A Few Thoughts About...."What's Up, Doc?" on Blu-ray (plus rare bloopers) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

 

The screenshots provided here are not off a Blu-ray source

and should not be considered as being representative of

transfer quality.

 

 

 

So, it appears that director Peter Bogdanovich

and I have something in common. We both grew

up watching and enjoying films from The Marx

Brothers, Laurel and Hardy and Mack Sennett.

Bogdanovich went on to pay homage to those

great screwball comedies of the 1930s in 1972's

"What's Up, Doc?" starring Barbra Streisand and

Ryan O'Neal.

 



 

Streisand and O'Neal have the perfect chemistry

and are blessed with fast-paced witty dialogue

in a film that starts off slightly askew with a case

of mismatched luggage, soon goes completely

awry and is highlighted by one of the most

memorable car chases across San Francisco
since Steve McQueen's Bullitt.

 



 

It should come as no surprise that the film
has made AFI's list of Top 100 Comedies of

all-time. Though it comes in at the #61 spot,

it places #2 on my list of all-time favorite film

comedies right behind 1963's It's A Mad, Mad,

Mad, Mad World. And that should come as no

surprise either -- both films parallel each other

in many ways.

 

It took Warner Brothers quite some time to
release "What's Up, Doc?" to DVD. When it

finally was released to the format in 2003 it

appeared as part of The Streisand Collection.

Now having just watched it on Blu-ray, I am

quite surprised how bad the DVD transfer

actually looks.

 

....not that "What's Up Doc?" is going to

totally blow anyone away with its Blu-ray

transfer. Don't get me wrong, there is huge

improvement here. However, the film basically

looks as good as it can based on the source

material. Warner certainly went in and cleaned

up the film. The higher resolution of the format

also gets rid of all the artifacts and noise that

can clearly be seen on its DVD counterpart on

a 65" display.

 

The film does look more brilliant than it ever

has. As I mentioned previously, the film

has been cleaned up which makes viewing

it more pleasurable on Blu-ray than it did on

DVD. There is an abundant amount of
visible grain which is inherent of the source

material, which is fine. I was rather disappointed

that though this movie was filmed in Technicolor

the colors aren't more pronounced. Nothing to really

say about the audio since we get a 1.0 Dolby

presentation.
 

All the same Special Features that appeared on

the original DVD have been transported over to

the Blu-ray. Nothing additional here. I have taken

the liberty of including a YouTube video of bloopers

from the film that would have been welcomed on this

release but probably came from the hands of a private

collector. See the video at the close of this post.

 



 

The true testament to a film like "What's Up, Doc?"

is how great it stands up almost 40 years later.
To this date, the film remains one of the most

brilliant, funny comedies every made. As many

times I have seen "What's Up, Doc?" I still sit there

and laugh at it. It certainly holds up better than
many of the comedies I have watched over the past

10 years.
 

If you have never seen "What's Up, Doc?" you
really owe it to yourself to give it a look. Those who

are already fans should certainly update their DVD

copy with this greatly improved Blu-ray.

 



 

 

Although this film was printed in Technicolor when it came out, it was shot on Eastman color negative, like most films from the mid-1950s on. Unless the transfer was made from an IB Technicolor print (which is very doubtful), it might not look much different from any other Eastman color production of the era. Who knows what the state of the negative actually is. It may be faded by now, almost 40 years later. I remember seeing this film when I was in the Army and enjoying it. I have a rental Blu-ray here now and am looking forward to watching it.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

John,

 

I think that's exactly the problem here.

 

When I watched the Blu-ray I thought to myself

that it was very recognizable as a 70s era film

based on the overall look of it. It has that certain

tonal, faded color quality about it, which is the best

way I can describe it.

 

 

[Jonathan Peterson]

I agree with your opinions on this film Ron. It is probably my favorite comedy, it kind of depends on my mood. The thing I love about it is it still makes me laugh everytime I see it. I've watched it maybe 30 times in my lifetime but I still crack up at the garbage can scene, the firemen in the hall, the judge scene... I can go on and on. The humor in it is simply timeless.

 

The DVD looked pretty good to me so I am not sure how soon I will upgrade.

 

Anyone who likes funny movies owes it to themselves to watch this classic at least once, my guess is you will love it.

 

[ahollis]

 

Originally Posted by Jonathan Peterson

I agree with your opinions on this film Ron. It is probably my favorite comedy, it kind of depends on my mood. The thing I love about it is it still makes me laugh every time I see it. I've watched it maybe 30 times in my lifetime but I still crack up at the garbage can scene, the firemen in the hall, the judge scene... I can go on and on. The humor in it is simply timeless.

 

The DVD looked pretty good to me so I am not sure how soon I will upgrade.

 

Anyone who likes funny movies owes it to themselves to watch this classic at least once, my guess is you will love it.

To me the garbage can scene is one of the funniest. I giggle like a kid whenever I see it. But the whole film is full of humor that if you don't laugh out loud, you certainly are smiling. I first saw this at Radio City Music Hall during it's original release and the half full house was roaring with laughter from the time the airline porter said "yes Eunice" to "Love means never having to say your sorry" - "That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard". Those lines date the film, but was a riot back then.

 

Glad to know there other people that rank this high on the comedy film scale as I do. I also agree that this is a good looking as it will ever get and it is not bad at all.

 


 

 

[Rob Willey]

I'm in total agreement with Ron here. One of my all-time favorites too and I am very happy with my upgrade from DVD to Blu.

