A Few Words About A few words about...™ A Star is Born (1954) -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Vegas 1]

IFC also windowboxs their widescreen movies like TCM, I have my tv set to narrow so 4x3 material is not full screen.

 

[marsnkc]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris





Most people think Judy Garland when they think of A Star is Born.


I think James Mason, one of my favorite actors, who I had the honor to spend some time with in the early 1982. Seeing his work in this film once again, I am astounded.

A Star is Born is on my short list, along with Criterion's Bigger than Life.

The tragedy for Mason, and for us, is that he didn't possess the physical glamour of, say, a Brando or O'Toole (my idols until I matured enough to appreciate Mason more). Those idols would have to stand on their respective grandmothers' and greatgrandmothers' shoulders to kiss Mason's you-know-what! He had his share of leading roles but should have had more. To see him wipe the floor with the great Brando in Julius Caesar and single-handedly save (for me) an otherwise unwatchable Lord Jim is something to behold. The latter comes alive only when he comes on and dies as soon as he exits. Talk about an actor being worth his weight in gold! (One of the biographies I have on O'Toole cites him as claiming he'd wanted the Mason part, because it was a 'character role' and 'suited him better' - like he could have pulled it off as well as that giant did! This was, of course, an understandable excuse for his one-dimensional performance and having his thunder stolen.

Mason did everything with such ease that he gave the false impression that what he did was 'easy'. Still, you have to give O'Toole and others credit for the enormous risk of sharing a scene (or even a movie where no scene is shared) with a genius. If I was a star I wouldn't! I would have paid Mason out of my own pocket to have him go make someone else look bad!

 

[marsnkc]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

A Star is Born has been an interesting viewing, as it became my test subject after going through a lightning strike about two weeks ago.

Piece by piece bits of electronics are being replaced. Several days ago, I was able to watch a few minutes MOS, as my power amp had fried. It sits at Crown, waiting to be examined. Now with Blu-ray player replaced (with an Oppo, thank you very much, and more on that later), I'm able to view things properly, although still tweaking both image and sound. Actually went though one sequence in which I hit sync problems, but after stopping, shutting down, etc. things moved more back into line.

I find that with the OPPO, which comes packaged like an Apple product, I'm actually seeing a higher quality image than with the Denon 3800. Currently going via an HDMI switcher with a new processor hopefully arriving later in the week at the suggestion of home theater guru Al Griffin, whose opinion I trust greatly. Fortunately the speaker system came away unscathed.

Sorry to read about the problems, Robert. I would presume you have a power conditioner; if so I'm worried that, while they should offer protection against a power surge, nothing can save a system from a lightning strike. I bought a Tice a long time ago (for more money than I could really afford - and more than one can get a reasonably good system these days for) as insurance against such an eventuality. Yikes!

 

[marsnkc]

Originally Posted by BethHarrison

I wish they used seamless branching so it was possible to watch the film without the still image segments. Personally I find them too jarring.

Haven't gotten my copy yet, but is there at least dialog while the stills are showing? That would justify them in my opinion - if they add sense to the movie it would otherwise lack. I have to agree, though, that for better or worse, they do take you out of the moment.
Last week I watched the MoMA restoration of Griffith's silent 'Way Down East'. They replaced missing footage with stills but they were completely redundant since there was no dialog and the intertitles(?) at those points in the movie offered nothing of any consequence (beyond fulfilling the wishes of completists - nothing wrong with that). Nothing seemed to be lost or gained by the additions.


Am I right in saying that 'Lost Horizon' was the first to be reconstructed using stills to support surviving dialog?

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by marsnkc





Haven't gotten my copy yet, but is there at least dialog while the stills are showing? That would justify them in my opinion - if they add sense to the movie it would otherwise lack. I have to agree, though, that for better or worse, they do take you out of the moment.
Last week I watched the MoMA restoration of Griffith's silent 'Way Down East'. They replaced missing footage with stills but they were completely redundant since there was no dialog and the intertitles(?) at those points in the movie offered nothing of any consequence (beyond fulfilling the wishes of completists - nothing wrong with that). Nothing seemed to be lost or gained by the additions.


Am I right in saying that 'Lost Horizon' was the first to be reconstructed using stills to support surviving dialog?

Yes there is dialog and background music over the stills. The audio was found but not the picture. While it is not perfect, this is a way to add to the story and flesh out the characters some.



While I love Griffith's WAY DOWN EAST, I would agree with you that the stills would be redundant. Not sure about the reason for that.

 

[Robert Harris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marsnkc





Sorry to read about the problems, Robert. I would presume you have a power conditioner; if so I'm worried that, while they should offer protection against a power surge, nothing can save a system from a lightning strike. I bought a Tice a long time ago (for more money than I could really afford - and more than one can get a reasonably good system these days for) as insurance against such an eventuality. Yikes!

Power conditioners, and electronic devices that prevent against power spikes, do little or nothing when they go up against lighting. If one is home, the best prevention is to unplug. I'm not aware of anything else that helps.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

I'm still annoyed about the Janet Gaynor ASIB being yanked from this set. But I guess I'll get it anyway.

 

[TonyD]

I haven't seen evidence myself or proof otherwise that TCMHD airs any thing in true hd.

Anyway this just came to me from netflix and have some notice of blacks being crushed. There's no depth in blacks or shadow. I've only watched an hour so I'm sure the best is yet to come.

 

[jerauf]

I love this disc. I think that the colors really pop against the neutral backdrop, something that I hadn't noticed on the VHS and the DVD after watching the film for years. It sounds great, looks great.


