WHV Announcement: Memphis Belle and The Big Red One (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

Excellent news. I have enjoyed both film many times over the years.

Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits is reporting that The Big Red One blu-ray will NOT be the 162 minute "reconstruction" but rather the shorter theatrical version. The reconstruction will be on the disc as a SD extra. VERY DISAPPOINTING if true. No idea why the reconstruction, which was from a restored digital master, would not be the main HD feature.

At least it has both, but the decision not to remaster the reconstructed version is disappointing. TT didn't have a problem remastering both versions of Major Dundee in HD.

WHV has been releasing on main feature and one SD "extra" for a while now hasn't shown signs of changing their ways. I'm referring to the the SD 1925 Ben Hur "extra" and the SD "extra" of Mystery of the Wax Museum among others. When's the last time they included a supplement film feature in HD?

That was really bad news from Bill Hunt resulted in me cancelling my pre-order with Amazon. In this case the longer version is so much better that the shorter one. Their are a number of titles that have benefited from a longer running time yet they are released on Blu-ray in the shorter version. Can you imagine if the ABYSS is released in the 138 minute version?

This was on the WAC Facebook page as an answer about the extended BIG RED ONE not being HD. Thought it was worth a share Warner Archive CollectionWAC and WHV are separate divisions. While we occasionally will impart information regarding WHV's activities if it relates to a question asked of WAC, this has nothing to do with us, so we regret that we can't give an official answer to your question. We do know that the 'extended' cut of that film was prepared for DVD release on tape in SD only in order to keep costs down by a 3rd party producer who was not looking toward the future.

No Reconstruction HD = No sale

It's basically a victim of the same post-film, pre-HD era of the late 90s-early 00s, like Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition.

So when they projected the reconstructed version at Cannes in 2004, it was on standard-definition video?

And is MEMPHIS BELLE really 1.66:1?

Vincent

Vincent_P said:

So when they projected the reconstructed version at Cannes in 2004, it was on standard-definition video?

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Probably on film but sourced from the better-than-SD-but-not-good-enough-for-HD tape.

It just baffles me that the reconstructed was only in SD. They ran it at film festivals and it even got a limited theatrical release. Even the "Director's Cut" of DONNIE DARKO was completed in HD! Wouldn't festival crowds have noticed that they were watching SD resolution being projected? Especially at Cannes?

Vincent

I really wanted to pick-up The Big Red One on blu-ray but if they are not going to release the reconstruction cut in HD then no sale to me as well. Their graphic in the announcement Ron posted advertises that what is coming to blu is the 162 minute cut of the film...but turns out it is the inferior 113 minute version. Seems a slap in the face too that they are even using the reconstruction promotional art work for this. Everything about that ad Ron posted screams it will be the reconstruction on the disc...

This is a pointless release now that will sell poorly and be forever seen as a blown opportunity. They should have either just waited until they invested in creating an HD master of the reconstruction cut or just not done this at all. I mean when I pull this title out to watch it the definitive version is the 162 minute film that better represents what Fuller wanted to create.

Love The Big Red One but if they could not do this release correctly then I wish they had invested in bringing another title to blu instead.

Pass.

From New York Times critic A.O. Scott on 10/2/2004:

"This weekend, seven years after Fuller's death, 24 years after its initial, botched release, and almost 60 years after V-E day, "The Big Red One" is finally here, in a form close to what Fuller intended. It's better late than never, and better than just about anything else to hit screens this year.
Fuller tried to make the movie in the late 1950's, but the project never got off the ground, partly because the studio insisted, against Fuller's wishes, that John Wayne be the star. Finally, in 1979, Fuller shot his magnum opus independently, on a tight budget in Israel and Ireland with Lee Marvin and a cast of young up-and-comers, including Robert Carradine and Mark Hamill (then and now best known as Luke Skywalker).
According to legend, the director presented a four-and-a-half-hour cut to Warner Brothers, which the studio (with Fuller's acquiescence) chopped to 113 minutes and released in 1980. It was an interesting, uneven movie. In those days of "The Deer Hunter" and "Apocalypse Now," it probably also seemed more than a little dated - an old geezer telling war stories that nobody wanted to hear anymore.
Well, gather round, kids. Today and tomorrow, at the New York Film Festival, an expanded version of "The Big Red One" will be shown, before making its way to theaters in the next months, and then to DVD. Thanks to the efforts of the film critic and historian Richard Schickel and others, more than 40 minutes have been added to the original release. The result is a messy, muscular masterpiece."

