Sound of Music 40th, Oklahoma 50th, State Fair 60th and Two for the Road in November (1 Viewer)

[JasonKZ]

The release calls it " -- All-new -- "On Location With The Sound Of Music" featurette" running at 23:00 while the old was called "Salzburg Sight and Sound" running at 14:00. This sounds like different features.

My total so far is that while a number of items are added, the following are dropped:

NEW
# "My Favorite Things: Julie Andrews Remembers" -- Julie Andrews recalls the von Trapp family, and how their true-life story became a Broadway triumph and a Hollywood legend; she is joined by Christopher Plummer, Johannes von Trapp, Charmian Carr, director Robert Wise and others, plus rarely-seen footage and a few surprises. (63:00)
# "Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer: A Reminiscence" -- They fell in love on screen 40 years ago, and have been dear friends ever since. Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer sit down for an intimate fireside chat. (20:00)
# "On Location With The Sound Of Music" featurette -- Salzburg, Austria is one of the stars of the film, and in this travelogue, Charmian Carr takes us back to that magical city to revisit the locales made famous in the film. (23:00)
# From "Liesl To Gretl: A 40th Anniversary Reunion" -- 40 years ago they forged a bond that has never been broken; all seven of the von Trapp "children" reunite in this touching, hilarious and even revelatory family reunion. (34:00).
# "When You Know The Notes To Sing" -- You have to see it to believe it: 18,000 people at the Hollywood Bowl, singing with Julie, cheering the children and hissing the villains; the Sing-a-Long-Sound of Music phenomenon is a worldwide event, but no place does it quite like the Hollywood Bowl. And the winner of the highly coveted costume contest...? (13:00)
# "The von Trapp Family: Harmony & Discord" -- This 1998 A&E Biography tells the true story of the von Trapp family, immortalized in "The Sound of Music." (50:00)
# A special anniversary introduction by Julie Andrews;
# Commentary by Andrews and Christopher Plummer;
# Sing-along subtitles in English, French and Spanish;

DROPPED
# Original 1965 documentary Salzburg Sight and Sound (14 minutes)
# Making of documentary The Sound of Music: From Fact to Phenomenon with cast interviews, rare music outtakes, photos and more! (87 minutes)
# Audio supplement by Ernest Lehman
# Audio Interviews with Julie Andrews and Robert Wise
# Commentary by Director Robert Wise & Isolated Score

 

[Paul_Scott]

i think i'll go for the 4 disc uber edition.






in other words, i'll keep my old 5 star and pick up the new 2 disc set.
no biggie to me.
even though i haven't watched the film once since picking it up about 5 yrs ago, i do pull it out occasionaly and cycle thru some of the musical numbers.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

Oh how I wish the extras were either Closed Captioned or English subtitled. Paramount would do so. Fox doesn't. :frowning:

 

[Patrick Mirza]

Fox's specs posted today list the commentary with Wise and the isolated score.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

Fox's specs list Two for the Road with a Stanley Donen commentary; the other Studio Classics that month are Orchestra Wives (with commentary by Ann Rutherford and the surviving Nicholas brother, Fayard) and The Rains Came (with commentary by Anthony Slide and Robert Birchard).

 

[Robert Crawford]

It looks like this upcoming dvd will have the commentary by Wise and Isolated Score.

Also, if you have Andrews doing an audio commentary with Plummer, I see little reason to include an audio interview of her. Furthermore, some of the extras might contain some cast interviews, rare music outtakes, photos and more.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=58088

 

[Steve JD]

I guess I'll keep my super-duper LaserDisc set that included the soundtrack CD, since all the extras not included in the 40th anniversary DVD were on it, but I won't bother keeping the 5-Star DVD.

Can't part with that LD, it was so lavish (and EXPENSIVE!)

;- )

 

[PaulP]

Here are the Sound of Music specs as per DavisDVD:

 

[Patrick Mirza]

And here are State Fair's:

The two-disc set will include both the original 1945 movie musical in 1.37:1 fullscreen and Dolby Digital Stereo & Mono (disc 1) and the 1962 version in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 4.0 Surround (disc 2).


Extras on the first disc will include a commentary with Richard Barrios and Tom Briggs, Sing Along Subtitles, "From Page, To Screen, To Stage: State Fair" Featurette, Still Galleries (Set Design and Wardrobe, Behind the Scenes, Lobby Cards and One Sheets) and the theatrical trailer. Disc 2 will include a commentary by Pat Boone, the "State Fair" Television Pilot and Vintage Stage Excerpt "It Might As Well Be Spring" performed by Mary Martin. Retail is $26.98.

