What's new

James Bond Ultimate Edtions Surface in the uk (1 Viewer)

rich_d

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2001
Messages
2,036
Location
Connecticut
Real Name
Rich

What they want to do and what they can pull off may be two different things.

In the U.S., mega-chains have a lot of power. Telling them that they are going to release the Blu-Ray Bonds in advance of standard format ... not going to wash, particularly at places like Wal-mart (which for some items accounts for 30% of all U.S. sales).

The Wall Street Journal reported that when MGM was purchased the Bond franchise was valued (by itself) at over one billion dollars. This is big business where the tail can not wag the dog no matter how aggressive $ony wants to be with Blu-ray.

I haven't seen any sale numbers for Blu-ray yet, but early word-of-mouth regarding the format has been so-so (at best). One suspects that $ony could have a party for all early R1 adopters in a small restaurant, with room still for a band.
 

John H Ross

Screenwriter
Joined
Oct 16, 2000
Messages
1,044
Well it's confirmed chaps, the R2 captions are in a right mess. Some missing, some mistimed, some look ok, some look like shite. Full details here:

http://www.zetaminor.com/dvd/dvdrevi...d_ultimate.htm

Now's the time for those in positions of persuasion to get this lot fixed before they come out in R1. Please don't assume the R1 editions will be any different. You have been warned.

John
 

John H Ross

Screenwriter
Joined
Oct 16, 2000
Messages
1,044

Well they look tacky and crap. That's a fairly big issue to me. Plus, of course, the films are officially altered now both in the video and audio departments.

John
 

rich_d

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2001
Messages
2,036
Location
Connecticut
Real Name
Rich
I guess if the theory is that the film/video industry is well run we should see terrific results.

However, my theory (and it's only a theory) is that the film (and music industry for that matter) are populated with people that got their jobs because they know somebody (hangers-on).

That these people care about putting out a high quality product and will go the extra yard to do so ... I don't think is supported by the evidence.

If the worst thing were not having a few burnt in subtitles or not the 'original' subtitles it wouldn't be so bad. After all, if DTS/Lowry went back to the negatives and they weren't on them then they were post-negative process work. How do we expect them to be original (i.e. if they have to go to two sources to get what we first saw on the film how do we expect them to combine those elements and still be original)? I'm asking, nothing more, I have no idea about such things, only questions.

Now, could we expect the same color and for them to do the best job of matching the original font on these burnt in subtitles? Sure.

A bigger issue for me is not having the original audio track on the early Bond films.

Also, any reports about the end of Thunderball. Even if they have to go to a release print, I'd love to see the true end again with James Bond will return in restored. Any word?
 

Frank@N

Screenwriter
Joined
Sep 12, 2002
Messages
1,718
As I read the R4 reviews, I'm starting to get concerned about erratic video quality from film to film.

FRWL apparently looks great...others not that much better. Since an older title can look great, why not newer titles?

But there's a couple of guys doing the reviews, so that could be part of the problem.

I'll wait for R1 reviews (assuming these are released on DVD in R1), but for now I'm getting concerned.
 

andySu

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2006
Messages
2,858
Well looks like Mike, has started this off first ,I was going to start the same thread, looks like you’re a man of thinking, and I was thinking the same thing!




Regional 2 James Bond, problems!

“Goldfinger”

MGM/UA now under the Sony name, have produced the (Ultimate Edition) of the famous British spy James Bond, 007, licence to kill in wonderful packing containing two discs.

(Lowry Digital Restoration) frame for frame and with the use of powerful high speed computers and special software has cleaned the film up considerably and it shows up remarkably well.

But however there was one slight flaw that cropped up in the film presentation, clocking in at [31 minutes 29 seconds] in the lower part of the frame there’s a stutter in the image, the sound plays uninterrupted but it’s this little flaw that is bothering me, not sure for sure if it is on the digital master, or whether this is a flaw in the authoring of the DVD.

Second error has sprung up would you believe it, [1 Hour 41 minutes 54 seconds] the film stutters really badly now this could possible well be the authoring of this DVD, it’s presently playing on the (Pioneer DV-525). +

Priced at £11.58 each that’s not too bad.

Sound is somewhat different with Dolby Digital 5.1, and the dts 5.1 encoding, the dynamics on the dts mix is slightly weaker sounding, well I never really cared for dts sound on DVD.

