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

Robert Harris

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Robert Stevenson' Old Yeller (1957) is quintissential Disney.  A film great for kids, that will have the entire audience using up one of those new-fangled personal packs of Kleenex c. 1957.

Very similar to the archival situation with Pollyanna, Old Yeller was in sad shape.

But thanks to the folks at Disney and whatever post facility did the scanning and color, you'd hardly know it.

Old Yeller is a classic that hasn't been seen in decades in decent condition, and now that it's arrived it deserves to be in every serious cinephile's library -- if you can get your hands on a copy.  It's currently limited to the Disney Movie Club, which isn't a bad thing, as long as you haven't been keeping up to date with your Disney purchases, and need the deals they offer.

A wonderful film, and a splendid Blu-ray.

Image - 4.8

Audio - 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

Highly Recommended

RAH

 

youworkmen

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I'm in the UK and ordered this from a seller in the US a month ago and I'm still waiting. Now I'm even more impatient
 

Powell&Pressburger

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Doesn't this release contain DVD quality audio? it doesn't deserve a 5 rating IMO. Even the oldest of movies deserve a uncompressed HD audio track. With Disney it is a fail.
 

Robert Harris

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Powell&Pressburger said:
Doesn't this release contain DVD quality audio? it doesn't deserve a 5 rating IMO. Even the oldest of movies deserve a uncompressed HD audio track. With Disney it is a fail.

With most films from the 50s-60s uncompressed audio is a placebo. Looks nice on the packaging, but makes little difference

in practice. Optical tracks from the 40s and beyond are meaningless in uncompressed.


Dolby Digital 1.0 is fine for these films, and will sound better than what one would have heard in theaters. Keep in mind, these films were

projected optically. I'm sure you knew that, but I bring it up for others.


RAH
 

Mark-P

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Powell&Pressburger said:
Doesn't this release contain DVD quality audio? it doesn't deserve a 5 rating IMO. Even the oldest of movies deserve a uncompressed HD audio track. With Disney it is a fail.
But at a higher bit-rate. The Old Yeller and Pollyanna Blu-rays are Dolby Digital 2.0 (mono) at 320 kbps. It would have been nice if Disney had included the 5.1 remixes that were on the DVDs, but alas I guess they figured that the original mono was proper.
 

notmicro

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Amazing that its finally available at all. Those seeing it for the first time are going to be really surprised.


My Disney live-action feature Blu-ray wish-list:


Song of the South (1946) Technicolor
Treasure Island (1950) Technicolor
the Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952) Technicolor
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) CinemaScope
Tonka (1958)
Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)
the Parent Trap (1960)
Swiss Family Robinson (1960) Panavision
Toby Tyler (1960)
the Moon-Spinners (1964)
 

Matt Hough

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notmicro said:
Amazing that its finally available at all. Those seeing it for the first time are going to be really surprised.


My Disney live-action feature Blu-ray wish-list:


Song of the South (1946) Technicolor
Treasure Island (1950) Technicolor
the Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952) Technicolor
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) CinemaScope
Tonka (1958)
Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)
the Parent Trap (1960)
Swiss Family Robinson (1960) Panavision
Toby Tyler (1960)
the Moon-Spinners (1964)
I'd buy every one of those if they were available.
 

McCrutchy

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I have this disc in the packaging DMC sent, and I'm strongly debating whether to send it back. I understand that Mr. Harris comes at the release based on the quality of the film transfer and mastering, and that's fantastic, but these releases are, in my view, very poor.


In spite of what Robert says, which I am not debating and which may well be true, I still believe Disney should have provided the mono audio in lossless, simply because that is what the Blu-ray format can support. Other companies look to Disney and other major studios to provide templates for their own releases, and in 2015, even with a mono film like Old Yeller, I believe that dropping lossless audio (not to mention the 5.1 remix from the DVD) sends a message that lossy audio is appropriate for other films as well.


The other problem is the complete lack of past extras being ported over. This should, in theory, be even simpler for Disney than the audio, but again, Disney left the disc barren, not even bothering with a selection of DVD extras.


I don't have a problem with limited Disney releases, or Disney retailer exclusives, but given that we are talking about Disney, one of the largest and most profitable movie studios in the world, the presentation of their Blu-rays should be up to a certain standard, which should, at least, include 1080p video, lossless audio, and some kind of bonus content.


Instead of a Blu-ray from Disney, this release feels like a debut of a mom-and-pop indie video label that licensed a new HD master of Old Yeller.
 

warnerbro

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I think we can all predict they are going to be double-dipping on this as well as POLLYANNA in the future. They released BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS in the edited version and people were furious. I cancelled my order. They will most definitely release it later in the roadshow version. This is how Disney operates.
 

David Deeb

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I would love, love, love this film on Blu-ray. It is one of my all time favorite films.


But I just don't understand this club. Even though many enjoy it, can't Disney just sell this through an archive program?


Hasn't the company earned enough Trillions this year alone on all the Muppets, theme parks, Marvel heroes, classic movies, Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, clothes, toys, knick-knacks, TV networks and everything else to simply sell this to the few thousand fans who would enjoy it without requiring a club membership?


I'd love to buy this but I don't want to deal with this aggravation of a "club".
 

