A Few Words About A few words about...™ Fox Cinema Archives - DVD (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris
New management and employees are not required. Merely a short re-evaluation of the program, as designed.
RAH

Correct, we as consumers want Fox to change their release standards regarding this program. Calling for firings or using language that makes our grievances personal to Fox executives is not the way you get Fox to change their ways.
Crawdaddy

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by ahollis
Yes WILSON has some hiss in he soundtrack but to me it was not a problem. Did not notice any crackling. Color was good.

Wilson is very acceptable, and a superb film. It was apparently a four million dollar production in 1944, which was huge.
Absolutely, worth a purchase.
RAH

 

[Lromero1396]

Correct, we as consumers want Fox to change their release standards regarding this program.  Calling for firings or using language that makes our grievances personal to Fox executives is not the way you get Fox to change their ways. Crawdaddy

Thanks for the info. My apologies, I'm quite the neophyte when it comes to this industry.

 

[JoHud]

Wilson is very acceptable, and a superb film.  It was apparently a four million dollar production in 1944, which was huge. Absolutely, worth a purchase.

Thanks for looking over these titles and separating the good from the...not so good. It's pretty risky blind buying these titles, and an overview yours go a long way.

 

[Robert Harris]

For the record, I believe this will all work out fine. I'm writing it off to growing pains. RAH

 

[Lromero1396]

For the record, I believe this will all work out fine.  I'm writing it off to growing pains. RAH

 

[Lromero1396]

DELETE

 

[Lromero1396]

HTF posters have been screaming about this MOD program from the beginning.  I even brought up the subject matter with Fox back in October during our HTF Meet.  One marketing person cracked a joke about why people use the term "pan and scan" which speaks volumes to me about the issue I brought to their attention.  I don't think they took my complaint seriously about this product line and judging by their recent releases, they have made little attempt to improve their program.  IMO, the only way to get their attention is to not buy their substandard product.  It's a personal decision, I've made and will only buy a few of their titles, if they're accepatable PQ-wise.  I really hope others are not buying these substandard releases, but I have a feeling they are buying these releases in enough quantity because evidently, Fox hasn't made any attempt to improve their quality.  This MOD program is a shadow of what Warner Archive has become with their product releases. Crawdaddy

Since Fox is only putting the cost of DVD-Rs, their cases, some simple cover art into this, the program is possibly making a profit.

 

[ahollis]

For the record, I believe this will all work out fine.  I'm writing it off to growing pains. RAH

I certainly hope you are correct. My frustration is the Fox MOD program has been running for almost a year now with these same complaints being an issue after each group of releases. The problems, as reported, was discussed at the HTF Fox Meeting last October and still no one seems to be listening.

 

[ahollis]

Since Fox is only putting the cost of DVD-Rs, their cases, some simple cover art into this, the program is possibly making a profit.

Yeah the cover art is just the theatre poster, which normally I would applaud, but when the poster art screams "Filmed In CinemaScope" and the transfer is Pan-Scan full frame I just shake my head with disgust.

 

[Lromero1396]

Yeah the cover art is just the theatre poster, which normally I would applaud, but when the poster art screams "Filmed In CinemaScope" and the transfer is Pan-Scan full frame I just shake my head with disgust.

This could easily be remedied by the Fox MOD team searching for a newer transfer (which exist on many 'Scope titles they have released in P&S) and using it instead of an old master. If said master is unavailable, then use a non-anamorphic master. That's still better than P&S. This alone would address many complaints. And at what additional cost? None, since no new image harvests would be done in either scenario.

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Lromero1396
This could easily be remedied by the Fox MOD team searching for a newer transfer (which exist on many 'Scope titles they have released in P&S) and using it instead of an old master. If said master is unavailable, then use a non-anamorphic master. That's still better than P&S. This alone would address many complaints. And at what additional cost? None, since no new image harvests would be done in either scenario.

Fox is fully aware. We're way past this, and I'm certain people are on it.
RAH

 

[WadeM]

I'm glad people are on it. I bought 1 release and it was my last.

 

[Lromero1396]

I'm glad people are on it. I bought 1 release and it was my last.

Fox is fully aware.  We're way past this, and I'm certain people are on it. RAH

Fox is fully aware.  We're way past this, and I'm certain people are on it. RAH

Glad to hear that it's likely action is being taken.

 

[JoHud]

Fox is fully aware.  We're way past this, and I'm certain people are on it.

That's good to hear. Some of current releases (particularly P&S transfers) should be pulled from circulation until they can be released again in acceptable quality.

 

[Charles H]

Zanuck must be weeping in his grave at what his decendants have done to his legacy. (He decreed that all TCF films under his regime would be done in CinemaSccope). Wasserman would be furious at the indifference of Universal to his historic purchase of the pre-1950 Paramount catalog. Fox and Universal have such ignorance.....even contempt...for their own histories that it is reflected in the crap that they put out now.

 

[ahollis]

Zanuck must be weeping in his grave at what his decendants have done to his legacy. (He decreed that all TCF films under his regime would be done in CinemaSccope). Wasserman would be furious at the indifference of Universal to his historic purchase of the pre-1950 Paramount catalog. Fox and Universal have such ignorance.....even contempt...for their own histories that it is reflected in the crap that they put out now.

Didn't know that Rupert Murdoch was related to Darryl F. Also the MCA purchase was purely a business situation where he could sell the titles to local TV stations. Today that market has all but dried up. Reading about Zanuck and Wassermann, they were both hard nose businessmen. Not sure if they were alive today anything would be different. Zanuck did sell those CinemaScope films to television in the 60s to raise money including his masterpiece THE LONGEST DAY in pan-scan.

 

[Mark Collins]

Robert thank you very much for being here. I had already received my refund for Marriage Go Round but that is fine with me. I think I will treat this as a must have sort of thing. I will hope that the films from Fox that I really want will be in their Studio Classics Line or from Twilight. I have purchased many from Twilight and just a few from Studio Classic and enjoy each one that I have. I really had a great deal of hope for this program and hope as you say it will still in the end produce better results than in the past.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Mr. Harris, in some of your blu ray reviews of late you have mentioned that in 1975, Fox junked much of their pre-1951 library. Obviously, that doesn't explain why Fox is releasing widescreen films in p&s, but I am wondering to what extent it would impact Fox's ability to release pre-1951 films. I taped Clive of India off of TCM and it looked like an ancient tv transfer. To what extent did Fox keep any of the elements from their pre-1951 films when they junked so much. Do they now mainly just have old transfers? Thanks

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by JoeDoakes
Mr. Harris, in some of your blu ray reviews of late you have mentioned that in 1975, Fox junked much of their pre-1951 library. Obviously, that doesn't explain why Fox is releasing widescreen films in p&s, but I am wondering to what extent it would impact Fox's ability to release pre-1951 films. I taped Clive of India off of TCM and it looked like an ancient tv transfer. To what extent did Fox keep any of the elements from their pre-1951 films when they junked so much. Do they now mainly just have old transfers? Thanks

Their black and white library is generally in better shape than color for the nitrate era, but some earlier films do have various problems. Keep in mind that there have been various floods, fires, nitrate decamp, etc. even before the mass execution of elements.
As to color, there are ways around some of the baked in problems, but those digital means are quite expensive, and probably not within MOD budgets.
That said, Fox has a superb archival team, and when work does need to be performed, they're totally capable of doing so.
All that seems out of sync is the selection of masters for MOD releases, as they don't seem to be chosen for either quality or content, but merely for title. As I suggested earlier in this thread. I'd consider it growing pains, and am certain that the program will get up to speed as far as quality quickly.
RAH