A Few Words About While we wait for A few words about...™ The Rodgers & Hammerstein Collection -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Will Krupp]

One picture describes how The Dominion hosted the UK premiere of SOUTH PACIFIC in Todd AO for four years and carries the astonishing claim that the income from that roadshow, reserved seat, separate performance presentation repaid the film's production costs.

I may be wrong but isn't that the engagement that was remarkable for running for four years and only requiring TWO prints during the entire run?

 

[Dave Moritz]

I think I will hold of on buy the box set with all the issues but would love to go out and get Oklahoma on bluray! Maybe if the set is redone for 4K bluray and the issues are corrected I would go out and double dip the bluray discs in my collection which would only be two of them as long as I get out and buy [SIZE=14.3999996185303px]Oklahoma. As much as the dvd release of King And I doesn't hold up on a 4K display I can not find a reason to want this title on bluray the way it is now. At least the color balance on the dvd looks better and the sad thing is it shouldn't. I hope 20th Century doesn't wait to long to fix the issues and get corrected discs out. 20th Century Fox has put out many titles that look stunning including the 4K restoration of The Innocents. I do how ever wonder who at Fox approved the end product of each individual title that allowed it to go to the duplicator like that? I feel 20th Century Fox will fix this and it will finally get the treatment it deserves for all titles in this set that have issues.[/SIZE]

 

[GlennF]

As I posted in the Oklahoma thread (A few words about Oklahoma)it is definitely worth getting. The picture is amazing. The orchestra sounds great. The voices sound kind of crummy. Then there is the cinemascope version as well and it is interesting to compare some of the scenes and even some of the colouring/timing (see The Farmer and the Cowman). The sound on the cinemascope version has a lot more zip and Gordon MacRae actually sounds like the great baritone he was.

 

[Mark Booth]

I've A/B'd the ToddAO version with the Cinemascope version on my sound system. I simply do not hear any notable deficiencies in Gordon MacRae's voice. He sounds rich and wonderful on both versions.

I am at a loss to explain why a few people are hearing inferior audio on the ToddAO Blu-ray. It must have something to do with audio settings or set up. I'm running a 5.1 system and my front speakers are all set to "small" so all bass below 75hz gets sent to my subwoofer.

Mark

 

[Dave Moritz]

View attachment 8319

Oklahoma should sound good on this system.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

But surely a sound system like that deserves a large plasma or BIG projection screen?
It does look pretty solid!

 

[Dave Moritz]

I consider a 55" UHD TV to be a decent size, but the size of the speakers do make the tv look smaller than it is. My plan is to eventually get a 4K projector with a min of a 120" screen with these speakers and a matching center to the two Altec A-7's I already own.

 

[Malcolm Bmoor]

SOUTH PACIFIC at The Dominion.

Many thanks to the better informed who have responded. It appears to be true that the picture recouped on that one engagement and I'd also read (somewhere) that the four years ran on only two prints.

I've never seen it with the full presentation but the Blu-ray is tempting. Seeing the stage version a couple of years ago pointed to a rather blander approach in some of the lyrics in the movie.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Sadly, I started doing comparisons to old discs.

Carousel is way too dark.


King and I blu ray looks worse and worse. I thought the old dvd was perfect picture and sound. this new picture has really got something wrong.

Joe, what do you think happened with The King and I? A few years ago, they showed it on HDNET movies and it was a gorgeous HD transfer, I couldn't believe how stunning it was, and then I put in the Bluray and couldn't beleieve it. What in the heck happened to make this transfer so bad? Any guesses?

 

[OliverK]

Joe, what do you think happened with The King and I? A few years ago, they showed it on HDNET movies and it was a gorgeous HD transfer, I couldn't believe how stunning it was, and then I put in the Bluray and couldn't beleieve it. What in the heck happened to make this transfer so bad? Any guesses?

This is nothing special for Fox. There is by now a long list of movies that lean towards colder colors with whites and grey tones pushed towards teal, The King and I is just one of them. I have seen 3 or 4 of them and they rank from a similarly skewed color palette as The King and I to a less invasive appearance of the same issues in movies like Love is a many splendored Thing.


Sadly I now approach new Fox releases with very low expectations as you never know what to expect from them. I think one can at least say that there is less of unifying philosophy of what is the proper way to handle a title and its outcome than with studios like Sony and Warner.

 

[edelweissflower]

I saw this version in Houston in late 1981 or early 1982 and by then Mr. Brynner was sleepwalking through the role. I always marvel at how, in 1951, this was a vehicle for Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner was a featured performer. By the early 1980s, it was The Yul Brynner Show and I don't even remember who was playing Anna. It was only in later productions that there seemed to be the proper balance in the billing of the lead roles. Of course, none of this applies to the film, which is sublime apart from the song deletions.

Yes The King and I was written for Gertrude Lawrence at her behest she first approached Cole Porter who turned her down before she asked Rodgers & Hammerstein.
Does any one know if any of the deleted songs in The King and I and Carousel still exist? I know 'I Have Dreamed' was filmed but cut but I have been told that the other deleted songs 'My Lord & Master' and 'Shall I Tell you' were never filmed. Was 'Your a Queer One' filmed and then cut? I believe 'Blow High, Blow Low' was filmed and cut in Carousel.

 

[GlennF]

Yes The King and I was written for Gertrude Lawrence at her behest she first approached Cole Porter who turned her down before she asked Rodgers & Hammerstein.
Does any one know if any of the deleted songs in The King and I and Carousel still exist? I know 'I Have Dreamed' was filmed but cut but I have been told that the other deleted songs 'My Lord & Master' and 'Shall I Tell you' were never filmed. Was 'Your a Queer One' filmed and then cut? I believe 'Blow High, Blow Low' was filmed and cut in Carousel.

Here is some stills from the filming of "Shall I Tell you What I Think of You". If it doesn't work, just search the song title on Google and you will see it.

 

[edelweissflower]

Here is some stills from the filming of "Shall I Tell you What I Think of You". If it doesn't work, just search the song title on Google and you will see it.

Thanks