haineshisway
Senior HTF Member
Just got the new Blu-rays of Once Upon a Time in the West and Duck, You Sucker from far off Italy. And the new The Fearless Vampire Killers from far away France.
Now, the usual suspects on another board are calling Duck, You Sucker the Blu-ray of the year. I don't know what year they're actually talking about, perhaps 2004 before Blu-ray existed? Because not only is it not the disc of the year, it's a complete and utter fail in terms of color - well, unless you like brown (what the wags on that site call "warm" - apparently they've never seen an actual Sergio Leone film or they would know that a drab, brown film could not be what he intended. And make no mistake, this is as drab a transfer as this film has had. The contrast is milky, the color is brown, and the detail is okay. The MGM/UA DVD has slightly better color and at least has a little blue and green in it. This thing made me want to vomit on the ground - anyone who's seen what this film should really look like will want to do the same - and I just saw a gorgeous IB Technicolor print of it literally four weeks ago. Disc of the year, my butt cheek. Mr. Leone and his cameraman would be turning over in their graves - and shame on Andrea Leone for allowing this or thinking that it's right in any way.
Once Upon a Time in the West is the same transfer used for the US Paramount release - the 166 minute version, maybe ever so slightly more detailed in the new Blu from Italy. Seeing that the disc is from Italy and intended for that market, one wonders why they couldn't have used the 175-minute version that was released there on DVD, and which I have. It's not that much better or even that interesting, but why not?
And finally, The Fearless Vampire Killers - on that same site they are howling to the high heavens about what a disaster it is and that it's exactly the same as the DVD in terms of sharpness. Let's start there - no. It's a Blu-ray and looks much sharper than the DVD, but it's clearly an older element, and most likely the same as was used for the DVD here in the US. But are they complaining about the one thing they should be complaining about - yes, you guessed it - the color? The awful brown color that looks nothing like this film? You know, a fading internegative from ten years ago? No, because they don't know from color. The disc is clearly a disappointment from that standpoint and because of that is barely watchable, at least for me. It's also strange that it's 1080i at 25fps. And the icing on the cake - can't remove the French forced subtitles.
Removing the subtitles on the Leone films is not an issue - they're not forced.
So, all in all two huge disappointments, and one transfer that's basically the same as its US counterpart (and sorry to say it, as nice as that transfer is, the blue is subdued and it should not be - the dye transfer blue skies in this film should be blindingly blue as only dye transfer could be - it's acceptable here, but a bit more would be more correct).
Now, the usual suspects on another board are calling Duck, You Sucker the Blu-ray of the year. I don't know what year they're actually talking about, perhaps 2004 before Blu-ray existed? Because not only is it not the disc of the year, it's a complete and utter fail in terms of color - well, unless you like brown (what the wags on that site call "warm" - apparently they've never seen an actual Sergio Leone film or they would know that a drab, brown film could not be what he intended. And make no mistake, this is as drab a transfer as this film has had. The contrast is milky, the color is brown, and the detail is okay. The MGM/UA DVD has slightly better color and at least has a little blue and green in it. This thing made me want to vomit on the ground - anyone who's seen what this film should really look like will want to do the same - and I just saw a gorgeous IB Technicolor print of it literally four weeks ago. Disc of the year, my butt cheek. Mr. Leone and his cameraman would be turning over in their graves - and shame on Andrea Leone for allowing this or thinking that it's right in any way.
Once Upon a Time in the West is the same transfer used for the US Paramount release - the 166 minute version, maybe ever so slightly more detailed in the new Blu from Italy. Seeing that the disc is from Italy and intended for that market, one wonders why they couldn't have used the 175-minute version that was released there on DVD, and which I have. It's not that much better or even that interesting, but why not?
And finally, The Fearless Vampire Killers - on that same site they are howling to the high heavens about what a disaster it is and that it's exactly the same as the DVD in terms of sharpness. Let's start there - no. It's a Blu-ray and looks much sharper than the DVD, but it's clearly an older element, and most likely the same as was used for the DVD here in the US. But are they complaining about the one thing they should be complaining about - yes, you guessed it - the color? The awful brown color that looks nothing like this film? You know, a fading internegative from ten years ago? No, because they don't know from color. The disc is clearly a disappointment from that standpoint and because of that is barely watchable, at least for me. It's also strange that it's 1080i at 25fps. And the icing on the cake - can't remove the French forced subtitles.
Removing the subtitles on the Leone films is not an issue - they're not forced.
So, all in all two huge disappointments, and one transfer that's basically the same as its US counterpart (and sorry to say it, as nice as that transfer is, the blue is subdued and it should not be - the dye transfer blue skies in this film should be blindingly blue as only dye transfer could be - it's acceptable here, but a bit more would be more correct).