 

Rob

 

[Rob W]

Ron, you seem to be a little confused as to what constitutes a screwball comedy. BRINGING UP BABY, THE AWFUL TRUTH and MY MAN GODFREY are screwball comedies and those are the films that Bogdanovich is paying homage to. Screwball comedies almost always featured an unconventional romantic situation, witty dialogue and a bit of visual humor here and there. BRINGING UP BABY is the undeniable template for WHAT'S UP, DOC ? but there are story elements rejigged from other films. Liam Dunn's scene as the eccentric judge harkens back to a similar ( albeit shorter) scene with Edgar Buchanan in a 30's or 40's comedy whose title I can't remember. ( A visit to court seemed to be a consistent ingredient in many of the great screwball comedies. )

There may be traces of L & H or the Marxes in DOC, but they didn't make screwball comedies.

 

[Garysb]

 

Originally Posted by Rob W

Ron, you seem to be a little confused as to what constitutes a screwball comedy. BRINGING UP BABY, THE AWFUL TRUTH and MY MAN GODFREY are screwball comedies and those are the films that Bogdanovich is paying homage to. Screwball comedies almost always featured an unconventional romantic situation, witty dialogue and a bit of visual humor here and there. BRINGING UP BABY is the undeniable template for WHAT'S UP, DOC ? but there are story elements rejigged from other films. Liam Dunn's scene as the eccentric judge harkens back to a similar ( albeit shorter) scene with Edgar Buchanan in a 30's or 40's comedy whose title I can't remember. ( A visit to court seemed to be a consistent ingredient in many of the great screwball comedies. )

There may be traces of L & H or the Marxes in DOC, but they didn't make screwball comedies.

The film you may be referring to is "My Favorite Wife" where Cary Grant's first wife, Irene Dunne, comes back from a shipwreck after 7 years, right after he has remarried. The judge in that film was not Edgar Buchanan, but another actor Granville Bates. Anyway there are many screwball comedies where the characters end up in front of a judge. "Midnight" was another where the couple, who are not married. but thought to be, have to get a divorce. The judge in this case was Monty Wolley. Much as I enjoy "What's Up, Doc" I don't think it is as good as the movies it is paying tribute to. "What's Up, Doc" is however heads above any of the so called Rom Coms being made today.

 

[ahollis]

 

Originally Posted by Garysb


 


The film you may be referring to is "My Favorite Wife" where Cary Grant's first wife, Irene Dunne, come back from a shipwreck after 7 years, right after he has remarried. The judge in that film was not Edgar Buchanan, but another actor Granville Bates. Anyway there are many screwball comedies where the characters end up in front of a judge. "Midnight" was another where the couple, who are not married. but thought to be, have to get a divorce. The judge in this case was Monty Wolley. Much as I enjoy "What's Up, Doc" I don't think it is as good as the movies it is paying tribute to. "What's Up, Doc" is however heads above any of the so called Rom Coms being made today.

Edgar Buchanan played the judge in the re-make of MY FAVORITE WIFE, MOVE OVER DARLING (1963). It started out as SOMETHINGS GOT TO GIVE, with Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martian (John McGiver played the judge), but Doris Day and James Gardner did the film after Marilyn was fired and then passed away. The supporting cast was of higher caliber (IMO) for the Monroe version, but I am sure that Fox was cutting some corners to try and recoup some of the cost on the aborted Monroe film.
 

 

[JohnMor]

The Buchanan-Day-Garner-Ritter courtroom scene in Move Over, Darling is VERY funny ("I hope you remember this on Mother's Day!") , but the courtroom scene in What's Up, Doc? beats it out, IMO ("Ah, you made me smash my Lifesavers!")

 

Can't wait to upgrade this title.

 

[JohnMor]

"That's... unbelievable!"

 

[ahollis]

"Judy!"

 

"Hello Daddy"

 

Crash goes the judge's bench.

 

[Mark B]

Harry (Sorrell Booke): "Couldn't I just kill her?

 

[JohnMor]

"Thank you, Hans."

"Fritz."

"What happened to Hans?"

"Zere is no Hans, Mrs. Van Hoskins. Zere is only me, Fritz."

"Oooh, what a shame..."

 

[Bradley-E]

"That's someone named Eunice?"

 

[benbess]

Love this movie! My 9 year old daughter loved it too, which shows that good comedy is almost timeless. I think I was about ten when I first saw it on TV, and I got a bit of a crush on Streisand. Oh my gosh is she gorgeous in those close ups. And so funny--and that voice. Of course Ryan O'Neal is amazingly handsome in this as well. What a great film...I recommend it to everyone out there. Looks far better than I've ever seen it before. One of the best comedies of all time.


Also I can't believe all those car case and crash scenes. For that it's almost as good as Bullitt!

 

[NY2LA]

I've always loved this movie have the DVD and hesitated on buying BluRay because of bad Amazon reviews. Bought it because of what I read here and... I find the picture to be just crawling with pixelated moving grain. What it looks like is the DVD with a little color enhancement. I don't think Warners bothered to remaster this in HD from the negative, they just upconverted the previous transfer, which is something they have done before with other releases, and a reason why I no longer automatically replace DVDs when they come out on Blu Ray. Had they actually done a new transfer it would look MUCH better than it does now. I have much older movies on good DVD or Bly Ray that look like they were shot yesterday. This looks like it was mastered in 48-from 16mm. Shame on Warners.

 

[gomezfan69]

I don't think Warners bothered to remaster this in HD from the negative, they just upconverted the previous transfer, which is something they have done before with other releases,

Name one Warner title that's an upconvert. I think that's baloney and this title looks great.

 

[NY2LA]

Name one Warner title that's an upconvert. I think that's baloney and this title looks great.

Warner reissued Willy Wonka without doing a new transfer. And What's Up, Doc? looks like crap compared to older movies that HAVE been remastered. Maybe your system's settings are more forgiving of grain and picture noise.