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

[Stephen PI]

I do recall thunder was added to the surround channel in a night scene in a castle tower.

The scene above I just found and it is the night scene of the assassination of Gary Raymond's character. The mixer added thunder to this scene. I don't recall if there was anything on the surround track already.

 

[Cineman]

It's a fairy tale! Who wouldn't want Sidney Poitier as a son in law, he's a doctor, he's educated, he's handsome, he has a prestigious reputation.

Well, I have the answer to that question. In 1967, MILLIONS of Americans would not have wanted Sidney Poitier's character as a son-in-law. I'll go even further, MILLIONS of Americans would not want him as a son-in-law today. In fact, there are millions of Americans today who still have not made peace with the idea of such a person occupying the White House and not married to anyone in their family.

Nine years earlier with The Defiant Ones, Stanley Kramer showed he could produce and direct a movie contemplating race relations that didn't go very far to sugar-coat anything, including the character portrayed by the same actor, Sidney Poitier. So in 1967 he took a different, easier to digest approach to a struggle he knew very well was nowhere near being won, finished and put to rest. Corny it may feel and felt to some of us more enlightened folks of the day. But it entertained. I saw an outdoor Summer Movie Festival screening of it about 10 years ago and it still entertained.

Respecting your opinion all the same, but fine performances by some of the best actors ever to stand before a movie camera, a solid script, sensitively directed and producing loads of laughs and tears in any audience I saw it with including the one I mentioned about 10 years ago does not in my book come close to defining "a bad movie".

 

[rsmithjr]

@ThomasT,

I found the setup to be too unbelievable: nice, liberal parents in San Francisco; a beautiful daughter; and pitch-perfect possible son-in-law. They even checked out his qualifications!

Lorraine Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun, for example, deals with people I found more real and a more realistic situation. At issue is a house not a marriage of course. Also terrific performances by Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, and Claudia McNeil.

 

[Stephen PI]

Given that the 3 mic recording format for the front was used, it is hardly surprising that the forth rear track was later made from separate effects or mixed down from the front.For example,Skouras liked the panning from the front to the surround in the Prince of Players cemetery scene .
Both Zanuck as well as Skouras were pushing for a more aggressive use of this track and there is evidence from contemporary sources as to its use. As theatres would set the surround levels properly with appropriate set up tracks(thank you Stephen), these references should be respected.

So why do most of these effects, which made up to surround,disappear on todays transfers.

There is another explanation for this, I am only going from my experience, so don't jump to the conclusion that I am saying this is what you are experiencing.
I clearly recall on many occasions when I have attended a film with a stereophonic soundtrack being overwhelmed with impressive loud sounds spreading from far left to far right of the screen, I have felt that there were surround effects playing also, when it turned out later I discovered that the scene in question had no surround information at that point and that the overpowering effect of the front channels was responsible.
I have often experienced the same thing at home, but on a reduced scale of course.

 

[john a hunter]

Possible if you sat to one side . I would usually head for the sweet spot-centre stalls one third back from the front.
My recollections of the 70 El Cid dates from the Metropole where I saw the film several times on its initial release.
Did see it at the NFT mid 70's in 70 and only really recall from that showing was that one reel was badly faded down both sides.

So I still hope one day that we can see these films with a surround track that reflects their initial release.

 

[Stephen PI]

Possible if you sat to one side . I would usually head for the sweet spot-centre stalls on third back from the front.

I always sat in the front center balcony. If I was forced to book a seat favoring one side I would never purchase a ticket.
I missed "EL CID" at the Metropole. My first visit there was April 1963 for "LAWRENCE".

 

[Richard Gallagher]

@ThomasT,

I found the setup to be too unbelievable: nice, liberal parents in San Francisco; a beautiful daughter; and pitch-perfect possible son-in-law. They even checked out his qualifications!
.

But that was the point. The liberal father who intellectually has no problem with an interracial relationship finds it difficult to accept when it involves his own daughter. Let's not forget that Poitier's screen father also has a problem with interracial marriage.

And what is so surprising about a beautiful, well-to-do single woman attracting a man like Poitier's character? Did Ivanka Trump marry a plumber? Did Chelsea Clinton marry a taxi driver?

 

[Cineman]

@ThomasT,

I found the setup to be too unbelievable: nice, liberal parents in San Francisco; a beautiful daughter; and pitch-perfect possible son-in-law. They even checked out his qualifications!

But how else do you corner the parents on both sides to deal with only the racial component as the issue under contemplation and debate for the next 1 hour and 48 minutes? If he had been too old, too financially strapped, too controlling or too much of a playboy for her and/or she had been too dumb, too ugly or too clinging for him (or whatever other hurdles one wants to layer on), then the topic of race need never be broached at all since there were so many other issues to cite for not encouraging them to marry. There are plenty of other stories and movies that consider those other challenges to a happy and enduring marriage.

Seems to me establishing the "perfection" of the parties involved was the only way to isolate the one unchangeable element this movie was intent upon contemplating with no wiggle room allowed.

Btw, I doubt very much the challenge and potential pitfalls of that premise was lost on producer/director Stanley Kramer, writer William Rose and everyone in the cast. Those people were about as well versed on the elements of comedy, drama, character and verisimilitude as any the movies have ever known. Perhaps my conviction in that belief is why I was more willing to accept what they were doing. It never occurred to me to laugh "at" the filmmakers as though they didn't know how corny or hokey some of it felt. I was fine with accepting and going along with what I thought was clear they were up to considering the challenge at hand.

