Classics on HD and BD (1 Viewer)

[Wayne_j]

I just got a HD-DVD player and watched my copies of Casablanca and Adventures of Robin Hood on it, both of which are wonderful. I really hope Warner continues with their great classics by releasing all their UltraRez restored titles on HD/BD. All of them are mastered at 2k or higher so there shouldn't be much of a problem getting them ready. I am definitely looking forward to the That's Entertainment! titles that are being released in December.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I would have to agree that the classics look great in HD. I own Mutiny On The Bounty & The Cowboys on HD-DVD and they look great. I hope they put more classics in HD as I would purchase more classic titles if they did. While classics looked good on DVD they did not look great like they can in HD. So I held off buying alot of classic films, but now I am ready to add alot of classic films to my collection.

 

[ppltd]

As much fun as it is watching POTC or Transformers, they just don't have the 'awe' you get from watching great classics like Casablanca or The Adventures of Robin Hood or The Searchers. Until LD and DVD, most of us have only seen these films edited on commercial television. Even the LD and DVD releases often gave us sub-par releases. But the effort and quality that went into the movies I listed above gives many of us the ability to (almost) view this classics as they were meant to be seen.

Here's hoping that the studios begin releasing more classics soon.

 

[JediFonger]

i want a bunch of classix on HD:
- complete FW Murnau catalog
- complete Chaplin catalog
- complete Fritz Lang (both german+US releases)
- complete lou chaney
- cabinet dr. caligari
- king kong '33 1080p.
- etc.

of course, the later stuff is fine too. i have a feeling citizen kane is the on cusp of being released =P.

 

[Danny_N]

Added For A Few Dollars More and My Name Is Nobody which both will be released on HD-DVD in Italy on Dec. 5. Sadly no English options on either disc.

 

[DeeF]

On the very first published list of HDs to come was The Music Man.

Where is it?

I have 2,400 DVDs, mostly old Hollywood classics in black and white. I don't think these will really benefit much by high-def.

The movies that need to be in high-def are the large format, 70mm, very widescreen epics from the late 50s, early 60s.

Ben-Hur, Gigi, West Side Story, Lawrence of Arabia, etc.

 

[Danny_N]

Have you seen the HD-DVD of Casablanca?

If the source materials are in proper shape and the remastering is carefully done, every 35mm movie, regardless if it was shot flat and/or in b/w, will benefit from getting the HD treatment.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I saw The Day The Earth Stood Still projected in 35mm. WOW. VASTLY more detailed than any DVD... and would easily max-out the detail in a 1080p format.

I cannot WAIT for the big musicals to show up in HD. When those emerge in 1080p I will be *so all over* HD it won't be funny.

HD for classic films!!!

p.s. one caveat: any scan of any large-format film needs to be optimized for large-format elements. The latest DVD of Ben-Hur is an embarassment of low-detail because of an improper film scan from the large-format source.

 

[DeeF]

Yes, I agree with everything everyone has said. I'd love to have beautiful, HD versions of all of my movies.

That said, You Can't Take It With You doesn't look very good on DVD, not because the mastering is poor, but the movie elements are in such poor shape.

An HD version of this movie will do no good, unless major work is done to the film itself, which I can't imagine would be justified by potential profits.

This is all I meant. I hope the studios spend wisely on the films that really will benefit from HD. Ben-Hur, and those widescreen musicals, are high-up on my list.

Even though Casablanca does look divine, it's the jewel in Warners' crown (along with The Searchers). I'm not surprised that these are already on HD DVD.

 

[London Lawson]

I saw The Seventh Sign on Dish HD awhile back and it looked pretty nice. 2001 was also on months back and it looked amazing, if I didn't know any better I would have thought it was a fairly new movie.

 

[Craig Beam]

So the Blu-Ray release of The Seventh Seal is region free... but it's PAL, right?

 

[DaViD Boulet]

There is no "PAL" on Blu-ray if we're talking HD resolution (to my knowledge).

 

[Craig Beam]

PAL is a color standard. Region 1 is NTSC. The disc may be region-free, but if its encoded in the PAL format there will be a slight speed-up in the audio. Since it's in Swedish with subtitles, this may not be much of an issue.

