War of the Worlds SCE (George Pal) (1 Viewer)

[Jay E]

They'll probably release this when the remake comes out on DVD. I'll just have to sit tight & wait.

 

[Patrick Mirza]

Looky-looky!

We've finally obtained specs on the long-awaited War of the Worlds: Collector's Edition from Paramount Home Entertainment.

The film arrives on November 1st with a new fullscreen transfer and a Dolby Digital Mono track. New extras for this set will include an audio commentary with stars Gene Barry and Ann Robinson and a second commentary with director Joe Dante, film historian Bob Burns and Bill Warren, author of "Keep Watching the Skies!". Other extras include "The Sky is Falling: The Making of War of the Worlds" and "H.G. Wells: The Father of Science Fiction" featurettes, the original trailer and the complete Mercury Theater on the Air radio broadcast that panicked the nation in October 1938!

 

[ZackR]

Great! Can't wait for this one! Thanks for the update.

 

[Bradley-E]

Great Artwork! I guess the Remake will be released the same day unless Paramount Budges and releases a week earlier on the Oct 25th (BEFORE HALLOWEEN) or a week later Nov 8th. They may because of STAR WARS: REVENGE OF SITH Now streeting Nov. 1

 

[Mark-W]

Well, this makes me glad I held off on buying the first version. It was tough....many a summer day this film is PERFECT for watching.



-mw

 

[Joe Fisher]

Worth double-dipping just for this. My current copy is history.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Looks like a great package, but I'm still buying the current disc if I see it tonight. Well, if it's cheap enough.

 

[Daryl L]

Glad I saw this today. I had just looked for the previous dvd release on ebay and amazon marketplace this past weekend. Then found the VHS version Monday in my closet. I forgot I had it. Was planning to transfer it to DVD-r this coming weekend. Think I'll just wait for this release. And the radio broadcast is an awesome addition.

 

[Ric Easton]

Completely agree with you there! I'm so glad I held off on buying this one for so long!

Ric

 

[JackKay]

Sorry guys, but I don't care for the cover art. It tells nothing about the story. And why the closeup of the city in the bottom half of the cover. I guess I just like original poster art. It's just that this one says nothing really, and is so dark when the movie is very colorful. No mention of George Pal. The only way you can tell it is the 53 classic is if you can recognize the two small martin ships, not real eye grabbers. Maybe Paramount is letting their interns do cover art.

Also, " a new fullscreen transfer" has got me curious, what is the OAR?

 

[Marko Berg]

This release is OAR. Paramount has an excellent track record releasing films in their original aspect ratio. If they had screwed it up, this forum would be among the first up in arms about it.

 

[Joe Caps]

Too bad we're not getting the chace stereo track after all this time. Time to transfer my stereo laser to dvd-r

 

[DaViD Boulet]

The stereo on the laserdisc sounded *great* and not "psuedo" or "faked" at all. Would have loved to have it as an option on the DVD.

In any case, a new image transfer will push me to buy this DVD...I held off on the previous incarnation bcs of the lack of stereo since I already had the laser.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

The original aspect ratio is 1.37, but it was released theatrically in 1953 with stereophonic sound. Those tracks are lost, and the Chace stereo tracks are newly created from dialogue, music and effects stems.

Paramount released quite a few stereo films in 1953 with interlock full-coat magnetic tracks, including THE CADDY, SCARED STIFF, THOSE REDHEADS FROM SEATTLE, CEASE FIRE, etc. None of them are known to survive.

 

[JackKay]

Thanx Bob.

After sleeping on it I'm wondering about the cover art even more. The gray blue tone, lack of producer/stars names (or year), very small ships that were a highlight of the 1953 version poster art(in fact it seems these are the only things identifying it as the 53 version) and similar enough lettering of the title suggests to me it could be easily misidentified as the 2005 version. That and the 2005 version I would guess would be coming out soon after.

Does anyone share similar thoughts, or am I just crazy.

jack

 

[oscar_merkx]

absolutely wonderful news

 

[FrancisP]

Paramount certainly got it wrong on Elephant Walk. According to info, the original aspect ratio was 1:85 versus the 1:33 that it was released on dvd. Has it been officially announced or is this speculation? Has it been cleared with Spielberg or will it be delayed again? I won't breath easy until its in my hands.

 

[Reed Grele]

Joe, If you have a region free DVD player, there's a region 2 DVD which has the (Chase) stereo track.

I have it, and it sounds identical to my CAV LD.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I couldn't find a copy of the current disc, so I guess I'll have to wait. It makes sense, but I was hoping to watch it soon.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

just can't figure out why they can't but *BOTH* freakin' soundtracks on the DVD...

grrr.

Keep in mind that this "Chase" stereo track, while not the true original, neither is a simulated-psuedo stereo...it's a boni-fide remix from source audio stems and sounds very impressive on the CAV laserdisc set.