A Few Words About A few words about...™ Gigi -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[bryan4999]

Wow, I had never seen that version. Thanks for going to the trouble to put that together. I watched GIGI various times over the years on television, in fact the version I watched for many years was one I had taped off of a PBS airing, and it definitely did not have the stills. It would be interesting to know the rationale for inserting those. I also had the first widescreen laserdisc and it did not have the stills either thank goodness. I would have been horrified.

 

[classicmovieguy]

No idea why the stills were ever used - unless it was something Warners' did to remind audiences "Hey guys, he's singing about Gigi"...

 

[Rob_Ray]

I think I first saw those stills on a PBS airing around 1982, long before Warner or even Turner got their hands on the film. I never saw an actual print that had them, only video transfers.

 

[Mark-P]

I've heard of telecine operators taking liberties zooming, tilting and so forth in order to make something look better on the small screen, but substituting stills is way over the line. I think the telecine operator had delusions that he was actually the filmmaker!

 

[Mark B]

The only comparable "home video" abuse I can think of off hand is the weird manipulations committed to JUMBO. In the black-light butterfly scene artificial circular black borders were superimposed around Doris and Martha in a shot which in Panavision showed both characters, but in pan and scan "popped" back and forth between them. Plus, the finale was framed by a video encoded border which changed colors to match each segment, similar to the one used during the main title and introductory song of Stephen Boyd.

 

[classicmovieguy]

Vincente Minnelli passed in 1986 - I can't see that video edit happening during his lifetime... Heads would have rolled.

 

[Mark B]

No idea why the stills were ever used - unless it was something Warners' did to remind audiences "Hey guys, he's singing about Gigi"...

If you look closely at the video I posted there are very slight "flashes" in the DVD version during the footage which was replaced by the stills, but nothing that really justifies hiding it. The damage may have been more evident in the source used for the 1986 telecine but we can't determine that without being able to see what they were working with.

 

[Mark B]

A VHS to DVD comparison of JUMBO to demonstrate the odd decisions made by the staff who produced the Pan and Scan version for home video:
1. Colored border/slightly squeezed credits/gate weave obvious/width of border changes throughout/as Boyd enters frame the ratio "unsqueezes"

2. "The Princess Kathryn" banner: shot squeezed to keep relevant information in frame

3. End of "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," dissolve altered. Fade to black substituted.

4. Spotlight effect used during butterfly sequence

5. Spotlight effect used for "Little Girl Blue" sequence

6. Freeze-frame replaces oval dissolve transition to finale

7. Border added to finale which changes color to "match" on screen action.

 

[Cineman]

Found this 1986 article by Tom Shales on the "Gigi" issue. I suppose the mystifying decades' long tolerance of pan&scan, commercial interruption, truncating, editing and so on for presentations of movies in those days gave technicians, maintenance crew, janitors and just about anyone else wondering around a studio the comfort in knowing they could do almost anything they wanted to these works and very few members of the viewing audience would complain. Good lord.

Chicago Tribune/LIFESTYLES:
Home Video Saves Gipper From The Clipper
July 16, 1986|By Tom Shales, Washington Post Writers Group.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-07-16/features/8602200594_1_video-release-warner-home-video-film

Still, many a film has its fateful flaws. When a technician was transferring the MGM musical ``Gigi,`` he found a few frames fogged during the title tune, in which Louis Jordan stalks around Paris singing Gigi`s praises. So he went back into earlier reels and created still photos of Leslie Caron as Gigi, then inserted them during the song in place of the fogged frames.
This is the kind of thing that gives film buffs, and film directors, justifiable fits.

 

[Mark B]

Found this 1986 article by Tom Shales on the "Gigi" issue. I suppose the mystifying decades' long tolerance of pan&scan, commercial interruption, truncating, editing and so on for presentations of movies in those days gave technicians, maintenance crew, janitors and just about anyone else wondering around a studio the comfort in knowing they could do almost anything they wanted to these works and very few members of the viewing audience would complain. Good lord.

Chicago Tribune/LIFESTYLES:
Home Video Saves Gipper From The Clipper
July 16, 1986|By Tom Shales, Washington Post Writers Group.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-07-16/features/8602200594_1_video-release-warner-home-video-film

GREAT find. Enjoyed reading that.