LouA

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I got my copies of Old Yeller , and Pollyanna in the mail today . After RAH's review, I can't wait to watch them!
 

LouA

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McCrutchy said:
I have this disc in the packaging DMC sent, and I'm strongly debating whether to send it back. I understand that Mr. Harris comes at the release based on the quality of the film transfer and mastering, and that's fantastic, but these releases are, in my view, very poor.


In spite of what Robert says, which I am not debating and which may well be true, I still believe Disney should have provided the mono audio in lossless, simply because that is what the Blu-ray format can support. Other companies look to Disney and other major studios to provide templates for their own releases, and in 2015, even with a mono film like Old Yeller, I believe that dropping lossless audio (not to mention the 5.1 remix from the DVD) sends a message that lossy audio is appropriate for other films as well.


The other problem is the complete lack of past extras being ported over. This should, in theory, be even simpler for Disney than the audio, but again, Disney left the disc barren, not even bothering with a selection of DVD extras.


I don't have a problem with limited Disney releases, or Disney retailer exclusives, but given that we are talking about Disney, one of the largest and most profitable movie studios in the world, the presentation of their Blu-rays should be up to a certain standard, which should, at least, include 1080p video, lossless audio, and some kind of bonus content.


Instead of a Blu-ray from Disney, this release feels like a debut of a mom-and-pop indie video label that licensed a new HD master of Old Yeller.
Disney Movie Club has been releasing exclusive for quite a while now mostly on DVD. Sadly none contain extra or bonus features. I guess this has to do with low sales expectations due to the limited availability only through the club. But the fact that these films aren't seeing wider releases indicates that Disney no longer views them as decent sellers .
 

Randy Korstick

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The club is free to join so I don't see the issue. Having these exclusives are a way to get more people to join. You get 4-5 movies for free for joining and agree to buy 4 at regular price in the next 2 years. One of these 4 can also be purchased at a large discount when you join. They always have unlimited 40% off discounts after you buy one title so prices are good. After you meet your commitment you can quit at any time but since you get an even greater discount after the commitment I plan to stay.

So if you want these titles joining is not a bad deal at all unless you are out of the country and not able to join of course. I agree these clubs were a pain in the past because you always had to mail something back but with this club you also get an email with an easy online way to accept or decline the monthly title. So I didn't find this to be an aggravation at all like the old Columbia House clubs were.

David Deeb said:
I would love, love, love this film on Blu-ray. It is one of my all time favorite films.

But I just don't understand this club. Even though many enjoy it, can't Disney just sell this through an archive program?


Hasn't the company earned enough Trillions this year alone on all the Muppets, theme parks, Marvel heroes, classic movies, Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, clothes, toys, knick-knacks, TV networks and everything else to simply sell this to the few thousand fans who would enjoy it without requiring a club membership?


I'd love to buy this but I don't want to deal with this aggravation of a "club".
 

Richard Gallagher

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I picked up 101 Dalmations from DMV for $24.95, which is only $2 more than Amazon's price, and that allowed me to buy Old Yeller and Pollyanna for $10 each (plus shipping).
 

David Norman

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Randy Korstick said:
The club is free to join so I don't see the issue.... You get 4-5 movies for free for joining and agree to buy 4 at regular price in the next 2 years. ne of these 4 can also be purchased at a large discount when you join.
Better promo codes are available (5 for $1 with 3 commits and one of those can be $12) -- check the DMC thread for details.
Monthly selections can be done online. DMC is by far the easiest club to work with.

EddieLarkin said:
I assume the DMC is off limits to international customers?
Continental US only. There is a Canadian version but not quite as good of a promo, but still not bad.
 

zoetmb

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Powell&Pressburger said:
Doesn't this release contain DVD quality audio? it doesn't deserve a 5 rating IMO. Even the oldest of movies deserve a uncompressed HD audio track. With Disney it is a fail.
I always have to laugh when people are so concerned with uncompressed audio for old films. If the original mag tracks are still available, then it's probably worth doing an uncompressed track. But if they're not and they're taking the sound from an optical master or print, optical audio tracks have a very poor frequency response and playback in theatres started rolling off at 2KHz. Optical sound is the "AM radio" of the movie business.


Furthermore, Dolby Digital is already remarkably good. I probably posted this before, but I attended a SMPTE meeting many years ago when they played a Dolby Digital track out-of-phase with the original track so you could hear the difference, which would construe errors. If Dolby Digital was perfect, you'd hear nothing. All we heard was that once in a while, you heard a slight "ssss" sound. That was the only difference between the original tracks and the compressed Dolby Digital.


If they took the sound from mag tracks, Dolby Digital is far, far better than anything you ever heard in the theatre. I really doubt in a blind A-B test, that you could tell the difference between that and an uncompressed track. If the source sound is optical, Dolby Digital already far exceeds the capability of that optical track. If this had been a Todd-AO 70mm film with 6-track mag tracks or a Cinemascope film with 4-track mag, then sure, an uncompressed track would have been warranted. But it wasn't.
 

LouA

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Richard Gallagher said:
I picked up 101 Dalmations from DMV for $24.95, which is only $2 more than Amazon's price, and that allowed me to buy Old Yeller and Pollyanna for $10 each (plus shipping).
Hey Rich, I did almost the same deal from the Disney Movie Club!
 

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