 

[Patrick Mirza]

And rounding out the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical announcements from Fox is Oklahoma! Special Edition.

This two-disc set finally will include both Cinemascope and Todd AO versions.

Disc 1 will include the Cinemascope feature in 2.55:1 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.0 & Stereo Surround. Extras will include a commentary by Ted Chapin and Hugh Fordin, Sing Along Subtitles, the trailer and a separate chapter list for songs only with a play-all feature.

Disc 2 will include the Todd AO Version in 2.20:1 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.0 & Stereo Surround. Extras will include a commentary by Shirley Jones and Nick Redman, Sing Along Subtitles, "Cinemascope vs. Todd AO," "The Miracle of Todd-AO" and "The March of Todd-AO" featurettes, Vintage Stage Excerpts "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" performed by Gordon MacRae and "People Will Say We're in Love" performed by Gordon MacRae & Florence Henderson, Still Galleries (Behind the Scenes, Lobby Cards and One Sheets), teaser and theatrical trailers and a separate chapter list for songs only with a play-all feature. Retail is $26.98.

 

[GerardoHP]

Glorious!

 

[Richard M S]

I would think the Richard Barrios participating in the commentary track is the same Richard Barrios who wrote the superb book A Song In The Dark , which is about the very first wave of musicals at the beginning of sound era.

I still am a little disappointed that the 1945 State Fair does not seem to have any of the outtakes mentioned in another post, but I am buying it anyway, just for the commentary.

 

[Paul_Scott]

wow- Oklahoma! sounds like it might have been worth the wait.

can someone clairfy the difference between Todd AO and the cinemascope version in regards to which version is supposed to be in better shape, which version has been most commonly seen- and from what i thought i understood- the Todd AO version is a large format version which would have been very expensive to remaster (or maybe it was restore). are they in fact using a down-rezzed 35mm element taken from the original Todd AO elements, or are they actually using the original larger format materials?
should it be cause for concern that the Todd AO disc is the one they are loading up with supplementals?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Why would that be a concern if we're getting both formats in this 2-disc set?

 

[Paul_Scott]

that's why i was asking which version should yield the better transfer.
i would prefer all the supplements to be on the disc which contains a transfer/print that is already compromised- rather than having the better print/transfer (possibly) impacted.
were this a 90 minute film, it probably wouldn't matter one way or the other.

maybe it still doesn't, but thats what i'm wondering.

 

[GregK]

I understand what you are saying Paul, in that the majority of extras are on the Todd-AO version. If I were to guess (and this IS just a guess) I'd wager later on down the line Fox will re-release this as a cheaper single disc release, using the Todd-AO disc with it's extras.

I'm not overly concerned, as I don't figure the extras will be too long. A DVD-9 version along with the new anamorphic transfer should hold us well until Fox re-releases this one in HD, which of course should easily blow any NTSC DVD version out of the water.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The CinemaScope format is what most people watched during this film's initial theatrical run due to Todd AO requiring screen alterations while CinemaScope could be run on screens like any 35MM film. However, it's apparent that Fox has put in a lot of time and money into this dvd with emphasis on the Todd AO version which many think was a superior widescreen format.

You have to remember that this film had every scene filmed twice in two different formats.

 

[Joe Caps]

The last DVD was off Todd AO 70mm using the laserdisc transfer. The picture has sharper better color, only cuz the negative wasn't used that much.
The scope was worn from much usage, so who knows if they did major restoration for this.
The last transfer of Oklahoma had much resotration done in the transfer by the tHX people.
The problem with the TODD aO is that one of the cameras had a bad shutter and several scenes have built in flicker - NOT a fault of the transfer.
The scope version on the old laserdisc included Overture, INtermission and Exit music, but those were never part of the scope version - obly the Todd AO. This was added to the scope laser, because, atthe time, there was no way to transfer 70mm to video. so Tom Bodley at Goldwyn Pictures, wanted to preserve those pieces of music and present them to the public and added them to the laserdisc.

Thre are so many goodies on these new discs, but I agree with an earlier post - it
s too bad the filmed outtake from the earlier State Fair is not included, nor the screen test from the remake.
To bad we still don't get the Christopher plummer vocals from Sound of Music.
And later in the year we get a new Caarousel, King and I , a restored ucut south Pacific, and,I hear, Flower Drum Song.

 

[Will Ryan]

There's also a 1973 (or is it 1975?) TV version of STATE FAIR as well....

Is fox using the newly restored picture elements for these DVD's, or older elmenets from the vaults?

Will

 

[Patrick McCart]

Oklahoma! is one of the few musicals that's also a favorite of mine. The 2-disc SE sounds terrific!