Wow, the new DVD looks fantastic from how the DVD Beaver caps look. The Republic DVD has a ton of DVNR, slightly weak contrast, and bad compression in spots (notably the snow falling).
Did this originally have the RKO logo before the Liberty Films logo?
Here's hoping there's a HTF Review coming this week for this release. At this point, there's not enough "there" there to make me buy this DVD again, and this is a Top 5 all-time movie for me...
They also own Broadway Bill, Riding High, and Here Comes the Groom. All of which are on DVD. Broadway Bill was made at Columbia, but Paramount bought the rights in order to remake it as Riding High... they even incorporated a large amount off the negative in order to save cost. Here Comes the Groom is part of a double-feature with Just for You (both are Bing Crosby/Jane Wyman films).
I picked this up at Best Buy today. If memory serves, the bad splice occurred when George and Clarence are tossed out of Nick's bar, right? I can report that there is no splice present.
In my edition (50th anniversary, I think), the dialog is garbled starting in the middle of the scene in which Jimmy Stewart gets his free suitcase and lasts about a minute or so. Has that been corrected?
Honestly, I don't know why anyone wouldn't pony up fifteen bucks for this. I wasn't expecting a transfer this good, given the lack of new supplements (or hell, a full-on special edition), but it really does look wonderful. Don't hesitate!
Before I got the DVD, I expected fresh extras but not much improvement in pic quality. The opposite is true. Too bad we don't get new supplements, but the picture looks MUCH better - and the audio's improved as well...
On reflection if all the rumours about Paramount and classics are true, I reckon I've a duty to buy the damn thing again, otherwise the studio suits will only point at the sales figures and say 'See? Told ya so...'