20000 Leagues Under The Sea and In Search of the Castaways — DMC Exclusives Coming Soon (1 Viewer)

[dpippel]

We watched this the other night and THOROUGHLY enjoyed it! Quite a quality presentation, and the film stands the test of time extremely well. James Mason was at the top of his game here. Hard to believe it was made in 1954, four years before I was born. Truly a classic, and I'm very happy to finally have it in HD.

 

[MarkA]

My son and I watched 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea tonight! Marvelous widescreen transfer! Very pleased, what a revelation! I also watched In Search of the Castaways (I'm a big Hayley fan!) and that was a good transfer, but because of the cheap matte work and super-imposed images I have to say it was not as impressive as Leagues but still fun! I could tell Leagues had a much bigger budget and was a lot more adult in it's storytelling.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I am going to be the dissenting opinion here.

Watched 20,000 Leagues the other day.

Haven't seen it since I was a teenager. I believed I watched it on VHS.

As everyone has stated, it looked and sounded great.

The film clocks in at a little over 2 hours, but it felt more like 3. I found it to be painfully slow.

I am happy to finally own this on Blu-ray, but unfortunately, I think it will be my last watch.

 

[Sam Favate]

Has the cost of remastering a film in high definition fallen so low that Disney can recoup its costs just by selling these to Club members? I'm glad to have it too, but wondering about the economics of it.

 

[Mysto]

Has the cost of remastering a film in high definition fallen so low that Disney can recoup its costs just by selling these to Club members? I'm glad to have it too, but wondering about the economics of it.

I suspect this release has a lot more to do with the new streaming service than sales of discs, but it all adds up.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I am going to be the dissenting opinion here.

Watched 20,000 Leagues the other day.

Haven't seen it since I was a teenager. I believed I watched it on VHS.

As everyone has stated, it looked and sounded great.

The film clocks in at a little over 2 hours, but it felt more like 3. I found it to be painfully slow.

I am happy to finally own this on Blu-ray, but unfortunately, I think it will be my last watch.

You want to sell it?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

You want to sell it?

As a collector....I...I....I...can't. (sigh)

 

[Robert Crawford]

As a collector....I...I....I...can't. (sigh)

I was just messing with you.

 

[Bryan^H]

I suspect this release has a lot more to do with the new streaming service than sales of discs, but it all adds up.

Streaming is how I will watch it. I'm not supporting this release. The Disney Movie Club is no friend of mine.

 

[David Norman]

Has the cost of remastering a film in high definition fallen so low that Disney can recoup its costs just by selling these to Club members? I'm glad to have it too, but wondering about the economics of it.

I don;t think they remastered this specifically to release to DMC. I suspect all/most of the mastering work either was already done for the Digital copy from before or tweaked for upcoming streaming. Taking that and encoding it for the disc seems to be fairly inexpensive and selling through DMC garners them almost 100% profit other than producing the disc -- no sharing with BBY or BN or Amazon.

Plus gains more than few new DMC members just like what happened with Saludos Amigos, Parent Trap, F Friday, the Honey films. I'm going to guess their direct profit from selling an item on DMC is significantly greater than on wide release. That's actually one of my hopes for the new streaming service is that it pushes Disney to put more of their Archives in Video Ready condition and then releasing a small run of discs is easy and cheap enough that they'll use it to supplement their income since Disc will not be the prime revenue generator

I don't know how much that entails, but it's not like 20000 Leagues doesn't seem to be the type film that's going to sell multi hundred thousand units on a wide release

 

[Paul Penna]

I am going to be the dissenting opinion here.

Watched 20,000 Leagues the other day.
Haven't seen it since I was a teenager. I believed I watched it on VHS.
As everyone has stated, it looked and sounded great.
The film clocks in at a little over 2 hours, but it felt more like 3. I found it to be painfully slow.
I am happy to finally own this on Blu-ray, but unfortunately, I think it will be my last watch.

Maybe you had to be 8 years old when you first saw it!

As an adult, it still holds its magic for me, and I can appreciate its mood, visuals and performances, especially James Mason's mesmerizing portrayal of Nemo, a surprisingly complex characterization for Disney film. And of course the Nautilus, the coolest ocean craft ever designed.

 

[bujaki]

I saw the DCP of 20,000 Leagues a few years back. It's the same master, obviously, and it looked great on the big screen. This means that Disney had already done work on the film for an eventual release on whatever format they might have chosen at some future date.

 

[holtge]

You and me both! I even tried to see if the website would let me place my order early! As of an hour ago, nope! Soon though!

EDIT: As of 11:05pm MDT 6/17/19, my order for both 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and In Search of the Castaways is in! Can't wait to get these classics on blu-ray in a few days!

Well, it took almost two weeks, but my order FINALLY arrived in the mail today. I have no idea why it took so long to get to me---most of my DMC orders arrive in less than a week! In any case, I'm finally able to watch these fantastic films on blu-ray!

