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A Few Words About A few words about...™ Beneath the 12-Mile Reef -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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Any time I picture a Greek sponge-diver, I naturally always think of Robert Wagner, but with curly hair.

Back in 1953, a member of the Fox stock company, Mr. Wagner was given the roles that Fox permitted, and this was one of them.

While nicely shot in the Florida keys, and making interesting use of that new-fangled CinemaScope format, 12-Mile wasn't a very good film, back in 1953, and has not gained in quality over the decades.

For me, the single salient point toward it's release by Twilight Time, and hopefully of like-minded others, will be that it was one of the first handful of CinemaScope productions to grace the new huge wide screens in 1953, and early 1954.

For the record, here's the order in which they arrived:

The Robe - September, 1953 (Fox) - available on Blu-ray

How to Marry a Millionaire - November, 1953 (Fox) - available on Blu-ray

Beneath the 12-Mile Reef - December, 1953 (Fox) - newly available on Blu-ray

Knights of the Round Table - December, 1953 (First CS from M-G-M) - available on DVD

The Command - January, 1954 (First CS from WB) - available on DVD

Twilight Time's new Blu-ray is nicely done, although I'm have questions about the handling of day for night in some sequences.

Overall, a nice looking, quality Blu-ray, along with stereo, and a pleasant 44 minute bio of Mr. Wagner as an extra.

Image - 4

Audio - 5 (DTS-HD MA 5.1 - an odd format for the film)

Pass / Fail - Pass

Recommended

RAH
 

skylark68

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Thank you for the timely review and the chronological order of the early CinemaScope titles. That is really helpful and interesting. I've never seen this film before so I'm going to blind buy. I love these old scope titles.
 

Ed Lachmann

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I actually like this film quite a bit and will shell out the the $29 without a whimper. Still, if Knights of the Round Table would ever be released, I'd be head over heels. Not much chance from WB, though, I'm afraid.
 

Robert Harris

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I actually like this film quite a bit and will shell out the the $29 without a whimper. Still, if Knights of the Round Table would ever be released, I'd be head over heels. Not much chance from WB, though, I'm afraid.

Why would one presume that?
 

commander richardson

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Why would one presume that?

because the movies that certain people want on bluray never get released for them and the wait seems never ending..............Warner Archive on BD do releases that are sometimes excellent and sometimes release total junk like The Green Slime ............top golden oldies f like Knights of TRT which would have a good sales base remain unreleased.................someone at WArchives needs to wake up to the fact that their library of the Golden Age films are really what movie fans want and this Website proves that point 100%.................
 

Robert Crawford

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because the movies that certain people want on bluray never get released for them and the wait seems never ending..............Warner Archive on BD do releases that are sometimes excellent and sometimes release total junk like The Green Slime ............top golden oldies f like Knights of TRT which would have a good sales base remain unreleased.................someone at WArchives needs to wake up to the fact that their library of the Golden Age films are really what movie fans want and this Website proves that point 100%.................
Yet we get such films as The Sea Wolf, Hell on Frisco Bay, The Old Dark House, Since You Went Away, Duel in the Sun, T-Men, He Walked by Night, Lost Horizon, Brigadoon, Love With the Proper Stranger, Crime of Passion, The Big Knife, Night People, The Breaking Point, One Two Three, Seven Days in May, The Mummy and Dracula Universal Legacy films, Broken Arrow, Woman of the Year, Ride the High Country, Lifeboat, Peyton Place, 23 Paces to Baker Street, Kiss of Death, Mildred Pierce, Bad Day at Black Rock, Battleground and countless other classic films still being released on Blu-ray every single month in 2017.

I get it, you don't have some of your favorite Golden Age films on Blu-ray. Yet, that applies to most of us, but that's life. To be honest, I never thought some of the above titles would ever make it onto Blu-ray and some of them even on DVD for that matter. It's a slow and frustrating process waiting on your favorite titles, but that's the nature of this hobby. The condition of film elements, marketing strategies, and just plain consumer tastes dictates that Golden Age films will come out at a snail pace as there aren't enough of us buying these discs nor have the retailer base to support it.
 
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Dick

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Yet we get such films as The Sea Wolf, Hell on Frisco Bay, The Old Dark House, Since You Went Away, Duel in the Sun, T-Men, He Walked by Night, Lost Horizon, Brigadoon, Love With the Proper Stranger, Crime of Passion, The Big Knife, Night People, The Breaking Point, One Two Three, Seven Days in May, The Mummy and Dracula Universal Legacy films, Broken Arrow, Woman of the Year, Ride the High Country, Lifeboat, Peyton Place, 23 Paces to Baker Street, Kiss of Death, Mildred Pierce, Bad Day at Black Rock, Battleground and countless other classic films still being released on Blu-ray every single month in 2017.

I get it, you don't have some of your favorite Golden Age films on Blu-ray. Yet, that applies to most of us, but that's life. To be honest, I never thought some of the above titles would ever make it onto Blu-ray and some of them even on DVD for that matter. It's a slow and frustrating process waiting on your favorite titles, but that's the nature of this hobby. The condition of film elements, marketing strategies, and just plain consumer tastes dictates that Golden Age films will come out at a snail pace as there aren't enough of us buying these discs nor have the retailer base to support it.

