"My Fair Lady" Blu-ray November 15th (2 Viewers)

[Joe Caps]

How about audio that is not over processed. the track for this restoration has always had the high end cut off, reverb added to all the songs and the origianl surrounds are not on this film.

 

[Carlo_M]

Looking forward to this release. Hopefully someday with the magic of AutoTune we can have an alternate track with Audrey AutoTuned to hit all of the notes! (j/k...but I'm afraid I just gave some studio suits an idea for a future release...Audrey Hepburn sings My Fair Lady...T-Pain style!)

 

[GMpasqua]

Ron how do we know this and "Little Big Man" are Wal-mart exclusives? "Scrooge" was also listed at Wal-Mart for about a week before Amazon and others added it to their web sites. Many of the exlcusives at Wal-Mart and Best Buy were anounced a few weeks before release date, amd not the usual three months

 

[marsnkc]

At the very least, I have high hopes for the transfer considering Paramount's stellar work on The Ten Commandments and White Christmas as well as Fox's discs of The Sound of Music and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Before the restoration it was "worst laserdisc of the year" 2 years running, hopefully this will be among the best Blu-Rays of 2011.

'Worst laserdisc of the year' is the understatement of the century. In those days, you had to have an affidavit from a government official to return anything, even for an exchange, much less a refund. But that's exactly what happened with the first laserdisc issue of MFL. Dave's Video in California was actually expecting them to be returned and refunds given, no questions asked. The result was like looking at an anaglyph image without the glasses. That one of the best-loved films ever could have been released in such condition still boggles my mind. I wish now I'd kept the darn thing as a souvenir. It wasn't until much later, from reading Robert Harris and others, that I learned about shrinkage and other evils that film could be subject to. Needless to say, the sumptuos 30th Anniversay box set of Mr. Harris's restoration made me feel like I'd died and gone to heaven. What worries me now is, if MFL got the Ten Commandments treatment, or some kind of upgrade to ready it for Blu-ray, how come no one here - including, apparently, Mr. Harris - knew about it? Ron Epstein seems to have the same concerns as I about such a prestigious film being released under the radar, with no fanfare and, of all things, a WalMart exclusive.

 

[Matt Hough]

I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some reservations about this release, but as Paramount has delivered stunning quality on older vault titles like The African Queen, The Ten Commandments, and White Christmas (three of my all-time favorite vault title releases in terms of video splendor) and the three CBS/Paramount titles I reviewed a couple of months ago (Big Jake, Rio Lobo, A Man Called Horse) were also nicely done, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt before passing judgment.


BTW, Breakfast at Tiffany's next month may tell us a lot about what to expect.

 

[Robert Harris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marsnkc

'Worst laserdisc of the year' is the understatement of the century. In those days, you had to have an affidavit from a government official to return anything, even for an exchange, much less a refund. But that's exactly what happened with the first laserdisc issue of MFL. Dave's Video in California was actually expecting them to be returned and refunds given, no questions asked. The result was like looking at an anaglyph image without the glasses. That one of the best-loved films ever could have been released in such condition still boggles my mind. I wish now I'd kept the darn thing as a souvenir.
It wasn't until much later, from reading Robert Harris and others, that I learned about shrinkage and other evils that film could be subject to. Needless to say, the sumptuos 30th Anniversay box set of Mr. Harris's restoration made me feel like I'd died and gone to heaven.
What worries me now is, if MFL got the Ten Commandments treatment, or some kind of upgrade to ready it for Blu-ray, how come no one here - including, apparently, Mr. Harris - knew about it? Ron Epstein seems to have the same concerns as I about such a prestigious film being released under the radar, with no fanfare and, of all things, a WalMart exclusive.

It was CBS that made the move to save My Fair Lady as an asset. The two executives behind it were Ken Ross and Ken Horowitz. They're also responsible for the laserdisc edition.


As to Walmart, My Fair Lady is no longer on their site, now replaced by Spooky Buddies.


RAH

 

[GMpasqua]

Mr. Harris is correct, Wal-mart no longer has it on there site. Although the same thing happened with "Breakfast at Tiffany's" Amazon listed it and then it disappeared, only to re-appear a few weeks later with a new release date.


"Once Upon a Time inthe West" "Srcooge" and "Little Big Man" also did not have any rumored release when they were announced. (HTF's own RON Epstein was informed by Paramount that "Once Upon a Time in the West" wasn't coming to blu-ray - but it was announced shortly after that)


"It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" was also released without any advance notice by MGM/UA (announced less than 3 weeks before it was to street)


It seems 2011 is the year studios are keeping major catalog titles from internet news until they are offically announced.


Hopefully "My Fair Lady" will re-appear shortly. "Scrooge" was announced by Wal-mart a full week before Amazon and other posted the title. I highly doubt these Paramount titles are exclusive to Wal-mart

 

[Mark-P]

Let's hope it wasn't just a complete fabrication on WalMart's part, but rather they put it up too early and Paramount made them take it down because they weren't ready to announce it yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is going to be a reality.