In any case.... I'm on the verge of ordering this. The Seventh Seal is one of my favorite films of all time, and the existing Criterion edition is starting to show its age.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

High Definition is neither PAL nor NTSC.

It's 1080p24, 1080i60, or 720p60.

I know on HD DVD there's a spec for 1080p25, but I don't think they provided that for BD.

In any case, it's not PAL, just like 1080p24 isn't "NTSC".

 

[Paul_Scott]

Does Casablanca look better in HD?
Yes- but I feel more in line with Dee here- the benefits of HD over an already nice DVD release are going to be more appreciated when you get to the large format films- or at least more appreciated by people with large displays.
Its not a matter of taste in material or not liking B&W- it's simply that a 2.35:1 AR film on DVD is resolutionally challanged in a more significant way than a 4:3 film is. And conversely, when you go to HD, that 4:3 isn't taking adavantage of the entire resolution available in a 1920 x 1080 frame.
Personally, as nice as Casablanca looks, I think Robin Hood is a more noticeable improvment over the DVD version, especially in terms of sharpness. I was always a little disappointed in how soft the DVD looked.

As far as classics go- MGM will be releasing an SE of The Apartment in Feb. This would have been a PERFECT candidate for a simultaneous release on HD- but I have little hope that Fox or MGM will see the value in a 1960 B&W film being released to the PS3 format (yes I know the Seventh Seal is coming...it's also a pricey import, and nothing of its ilk is scheduled for release in the US as far as I know).
I can easily understand why the studio would get skittish about something like A Bridge Too Far. Just because its a war movie does not mean that a 25 yr old gamer is going to get excited seeing a movie older than himself.
On the other hand, Billy Wilder has a LOT of fans- and The Apartment is a beloved favorite of many, and an AFI top 100 selection. It SHOULD be available on whatever is the current highest quality medium.
How I wish Fox and MGM thought like that though...

 

[Craig Beam]

The Seventh Seal... pre-ordered. I couldn't pass it up. Here's hoping it gets here quickly...

 

[JediFonger]

couldn't they encode 4:3 films in "anamorphic" resolutions just like original SD DVD and then pixel setting will re-correct the final playback, it should yield a much higher res than pillar box, imho. i dunno if that's a part of the spex.

 

[OliverK]

And as they are the only studio releasing classics on HD on a regular basis could somebody close to Warner please acknowledge that there is little love for "cleaned up" transfers like Mutiny on the Bounty among the HT community ?

To have a 45 year old movie look like this is ridiculous and it boggles the mind to think how much high frequency detail got lost in the process of NR.

Oliver

 

[Paul Arnette]

Back when I was still blind-buying HDM, I decided to purchase Grand Prix, Mutiny of the Bounty, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on HD DVD in an effort to show my support for HD classics. That said, I was impressed with the quality of the first two, but Willy Wonka has some serious aliasing issues. However, I throughly enjoyed Mutiny and even Willy Wonka despite the aforemention issue. Grand Prix is one of those films that was more interesting to me from a cinematography standpoint than anything else. I'm glad I got a chance to see it, but I doubt I would want to revisit it.

 

[Jim_K]

Aside from Warner, these numbers are pretty sad.

Will Warner give us another B&W classic to go with Casablanca? How bout Treasure of the Sierra Madre? Have they just given up on B&W films for HDM?

Will Sony finally release Lawrence of Arabia in 08? Seriously what is the hold up? Are they developing a friggin Java game for it? How about Kwai, are they even working on it?

Will Paramount give us The Godfather in 08 or will it be DVD only? If they're reluctant to release Chinatown (or even Braveheart for chrissakes) to the X-box crowd what hope is there for Godfather?

Will MGM release anything in 08?! The missed opportunity of the Leone set still burns my ass.

Fox? How about Alien at least (it'll appeal to gamers and it's pre-1980)

Universal? Where's Hitchcock? Mobsters, White Noise and Timecop don't cut it, sorry. When's the last time they released a classic? 2006?