How did they create the newly recorded sound mix for Goldfinger? I can take a few wild guesses, has this is sourced from the (original monaural mix) there’s no way I can do a compression check without purchasing the first edition of Goldfinger on region 2 DVD where the mix is intacked in its monaural form, most of what I’m hearing seems original and no over dubbed sound effects have been used here just painstakingly good mixing techniques.

One such sound that pricked up my eras was when Goldfinger closes the vaults door now that is the same sound effect that was used in Aliens 1986, the same. Not that

Score by are British John Barry, is splendid and memorable with the opening titles by Shirley Bassey, singing Goldfinger, was nice.

Conclusion, well I must say I feel a little cheated with this packing to see slight errors popping up.

The Man with the Golden Gun

This one looked like how I saw it 32 years ago, but I’m not praising here anymore, this is nothing more than a “gimmick” to painstakingly remove dirt and scratches from the print to produce a finer image than what has been previously seen with other Bond, films over the years on laserdisc THX laserdisc and first edition DVD.

Octopussy, well I already have this one on DVD, so I took the opportunity to do an A&B compression, the dirt and scratches are visible on the first edition, this newly resorted version was like looking at a new painting by

Getting personal

Sound mix well I personally think dts is a complete waste of time, the sound level and frequency response was lower than the Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes, incredible as it may seem, but true. I have never liked dts from day one when I first saw Jurassic Park, at UCI Tower Park Poole screen # 6 1993, I have a good memory when it comes to sound, and the dts sound here is nothing more than a publicity stunt that has falling over flat on it’s face with utter failure! Dolby wins hands down!


When dts is presented in the cinema, a projectionist well automatically say it sounds good when it comes to reel changes ever 20 minutes, now I have a few dts laserdiscs some are THX that would eat and spit out the DVD, I’ll have to try Goldeneye on DVD next, just too see if the dts sound will impress me has the THX laserdisc has done on countless occasions.

Other dts film presentations that I have seen projected with unsatisfactory results!

UCI Tower Park Poole

Waterworld dts W/S screen #5
Titanic dts scope, screen # 8
Jurassic Park dts W/S screen #6
The Lost World Jurassic Park dts W/S screen #5
Apollo 13 dts scope, screen #6

Odeon Westover Road Bournemouth

Batman Begins dts scope, Screen #1

UCI 12 Lee Valley London

Alien Resurrection dts scope screen #?

Now I have spoken with other projectionists years ago names mentioned here, but one such projectionist who worked for a top cinema in London’s West End now under a new name that is unworthy. Well he said it’s “politics to talk about which sound format was the best” I got the hint he didn’t like dts seeing it’s got the same amount of channels has Dolby Digital 5.1, anyway I have never been impressed with dts in the cinema never, I have seen one dts presentation at the Empire in London, TimeCop, only sounded half has good with THX, and the 70mm Dolby Stereo prints totally knocked my soaks off! So dts sucks and is “nothing more than a publicity stunt” and it’s way too late to demonstrate it’s flawless to me, it’s all about first impressions, and UCI should get there asses kicked hard for that, I don’t care what a sound engineer does to impress me, if he can’t pull it off with the 1993 presentation at UCI Tower Park which is hellish fleapit! It looks bad and sounds bad!
 

Lyle_JP

Screenwriter
Joined
Oct 5, 2000
Messages
1,009
Well, I think I just figured out why the View to a Kill disc was re-rated as "12". Check out "Deleted Scene: Stacey Gets Fired". Too funny!

-Lyle J.P.
 

WaveCrest

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2008
Messages
4,238
Real Name
Richard
I miss seeing the old United Artists logos at the start of a Bond film. The new version of the United Artists logo on the Region 2 UEs is fine, but not as effective as the logo seen on the Warner Home Video releases of Dr. No up to I think A View to a Kill (they were released or re-released on VHS in 1987, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Bond films). Also very much liked the 1987 version, which is shown at the beginning of the VHS release of The Living Daylights (I think it was also shown when the film was released in the summer of 1987), where a blue glass screen revolves with the UA logo appearing with a whoosh sound.
 

WaveCrest

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2008
Messages
4,238
Real Name
Richard
My favourite Bond would be a tie between Sir Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton. Regarding the latter, I thought The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989) were equally as good as one another. John Barry's score for The Living Daylights was one of his best (and got better as the film went on).
 

Camps

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 17, 2010
Messages
1,103
Real Name
Tom
It would be great if MGM/UA could unearth more screen tests (for the roles of Bond, villains, etc). So far they've included screen test footage of James Brolin and Sam Neill for the Bond role; Theodore Bikel for the Goldfinger role; and Jan Werich for Blofeld. Is there no more screen test footage laying around? A great little "extras" feature for the next release would be "The Men Who Would be Bond."
 

