A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Best Years of Our Lives -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Lromero1396]

Primarily asking about Jezebel.

Where the hell is that one?

Warner dragging its feet again. They must be waiting to issue a box set of Bette's films, just as I would assume they are doing with Clark Gable and Gary Cooper's.
Keep in mind that I'm just speculating and have no insider knowledge. I hope that these afformentioned titles don't keep languishing in DVD hell for too much longer.

 

[battlebeast]

I dislike Best Years; Although I'm going to buy it for my Best Picture Nominees collection, I will watch it again, and maybe, jsut maybe, change my opinion.

We'll see.

 

[Lromero1396]

I dislike Best Years; Although I'm going to buy it for my Best Picture Nominees collection, I will watch it again, and maybe, jsut maybe, change my opinion.

We'll see.

I would certainly hope so. I personally can't understand anyone not enjoying this film unless they're allergic to black and white, which so many these days seem to be.

 

[JoeDoakes]

As you seem to think both Best Years of Our Lives and Bishops Wife come from fine grain masters, what do you think accounts for the superior image quality on Best Years of Our Lives?

 

[Robert Harris]

As you seem to think both Best Years of Our Lives and Bishops Wife come from fine grain masters, what do you think accounts for the superior image quality on Best Years of Our Lives?

Interesting question. Could just be a better exposed fine grain, or BW could be from a dupe neg, down one gen, but doubtful.

RAH

 

[John Morgan]

Since these films are owned by Goldwyn, does anyone know if Warner's is in charge of the initial transfer to high def from the original film materials, or are they given the high def master by Goldwyn and from there, do additional tweaking in the mastering? It seems for the Paramount films, they do their masters from scratch.

 

[Douglas_H]

My favorite film and that's saying a lot. Considering the context of when this film was made, it is a remarkable and brave achievement on every single level. Opened my eyes to how great an actor Fredric March was and like-wise Dana Andrews. One of the main things that strikes about this film is how real all of the characters are. This film is almost 70 years old but the characters are still fresh, believable and most importantly human.To each his own but how someone could not appreciate this film is inexplicable to me.

 

[battlebeast]

I would certainly hope so. I personally can't understand anyone not enjoying this film unless they're allergic to black and white, which so many these days seem to be.

I don't dislike Black and white like many people do; heck, three of my favorite filsm (Metropolis, Wings and The Artist) are Black and White.

I love black and white films. Casablanca is another I like.

I watched all 485 (at the time) Best Pictures in 365 days and many of them were Black and white... It's how I found many great films (and some not so good...)

But this film was, to me, very boring. Although I LOVED Harold Russell's (A great Canadian hero!) performance. When this film is released on Tuesday, I will pick up a copy and watch it again.

 

[Lromero1396]

I don't dislike Black and white like many people do; heck, three of my favorite filsm (Metropolis, Wings and The Artist) are Black and White.

I love black and white films. Casablanca is another I like.

I watched all 485 (at the time) Best Pictures in 365 days and many of them were Black and white... It's how I found many great films (and some not so good...)

But this film was, to me, very boring. Although I LOVED Harold Russell's (A great Canadian hero!) performance. When this film is released on Tuesday, I will pick up a copy and watch it again.

I wasn't implying that you had an aversion to black and white. It was actually a relatively unrelated allusion to how kids these days who aren't introduced to black and white films at an early age seem to have an aversion to them.

At least you appreciated Harold Russell's performance. Keep in mind, he wasn't even an actor; just a veteran of the war when he was cast. I'd highly suggest watching The Best Years of Our Lives again, especially now that Warner has released it in gorgeous hi-def.

 

[zoetmb]

Did I mention that this won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1946?



RAH

1946 was also the peak year for the movie business, maybe partially because of this movie. In 1946, there were 82 to 90 million weekly admissions in a U.S. population of 141 million. That means that 60% of the population saw a movie a week at an average admission price of 40 cents ($4.80 in 2013 dollars). The U.S. box-office was $1.692b which would not be repeated until 1974 (but not considering inflation) and is $20.3 billion in 2013 dollars. (2012 U.S. box-office was $10.8 billion).

 

[Carabimero]

Glad to have BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, my all-time favorite movie, in my hands today on Blu-Ray. It says how spoiled I am that I am slightly disappointed in the picture quality, but given that the film is nearly 70 years old and the negative was lost, I suppose I should be grateful to have what I have. Some older movies, when I see them on Blu-ray for the first time, it's almost like seeing the movie again for the first time. Not the case with BEST YEARS. Also disappointed there's not a commentary by a film historian. Many would have done if for free, I know for a fact. In any case, at least I don't have to complain about my favorite movie not being in HD anymore. This is as good as good as it will ever get for BEST YEARS. And that's pretty good, when I get a dose of perspective. Certainly better than audiences in 1946 had it..

 

[battlebeast]

NOT ONE &^%# 'N STORE IN ALL OF EDMONTON HAS THIS FILM AVAILABLE TO BUY!!!

