A Few Words About A few words about...™ Flying Tigers -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris · Sep 9, 2014

Flying Tigers, a Republic Picture from 1942, directed by David Miller (Lonely are the Brave), and photographed by Jack Marta (Cat Ballou), was most likely transferred from either a well-loved fine grain master or a duplicate negative.

It has occasional positive and negative scratches, with light cut-throughs, general instability of the image...

You get the picture.

Not pretty.

Brought to you by Olive.

Image - 2.5

Audio - 3.5

RAH

Richard V · Sep 9, 2014

Wow, glad I passed on this one.

Robert Crawford · Sep 9, 2014

Richard V said:
Wow, glad I passed on this one.

I'm not! I'm not disagreeing much with RAH's comments, but a 3.0 video rating from me in 1080p is much better than that previous Artisan DVD.

Robert Harris · Sep 9, 2014

Robert Crawford said:
I'm not! I'm not disagreeing much with RAH's comments, but a 3.0 video rating from me in 1080p is much better than that previous Artisan DVD.

Agreed.

In a general sense.

Do you ever kick food back to the kitchen in a restaurant?

RAH

JoHud · Sep 9, 2014

Robert Crawford said:
I'm not! I'm not disagreeing much with RAH's comments, but a 3.0 video rating from me in 1080p is much better than that previous Artisan DVD.

Same here.

Also it should be expected from the Republic library in general. I doubt that much of it was in great shape by the time Paramount go a hold of it. Most of the Republic films have widely variable source element issues which is why Olive ended up dropping some of them altogether.

So yeah, adjusted expectations and all that.

Don't think RAH's review is off the mark though. 2.5 is strictly mediocre which I agree with. Though on an adjusted Olive Films scale, I'd rate it higher.

Robert Crawford · Sep 9, 2014

Robert Harris said:
Agreed.

In a general sense.

Do you ever kick food back to the kitchen in a restaurant?

RAH

Sure, but that's because I knew I was going to get better food quality-wise. In this case, I seriously doubt many of these Olive releases will ever get the proper treatment, at least, not in my limited time left on this earth.

atfree · Sep 9, 2014

Robert Harris said:
Agreed.In a general sense.Do you ever kick food back to the kitchen in a restaurant?RAH

But if kick this BD back what do I get in return?

atfree · Sep 9, 2014

Robert Crawford said:
I'm not! I'm not disagreeing much with RAH's comments, but a 3.0 video rating from me in 1080p is much better than that previous Artisan DVD.

My sentiments. This was about what I expected, better than the DVD.

Mark-P · Sep 9, 2014

Robert Harris said:
Do you ever kick food back to the kitchen in a restaurant?

Never. My mother taught me to always eat what was put in front of me. But if i found a dead mouse in my food I'd probably just walk out and never eat there again.

Kyrsten Brad · Sep 9, 2014

atfree said:
But if kick this BD back what do I get in return?

A free Blu-ray of Skatetown USA if its ever released on Blu.

After reading this, I feel a bit better about my Starcrash thread.

Haven't seen this one but I did like Olive's Operation Petticoat blu.

ABaglivi · Sep 9, 2014

The movie is good enough to sustain a few blemishes. It's worth it for John Carroll's performance alone. Republics were never easy to collect in 16mm. We old timers considered it a great day when we found one in good condition.

Rick Thompson · Sep 9, 2014

I was kind of interested in this, as I am a John Wayne fan. Not any more.

atfree · Sep 9, 2014

Rick Thompson said:
I was kind of interested in this, as I am a John Wayne fan. Not any more.

As a Wayne completist, I have no regrets.

DavidJ · Sep 9, 2014

I was fully planning to pick this up as I have fond memories of it, but now I'm not so sure. I'll have to think about it.

Robert Harris · Sep 9, 2014

I'm going to bring a thought to the fore that may not be met with smiles.HD is 6 times the resolution of SD.We've all seen many poorly produced SD discs. Degrained. Sharpened to a point of high contrast rings. This isn't necessary.Standard Def discs can be quite beautiful, even in projection.My thinking, viewing a number of these Olive discs, is that most aren't worth bringing out in HD if the elements or extant transfers aren't up to par.Many of the problems would remain hidden at 480i,while a modern quality transfer would yield a very pleasing viewing experience, simply by avoiding HD. That's where I feel we should be with films that are only available with second class elements. Save some dollars, and release in quality SD.RAH

ahollis · Sep 9, 2014

Robert Harris said:
I'm going to bring a thought to the fore that may not be met with smiles.HD is 6 times the resolution of SD.We've all seen many poorly produced SD discs. Degrained. Sharpened to a point of high contrast rings. This isn't necessary.Standard Def discs can be quite beautiful, even in projection.My thinking, viewing a number of these Olive discs, is that most aren't worth bringing out in HD if the elements or extant transfers aren't up to par.Many of the problems would remain hidden at 480i,while a modern quality transfer would yield a very pleasing viewing experience, simply by avoiding HD. That's where I feel we should be with films that are only available with second class elements. Save some dollars, and release in quality SD.RAH

Ok, now you have me in thought. I said something similar to this about four years ago and it was not well received. I believe my remark was that due to the condition of materials, maybe Blu-ray should not be an option since it brings out flaws. Thanks, for now I don't feel like a moron.

Robert Harris · Sep 9, 2014

ahollis said:
Ok, now you have me in thought. I said something similar to this about four years ago and it was not well received. I believe my remark was that due to the condition of materials, maybe Blu-ray should not be an option since it brings out flaws. Thanks, for now I don't feel like a moron.

There is no shame in an SD release, especially if elements create a situation in which HD allows a higher resolved image, which exacerbates inherent problems.Blu-ray can be the opposite of a magic elixir. RAH

ahollis · Sep 9, 2014

Robert Harris said:
There is no shame in an SD release, especially if elements create a situation in which HD allows a higher resolved image, which exacerbates inherent problems.Blu-ray can be the opposite of a magic elixir. RAH

Now I'm laughing for your knowledge of the English vocabulary allows me to feel like a first grader in your presence. I am in your debt, sir.

Robin9 · Sep 9, 2014

Robert Harris said:
Standard Def discs can be quite beautiful, even in projection.

This important point cannot be over emphasised. It is so often overlooked.

jim_falconer · Sep 10, 2014

As much as I agreed with Robert's assessment of "Cast A Giant Shadow", have to disagree here. I think the image looks darn good, especially for a film that is over 70 years old. It does start out a little rough with the opening credits, but sharpens up considerably after that. The audio is also in fine shape imo. I did not notice any hissing or pops that are sometimes associated with films of this age. I also hope that people do not pass on purchasing this film because of the low score Robert gave it. It really is one of Duke's finest war films (and he made quite a few of them). As other's have said the wonderful supporting cast of players immensely help the film, along with an involving script. If you don't own this, and happen to see an Olive BD sale going on, please give the film a shot...you will not be disappointed.

Home Theater

Entertainment & Streaming Content

Physical Media

Home Theater Equipment and Hardware

Other Diversions

Bargains and Classifieds

Home Theater Forum

Archives

A Few Words About A few words about...™ Flying Tigers -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Archivist

Crawdaddy

Archivist

Crawdaddy

Second Unit

Screenwriter

Archivist

Archivist

Screenwriter

Similar threads

Users who are viewing this thread

Sign up for our newsletter

and receive essential news, curated deals, and much more

Similar Threads

Forum statistics