Well said.
 

70 Millman

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"Knights of the Round Table" from Warner Archive? Sign me up for that if it ever happens. Great score by Miklos Rosza, Freddie "Lawrence of Arabia" Young behind the camera...action scenes staged by Yakima "Ben-Hur" and "El Cid" Cannutt...and excellent armor and costume design by Roger Furse...Plus it was MGM's first Cinemascope picture. It also has a slew of British supporting actors with resonant voices (like Stanley Baker) who can spit out the faux medieval dialogue with gusto...a far cry from the whispering low pitched toneless growl that is in vogue at the moment. What it may lack in some departments is more than compensated in other areas if you know what to look for.
 

PMF

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It took over a hundred years to produce all of the motion pictures, alone, that we are now collectively coveteing and wishing to arive on BD. How on earth can we sincerely expect such an existing output of an industry's past to be so quickly negotiated, funded, restored and transferred to BD perfection; no less; and all withing these next few years?
I am not lecturing, by any means; as I, myself, am like an sleepless and anticipating child on Christmas Eve. But, once and a while, I must step back and acess; as we have reaped an enormous amount of titles within a very short time.
My sense is that many titles can sometimes take excessively longer to prepare for BD, than it originally took during a single films initial shoot and creation. Take, for instance, the 50+ years of efforts it took to bring us Abel Gance's "Napoleon". Kevin Brownlow is a pioneering example of what's been accomplished in restoration; and, thankfully, his life's work is so very much the reason we're enjoying and living in this reniesance period of BD home viewing.
The magnitude of our collective wish-lists are not an overnight process.
Now, with that said; I would personally like to see the following films brought to BD by March of 2018...;)
 
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Mark-P

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Most likely 4.0 in a 5.1 configuration. I'll be able to verify whether the surround channels are split or dual mono when I receive my copy next week.
And now I can confirm that it is 4.0 (or 4.1). Most of the film is 3.0 with no surround channel, but mainly during the underwater sequences the rear (mono) channel kicks in.
 

Nick*Z

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I think we can all agree there's much work to be done and that at least by my calculations the trickle of 3-strip Technicolor movies that used to come from Warner (either Warner Home Video or WAC) has basically ceased. Mr. Harris has gone on record as saying that since Warner's costly ultra-hi-resolution restoration process, other more viable, pliable and cost-effective methods have been derived to restore older movies to their former glory. I'll concur. But if you look at WAC's output, they've basically said goodbye to their 3-strip Technicolor catalog in hi-def. So, no Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, or National Velvet, or Bathing Beauty, That Midnight Kiss, Showboat, The Harvey Girls, Good News, The Yearling, and on and on.

It's a pity, too, and one compounded by the fact that a lot of the bona fide stars from the golden age are woefully under represented on Blu-ray if, in fact, they are represented at all. Gable, Garbo, Shearer, Tracy and Hepburn, Garland and Rooney, Loy and Powell, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Esther Williams, Greer Garson, and Mario Lanza, to name but a handful are practically non-existent. I think where the frustration lies for some is that the virtuosity of these performers has been, if not overlooked by the custodians in charge of their protection, then certainly pushed to the back of the line for B to C grade camp like The Green Slime and From Hell it Came. Not saying there is NO room for camp in hi-def. But the see-saw balancing act herein has tipped - and not in favor of the former. Just thoughts.
 

PMF

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There have always been many high caliber actors who knowingly took on so-so film projects, in order to gain the financial freedom that would allow them to work with a far lesser paying production upon the legitimate stage. Is it possible that such releases as "The Green Slime" are WAC's way of generating needed revenues, in order to fund the classic titles; to which may not represent as much profit? As Nick*Z would say, "Just thougths"; but I do concur with him, as this would be very sad to learn that such Shearer's and Yearling's would now be overlooked in this time of advanced technology and restorative advancements.
 
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ChromeJob

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I don't know about the full $30, but for something in that neighborhood, the ability to hear Bernard Herrmann's original score on TT's usual isolated music track must be worth the price. Charles Gerhardt/National Philharmonic's rerecording of it in the 1970s is breathtaking, particularly "Descending/The Octopus."[1]

[1] Citizen Kane: The Classic Film Scores of Bernard Herrmann, Charles Gerhardt & the National Philharmonic Orchestra, RCA Victor 1974 (encoded in Dolby Surround on CD).
 

Dave B Ferris

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There have always been many high caliber actors who knowingly took on so-so film projects, in order to gain the financial freedom that would allow them to work on far lesser paying projects on legitimate stage productions. Is it possible that such releases as "The Green Slime" are WAC's way of generating needed revenues, in order to fund the classic titles; to which may not represent as much profit? As Nick*Z would say, "Just thougths"; but I do concur with him, as this would be very sad to learn that such Shearer's and Yearling's would now be overlooked in this time of advanced technology and restorative advancements.

Clint Eastwood called it his "one for them; one for me" approach.
 

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