Demetrius and the Gladiators Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

I re-watched and am convinced the "sync" problems are perhaps related to poor dubbing or looping. Oftentimes the dialogue sounds ok but a "slap" or "punch" sound effect seem to come half a second after the action takes place. Also, Cinemascope Tri-sound seems to heighten problems with the sound...

That's not the problem....the dvd is fine.

mark brown said:

I re-watched and am convinced the "sync" problems are perhaps related to poor dubbing or looping. Oftentimes the dialogue sounds ok but a "slap" or "punch" sound effect seem to come half a second after the action takes place. Also, Cinemascope Tri-sound seems to heighten problems with the sound...

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"Cinemascope Tri-sound" ?

mark brown said:

Grainy, washed out, dark and soft and a real disappointment. For this price Fox should do some minimal clean-up!

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I noticed very little grain. The colors are super-saturated. The images were focused and on a par with the type of CinemaScope projects I grew up watching in theaters. This was a pretty clean print of "Demetrius...", as well. Overall, it's far from a disappointment for me, at all.
The sound was a major plus for me, as well. No sync problems that I noticed and the depth/dimenson of the soundscape and score were superb.
Played this on my LG all-region player.

Virgoan said:

I noticed very little grain. The colors are super-saturated. The images were focused and on a par with the type of CinemaScope projects I grew up watching in theaters. This was a pretty clean print of "Demetrisu...", as well. Overall, it's far from a disappointment for me, at all.
The sound was a major plus for me, as well. No sync problems that I noticed and the depth/dimenson of the soundscape and score were superb.
Played this on my LG all-region player.

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While the colors may appear to be saturated, the transfer leans too heavily to the brown/yellow spectrum. All one has to do is compare it to The Egyptian to see what it should look like. It's not egregious here and definitely not worth passing on the disc for - it's not an optimal presentation, but when people say it "sucks" and is a travesty, well, it makes one wonder if they've actually seen any real Blu-ray transfer travesties. For me, this Demetrius is well worth owning.

The muted colors is actually the biggest reason I'm very hesitant to get this Blu-ray. I'll probably dole out for it eventually, but the brown veneer of the whole thing bugs me.
Still, I bought Deep Red on Blu-ray with its strong yellow look and was fine with that even though I wish it were more colorful, so I think in the end it won't bother me much.
The Egyptian, on the other hand... Holy wow is it colorful. I love the look of that Blu-ray.

Kriztoffer Swank said:

The muted colors is actually the biggest reason I'm very hesitant to get this Blu-ray. I'll probably dole out for it eventually, but the brown veneer of the whole thing bugs me.
Still, I bought Deep Red on Blu-ray with its strong yellow look and was fine with that even though I wish it were more colorful, so I think in the end it won't bother me much.
The Egyptian, on the other hand... Holy wow is it colorful. I love the look of that Blu-ray.

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That brown look is how I've always seen DEMETRIUS, both on television broadcasts and a 16mm print I used to have. So the Blu-ray doesn't bother me at all; it's still the best I've ever seen it look, even if the color isn't technically correct.

There is an upcoming French edition and in the description it says it's a new High Definition Master.
Do you think that it's indeed New, or did they mean "new to europe"?
https://www.amazon.fr/Demetrius-and-the-Gladiators-Blu-ray/dp/B078956F5V

Konstantinos said:

There is an upcoming French edition and in the description it says it's a new High Definition Master.
Do you think that it's indeed New, or did they mean "new to europe"?
https://www.amazon.fr/Demetrius-and-the-Gladiators-Blu-ray/dp/B078956F5V

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I got burned with a recent French purchase of THE EGYPTIAN on blu-ray. Advertised on Amazon at 139 minutes but turned out to be a PAL speedup running approximately 134 and some change. Caveat emptor!

Konstantinos said:

There is an upcoming French edition and in the description it says it's a new High Definition Master.
Do you think that it's indeed New, or did they mean "new to europe"?
https://www.amazon.fr/Demetrius-and-the-Gladiators-Blu-ray/dp/B078956F5V

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It certainly hasn't been done by Fox, so it begs the question as to who would have?

Konstantinos said:

There is an upcoming French edition and in the description it says it's a new High Definition Master.
Do you think that it's indeed New, or did they mean "new to europe"?
https://www.amazon.fr/Demetrius-and-the-Gladiators-Blu-ray/dp/B078956F5V

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Looks like a bootleg.

Twilight Time said:

Looks like a bootleg.

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Is there any chance that FOX may revisited Demetrius in the near future?

Paul Rossen said:

Is there any chance that FOX may revisited Demetrius in the near future?

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That is not known at this time.

I am sure Rimini Editions is not a bootleg label. They have released other Fox titles licensed through Hollywood Classics such as "Compulsion".

Demetrius and Von Ryan's Express both need to be Remastered by FOX ! And re released on Blu.

Douglas R said:

I am sure Rimini Editions is not a bootleg label. They have released other Fox titles licensed through Hollywood Classics such as "Compulsion".

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There seems to be a Fox logo on the spine of the cover. Bootleggers usually do not take their fraud that far.