VistaVision--film by film chat and vote (2 Viewers)

[Douglas Monce]

Originally Posted by benbess
ahollis: Thanks for that great report. Makes me really want to see this one. Think of what the director of The Women, Philadelphia Story, Adam's Rib, A Star is Born, etc., etc., could do with a Western. Sounds fascinating...

And how about this one, Lana Turner starring with Sean Connery in his very first role. I don't know if it's any good, but there's an interesting story from the set I found on wikipedia...

During the shooting of the movie in England, Connery was confronted by gangster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Stompanato

Connery uses the title of this movie as a line in Thunderball.

Doug

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by GMpasqua

[COLOR= #ff0000]"Li'l Abner" 1959, color VistaVision[/COLOR]



[COLOR= #ff8c00]"we wants to broaden our horizons"[/COLOR]

[COLOR= #ff8c00]"You're horizons are broad enought......especially yours!"[/COLOR]



[COLOR= #800000]Out in the world they got this thing engagement[/COLOR]

[COLOR= #800000]Engagment, what's that?[/COLOR]

[COLOR= #800000]That's the time between when a girl say "sure do" and the preacher say "go to"[/COLOR]

[COLOR= #800000]How long's this engagement last?[/COLOR]

[COLOR= #800000]Sometimes a whole month[/COLOR]

[COLOR= #800000]a WHOLE Month? what are they, insecure?[/COLOR]

Of the VistaVision musicals, Li'l Abner would undoubtedly be enhanced by a terrific HD master. The movie is filled with weird color schemes which HD would only heighten. I'd love to see it. It and Funny Face would certainly be my two choices (along with High Society which was an MGM movie now controlled by Warners. Scenes in the That's Entertainment films from High Society were simply stunning.)

 

[benbess]

Here are the last of the productions made in VistaVision for Paramount. The first on the list, Last Train from Gun Hill, looks like a standard Western elevated by a fine cast and VistaVision. Apparently, like in 3:10 to Yuma (both versions) the train is one of the stars...I just got from Criterion a boxed set of seven films produced by a company called BBS. Since Criterion sometimes does themed boxed sets, here's a thought--a boxed set of VistaVision Westerns....




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Train_from_Gun_Hillhttp://www.hometheaterforum.com/image/id/550284/width/1000/height/800http://www.hometheaterforum.com/image/id/550286/width/1000/height/800http://www.hometheaterforum.com/image/id/550288/width/1000/height/800

 

[ahollis]

I really like LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL. It is such a 50's western and the DVD is good looking with all the VistaVision and Technicolor glory. A film directed by John Sturges (The Great Escape, Gunfight at the OK Corral, and Joe Kidd among others) with Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn along with the great Caroline Jones and then he gives us Bing Russell, Kurt's father. James Poe as the screenwriter brings with him knowledge of his craft as he prefected it in The Big Knife, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, and Summer And Smoke. Now I have to take out my DVD and watch this.

Also give me Lil Abner. That on will look great in Blu.

 

[MLamarre]

Originally Posted by benbess
That's right. I'm losing track already....Thanks MLamarre. I wonder if it would be possible to do some of these as double features? Any chance you'd say which you might pair together since you seem to know these films?

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral / Last Train from Gun Hill
The Tin Star / The Lonely Man
Run for Cover / The Jayhawkers
Heller in Pink Tights / Wild is the Wind
Three Violent People / The Rainmaker or The Far Horizons

One-Eyed Jacks seems popular and requested enough to warrant it's own release.

 

[Charles Smith]

Originally Posted by benbess
One thing I like about the cover for The Searchers done by WB is that they highlighted the name VistaVision. That was classy, I thought, esp. since VistaVision wasn't a Warner or MGM process. As fab as the new release of The Ten Commandments is, however, (and it's a-m-a-z-i-n-g) I don't like their cover that much, and I couldn't find VistaVision anywhere on it, front or back...Same with White Christmas. I think Paramount should have more pride in what this process and brand name--that they invented--means to collectors of movies on blu-ray. Like the movies themselves, imho it's a valuable property that they should try to build up again for the blu-ray market.

