A Few Words About A few words about...™ El Cid (2 Viewers)

[PatrickDA]

Please DON'T cancel any orders!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want this release to be a successful one, so that they do the
right job on the future titles.

However, the transfer WASN'T as good as it could've/should've
been. That's a fact!

 

[Mike Frezon]

But, Patrick. That raises the age-old question here on the HTF...

Is it better to buy the release to encourage future Bronston release...or is it better to NOT buy the release to discourage the sub-par transfers?

Tough call. I will probably bite when I have it in my hands at a B&M.

 

[David_B_K]

It took 10 years of DVD releases to get to this release of El Cid. How old do you think you will be before a 1961 epic like this gets released in a perfect version?

 

[RickER]

David, i agree. Thats why its going to the top of my NetFlix. If i had anything else to get this week, i might have jumped anyway. But i didnt, so i will see for myself. I had the same reserve with Dracula on Blu-ray. You guys know the thread. Is it to dark, or not. After a rent, and a re-watch of my SuperBit, i bought the Blu-ray, and love it. It may be dark in a few scenes, but it looks good. I think we got a variation of the theme here.

 

[Patrick McCart]

It's the Weinsteins, so the only holdout would be for the HD version, which would be off the same 1080p transfer probably.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I'll definitely be buying it.

 

[Simon Howson]

What if they just scanned the OCN at 4K, and corrected it all digitally?

Wouldn't that be cheaper than making a 70mm I.P. that will probably never be used to make film prints, and better quality, because it isn't down a generation from the negative?

 

[PatrickDA]

"Fall of the Roman Empire" is a much better film than "El Cid," but I don't
want to get into this sort of debate in this thread. PM me if you want to
continue this chat.

Anyway, I can't answer your comment about the "El Cid" DVD looking better
than the "FOTRE" laserdisc since I can't see your HD set. However, on my
tube T.V. and my HDTV, "FOTRE" seems to be sharper, more colorful, and
lacks the film of dust or whatever that is on the "El Cid" transfer.

In any event, "El Cid" is a good film and people should buy this version of it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The first film has a great cast, but I won't say it's better than "El Cid". By a long shot, the latter's ending still gets my blood pumping today just like it did when I first viewed it as a boy back in the early 1960s.

 

[Steve Christou]

I agree, that ending, matched with Rozsa's superlative score, always gets me.

Fall of the Roman Empire, great cast, great to look at, fantastic sets, but one weak link, it's leading man. Stephen Boyd, so effectively evil as Messala is a dull, wooden Livius.

 

[Robert Harris]

A quick tidbit re: El Cid...

Bob Lawrence, who cut the film, told us about an early screening.

Everyone was viewing one of those huge cast of thousands shots, when someone noticed that all the way over on one side, was a crew member sitting on a rock...

in a baseball cap.

RAH

 

[Ernest]

Sometimes it can go against you to be to knowledgeable and when you conduct a review you see effects that most people don't notice. I have checked a few other forums and the reviews are very positive. Most think the transfer is excellent. I took a quick look myself, I will watch the movie over the weekend, and the transfer looked okay to me.

Many complained about the transfer of Captain of Castile, and I think it looks real good. The point is if you like El Cid buy the DVD, this is not Outland or The Last Emperor.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I finished watching El Cid last night on my 107" FP setup. At this size there was an excessive amount of what appeared to be grain, but I'm too clueless to determine if it was film grain or compression artifacts. Putting a 3 hour film onto two DVDs, compression shouldn't be a problem. There were places where contrast was dashed but these were mostly "shot day-for-night" places e.g. the bad guys marching on the beach up to Valencia. All you saw there was a black blob.

Still, it's worth the $18 Best Buy wants for the basic discs - I agree with the Beaver that you should save your money and go cheap on this release. If nothing else be prepared for a Rube-Goldberg search at BB. The 20-something who waited on me typed in "El Sid" on his terminal and I had to correct him. He then asked "is that a Spanish language title?" For those that haven't seen this film, the DVD is "adequate" but not more.

 

[Robert Harris]

Much of this is in the eye of the beholder, and knowing what something can and / or should look like.

As to Captain from Castile, the situation is totally different.

Captain looks terrific based upon Fox's available materials, and based upon that fact it is more than acceptable. Far from what it would have looked like from original elements, but quite acceptable, as Fox's team did a superb job of getting every bit of information out of their extant dupes.

For any production where an original negative and masters survive, and even more-so if those OCNs or masters are large format, one tends to be quite a bit less forgiving.

I'm not for a moment suggesting that El Cid not be purchased, but the point must be made that it in no way replicates the look of the original.

RAH

 

[Ruz-El]

Sorry to hear about El Cid. I'm dead curious though as I never seen it before, so I will be picking it up. hopefully they correct it's short comings for the Hi Def guys. It should play fine on my meager set up.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Have my dvd in my hand and it's a snowy Friday in Michigan so I'm off to my main HT for a viewing from my personal perspective. If it's better than the Japanese release that I bought years ago then I'll be happy until it comes out on HDM.





Crawdaddy

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Well?

 

[WadeM]

I don't know how reliable the info is, but while searching for various reviews of this DVD I came across this link where the writer states "Many elements have been lost or damaged, resulting in some off-color tints."

It also contains a touching story told by Bronston's son in an interview the writer conducted with him, regarding the release of this DVD.

link :DVD Spin Doctor: The mighty 'El Cid': DVD review, interview

For such a beautifully put together package, I hate reading how the transfer was disappointing, but I hope to watch it this weekend sometime anyway.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I've always hooked crayfish through their tails.

 

[Simon Howson]

It's a good transfer given the element it came from.

If it came off the Technirama element then it would've been better.