It's a Wonderful Life (Artisan) (1 Viewer)

[Gordon McMurphy]

Paramount will start issues what will hopefully be excellent DVD editions of their newly acquired Republic library next year. They have spent a lot of time and money on High Noon, so it may appear in the first batch. It's a Wonderful Life will more than likely be a late-2006 release. And count me in for a 1.37:1 release of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and not the cropped 2:1 SuperScope version, which was done against Don Siegel's wishes back in '56.

Having the Republic library in the hands of Paramount is as assuring as the RKO library in the hands of Warner and I am greatly looking forward to next year's releases.

 

[Rick Z.]

I think I read a comment by Robert Harris, saying that non-theatrical (16mm) prints of Invasion of the Body Snatchers were in the original ratio. Does anyone know if there are TV prints or early video releases in the correct format?

 

[Marvin]

I saw this listed at Amazon for release on 10/31. Does anyone have any information as to any differences between this and previous releases?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...v=glance&n=130

 

[Drew Salzan]

Quote:

"And count me in for a 1.37:1 release of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and not the cropped 2:1 SuperScope version, which was done against Don Siegel's wishes back in '56."

I know SuperScope films were photographed full frame (flat), but were they composed for widescreen (open matte) or were they just arbitrarilly cropped to create anamorphic prints?

 

[Brandon Conway]

From Davis DVD this morning:

Frank Capra's 1946 classic It's a Wonderful Life has been retained by Paramount and the studio plans a 60th Anniversary Edition for release on October 31st.

 

[Dave Mack]

Hella cool! Any details? Will it have the same extras? New transfer?

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Beautiful, I can't wait!

 

[Patrick McCart]

Yes and no. Some films were actually framed for this, but most were not. Now that I think of it, Invasion of the Body Snatchers was probably framed for 1.66:1-1.85:1 (since it was shot in the regular 35mm format without full aperture). The move to anamorphic 2:1 enlarged grain and overcropped.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Oh yeah. According to one of the links above, digital work is pending (although by now, it is probably complete). This after the creation of a new soundtrack, restored by Audio Mechanics, two new dupe negatives made from the original nitrate masterpositive, and a new archival print being struck.

- Steve

 

[Josh Simpson]

Great news! I've wanted this dvd for a while and have always resisted, due to poor reviews. I'm hoping this will be done right.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Drew, SuperScope productions were photographed using the larger 1.33:1 silent aperture, unmatted. Technicolor labs would then create silver separation matrices derived from the camera negative, extracting a 2:1 ratio.

I don't understand how Paramount managed to retain the rights to It's a Wonderful Life from the Republic library, but nothing else. That's strange. Paramount have released their SE of High Noon in Holland and Australia. Very, very frustrating. Lion's Gate will likely just sit on those Ophuls titles. Luckily, excellent editions are due in September in the UK.

 

[willyTass]

The region 4 Universal version is pretty bad , as bad as the region 2

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCom...derfullife.htm

For anyone hanging out for a good transfer of this film why not grab the Republic studios version? Last batch were struck in 2002 I think and it's freely available on amazon (don't buy the Republic version linked by Gary Tooze at DVDbeaver- he hasn't updated the link for a while and it links to an older Republic version with different , more grotesque cover art, which is sold by re-sellers at a premium. The 2002 Republic version is more widely available on amazon and is cheaper!)

The picture on the Republic Studios version was magnificent just like DVDbeaver shows.

 

[TonyD]

has anyone hear read the article by dvd savant on it's a wonderfullife?

http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s55wonderful.html