argue about exclusion of some extras, or shoddy extras such as the dreadful treatment of previously excellent extras ie 'Gay Parisienne' on 'The Maltese Falcon'.
But we're spared the disasters which were My Fair Lady and The Sting, or Funny Face from other studios.
So the predictions of a bonus crop next year are very promising. Roll on Fred and Ginger!

 

[compson]

If Warner’s is listening, I propose the following for Errol Flynn BD release: The Ultimate Errol Flynn Collection (Blu-Ray)- 20 film Collection Featuring: Captain Blood

I love Captain Blood. If you're going to release Errol Flynn movies, why not start at the beginning (essentially) with a very entertaining film that more or less created the modern swashbuckler, with very nice performances, in beautiful black and white, with a terrific score? And most people haven't seen it, so you can introduce the movie to a new audience.

 

[trajan]

I have no problem with Warner releasing the top 'classics' first,BUT--lets not forget about lesser but never the less very good films. THE GREAT RACE---RYANS DAUGHTER---LOCAL HERO---GOODBYE MR CHIPS---PENNIES FROM HEAVEN---THE GOODBYE GIRL---MICHAEL COLLINS--FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD---PACIFIC HEIGHTS---HEAVEN AND EARTH---ALICE DOESNT LIVE HERE ANYMORE--- WRESTLING ERNEST HEMINGWAY----And there are many others.

 

[OliverK]

As a case in point, I'm very happy with most Olive releases and look forward to what's coming from Kino.

This works to a degree. Not suited imo for movies that come from large format elements - Olive has released a few movies shot in 8 perf horizontal and they all look substandard and fail to convey the superior visual qualities that these movies should have, a good example for that would be The Grass is Greener that looks very flat and lacking in detail.

 

[ahollis]

Ok, well we could say what if your boss or end users of your product or service told you every time you did something "Will, this is ok but it could have been better. I don't know why you did not do this perfectly and I really think you should be making less money for doing this."

Actually spending the past 30 years or so in the theatre Exhibition business, have had a lot of Yahoo comments and web posts on how we don't know what we are doing. That's why I do give a large "well I don't know what they are going through stance" except when it's blatantly wrong. Of those comments we revived yes a few were indeed correct but way more were wrong. That's the way I see the companies that put out Blu releases. 10% or less messed up. The rest is they did the best they could.

 

[Nailwraps]

I hope this will mean good things for animation on DVD/Blu as well; Looney Tunes, Popeye, Cats Don't Dance, etc.

 

[John Hermes]

This works to a degree. Not suited imo for movies that come from large format elements - Olive has released a few movies shot in 8 perf horizontal and they all look substandard and fail to convey the superior visual qualities that these movies should have, a good example for that would be The Grass is Greener that looks very flat and lacking in detail.

The Geisha Boy looks pretty darn good. It's super sharp, colorful, with flawless A/B rolled fades and dissolves. Rock-A-Bye Baby ain't too shabby either.

 

[John Hermes]

As usual I echo Ed, what a lovely bunch of films. A couple of years ago the TV channel Film Four (UK) showed The Greatest Show On Earth in HD, but something was wrong, it looked worse than the DVD, like an uprez. gone wrong. Well three weeks ago they showed it again, I set my TiVo to record it just in case...& what a lovely surprise when I saw it, this time it's the real deal, sharp, solid colours, clean picture, in fact all bang on (I watched it over the weekend), so it's all there ready to release.

TGSOE on Vudu HD looks excellent as well.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Agree with John about The Geisha Boy, easily the best title I have from Olive regarding image quality. Lovely colour, sharpness and depth.

 

[classicmovieguy]

Speaking of geishas, I'm hoping Olive gets to take a crack at Shirley MacLaine's "My Geisha", but seeing as the original DVD from Paramount has been reissued by Warner Archive, I'm not sure of the chances that we'll ever see it on Blu-ray.

 

[OliverK]

The Geisha Boy looks pretty darn good. It's super sharp, colorful, with flawless A/B rolled fades and dissolves. Rock-A-Bye Baby ain't too shabby either.

Geisha Boy is sharpened quite crudely and textures in for example clothing are rather subdued.That it is still looking rather good is a testament to its photography but not really to the transfer that Olive has put onto Blu-ray.After trying Geisha Boy and The Grass is always Greener I gave up on expecting much from Olive Blu-rays of large fomat movies as obviously they only release what they are given and if there was a state of the art large format scan and master then Paramount would release it themselves like they did with White Christmas and The Ten Commandments.

 

[PaulaJ]

I'd love to see John Ford's 3 Godfathers and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon in Blu-ray.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Your statement "the best version of the film we (or maybe just I because maybe I'm alone in this) have ever seen" sums up my attitude as well. I consider myself a fan of the film, not the disc. I don't spend my time viewing a disc looking for edge enhancement, excessive DNR, haloing, etc. My wife will tell you when I'm watching a BD I am totally immersed in the film.

Yes, I mean I just find the films themselves far more interesting than edge enhancement, DNR, halos, and all that. Sure this is a home theater website and so the particulars of proper presentation should be discussed here and I have no issue with that but talking about the films themselves always seems more fun. I do enjoy reading people's thoughts though so I don't want to give the impression I don't want to hear this stuff. I am always curious about how others see the film and what they think of the presentation. What I think is sort of comical though is that EVERY release has people that talk about how awful it is...even when others including the "experts" are praising the quality of the disc.

It just seems at times that if you want to go out and find negative reviews for any disc you can go and find them by the truckload and even more comical than that is how when a review is posted before a disc comes out if it contains one negative line or a single screen capture that shows a blemish this seems to sweep across the internet like wildfire and people are damning the disc before they have even seen it. I could cite examples of this but I think people know what I am talking about.

Please don't think I am pointing fingers at anybody here...I'm not...I'm just saying that when it comes to discussing the particulars of presentation there seems to be little consensus and things tend not to be "fair and balanced."