Recent content by CineCraft

I yearn for a release of a number of early Technicolor films, which have languished in archives unseen thanks to a combination of musical rights issues and studio apathy over perceived lack of consumer interest. Such films as "Follow Thru," "The Vagabond King," "Under a Texas Moon" and...

Wow there's more to this film than what was in the OOP Criterion release? Awesome! What was cut, exactly I wonder? I'd also love it if they recovered the original ending, which hews more closely to the original opera, but was scrapped by Powell for the ending that now exists in all versions...

This is perhaps my favorite film of all time. It speaks to me on a personal level far greater than any other film...except perhaps for "The Passion of Joan of Arc." I've seen both versions numerous times, and I strongly favor the longer cut for the way in which characters are further fleshed...

I doubt the original cut exists. I recall reading that when a restoration was first attempted, it was found that all the negative trims, the 200 plus hours of printed footage as well, were tossed. Pretty much the 70mm print struck for the initial engagement was all that remained of the long...

The Alamo would sure benefit from the same treatment...disc 1 could be the surviving shortened version, and disc 2 the roadshow version, with inserted bits from the master made before the lone surviving print was ruined...

Judging by your profile name I'm gonna guess Cinemeccanica?

Unless you're one of those who got theirs early thank to pre-ordering. And if you ARE one of those people, I hate you, you lucky so-and-sos.

Oh I didn't mean reviewers here....I just meant in general a lot of reviewers like over on blu-ray or dvdtalk just don't have his eye for detail and picture quality.

True, but those are special instances. In both cases those commentary tracks were recorded by the directors themselves, who have both since passed on. That makes their inclusion practically obligatory if one's aim is to make a "definitive" release.

Yeah Gary's a real pro for sure. I wish the other reviewers had his scruples and eye for detail.

At this writing it looks to be a ghost page....no caps from the Criterion. I'm friends with Gary T. on FB, and I've asked if he can include some caps from the extended version, so hopefully we can get a preview of the quality of the inserted material.

You are correct sir, 35mm anamorphic with a 70mm blowup. One year at Ebertfest they were going to screen a 70mm print, but it was found to have faded to badly ("Pink Floyd has gone pink" was the grim pronouncement) so they instead showed a 35mm print. A tad disappointing, as I would've been...

Man that's a tragic story of how THAT film got mishandled.

I have a love/hate with screencaps. I think they are invaluable for comparing contrast and colorbalance, as well as any cropping of the image area, but they're more problematic as far as grain structure and other aspects of the image itself. I know a lot of people were going nuts about Shoah...

But to be fair, that's from the already released MGM blu-ray, and doesn't necessarily reflect Criterion's, which although sourced from the same master, may have a different compression bitrate and color grading.