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

[PaulDA]

I do as well, for work reasons. An SD copy is easily used in class whereas a BD requires me to lug around equipment, set it up and hope nothing gets damaged (the equipment is mine and damages would be out of pocket). I even purchase SD versions, on occasion, despite BD availability if the primary use will be in class.

 

[Craig S]

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce

I can't speak to the packaging, but I always like when an SD version of a film is included in the set.
Doug

Why?


Not challenging you, just curious as to the reason. I understand for child/family titles you might want a copy for the cheap DVD player in the kids' room or for back seat entertainment in the car. I don't get why a title like this needs an SD version included.

 

[Vegas 1]

Went to add this to my Netflix queue and they only offer the SD version, bummer. My bad it was Downton Abbey that is only offered in SD.

 

[GerardoHP]

I enjoyed the script and performances in Mildred Pierce, especially Mare Winningham who should have won an Emmy for her performance. But, being a Southern Californian, I found myself completely distracted by the use of East Coast locations in this miniseries. Other than the street where Mildred lives, which somewhat resembles the Glendale, California of the 30's (except for the light and, yes, sunlight in Southern California is different from New York sunlight), everything in the show screams of Long Island or thereabouts. Even the Beragon mansion doesn't look like anything you'd ever find in Pasadena. For the life of me, I cannot understand why they would make such a capital error on this otherwise well-crafted production. An F to the location manager.

 

GerardoHP: Interesting comment on Southern California light being different--I wouldn't know, but it's an interesting point. Mildred's block happened to be in a town within walking distance, and I saw the aftermath of the production, as facades and whatnot were being disassembled. Plus, seeing all sorts of period cars lined up in Glen Cove for the mansion setting. The restaurant location was in Point Lookout, a tiny beach community, and the production unit did a neglected 1907 building a big favor by overhauling its exterior!

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Parts were shot in Peekskill, NY, where I was involved in the shoot of a low budget sci-epic back in 1987 or thereabouts.

Could this have been one of the Toxic Avenger films, or at least a Troma production? Or would you rather not say? I was living in Peekskill and Mohegan Lake in '87 and '88, and remember watching an SF/horror film being shot there at the time, so I'm curious. Later, Joe

 

[Douglas Monce]

  Why? Not challenging you, just curious as to the reason. I understand for child/family titles you might want a copy for the cheap DVD player in the kids' room or for back seat entertainment in the car. I don't get why a title like this needs an SD version included.

Because I only have one blu-ray player and its in the living room. I often like to watch movies in the bedroom before I go to sleep. Also my portable DVD player of course won't take blu-rays, so I need a DVD for when I'm traveling. In addition to that, I frequently take movies to friends houses, and I don't know anyone else who has a blu-ray player. Doug

 

[Douglas Monce]

I enjoyed the script and performances in Mildred Pierce, especially Mare Winningham who should have won an Emmy for her performance. But, being a Southern Californian, I found myself completely distracted by the use of East Coast locations in this miniseries. Other than the street where Mildred lives, which somewhat resembles the Glendale, California of the 30's (except for the light and, yes, sunlight in Southern California is different from New York sunlight), everything in the show screams of Long Island or thereabouts. Even the Beragon mansion doesn't look like anything you'd ever find in Pasadena. For the life of me, I cannot understand why they would make such a capital error on this otherwise well-crafted production. An F to the location manager.

Now you know how everyone else in the world feels when California doubles for their part of the world! I'm from Arizona, and if I see one more Western where New Mexico is standing in for AZ, I'll shoot myself. New Mexico looks NOTHING like Arizona! Doug

 

[GerardoHP]

Now you know how everyone else in the world feels when California doubles for their part of the world! I'm from Arizona, and if I see one more Western where New Mexico is standing in for AZ, I'll shoot myself. New Mexico looks NOTHING like Arizona! Doug

Believe me, I notice that as well and I think it's terrible. But Mildred Pierce is one of the quintessential L.A. stories and I think it's unforgivable that it was not shot here or, at the very least, in a place that at least remotely resembles L.A.

 

[Robert Harris]

The epic continues:


I received another copy of Mildred Pierce, and Blu-ray disc on this one function properly. Possibly a defective disc. However, the second disc was coded 030001 on both layers, while the defective was 010001 and 040001, which could point to a problem in production with a specific stamper or mold.


But then I sampled a bit of Disc One, and found something else that was mildly, not horribly, disturbing. There seem to be problems with the compression or encode. Some shots do look grainy, but almost more noisy than just grain. But if one goes frame by frame, it becomes obvious that this disc does not represent the true look of film. Move through frames, and what appears to be grain suddenly disappears and takes on a totally DNR'd look.


Wonderful film. Superbly photographed. I just wish that the final Blu-ray was a better representation of film.


RAH

 

[Rob_Ray]

Because I only have one blu-ray player and its in the living room. I often like to watch movies in the bedroom before I go to sleep. Also my portable DVD player of course won't take blu-rays, so I need a DVD for when I'm traveling. In addition to that, I frequently take movies to friends houses, and I don't know anyone else who has a blu-ray player. Doug

Completely agree with Doug. I have several DVD players but only one BluRay player. Mildred Pierce is a title I will be re-watching in other parts of the house and with friends who haven't upgraded to BluRay yet. I love having both Hi-Def and Standard-Def copies in one package while we're in this transition period. The packaging could be a lot more space-efficient, however.

 

[Robert Harris]

Two copies, different pressings.


And this is why I love Oppo.


Two weeks to a fix.


http://oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83/bdp-83-firmware-59-0117b.aspx


Several years ago, I gave up on a very high end Pioneer player, when every few months as Fox changed their piracy mechanisms, they needed firmware updates. Which took months!


RAH

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris


Several years ago, I gave up on a very high end Pioneer player, when every few months as Fox changed their piracy mechanisms, they needed firmware updates. Which took months!


RAH

I gave up my very faithful, very reliable go-to Panasonic BD-80 player for the same reasons. Fox discs were taking five minutes to load, and since I review lots of Fox titles, I just couldn't afford the time loss day after day.

 

[Brian Borst]

I have difficulty with things filmed in 16mm. Historically, there was some justification for 16mm, especially for documentary titles and things that required small cameras hand-carried into difficult settings. For studio productions, however, I still would like to see everything that is put on film use 70mm (65mm negative of course). This went out of style over 40 years ago in favor of 35mm capture with blow-ups to 70mm release prints, but you can really tell the difference. Even Blu-ray transfers improve markedly with 65mm capture. At the very least, use 35mm capture for the best results. BTW the argument that 16mm is an "artistic" choice to capture the period look is pretty bogus. The original Mildred Pierce was photographed in 35mm B&W and it is sharp as a tack. The 40's was definitely not fuzzy! And color films made in the 40's were not the muted orange colors we see in the HBO Mildred Pierce, they were largely beautiful dye-transfer Technicolor. See the MGM and Fox titles from that era for example. FINALLY: artistically, the new Mildred Pierce is far inferior to the Joan Crawford/Michael Curtiz Warners production, which still holds up. Oddly enough, the new version may be "bolder" in some ways, but overall the original is much tougher as well as being more tightly constructed.

Todd Haynes, the director, and the DP weren't trying to copy the 40's look, but the look of the dramas of the 70's. That's why they shot on 16mm film, since most movies of the 70's had that rough, grainy look.