How The West Was Won... (1 Viewer)

[Patrick McCart]

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/special/cinerama.htm

 

[Doug Bull]

HTWWW has always been at the very top of my want list.

Obviously in an attempt to save money, Warners used the old existing MGM NON Anamorphic DVD transfer after they got the rights.
The transfer for this spectacular classic, while better than the laserdisc, is still abysmal.

Several years ago some smart ass remixed the wonderful Cinerama Multi Tracks down to just 2 channels and in doing so simply threw out tracks that contained important sound information.
Certain Musical instruments are not to be heard in this current sound abomination.( Sorry Joe, I think the sound stinks)
Alfred Newman must be turning in his grave.

The sound is the first thing that needs attention if Warners are ever to release a remastered special edition. (and of course it had better be Anamorphic next time)

The Movie is a classic and it's most likely nothing like it will ever be attempted again.

Warners owe it to the Film Loving public to revisit this Masterpiece, bugger the expenses.
Where are you George?

 

[Robert Crawford]

I thought the expenses have already been spent? I watched a restored cut of the film in LA back in 2003.






Crawdaddy

 

[Bill Huelbig]

To John Hodson: You're very welcome, and I know you will enjoy the show. I hope Bolton is not too far away from Bradford. "How the West Was Won" in Cinerama is one of the most incredible movie-going experiences ever!

 

[John Hodson]

Bill, in the UK, nowhere is 'too far' (I'm only about 40 minutes drive) Looking forward to it tremendously.

BTW full details here.

 

[RolandL]

This page on my Cinerama web site - http://www.cinerama.topcities.com/htwwwdvd.htm, has a comparison of the actual 3-strip frames to the DVD.

 

[Bill Huelbig]

Sounds great, John - I sure wish I lived 40 minutes from a Cinerama theater. How times have changed: when I was a kid in 1963, when "How the West Was Won" was new, there were 3 Cinerama theaters within a 10-mile radius of where I lived. Now there are only 3 Cinerama theaters in the entire world (Bradford, Los Angeles and Seattle), and they're all 3000 miles away!

 

[John Hodson]

Bill; just a quick note to say thanks again. Just back from the screening at Bradford. It didn't really matter too much that the print had seen better days - what an incredible spectacle for a truly multi-national audience to enjoy.

Warners - we must have this restored to DVD as soon as possible accompanied by a Cinerama documentary!

 

[Ernest Rister]

JAMES STEWART
(lusting after female bandit)
Y-y-yeah, I'd-I'd like to suh-see the varmint.

 

[Drew Reiber]

I wouldn't be surprised if it turned up with The Searchers (and probably Stagecoach), in some kind of John Ford box set sometime next year from Warner Bros.

 

[Maurice McCone]

I love this film and sat down to watch it a few years back with a girlfriend on television.

I pointed out my 'insider knowledge' that this film was made with three directors, each directing a different section...........to which my girlfriend replied puzzled, how did they each direct a section, sitting so close together !??
I fell of the chair if I remember ! bless.....

 

[Robert Crawford]

I doubt it since, two other directors contributed to the film and arguably their parts of the film were better than Ford's.





Crawdaddy

 

[TonyD]

i have this on my tivo from tcm a few weeks back. oo
i wonder if they showed the more cropped version showing in the camparison link above or the more opened version.

plus that opened on the sides version looks spectacular.
is that the restored one that has been showing recently?

 

[JackKay]

I would love to see a OAR of How the West Was Won, but do any of you know of, or heard of, a release of 'The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm'?

 

[John Hodson]

This has been bugging me since the Bradford screening. In the print shown - and on the current DVD - during the buffalo stampede, you see the water tower shake, the three men on top stumble...and then in the next shot it's down on the ground.

I was sure there was a shot of the tower falling and splitting open and this shot from this excellent site seems to confirm that it was filmed.

Similarly in 'The Outlaws' section, Lee J. Cobb agrees to help Peppard, then we cut to a shot of the pair inside the train and Cobb has a bandage or plaster on his head for no apparent reason.

Was the print, like the DVD, a cut version. If so, by how much?

 

[Pete SE]

Somewhere along the line I believe I read that the watertower was cut short due to one of the stunt men getting injured.

 

[Edwin-S]

According to Imdb a stuntman, Bob Morgan, was seriously injured while filming this movie; however, he was not injured during the falling watertower scene. He was seriously injured during a gunfight scene on a moving flat car. A chain holding some logs on the rail car broke. Morgan was crushed and almost killed. It took him five years to recover from his injuries.

Imdb didn't have any other reports of stuntmen being injured during filming; however, that doesn't mean that other injuries didn't occur. Can anybody confirm whether another stuntman was injured during the watertower scene? I'm curious whether there was more than one incident of injuries while the movie was being filmed.

 

[RolandL]

Not the recent but in the previous chat with Warner Brothers it was mentioned that "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" elements were in pretty bad shape and would require a lot of restoration before they were released on DVD.

 

[John Hodson]

And that scene is in the movie; it's a little puzzling...

Okay - anyone with a laserdisc version of the movie that can check the above scenes? According to IMDB the LD is 10 or so minutes longer than the DVD.

 

[DeeF]

Um, John, you don't really think this, do you? Ford's sequence (Civil War) is easily the WORST in the movie, and part of it had to re-directed by Henry Hathaway. And several of the battle scenes were lifted right out of Raintree County.

Ford couldn't figure out how to use the camera (on this movie).