Excellent point, and thank you for bringing that "Searchers" example to our attention. This kind of thing should absolutely be done, in the same spirit that the RCA Living Stereo and Mercury Living Presence banners graced those carefully restored recordings on CD and SACD.

 

[benbess]

Originally Posted by ahollis
I really like LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL. It is such a 50's western and the DVD is good looking with all the VistaVision and Technicolor glory. A film directed by John Sturges (The Great Escape, Gunfight at the OK Corral, and Joe Kidd among others) with Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn along with the great Caroline Jones and then he gives us Bing Russell, Kurt's father. James Poe as the screenwriter brings with him knowledge of his craft as he prefected it in The Big Knife, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, and Summer And Smoke. Now I have to take out my DVD and watch this.

Also give me Lil Abner. That on will look great in Blu.

Thanks for the report. Sounds like two more winners....With Lil Abner added into the mix, how many good VistaVision musicals have we got? Probably enough for a nice boxed set there too.

Am I the only person who has seen St. Louis Blues? Well, here's another song from it, the first Lady of Jazz, Ella Fitzgerald, singing WC Handy's Beale St. Blues with a small ensemble:



And check out the cast list on these opening credits. Musical director for this is the great Nelson Riddle. Costumes by the legendary Edith Head:



The official trailer:

 

[benbess]

Originally Posted by MLamarre


Gunfight at the O.K. Corral / Last Train from Gun Hill
The Tin Star / The Lonely Man
Run for Cover / Wild is the Wind
One-Eyed Jacks / The Jayhawkers
Three Violent People / The Rainmaker or The Far Horizons

What a great pairing of double features. Expertly done. Thanks. I think it would be a very strong seller among classic movie collectors...

 

[benbess]

Originally Posted by Chas in CT


Excellent point, and thank you for bringing that "Searchers" example to our attention. This kind of thing should absolutely be done, in the same spirit that the RCA Living Stereo and Mercury Living Presence banners graced those carefully restored recordings on CD and SACD.

+1

Yes, great examples. I've got some of those on SACD, which is the audio version of high rez format. Some are truly stunning.

 

[Cinescott]

So many of these older posters are works of art. It'd be so great if studios got back to this rather than so many of the lazy Photoshop hack-jobs that seem to be out there. There's a great documentary on the "Man With No Name" Trilogy Box Set that profiles a film historian of Sergio Leone's that got into collecting posters of the trilogy from many different countries. It was fascinating to watch how different countries market the same film differently based on culture.

That kind of stuff is interesting and fun and what "special features" are all about, not just trailers or deleted scenes, although those are fun too.

 

[ahollis]

Ahh VistaVision Musicals, not counting White Christmas, here it goes:

Artists And Models (Semi-musical)
The Girl Rush
The Seven Little Foys
Anything Goes
High Society (MGM)
The Vagabond King
Funny Face
King Creole (MGM)
St. Louis Blues
Lil Abner
The Five Pennies

There are a couple of other semi-musical titles.

 

[GMpasqua]

 

[GMpasqua]

Li'l Abner Ad

[COLOR= #ff0000]Father: She's just turned fourteen, think you can marry her off this year Sam?[/COLOR]
[COLOR= #ff0000]Marryin' Sam: Sure can, soon as her divorce is final[/COLOR]

 

[benbess]

Originally Posted by Cinescott
So many of these older posters are works of art. It'd be so great if studios got back to this rather than so many of the lazy Photoshop hack-jobs that seem to be out there. There's a great documentary on the "Man With No Name" Trilogy Box Set that profiles a film historian of Sergio Leone's that got into collecting posters of the trilogy from many different countries. It was fascinating to watch how different countries market the same film differently based on culture.