 

[RobertR]

No reason to think it isn't real. From Bluray.com:

My Fair Lady and Little Big Man Heading to Blu-ray Posted August 14, 2011 05:02 PM by Webmaster In an early announcement to retailers, Paramount Pictures has revealed that it will release on Blu-ray George Cukor's My Fair Lady (1964), starring Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, and Stanley Holloway, and Arthur Penn's Little Big Man (1970), starring Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, and Martin Balsam. Street date for Little Big Man is November 8th. Street date for My Fair Lady is November 15th.

 

[Mark-P]

Well there's never been an announcement on this forum or on the digital bits prior to the WalMart discovery.

No reason to think it isn't real. From Bluray.com:

My Fair Lady and Little Big Man Heading to Blu-ray Posted August 14, 2011 05:02 PM by Webmaster In an early announcement to retailers, Paramount Pictures has revealed that it will release on Blu-ray George Cukor's My Fair Lady (1964), starring Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, and Stanley Holloway, and Arthur Penn's Little Big Man (1970), starring Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, and Martin Balsam. Street date for Little Big Man is November 8th. Street date for My Fair Lady is November 15th.

 

[Mark-W]

It is back on their site for just under $20 now, but is not available for pre-order the way Scrooge is.

Let's hope it wasn't just a complete fabrication on WalMart's part, but rather they put it up too early and Paramount made them take it down because they weren't ready to announce it yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is going to be a reality.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Well there's never been an announcement on this forum or on the digital bits prior to the WalMart discovery.

That's because the studio is very bad in giving out press information related

to Walmart of Best Buy exclusives. We get the information from members who

PM us with information they found from insider retail information.


Remember, the studios give these films for the retailers to promote. For that

reason, we rarely get any official press information.

 

[marsnkc]

Thanks for those magnificent ads, Greg. The Hirschfeld in your post #13 is priceless. Any idea who the artist for the gorgeous studies of Harrison and Hepburn is? That roadshow ad with the reservation box in #9 is a reminder that this was a prestige film with a capital P, made under Jack Warner's personal supervision. With the exception of Mad World, the films you mention in your last post, good as they are, would hardly fit into the 'flagship' category of, say, West Side Story, which we've heard plenty about and has apparently gotten the respect it deserves. Bounty was a flagship production but a huge disappointment, yet it too was treated well for the HD-DVD release, and word is out that it's been remastered for the Blu. Your optimism is heartening, and of course we shouldn't make judgements until we've seen the result; it just seems weird to me that, if Paramount has gone to considerable trouble and expense to give MFL the treatment it deserves, they wouldn't want the world to know about it, if for no other reason than to drum up business. My concern is that they don't want to drum up expectation, but we'll see. This is going to be a real nail-biter! I hope you're right that it's simply a matter, as you say, that "2011 is the year studios are keeping major catalog titles from internet news until they are officially announced", though why they'd do that is a mystery to me. If that model works, then the next logical step should be for the studios to close their publicity departments and save half the cost of bringing movies to the public.

 

[marsnkc]

Remember, the studios give these films for the retailers to promote.  For that

reason, we rarely get any official press information.

 

 

 

Your post got in as I was writing my rant, Ron. I guess, particularly in this climate of uncertainty, it's understandable that the studios would want to save money by going this 'exlusives' route. I hope the perception, to me, that the model cheapens an event film like this is overcome by an exceptional transfer.

 

[Robert Harris]

http://www.bobpeak.com/

 

[Robert Harris]

Please click on "about the exhibition"


http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/exhibitions/2011/01/peak.html

 

[GMpasqua]

Thanks Marc (and thanks for putting the Audrey Hepburn vocals on you-tube is you are the same marcnkc)


The artist is Bob Peak - who did the poster art for "My Fair Lady" (also "Camelot" The Spy Who Loved Me" "Apocalypse Now" "Excalibur" and many others


Those are some of his sketches for the poster art

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by GMpasqua

Thanks Marc (and thanks for putting the Audrey Hepburn vocals on you-tube is you are the same marcnkc)


The artist is Bob Peak - who did the poster art for "My Fair Lady" (also "Camelot" The Spy Who Loved Me" "Apocalypse Now" "Excalibur" and many others


Those are some of his sketches for the poster art

I think the My Fair Lady poster art is magnificent. When I won the soundtrack album in a trivia contest held by a local newspaper, I put the album on a stand in my bedroom because I thought the art was SO spectacular.

 

[Charles Smith]

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

Not only does that exhibition look incredible, the director herself speaks eloquently to what we're seeing and what has been lost.

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by GMpasqua

Thanks Marc (and thanks for putting the Audrey Hepburn vocals on you-tube is you are the same marcnkc)

Placing recordings on youtube is in contravention of international copyright laws.


I would suggest removing them.


RAH