 

[Charles Smith]

That pretty much echoes my feelings about it. Both the man and the woman, and everything surrounding them, had to be squeaky clean, beyond reproach, in order to isolate -- unsparingly -- the dilemma at hand.

I liked it fine back in the day, but when I watched the Blu-ray last year or whenever it was, I was completely blown away by it. I found it LESS "hokey", etc., than ever -- just powerful and beautifully, expertly, accomplished by all parties.

 

[Cineman]

That pretty much echoes my feelings about it. Both the man and the woman, and everything surrounding them, had to be squeaky clean, beyond reproach, in order to isolate -- unsparingly -- the dilemma at hand.

I liked it fine back in the day, but when I watched the Blu-ray last year or whenever it was, I was completely blown away by it. I found it LESS "hokey", etc., than ever -- just powerful and beautifully, expertly, accomplished by all parties.

I would say that was my and the audience's reaction with the Summer Movie Festival screening of it about 10 years ago as well. No doubt about it there is a glossy and breezy family hour "tv sitcom" tone to it until it gets serious about the matters of race and love, the seemingly generic canned effect of the incidental soundtrack music and so on. That tone would certainly rub against the growing and prevailing trend at the time, particularly against two of the other Best Picture Oscar nominees, In The Heat of the Night and Bonnie and Clyde (GWCTD outnumbered Heat and matched B and C with ten Oscar nominations). But it was apparent to me that was not the result of the filmmakers being out of touch or anachronistic, but simply their choice in how to clear the deck of all other uncomfortable considerations in order to isolate the central issue as we have said. Perhaps that jarring contrast is no longer as much an issue today as it was at the time.

 

[Jimbo64]

It is time that THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT was released on bluray. A brilliant film. Luckily it was screening where I was working. The title song is unforgettable.

I've been waiting for this as well, I asked TT over a year ago if they were going to release it as there is already an existing DCP available but they didn't confirm it at that time

 

[Dee Zee]

Screened the TT blu-ray tonight. My first time seeing the film Peyton Place ever. I really was entertained by the whole presentation. Great transfer. Limited edition blu.

 

[Stephen PI]

Excerpt from 'CinemaScope Techniques' (20th Century-Fox), American Cinematographer Magazine, June 1955.........

'One of the contributing assets of the CinemaScope system is stereophonic Sound. This has done much to add a new quality of reality to the screen, and is capable of further imaginative treatment to realize its fullest possibilities.

The public has come to recognize the improvement in sound quality and naturalness and there is considerable evidence that it likes the new effect created by the surround loudspeakers. The seven or eight major producers releasing stereophonic magnetic prints in CinemaScope have taken cognizance of the public's wishes and are making greater use of the surround effects in recent pictures. The use of stereophonic sound does not create any hardship in production.

In studio practice, three small microphones are spaced laterally (see illustration in message #11) at the end of the usual sound boom. The spacing is varied according to the nature of the scene and the microphone positions are easily manipulated as required by camera movement or to maintain intelligibility. Sensible effort is always applied to get original stereophonic recordings. When this is impossible or impractical, stereophonic post-dubbing is used to replace the dialogue of scenes which are good for picture but unacceptable for sound.

Theater attendance has been greatly stimulated by the advent of CinemaScope, and the producer has the opportunity now to present his stories in a fresh and exciting medium through this modern technique'.

Quote: "When this is impossible or impractical, stereophonic post-dubbing is used to replace the dialogue of scenes which are good for picture but unacceptable for sound".

I believe a major example of this was with "THE KING AND I". The blimp of the CinemaScope-55 camera did not reduce the amount of noise to enable the original three-channel stereophonic production track for use in the final mix, and consequently a very large part of the dialogue had to be replaced in post-dubbing, utilizing the three-microphone recording technique.

 

[Stephen PI]

From the December 1955 issue of American Cinematographer Magazine.

Below are two stills from the filming of the 20th Century-Fox production of "CAROUSEL". on location at Boothbay Harbor in Maine.

In the first still, Director of Photography Charles G. Clarke is seen seated next to the CinemaScope 55mm camera. In the upper left corner you can make out the center and right microphones at the end of the boom:



Below you can see the sound boom in the center of the still:


From American Cinematographer magazine May 1953
In the behind-the-scenes still below from "THE ROBE" three separate microphone booms were required to record the LCR signals. Later, the Fox sound department developed a special 'cluster' so a single boom could be used (seen in the stills above).

 

[RolandL]

Watched Black Widow a few nights ago, DVR from TCM. It also had directional dialog.

 

[RolandL]

DVD vs Blu-ray

 

[Tom St Jones]

My tenant/ roommate was born and raised in Camden, ME. His father, who is now in his 70s, was one of the teenage extras in the parade scene in the film. BTW (this may have been mentioned), how many people have noticed the ME State flag in the courtroom scene?

 

[Dick]

I was bored with GWCTD when I saw it on it's original release. ONE POTATO TWO POTATO was screening where I was working. It was very successful at the box office. I watched it on dvd a couple of years ago and it is still a brilliant film. It is available in the UK.

I just checked for this on Amazon UK, but see not one copy. Have you a link?

 

[cinemiracle]

I just checked for this on Amazon UK, but see not one copy. Have you a link?

It was part of a box set. Maybe it was in the USA not the UK. It may not be available any longer.

 

[benbess]

Just watched this today as part of my quarantine double feature. Good movie. Keep the kleenex handy, but it's a feel-good movie by the end. Boy am I glad now that I own a lot of blu-rays!