That kind of stuff is interesting and fun and what "special features" are all about, not just trailers or deleted scenes, although those are fun too.

Yeah, I watched that feature too. It was fun. I agree that the old posters are much better.

But I think the studios have a few problems with em. First, they look like what they are-- something from another era. Even if they are better, studios feel they are less likely to sell titles like these to younger people if they look "old fashioned." Second, if you go to www.blu-ray.com you'll see that they list all the top sellers in tiny little icons. Only if the picture and title are clear and simple can these be easily read--which also argues for them against the more complicated visual presentation of the classic posters. Third, and I don't know how this could be true, I read once that the studios don't always even own the copyright on the original poster art. That seems incredible, but maybe it's true...?

Still, I like the old art better in spite of all these things.

 

[benbess]

Originally Posted by ahollis
Ahh VistaVision Musicals, not counting White Christmas, here it goes:

Artists And Models (Semi-musical)
The Girl Rush
The Seven Little Foys
Anything Goes
High Society (MGM)
The Vagabond King
Funny Face
King Creole (MGM)
St. Louis Blues
Lil Abner
The Five Pennies

There are a couple of other semi-musical titles.

Thanks for this list. Here's a trickier question that you may not want to tackle--which of these VistaVision musicals are the "good ones" that are potentially worthy of blu-ray?

 

[benbess]

Thanks GMpasqa for finding that poster of Li'l Abner. Looks like fun! Basically Broadway in your living room if they ever bring it to blu...

Originally Posted by GMpasqua

 

[GMpasqua]

[COLOR= #000000]General Bullmoose: Appassionatta you're late[/COLOR]
[COLOR= #ee82ee]Appassionatta Von Climax: I had to make up[/COLOR]
Bullmoose: Your face?
[COLOR= #ee82ee]Appassionatta: No, with the Chauffeur, we had a little fight[/COLOR]
Bulmoose: Oh. Remind me to fire that chauffeur!

Bullmoose: She's my executive secretary
[COLOR= #ff0000]Abner: Executive Secretary, what does that mean?[/COLOR]
Bullmoose: Well, it means she gets a salary... and she lives in my house
[COLOR= #ff0000]Abner Oh, so you gets bed and board[/COLOR]
[COLOR= #ee82ee]Appassionatta: Extremely[/COLOR]


[COLOR= #ff0000]Abner: Mighty pretty fur, how did you get it?[/COLOR]
[COLOR= #ee82ee]Appaasionatta: I sorta trapped it[/COLOR]
[COLOR= #ff0000]Abner What did you use as bait?[/COLOR]
[COLOR= #ee82ee]Appassionatta: Oh, just inhaling and exhaling[/COLOR]
Bullmoose: Yes, she's a very healthy girl

[COLOR= #ee82ee]Appassionatta: Maybe we could go to the country and go hunting[/COLOR]
[COLOR= #ff0000]Abner: Can we hunt shunk?[/COLOR]
Sam: You do your shunk hunting in Dogpatch! [COLOR= #ee82ee](looking over Appassionatta) [/COLOR]Oh General, you better fire that Chauffeur!

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/image/id/557915/width/1000/height/800

 

[benbess]

Has anyone seen either That Kind of Woman or The Trap?

 

[benbess]

Originally Posted by GMpasqua
[COLOR= #000000]General Bullmoose: Appassionatta you late[/COLOR]
[COLOR= #ee82ee]Appassionatta Von Climax: I had to make up[/COLOR]
Bullmoose: You face?
[COLOR= #ee82ee]Appassionatta: No, with the Chauffeur, we had a little fight[/COLOR]
Bulmoose: Oh. Remind me to fire that chauffeur!

!!
Sounds like a lot of silly fun!

 

[benbess]

Another unusual Western directed by George Cukor. Here's what it says in wikipedia:



Heller In Pink Tights is a