One question I do have for someone who might know though. It seems as if all Disney has done with the HD transfer of In Search of the Castaways is to trim the top and bottom of the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio so that now it fits a 1.66:1. I watched the DVD release while waiting for the mail to arrive today and it really appears to be cut off at the top and bottom of what was the original picture. Am I correct? Is that what has happened here?

 

[KMR]

One question I do have for someone who might know though. It seems as if all Disney has done with the HD transfer of In Search of the Castaways is to trim the top and bottom of the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio so that now it fits a 1.66:1. I watched the DVD release while waiting for the mail to arrive today and it really appears to be cut off at the top and bottom of what was the original picture. Am I correct? Is that what has happened here?

For non-anamorphic widescreen films (those with aspect ratios of around 1.66:1 to 2:1) shot on film, it's pretty much the norm that "fullscreen" (1.33:1) versions will show more image at the top and bottom, and sometimes less image on the sides, than the widescreen image intended for theatrical projection. The first time you experience this, by comparing the fullscreen and widescreen versions, it can be somewhat jarring or disconcerting, but you can have confidence that what you're seeing in the widescreen version on home video is at least as much of the image that was shown in movie theaters during original release.

 

[Thomas T]

For non-anamorphic widescreen films (those with aspect ratios of around 1.66:1 to 2:1) shot on film, it's pretty much the norm that "fullscreen" (1.33:1) versions will show more image at the top and bottom, and sometimes less image on the sides, than the widescreen image intended for theatrical projection. The first time you experience this, by comparing the fullscreen and widescreen versions, it can be somewhat jarring or disconcerting, but you can have confidence that what you're seeing in the widescreen version on home video is at least as much of the image that was shown in movie theaters during original release.

I well remember when Criterion released The Princess Bride in wide screen on laser disc how someone complained that Criterion was giving us "fake" wide screen by cutting the top and the bottom thus losing information and we weren't seeing the whole movie! It was in the early days of wide screen films on laser disc (of which Criterion was pretty much a pioneer) and most of the general public didn't realize that non scope films were shot full frame and masked for wide screen in projection for theatres.

 

[BobO'Link]

Well, it took almost two weeks, but my order FINALLY arrived in the mail today. I have no idea why it took so long to get to me---most of my DMC orders arrive in less than a week! In any case, I'm finally able to watch these fantastic films on blu-ray!

One question I do have for someone who might know though. It seems as if all Disney has done with the HD transfer of In Search of the Castaways is to trim the top and bottom of the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio so that now it fits a 1.66:1. I watched the DVD release while waiting for the mail to arrive today and it really appears to be cut off at the top and bottom of what was the original picture. Am I correct? Is that what has happened here?

In Search of the Castaways was shot "open matte" with an intended AR of 1.75:1. So, yeah, that's what's happening. This was sometimes done so a 4:3 broadcast wouldn't be subjected to "pan and scan" processes while the intended AR would be shown in the theater. Both viewings would see everything the film makers intended and left/right framing would be kept intact although there'd be more information on the top/bottom of those 4:3 viewings.

 

[benbess]

My ranked list of favorite movies from 1954 as of today....

Rear Window
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
White Christmas
Dial M for Murder
A Star Is Born
The Egyptian
Seven Samurai
Garden of Evil
The Caine Mutiny
Broken Lance
Sabrina
Vera Cruz
The Bridges at Toko-Ri
Knock on Wood
Them!
Barefoot Contessa
Brigadoon/Deep in My Heart (tie)
Johnny Guitar
The Glenn Miller Story
Salt of the Earth
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers/There’s No Business Like Show Business (tie)
Demetrius and the Gladiators
Creature from the Black Lagoon

 

[RICK BOND]

My ranked list of favorite movies from 1954 as of today....

Rear Window
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
White Christmas
Dial M for Murder
A Star Is Born
The Egyptian
Seven Samurai
Garden of Evil
The Caine Mutiny
Broken Lance
Sabrina
Vera Cruz
The Bridges at Toko-Ri
Knock on Wood
Them!
Barefoot Contessa
Brigadoon/Deep in My Heart (tie)
Johnny Guitar
The Glenn Miller Story
Salt of the Earth
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers/There’s No Business Like Show Business (tie)
Demetrius and the Gladiators
Creature from the Black Lagoon

I have 9 of those titles in my collection. And also ..On the Waterfront, Suddenly, Prince Valiant, and Bad Day at Black Rock

 

[Jason_V]

Well, it took almost two weeks, but my order FINALLY arrived in the mail today. I have no idea why it took so long to get to me---most of my DMC orders arrive in less than a week! In any case, I'm finally able to watch these fantastic films on blu-ray!

Still waiting on mine...usually a week and a half from order date to delivery date. I'm expecting a package either today or tomorrow. It'll make a good double feature for July 4th.

 

[holtge]

My sympathies man. No idea why it's taking so long to get these orders out to us this time around. Maybe lots of people placing orders? Slowing down delivery time in general? Who knows. At any rate, sure hope you get yours soon!