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A Few Words About A few words about...™ 101 Dalmatians -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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Every time I view a film c. 1960, I'm aware of the problems of late 5248 Eastman stock.

And while Disney's 101 Dalmatians is such as beast, it falls outside of the real world, as it was fortunately, like virtually all other Disney animated features, shot SE, ie. sequential YCM black & white.

No color fading.  No registration or fringing problems.

The most basic point of color timing a film from the 1953-1960 era is to first try to get flesh tones in the ballpark, and then see where everything else falls.  In many cases, fleshtones will not answer back, and that's it.

If 101 Dalmatians were shot on Eastman, one would look to the the stars of the film, and go for black spots on a white background, or is it a mottled white against a black background?

Regardless, once you have the pure black and white, everything else should fall into place.

Disney's new Blu-ray of 101 Dalmatians, which is probably the third to final animated feature produced under the hand of Mr. Disney, has blacks and whites in dalmatians, and I would hate to think what the film might look like, had it not been shot SE.

Color and resolution are gorgeous.

Grain is as it has been with past Disney Blu-ray releases, and while I personally don't like the grainless look, I've become resigned to it.  It's not a war anyone is going to win.  And most important to me, I know that with each Blu-ray, new data files have been archived, and anything is possible in the future, should the tides change.

From a story perspective, the opening sequence of this delightful film has always reminded me of the Goofy "How to..." series.

Great for kids, and a pleasure for adults, 101 Dalmatians falls into the late Disney animated feature category, where quality reigned supreme.

A terrific cinema entertainment, and a beautifully produced Blu-ray.

Image - 4.5

Audio - 4

Pass / Fail - Pass

Recommended

RAH

 

Johnny Angell

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This is a favorite of mine. I wonder if there are extras? Commentary? Making of?

Never mind. Found the review.
 

EddieLarkin

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Robert Harris said:
And most important to me, I know that with each Blu-ray, new data files have been archived, and anything is possible in the future, should the tides change.

I pray they do. I think it's safe to say these major Disney classics have not seen their last days on home video, especially if Ultra HD Blu-ray (to use its official name) takes off at least half as well as Blu-ray has. Disney should know that I will buy them all yet again, I will, but only if something changes. If their intentions towards Ultra HD Blu-ray is merely to reuse these same grainless (and in my opinion, somewhat lifeless) masters, my enthusiasm for the new format, or any other methods of 4K delivery in general, may fall away instantly. Blu-ray was supposed to be "the look of perfect" and in so many cases it wasn't. Studios need to do everything they can to make sure Ultra HD Blu-ray is.
 

Worth

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Unfortunately, if anything, I'd imagine the studios will favour more grain reduction on 4K masters, not less.
 

Stephen_J_H

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Worth said:
Unfortunately, if anything, I'd imagine the studios will favour more grain reduction on 4K masters, not less.
However, if mastered at 4K and grain reduced, the greater number of pixels ideally should make it easier to render a near grainless master that preserves the sketchbook look of the film. Maybe they should scan at 8K? :D Not a perfect solution, but one that should prevent future smeary messes like The Sword in the Stone.
 

Konstantinos

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I'm sorry, does the ashtray on TV change color from turquoise to purple here too as was noted in the restored DVD?


post02_008.jpg




and here's the unrestored one:

post02_009.jpg
 

Robert Harris

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Robert Crawford said:
What's the issue of the OAR of this film? Is it 1.33 or 1.75?

All original documents state 1.33, inclusive of press book.
 

Robert Crawford

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Robert Harris said:
All original documents state 1.33, inclusive of press book.
RAH,


Thank you, I know this issue came up over the years regarding this title, but I couldn't remember the answer.
 

Stephen_J_H

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Konstantinos said:
I'm sorry, does the ashtray on TV change color from turquoise to purple here too as was noted in the restored DVD?


post02_008.jpg




and here's the unrestored one:

post02_009.jpg
Ashtray? That's a dog food dish, as it comes up in the ad for Kanine Krunchies.
 

Jeff Cooper

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Stephen_J_H said:
Ashtray? That's a dog food dish, as it comes up in the ad for Kanine Krunchies.

He's referring to the actual physical ashtray on top of the television, not the dog dish in the commercial. Sure, it's confusing because in the screen cap there is a box around the dog dish, but I think that's incidental.


And yes, the ashtray does change color.
 

Sgt Pepper

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Does it look like any of the detail has been lost (as has happened to so many Disney Blu's) due to the de-graining processes.
 

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