HTF REVIEW: "You Can't Take It With You" (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

I'm still looking forward to comments from people
that bought this DVD. I want to make sure that
my comments about this being as good as a VHS
transfer is right on.

 

[ChuckDeLa]

$25 at Best Buy... just not worth it for a barebones disc with a subpar transfer. I'm waiting until I find a pre-owned copy.

 

[Mike Knapp]

I have one on order, I can post my opinions here when I receive it if youd like.

Mike

 

[Todd Bennington]

What is so frustrating about this is that Columbia is content to put out a lacklaster barebones disc but still charge a premium price. Why would anyone buy this disc when so many other great classic films are being treated with the respect they deserve and are priced very reasonably? It's really a shame.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

While I won't praise the quality of this transfer, I don't think it's terrible. Ron's comments are correct as a whole: the print does look pretty flawed, the movie can be soft, and contrast seems off at times.

However, I feel that a number of scenes actually look fairly decent, and I've decently seen MUCH worse transfers from the era. You wanna see a VHS-style image from the period? Dig up Madacy's Love Affair. Granted, we expect more from CTS than from noted crapmeisters Madacy, but Take never sinks to that transfer's level.

Overall, I gave the image of Take a "C-". I also stuck the audio with a "C-". It sounded like someone poured on the noise reduction. That means that while we hear less popping and hiss than we might expect, the audio comes across as somewhat dull and flat. Again, it's not terrible for its era, but it's not good either.

Anyway, I don't think the DVD of Take is a total disaster, but with a list price of almost 30 bucks, it's overpriced for what you get...

 

[Robert Crawford]

Ron,
After watching the entire dvd then doing sample comparisons between the dvd and my VHS copy of the film, I think the quality of the dvd is somewhat better, but not by much. The dvd has more detail than the tape, but with that comes more grain too and I also noticed some mosquito noise on the dvd. Also, the dvd is soft in several scenes with the contrast high and low throughout the dvd.

I'm very disappointed with Columbia's effort in this dvd release and comparing the quality of this dvd to another dvd release of a Columbia film from the same era like "His Girl Friday" is like a night and day difference. Furthermore, the MSRP of "You Can't Take It With You" is $29.95 while "His Girl Friday" was $24.95 with more features such as a commentary, featurette, and production notes. Now, I have quality concerns about the upcoming releases of other Columbia films from that same era such as "The Talk of the Town" and "The Awful Truth".

I don't know if Columbia dropped the ball on this dvd presentation because I don't know the details involving the film elements used, but they need to adjust their pricing structure for what value they're giving their consumers with these latest classic dvd releases. Columbia needs to take a lesson from Warner and Fox as far as quality and pricing of the dvd releases involving their classic films. Universal is getting ready to release a whole bunch of classic films to dvd. Their pricing structure is very reasonable, but I hope the dvd presentations of those releases are of the same quality as Warner and Fox.




Crawdaddy

 

[Mike Knapp]

I watched mine today and it I think Ron is correct in his assesment. It does look like a VHS quality transfer. It was interesting to see how different the film was from the actual play that I was in (I still have my script). The character I played (as represented in the film) was an old bald eccentric guy, I have no idea how I ever got the part!
Anyway, perhaps the MSRP of this title is a reflection of the popularity (or lack of) of the title. We all know that in economics, the item that sells the most can sell for less. Perhaps there were small expectations on the sales of this title and the studio just figured that it had a small following that would buy it no matter the price.
Then again, one of the first business principles is not to price your goods beyond your market and the competiton.
Who knows what the reasoning was?
The transfer was probably as good as the element they took it from but it is obvious that there was little if any restoration work done on it. The sound seemed OK to me.
Mike

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yeah, for some reason as I watched my dvd a thought of you posing in your toga with that plate in your hand came to me.
Today, I watched "The Talk of the Town" and it was similar to "You Can't Take It With You" in relation to the quality of the video presentation. In some parts, it was slightly better with the grain, but still not up to the quality of "His Girl Friday". It too had the MSRP of $29.95
Crawdaddy

 

[Mike Knapp]

Hey Crawdaddy,
I'll have you know I cut a mean figure in that toga. All the ladies in the audience were swooning, or was that fainting?
Mike

 

[Robert Crawford]

Most probably the latter.
Crawdaddy