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Harryhausen Blu Ray of She/Things to Come Question (1 Viewer)

kenNew

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Sorry no, I've not heard anything about the quality but I'm intrigued, what did Harryhausen have to do with these two pre-war movies?
 

jaaguir

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Nothing to do with the production of these movies. Apparently he got in contact with Legend to suggest them colorizing these movies, and he's interviewed in the extras. Quality should be similar to the Legend dvd-s, which I have not seen, but since nobody else will release "She" in better condition (I used to own the very first Kino dvd edition, and it didn't look good either), I bought this. But I'm waiting for mine to ship yet.
 

Bob Cashill

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I've only seen the DVD of SHE. This is quite nice, but whether it's a fresh transfer or an upconvert I don't know. THINGS TO COME is pretty ragged, nothing to write home about, certainly not restored. And the added value DVD of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME is OK; I don't have my Criterion on hand for comparison. For the price the set (which includes mediocre colorizations of SHE and THINGS besides the B/W originals) is decent, but if you're happy with your DVDs you won't be any happier with this BD.
 

JoHud

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The only notable thing I've heard from this set is that it incorporates the "missing footage" that was left out as an extra feature in previous Legend Films releases. It appears to be a mostly upconverted version of the 2-disc Kino print.
 

jaaguir

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I don't have the Legend/Kino 2-disc edition, but reviews say the missing footage was already included in the feature in that edition. There was an older Kino edition I used to own, but don't anymore unfortunately. I believe that was just the 95 min. version without extras. By the way, it's pretty easy to see what the new 8 minutes are. It's a complete reel, and it looks remarkably worse than the rest of the movie. I don't believe this Legend blu-ray to be an "upconvert" of their dvd. That would mean they only mastered it in standard-def. That seems unlikely in 2006 (when the dvd was released). Watching the blu-ray, the features look soft enough that some would suspect it's an upconvert indeed. I think it was mastered and colorized in high-def though (from poor sources, yes). They're certainly just re-using those masters now. So as I said, both feafures look pretty soft. Like they used film elements a few generations away from the original negative. But then they should be grainy, and grain doesn't show that way here ("She"). I assume it was heavily DNRed for easier colorization. So it doesn't look natural. Just blurry. They seem to use the Rohauer collection print for "She". They use a 16mm print for "Things to come". The latter looks pretty awful. Nothing like the beautiful print that ITV owns. Home video history tells us nobody will release a better looking "She" though. That seems to be the sad reality about the surviving elements. So if you're a fan, it would seem a no-brainer to buy...
 

myst0

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So has anyone made the comparison to the standard DVD? I have the Blu Ray and THINGS TO COME looks pretty bad. Didn't I hear that there was a good release of this in the UK? I'm also curious about the Criterion edition of MOST DANGEROUS GAME and how this compairs to that release. I never did get the Criterion or the standard Legend versions on any of these 3 films so this was a good deal for me. I would love to see a better version of THINGS TO COME if it exists.
 

Douglas R

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myst0 said:
So has anyone made the comparison to the standard DVD? I have the Blu Ray and THINGS TO COME looks pretty bad. Didn't I hear that there was a good release of this in the UK? I'm also curious about the Criterion edition of MOST DANGEROUS GAME and how this compairs to that release. I never did get the Criterion or the standard Legend versions on any of these 3 films so this was a good deal for me. I would love to see a better version of THINGS TO COME if it exists.
The picture quality of the U.K. DVD of THINGS TO COME on the Network label is excellent. It's the restored and longest version available. In comparison, the Legend Blu-ray is unwatchable.
 

myst0

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I hear that they had an audio problem with the Network release. I have a copy off TCM which is from the Network release (It starts with a Grenada logo) and it is excellent. I watched it last night. There is no audio problem at all. I am still looking at the Network release, as I would love to see disc 2 and listen to the commentary. The fellow who did it has a really nice THINGS TO COME site. SHE looks very good in this set, as does MOST DANGEROUS GAME. I wonder if MDG is from the Criterion print? Has anyone made the comparison?
 

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