______________________________________

Well botched the release again as history repeats itself and we get the 113 minute cut on blu.

Before it even hits shelves I'll nominate it as worst release of 2014.

Can't release the longer cut in HD if it doesn't exist in HD.

Reggie W said:

From New York Times critic A.O. Scott on 10/2/2004:

"This weekend, seven years after Fuller's death, 24 years after its initial, botched release, and almost 60 years after V-E day, "The Big Red One" is finally here, in a form close to what Fuller intended. It's better late than never, and better than just about anything else to hit screens this year.
Fuller tried to make the movie in the late 1950's, but the project never got off the ground, partly because the studio insisted, against Fuller's wishes, that John Wayne be the star. Finally, in 1979, Fuller shot his magnum opus independently, on a tight budget in Israel and Ireland with Lee Marvin and a cast of young up-and-comers, including Robert Carradine and Mark Hamill (then and now best known as Luke Skywalker).
According to legend, the director presented a four-and-a-half-hour cut to Warner Brothers, which the studio (with Fuller's acquiescence) chopped to 113 minutes and released in 1980. It was an interesting, uneven movie. In those days of "The Deer Hunter" and "Apocalypse Now," it probably also seemed more than a little dated - an old geezer telling war stories that nobody wanted to hear anymore.
Well, gather round, kids. Today and tomorrow, at the New York Film Festival, an expanded version of "The Big Red One" will be shown, before making its way to theaters in the next months, and then to DVD. Thanks to the efforts of the film critic and historian Richard Schickel and others, more than 40 minutes have been added to the original release. The result is a messy, muscular masterpiece."

______________________________________

Well botched the release again as history repeats itself and we get the 113 minute cut on blu.

Before it even hits shelves I'll nominate it as worst release of 2014.

Click to expand...

A.O. Scott should've used a fact checker. The Big Red One was released theatrically by United Artists, as it came out during the period that Lorimar had a distribution deal with UA (see also Cruising, Carny, The Sea Wolves, etc.). According to IMDb, the restoration was produced by one Lorac Productions, whose credits mostly consist of special features. If Lorac didn't create an HD master, there's really nothing that can be done.

It just seems almost inconceiveable to me that in 2004 a reconstruction of a major movie that's being premiered at Cannes (and later shown at other major festivals and then theaters) would only be completed at SD resolution. I'm hoping the Digital Bits piece might be incorrect, especially given the 162-minute running time on the ad.

Vincent

Disney restored Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Happiest Millionaire on film.WB restored A Star is Born on film.Universal restored Spartacus on film.

Columbia restored Lawrence of Arabia on film.

What possessed them to not consider the possibility of an HD release in 2004? By that time, they were already saying Blu-ray and HD-DVD were "just around the corner." What would it cost to go back and do it on film so they don't have to keep redoing it for each new format?

What possessed Lorac? Saving $Sent from my VS920 4G using Tapatalk

MatthewA said:

Disney restored Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Happiest Millionaire on film.WB restored A Star is Born on film.Universal restored Spartacus on film.

Columbia restored Lawrence of Arabia on film.

What possessed them to not consider the possibility of an HD release in 2004? By that time, they were already saying Blu-ray and HD-DVD were "just around the corner." What would it cost to go back and do it on film so they don't have to keep redoing it for each new format?

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Wouldn't be the first case of such short-sightedness. Paramount's decision to finish the Director's Edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in mere SD is another example.

Keep in mind that I'm not saying that the reconstruction wasn't film-based, because I don't know whether or not it was film-based. I'm simply saying that there may be reasons why no HD master exists.