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International BLU-RAY DISCS FROM GERMANY (1 Viewer)

Thomas T

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I saw a "restored" print of Imitation Of Life at the Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences several years ago with Susan Kohner and Juanita Moore in attendance, who later did a Q&A after the film. This "pristine" print was heavy in grain and was only (very) marginally an improvement on the DVD.

I suspect that it is (and perhaps always was) inherent in the original film elements so those spoiled by glorious restorations of, say, Singin' In The Rain or Ben-Hur may never be fully satisfied. I've never seen a really clean (at least by current standards) print of the film. Has anyone? Is there anyone who actually saw the film during its original 1959 theatrical debut that can confirm how the film looked back then?
 

Robin9

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I didn't catch up with Imitation Of Life until the late '60s so no, I didn't see it when it first came out. I can't really recall the print quality I saw - I'm not one of those who claim to have a totally abnormal memory for sound and images - and it is true that many of the old prints I saw in re-run houses were grainy . . . and faded and scratched and with missing frames! :D So it is possible that the original first run prints were nothing special.

I remember that when RAH reviewed The Comancheros he made a comment about what a difference a year made in terms of film stock and print quality. In other words there was a big improvement after 1959.

On the other hand, the DVD of Written On The Wind, an earlier film, is far better than the Imitation Of LIfe DVD.
 

Thomas T

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Robin9 said:
On the other hand, The DVD of Written On The Wind, an earlier film, is far better than the Imitation Of LIfe DVD.
The Written On The Wind DVD looks gorgeous! So velvety that you almost want to lick the monitor. I don't mind film grain myself. Some films just have heavy grain in them. Films from the 1970s especially (think McCabe And Mrs. Miller).

It would be great if Criterion could get their hands on IOL as they've already done several of his key films from the 1950s. I just worry that someone will artificially "fix" the film to look more satisfactory to owners with HD monitor and blu players as opposed to how a pristine transfer looked in 1959.
 

John Hermes

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Thomas T said:
I saw a "restored" print of Imitation Of Life at the Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences several years ago with Susan Kohner and Juanita Moore in attendance, who later did a Q&A after the film. This "pristine" print was heavy in grain and was only (very) marginally an improvement on the DVD.

I suspect that it is (and perhaps always was) inherent in the original film elements so those spoiled by glorious restorations of, say, Singin' In The Rain or Ben-Hur may never be fully satisfied. I've never seen a really clean (at least by current standards) print of the film. Has anyone? Is there anyone who actually saw the film during its original 1959 theatrical debut that can confirm how the film looked back then?
Robert Harris always points out that 1959 was about the worst year for Eastman color negative so that may be the problem with Imitation of Life.
 

Thomas T

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Keith Cobby said:
Perhaps the real problem is that Imitation of Life is not important enough to be given the resources necessary.
In They Shoot Pictures Don't They?, a list of 1,000 greatest films from every country voted on by over 3,000 filmmakers, film critics and film scholars, Imitation Of Life ranks 168 out of 1,000. It's squeezed in between Powell & Pressburger's Black Narcissus (1967) and Jean Renoir's The River (169).

It's Sirk's highest ranking film on the list and ranked higher than Kurosawa's Ran, Visconti's Rocco And His Brothers, Bergman's Cries And Whispers, Wyler's Best Years Of Our Lives, Woody Allen's Hannah And Her Sisters and Cimino's The Deer Hunter to name but a few.

All such lists are subjective, of course, as is one's definition of "important" but my point is that the film is held in high regard by cineastes. The film is a landmark of 1950s cinema in its portrayal of racism in the U.S. at that time. Sirk doesn't hold anything back.
 

Mark Mayes

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I got the "Gilda" and "Tootsie," and "The Way We Were." All look great.

But the big surprise was "Destry Rides Again," which looked REALLY great. It has three different dubs in German as well as the original English soundtrack. It also contained the radio version with Stewart and Joan Blondell.

I also got "Death Becomes Her," which only looks okay--I am sure that has to do with the source materials. Nothing special on it particularly, like the excised Tracey Ullman footage.

"Anne of the Thousand Days" and the Sirk films should be here this week.
 

Bob Cashill

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The DVD is I believe nonanamorphic. I haven't watched the Blu but I hope it approaches the quality of HD telecasts, which are much improved and in keeping with its theatrical appearance over what's available.
 

Robert Crawford

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I hope you guys recommendations meets my expectations as I just ordered the following.

Gilda
Man Without a Star
My Darling Clementine
Destry Rides Again
Backlash

My luck if Fox releases My Darling Clementine less than a year from now. Gilda is another one that might come out soon.
 

Mark Mayes

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I will be anxious to hear if you like the "Destry" transfer as much as I did.

"Anne of the Thousand Days" is mastered from a very good print, which unfortunately has a couple of brief instances of jittering--not insanely distracting--especially when balanced against quite beautiful color!

BTW, I did not have to utilize my multi-region player for any of these.
 

Keith Cobby

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Just watched Man Without a Star which is a great Kirk Douglas western, and also recommended for fans of Jeanne Crain who has a well written part. The image quality is pretty good although not quite as good as I was hoping. Sharpness varies slightly between scenes but there is nothing too troubling. I am not sure why the AR is 2:1 when 1.85 would be better (and original).
 

FoxyMulder

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Keith Cobby said:
Just watched Man Without a Star which is a great Kirk Douglas western, and also recommended for fans of Jeanne Crain who has a well written part. The image quality is pretty good although not quite as good as I was hoping. Sharpness varies slightly between scenes but there is nothing too troubling. I am not sure why the AR is 2:1 when 1.85 would be better (and original).
Why on earth have they chosen 2:1, this wasn't a SuperScope production as far as i know.
 

Mark Mayes

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"Imitation of Life" is not restored and yet some good color tones here and there.

"Magnificent Obsession" looks pretty good.

"All That Heaven Allows" is excessively grainy (salty, really.)
 

FoxyMulder

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Mark-P said:
Because it was released during the period when Universal's "house ratio" was 2:1.
Thanks for the reply, i'm going to pose the question in the aspect ratio thread too.
 

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