International Seven Sony Classics coming to blu-ray June 13, 2013 in Germany. (1 Viewer)

[Mark-P]

I just received seven titles from Amazon.it. By the way, the white cover art is actually slipcovers with the regular artwork (as seen at Amazon.de) in the actual blu-ray cases.

First off, Oliver! looks just fine. Very film-like.
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Wild One and The Way We Were all look fantastic!
The China Syndrome also looks very good.

Now, the bad news: Sleepless in Seattle and Philadelphia look very flat. There is no vibrancy. They don't look much like film and some would probably characterize them as soft. My guess is that these are decades-old transfers that just can't compete with today's standards. But I'll defer to the opinions of the experts.

And finally, just like Funny Girl, Oliver! does not have split surrounds. But that's as it should be. I just wish they would encode them as 4.1 instead of 5.1.

 

[Mark-P]

OLIVER! really looks bad. It look like there has not been a restoration. For a Best Picture winner to look like this! IT looks just like the old DVD. I hope that TT will have a new transfer.

Ken, could you please elaborate why you think Oliver! looks bad? I think it looks pretty good. I'm curious as to why I'm hearing reports online that it looks terrible. Is it just the grain structure you're objecting to? I'm seeing lots of detail and beautiful colors.

 

[JPCinema]

"As Long As He Need Me"..Nancy's face has garish pink tones...the background is red and muddy...as is the rest of the film. The whites...there's major haloing. "Boy for Sale" is an example of this. The Intermission "card" looks like it came from a washed 16mm source.
I was an usher at the theater in San Diego when OLIVER! played in its Reserved Seat Engagement. I know the film backwards and forwards. OLIVER! NEVER looked like this!! I then I put on "WAY WE WERE"...now that is a Blu Ray!

 

[JPCinema]

I'm sure Grover Crisp had nothing to do to help restore this Oscar winner for Best Picture.....sadly.

 

[Mark-P]

"As Long As He Need Me"..Nancy's face has garish pink tones...the background is red and muddy...as is the rest of the film. The whites...there's major haloing. "Boy for Sale" is an example of this. The Intermission "card" looks like it came from a washed 16mm source.
I was an usher at the theater in San Diego when OLIVER! played in its Reserved Seat Engagement. I know the film backwards and forwards. OLIVER! NEVER looked like this!! I then I put on "WAY WE WERE"...now that is a Blu Ray!

I've only sampled the disc so far. I'll have to take a look at the specific scenes you mention. I do agree about the intermission card. That looks like a well-worn piece of film that has travelled around the country in road show engagements. It could be that no original element exists for the intermission card. I can't condemn the transfer just for that.

 

[JPCinema]

Compared to virtually every Blu Ray I have....this among the worst. I have shown it to friends and their comment is " Is this Blu Ray or a DVD"?

 

[Mark-P]

Here are the scenes you are referencing. They look fine to me. But I have no frame of reference as I've never seen the movie theatrically. I've looked at these scenes on my projector at 9 feet wide and I'm happy with the Blu-ray. I'll be interested to hear what others think when they see the Blu-ray.

 

[alexAN]

Here in Spain most of those titles have also been released, and some found for as cheap as 6€. All of them are common discs, shared with the mentioned countries, therefore without forced subtitles in any language.

 

[umr1]

I have to agree with Ken. My BD of Oliver! is one of the worst HD images I have seen. I do have some older films that are worse, but those films are much older. I do not believe any other BD's I own that are newer or from the same era are worse in a 400 disc collection. I do find it watchable, but the age quality is disappointing. For reference I have a $20,000 DLP projector, $40,000 in calibration gear in a rig that is similar in quality to a professional screening room.

 

[JPCinema]

Nancy's face was never that pink. And the snow there....BOY FOR SALE....not sharp with a white hue.
I have always loved OLIVER!....I check my DVD of it..it's the same transfer.
With all the fine restoration work that has been done to other Columbia titles.... there's no excuse for this. LOST HORIZON..the musical looks light years better than OLIVER! BYE BYE BIRDIE is another stunning transfer.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Don't worry, give it a few years and they will do a new "mastered in 4K" release of Oliver!, picture will be perfect but extras will be nought.

 

[Mark-P]

Since RAH and Richard Gallagher have weighed in on Sleepless in Seattle (Twilight Time edition) I would like to retract my comments in post #21, since I'm no expert and I don't want to discourage anyone from what is actually a stellar disc.

Why can't I edit my original post? Does the edit function expire after a certain amount of time?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Since RAH and Richard Gallagher have weighed in on Sleepless in Seattle (Twilight Time edition) I would like to retract my comments in post #21, since I'm no expert and I don't want to discourage anyone from what is actually a stellar disc.

Why can't I edit my original post? Does the edit function expire after a certain amount of time?

Yes, it does.