 

[classicmovieguy]

A VHS to DVD comparison of JUMBO to demonstrate the odd decisions made by the staff who produced the Pan and Scan version for home video:
1. Colored border/slightly squeezed credits/gate weave obvious/width of border changes throughout/as Boyd enters frame the ratio "unsqueezes"

2. "The Princess Kathryn" banner: shot squeezed to keep relevant information in frame

3. End of "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," dissolve altered. Fade to black substituted.

4. Spotlight effect used during butterfly sequence

5. Spotlight effect used for "Little Girl Blue" sequence

6. Freeze-frame replaces oval dissolve transition to finale

7. Border added to finale which changes color to "match" on screen action.

I believe I saw a print on TV which played like this. Fascinating - thanks for sharing

 

[classicmovieguy]

Found this 1986 article by Tom Shales on the "Gigi" issue. I suppose the mystifying decades' long tolerance of pan&scan, commercial interruption, truncating, editing and so on for presentations of movies in those days gave technicians, maintenance crew, janitors and just about anyone else wondering around a studio the comfort in knowing they could do almost anything they wanted to these works and very few members of the viewing audience would complain. Good lord.

Chicago Tribune/LIFESTYLES:
Home Video Saves Gipper From The Clipper
July 16, 1986|By Tom Shales, Washington Post Writers Group.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-07-16/features/8602200594_1_video-release-warner-home-video-film

As I said before - 1986, the year Minnelli passed away. If he had been in better health and was aware of the situation, he very well might have spearheaded a restoration.

 

[Konstantinos]

Very late to this thread but i wanted to share something:

I LOVE musicals, especially of the 40s,50s, 60s.
But, I've tried twice to see this film and I can't finish it.
First time I must have seen half an hour, 2nd time a bit more..
What everyone thinks of this film?
It seems a bit of a mess to me.
And also, I don't especially like the songs too.

 

[Malcolm Bmoor]

It seems a bit of a mess to me.
And also, I don't especially like the songs too.

Some many years ago,during the lifetime of a previous generation of great conductors, one of them was dutifully talking to the audience after a concert because the generally ignorant people with whom he was faced were major subscribers to the orchestra.

'Oh Maestro, I really enjoyed the concert. I even liked the Schubert.'

'It makes no difference.'

 

[Robin9]

I like Gigi a lot. I think it's a marvellous film although many people today will find the idea of grooming a young girl to become the mistress of a rich man highly distasteful. I've never bought this Blu-ray disc because of the problems Robert Harris has outlined. I do hope that in the nine years since this thread appeared, digital processing has matured sufficiently to persuade Warners to have a second try with this film.

 

[Matt Hough]

I think the score to Gigi is marvelous, full of catchy and inventive tunes, and I don't find anything in the film a mess. I agree that the Blu-ray transfer has problems with the Metrocolor with timing that makes skin tones too brown and occasional shots that look very digital and unappealing. But the film itself for me is wonderful.

I reviewed the film long ago as one of the first Blu-rays I got to review here. I don't know if the review is still present on the server or not.

Addendum: The review is still on the server. It can be found here.

 

[Astairefan]

I also enjoy this movie, and have also held back on purchasing the currently available blu after reading most of the comments about it on HTF. Does anybody hold any hope we might get a new transfer, possibly even this year (since I think it should be the film's 60th anniversary, and we all know how much the studios like to celebrate with "anniversary" releases)?

 

[Tony Bensley]

I also enjoy this movie, and have also held back on purchasing the currently available blu after reading most of the comments about it on HTF. Does anybody hold any hope we might get a new transfer, possibly even this year (since I think it should be the film's 60th anniversary, and we all know how much the studios like to celebrate with "anniversary" releases)?

A 60th Anniversary UHD/Blu-ray release, perhaps?

CHEERS!

 

[Robin9]

I also enjoy this movie, and have also held back on purchasing the currently available blu after reading most of the comments about it on HTF. Does anybody hold any hope we might get a new transfer, possibly even this year (since I think it should be the film's 60th anniversary, and we all know how much the studios like to celebrate with "anniversary" releases)?

Unfortunately, Warners doesn't do second HD transfers. There are several sub-standard Blu-ray discs that Warners put out in the early days of high definition which have not been replaced. When Rio Bravo was re-issued on Blu-ray disc, the original low-quality transfer was used again.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Unfortunately, Warners doesn't do second HD transfers. There are several sub-standard Blu-ray discs that Warners put out in the early days of high definition which have not been replaced. When Rio Bravo was re-issued on Blu-ray disc, the original low-quality transfer was used again.

I now recall reading of the disappointment regarding that same brownish leaning color palette transfer being used in the Warner reissued RIO BRAVO (1959) Blu-ray.

CHEERS!