I wanted to watch it this weekend (Thursday/Friday) but I can't buy it!!! Even Amazon.ca doesn't even have it!!! GRRRR.....

Now I'll have to wait for NEXT weekend to watch it, as I'll have to order it from Amazon.com or Walmart... GRRR.....

 

[Brian McP]

I think this movie is just as timely in 2013 as it was in 1946, with so many troops coming home to countries all over the world, after service in Afghanistan and Iraq -- I sincerely hope a remake of this picture never happens, but wouldn't be surprised if it is ever ripped off (that is, if it hasn't happened already)

I have the excellent laserdisc set from the 1990s and the sound was remastered in stereo surround, not 'faux stereo' but your average Dolby Stereo setup with sound effects and foley coming in through rear speakers and the dialogue in the centre channel, and that great score coming in from all directions -- wonder why they didn't go with this soundtrack with the bluray release?

 

[davidmatychuk]

NOT ONE &^%# 'N STORE IN ALL OF EDMONTON HAS THIS FILM AVAILABLE TO BUY!!!

I wanted to watch it this weekend (Thursday/Friday) but I can't buy it!!! Even Amazon.ca doesn't even have it!!! GRRRR.....

Now I'll have to wait for NEXT weekend to watch it, as I'll have to order it from Amazon.com or Walmart... GRRR.....

One place only in Vancouver: Videomatica. HMV can order it, but that's not the same as walking into the store and taking it off the shelf, is it?

 

[Lromero1396]

I think this movie is just as timely in 2013 as it was in 1946, with so many troops coming home to countries all over the world, after service in Afghanistan and Iraq -- I sincerely hope a remake of this picture never happens, but wouldn't be surprised if it is ever ripped off (that is, if it hasn't happened already)

I have the excellent laserdisc set from the 1990s and the sound was remastered in stereo surround, not 'faux stereo' but your average Dolby Stereo setup with sound effects and foley coming in through rear speakers and the dialogue in the centre channel, and that great score coming in from all directions -- wonder why they didn't go with this soundtrack with the bluray release?

Because it's not original. Plus, if the sound wasn't mono on that disc for this film, it was still fake stereo, regardless of what you say. Warner seems to be committed to original audio, which is a good thing.

 

[Carabimero]

I bought the novel (winch is actually a long poem) this movie was based on. If you love the movie, you owe it to yourself to read the book. I appreciated the movie even more. The book is called GLORY FOR ME.

 

[Mark-P]

Because it's not original. Plus, if the sound wasn't mono on that disc for this film, it was still fake stereo, regardless of what you say. Warner seems to be committed to original audio, which is a good thing.

Not really. I could give you a long list of Warner Blu-ray titles that do not include the original mono soundtrack.
Singin' in the Rain and Meet Me in St. Louis for starters. But you'll get no complaint from me, because I like stereo remixes if they are done tastefully.

 

[Rob_Ray]

As with a few MGM and Fox titles, multiple mike music stems exist for a few Goldwyn movies going back to the 1930s, so that laserdisc was a true stereo, even it wasn't a vintage mix.

 

[warnerbro]

I lament the fact that the music only track was not included here. It was included on the laserdisc as well as the first DVD. My hope is that WUTHERING HEIGHTS will be released by Warner Bros. on bluray with the music only track that was included on the laserdisc.

 

[zoetmb]

As with a few MGM and Fox titles, multiple mike music stems exist for a few Goldwyn movies going back to the 1930s, so that laserdisc was a true stereo, even it wasn't a vintage mix.

Really? Do you know what the technology was behind it? Blumlein did some experiments in the 1930s and of course there was Fantasia in 1940, but I wasn't aware of anyone else in the early 30's doing anything in stereo.

But according to Wiki,

(In 1938) MGM started using three tracks instead of one to record the musical selections of movie soundtracks, and very quickly upgraded to four. One track was used for dialogue, two for music, and one for sound effects. The purpose for this form of multitrack recording was to make mixing down to a single optical track easier and was not intended to be a recording for stereophonic purposes.[citation needed] The very first two-track recording MGM made (although released in mono) was "It Never Rains But What It Pours" by Judy Garland, recorded on June 21, 1938, for the movie Love Finds Andy Hardy.

I've been studying movie sound history for years, but was not aware of the above.

Also:

In the early 1940s, composer-conductor Alfred Newman directed the construction of a sound stage equipped for multichannel recording for 20th Century Fox studios. Several soundtracks from this era still exist in their multichannel elements, some of which have been released on DVD, including How Green Was My Valley, Anna and the King of Siam, The Day the Earth Stood Still and Sun Valley Serenade which, along with Orchestra Wives, feature the only stereophonic recordings of the Glenn Miller Orchestra as it was during its heyday of the Swing Era.

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" was released in '51. That was before Cinerama, stereo Cinemascope and 70mm Todd-AO, but I wonder if it wasn't actually recorded in magnetic sound, which might have been available by the time (after we stole it from the Germans at the end of WWII).