Dr Griffin
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- May 30, 2012
- Messages
- 2,426
- Real Name
- Zxpndk
James Clavell's The Last Valley (1971) UK/USA Filmed in TODD-AO Directed, and Screenplay from the J.B. Pick novel, by James Clavell Starring Michael Caine and Omar Sharif Cinematography by Norman Warwick and John Wilcox Film Editing by John Bloom Music by John Barry Filmed August-December 1969 with an estimated budget of $11 million (losing approx. $7 million) Production Company: ABC Pictures Distributed by 20th Century Fox in Europe and Cinerama Releasing in UK 70mm prints released with 6-track audio. 35mm prints released in mono. Standard 70mm and 70mm Super-Cinerama Film listed at 128 minutes US, but MGM DVD runs 126 minutes. MGM DVD (2004) is non-anamorphic 2.35:1 letterbox with extreme video aliasing indicating a much older video master than would be done in 2004. The appearence of the DVD leads me to believe the video master may be from the VHS era.
This is probably another case of extreme cost to bring this back to a quality image, if the original elements are even still usable. I read somewhere a while ago that the original elements may be lost, but there were no details, and there are probably few who could truly answer that question. So we have this 2004 MGM DVD (region 1) which is non-anamorphic letterbox from a 35mm source with artifacts in every scene and in mono. The aliasing is very bad, especially when the camera is moving. To release this film to home video in 2004 with this transfer, speaks volumes about MGM even 10 years ago (edit: even though I've been told Disney supplied the master). The movie is watchable (barely) on an HDTV monitor with a good zooming machine, such as an OPPO. This of course makes the problems worse, but at least you can approximate the AR outside of a small box in the middle of the screen. I feel this is a film of better performances, especially from Mr. Caine and Mr. Sharif, than story. There are some tugging moments of deciding to pursue peace rather than barbaric war practices, which is where the film shines. Restoration and Blu-ray? Doubtful, but I would love to hear some informed thoughts.
TODD-AO, not in all its glory.
Ed. - click on the pic to better see the grubby image.
This is probably another case of extreme cost to bring this back to a quality image, if the original elements are even still usable. I read somewhere a while ago that the original elements may be lost, but there were no details, and there are probably few who could truly answer that question. So we have this 2004 MGM DVD (region 1) which is non-anamorphic letterbox from a 35mm source with artifacts in every scene and in mono. The aliasing is very bad, especially when the camera is moving. To release this film to home video in 2004 with this transfer, speaks volumes about MGM even 10 years ago (edit: even though I've been told Disney supplied the master). The movie is watchable (barely) on an HDTV monitor with a good zooming machine, such as an OPPO. This of course makes the problems worse, but at least you can approximate the AR outside of a small box in the middle of the screen. I feel this is a film of better performances, especially from Mr. Caine and Mr. Sharif, than story. There are some tugging moments of deciding to pursue peace rather than barbaric war practices, which is where the film shines. Restoration and Blu-ray? Doubtful, but I would love to hear some informed thoughts.
TODD-AO, not in all its glory.
Ed. - click on the pic to better see the grubby image.