Only thing that I noticed (both on this disc and others), and maybe someone can answer this...I noticed in a couple of the shots, most notably the Academy Awards scene, that portions of the picture are blurred slightly. As I said, I've noticed it on other discs as well. Why is this visible and why doesn't anyone ever mention it in reviews?

 

[Joe Caps]

I jjust got this. loved the extras but NOT the film transfer.

It seems there is very little shadow detail all the way. I couldn't brighten it enough to make it look normal. No problems like this with the old SD.


Intermission in the wrong place and no Intermission Music (it exists - I have it).

 

[allanfisch]

Joe, it's great that you have it, why don't you lend or make a digital copy and send it to Ned at WB so can have a copy for posterity and use if and when the full version miraculously appears.


And where is the intermission supposed to go, since it was never shown with one it it's original release(part of the "problem" with the original release plan.., according to Haver and the editiorial records? The intermission was added in 83.


Hope you are well,

Allan

 

[Cees Alons]

One post has been removed. Please no discussions of illegal (Milennium ) actings here.

Nor elicit such.


Thanks for understanding.



Cees



(Message removed are communication with Allan and his explanation extension of the text.)

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Originally Posted by jerauf

I love this disc. I think that the colors really pop against the neutral backdrop, something that I hadn't noticed on the VHS and the DVD after watching the film for years. It sounds great, looks great.


Only thing that I noticed (both on this disc and others), and maybe someone can answer this...I noticed in a couple of the shots, most notably the Academy Awards scene, that portions of the picture are blurred slightly. As I said, I've noticed it on other discs as well. Why is this visible and why doesn't anyone ever mention it in reviews?

What portions? As this was shot with early CinemaScope optics (Chretien lenses), lack of sharpness and depth of field, as well as CinemaScope "mumps", would be issues to some degree.

 

[Paul Penna]

Originally Posted by jerauf

What portions? As this was shot with early CinemaScope optics (Chretien lenses), lack of sharpness and depth of field, as well as CinemaScope "mumps", would be issues to some degree.

Some of the exterior shots in the opening Academy Award sequence are of an actual AA event, and look like they might have been originally shot flat, on high-speed, grainy film and cropped and blown up to Cinemascope ratio and proportions. In the closing AA segment, the pull back from Garland (starting with the cut back to her from the shots of the standing ovation) is one long optical (pull back in medium range, dissolve to distant pull back, fade out) all done via rephotographing the original camera negative; quality loss is inherent in the procedure.

 

[Joe Caps]

Warners certainly DOES have the intermission music.


It was not planned by Cukor to be at the end of Born in A Trunk. that number was not part of cukors vision and he had nothing to do with it.


Warners was originally planning to release with intermission but later changed their mind. In the Meantime, music director Ray Heindorf wrote the music. It comes at the true turning point of the film. After the marriage of Esther and Norman. They drive to a motel and she sings Its a New World. End of song- endof part one.


The very next shot is a long shot of their new home in Malibu. This is one of those shots originally put in to give time for the curtains to open for part two.

Music is playing in the background. that is the end of the Intermiison music designed to playwithout a break into the second part of the film.

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Joe Caps


Warners certainly DOES have the intermission music.


It was not planned by Cukor to be at the end of Born in A Trunk. that number was not part of cukors vision and he had nothing to do with it.


Warners was originally planning to release with intermission but later changed their mind. In the Meantime, music director Ray Heindorf wrote the music. It comes at the true turning point of the film. After the marriage of Esther and Norman. They drive to a motel and she sings Its a New World. End of song- endof part one.


The very next shot is a long shot of their new home in Malibu. This is one of those shots originally put in to give time for the curtains to open for part two.

Music is playing in the background. that is the end of the Intermiison music designed to playwithout a break into the second part of the film.

I'm not as certain about this, from a purely technical perspective. The original long version would make this the end of reel 7A, ie. the first half of the full reel 7 ending with a shot 347+5 in length (MLS Man by lamp), followed by an exceedingly short shot MCU Couple kiss - Fade Out - of only 2+3. That 2+3 is less than two seconds of screen time.


The second half of 7 (7B), does not work for a "curtain opener." The Fade In LS - House by ocean is only 6+5, inclusive of the fade. This is followed by LS House by ocean, and then the printer function (dissolve) of 2+5. Actual on screen time for those two shots is under six seconds, which does not work, especially as this is followed by an interior shot of only 2+14.


Again, looking at this only from a technical perspective, if there was an intermission after the Born in a Trunk number, it would come at the end of reel 6A, which is a MLS of Ms. Garland seated on the stage. The length of the shot is 77+12, and ends with a Fade Out. Actual screen time is more than 45 seconds. Reel 6B is a MS of Two men in the theatre lobby at a length of 47+11, which is a bit more than 30 seconds. Referencing the cutting of the two versions, one gets only 320 feet into the unit before the next 26 shots are deleted (about 440 feet).


These are absolute facts.


RAH

 

[Mark B]

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't the exterior house and ocean waves shot have a jump cut after the fade in?

 

[allanfisch]

I'm guessing that the jump is an edit in the process background to "extend" the break of the waves...I don't think it's there because something relevant was deleted.

 

[allanfisch]

oh so that underscore for that scene is the tail of the cue? I'm trying to remember from the cues that I have heard...

 

[Joe Caps]

Bob Harris. the fade out after its a new world may have been longer with the intermission slug coming right after.


the fade in long shot to the beach may have been slightly longer too, to do what it originally had to do.