WaveCrest

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2008
Messages
4,238
Real Name
Richard
This all started back in 1989, before the UK theatrical release of Licence to Kill. It may be an urban myth, but I still think there is footage out there which was cut from the film and wasn't included with the deleted scenes on the UE of the film. I'll have a look and see which Bond reference book it was in, but there was a still photo (and it didn't look like a promotional picture) of Sanchez (Robert Davi) entertaining his guests, the Japanese businessmen, at his villa in Isthmus City the night before he shows them/gives them a demonstration of his drugs manufacturing at the plant the day after. And I'm sure I read something (can't remember where, and this could be an urban myth definitely) that there was a scene where the CIA or DEA raided Milton Krest's 'marine research' warehouse and find the remains of Killifer in the shark tank and the security guards in the electric eel tank and maggot tray draw.
 

WaveCrest

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2008
Messages
4,238
Real Name
Richard
Something that has always puzzled me when watching Bond and Scaramanga's duel towards the end of The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) is this...when Bond (Sir Roger Moore) is on the scaffolding after working his way round the sheet of glass, what is he looking at off the camera shot, and how does he get from where he is to swapping the mannequin Bond for himself before Scaramanga walks in front of him in the funhouse? I know it's a Bond film, you expect these things, but it's always puzzled me.
 

Will*B

Supporting Actor
Joined
Aug 12, 2003
Messages
579
Location
Winchester, England
Real Name
Will
Originally Posted by WaveCrest

This all started back in 1989, before the UK theatrical release of Licence to Kill. It may be an urban myth, but I still think there is footage out there which was cut from the film and wasn't included with the deleted scenes on the UE of the film. I'll have a look and see which Bond reference book it was in, but there was a still photo (and it didn't look like a promotional picture) of Sanchez (Robert Davi) entertaining his guests, the Japanese businessmen, at his villa in Isthmus City the night before he shows them/gives them a demonstration of his drugs manufacturing at the plant the day after. And I'm sure I read something (can't remember where, and this could be an urban myth definitely) that there was a scene where the CIA or DEA raided Milton Krest's 'marine research' warehouse and find the remains of Killifer in the shark tank and the security guards in the electric eel tank and maggot tray draw.


In the old 'James Bond Movie Book' from 1990, there's a still from Licence to Kill that shows Dario (Benicio Del Toro) holding a knife to the chest of the guy from the pre-title sequence whose heart is removed off-screen. The book says that the heart-removal was "graphically shown", but "cut from release prints". This book is the only reference I've ever seen to this scene existing.... Personally, I find it fairly unlikely that John Glen would have filmed a scene of someone getting their heart cut out for a Bond film! Another LTK urban myth!
 

WaveCrest

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2008
Messages
4,238
Real Name
Richard
Another LTK urban myth....Priscilla Barnes attended a convention a few years ago, and at her table was a black and white photo of Felix and Della getting married inside the church (which you only see from the outside in the pre-credits sequence). I asked if this was a promotional picture and she said it was not. So, another scene which was filmed but cut before the theatrical version was finished? It's hard to see where they could have placed it in the finished film. Things are kept moving along, both before and after the credits sequence with Gladys Knight's theme song.


Something which wasn't in the TV, VHS and DVD versions of The Man with the Golden Gun, during the duel between Scaramanga and Bond there's a clip in the US theatrical trailer where Bond has a verbal exchange with Scaramanga and something is thrown in the air and shot at. Also, debris from Bond's plane is shown inbetween the rocks on Scaramanga's island during the duel. This is also not in the version of the film shown on TV and released on VHS and DVD.
 

WaveCrest

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2008
Messages
4,238
Real Name
Richard
Quote: Originally Posted by mjgardenia



On Her Majesty's Secret Service - my most favorite James Bond film. Had five different versions of it - first was a recording made of the edited version aired by ABC, followed by the pan and scan VHS version, then a letterbox version, followed by the original DVD release and finally the remastered DVD with 5.1 and DTS audio.


NOTE: Quoted post is post #2483 on page 83 of the main Warner Archive discussion thread in the DVD folder.



I remember the rear boxart for the 1987 VHS release of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) saying the running time was 118 minutes. Then when it was released on Region 2 (UK) DVD with the extra footage it came to 136 minutes. The longest extra scene appears to be Bond's break-in into Gumbold's office safe.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,814
Messages
5,123,688
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top