A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Bishop's Wife -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Dr Griffin]

Universal should take note, they don't even bother to answer customer service emails.


Edit 1/19/16:

This has since changed, and Universal has responded. They admit there was a problem with their system, which has been fixed, and they are making good on my issue. Forgive the diversion.

 

[larryKR]

I was going to purchase The Bishop's Wife two years ago until I read about the defect here on this forum. If I buy it now I'm still going to receive the defective Blu-ray and I don't want the hassle of getting the corrected disc, so no sale for me. Too bad it's a good movie.

Well I changed my mind and ordered the Blu-ray from Amazon Canada, and of course I received the defective disc. I emailed Sherri Bogard and requested a replacement disc, which arrived on Monday Jan. 18th. It was no hassle at all, and thank-you very much Sherri Bogard.

 

[LeoA]

Mine has this issue, I hope there's at least one more fixed copy available.

 

[LeoA]

Does she usually reply to such requests? Been a couple of business days now and nothing is in my inbox yet from her.

 

[Mike Frezon]

There have sometimes been reports of delays...but to the best of my knowledge she has always responded.

 

[ChristophM]

Does she usually reply to such requests? Been a couple of business days now and nothing is in my inbox yet from her.

Hi LeoA, she always does. I sent my query on 6 August 2015 and received her reply on 4 September (requesting a contact number for the courier service). To be honest, I don't think that four weeks is an undue amount of time. This is not a buyer/seller situation where speed leads to revenue, it's a goodwill thing. I'm sure there is next to no manpower dedicated to this part of the operation and Sherri Bogard does a sterling job.


Shipped on 23 September, the corrected copy of THE BISHOP'S WIFE arrived in Germany two days later, on 25 September. I think these are highly satisfactory real-world response times in a situation where the label could easily ignore complaints; instead they deal with the issue and resolve it in what I perceive as a timely fashion. No doubt Ms Bogard is on your case and you will hear from her.


On a side note, my experience with a different issue was similarly positive: Two episodes of The Sopranos ("The Complete Series", UK release) suffered from a flawed sound mix. There is an exchange program in place for these. Having reported the problem to I received the discs with the corrected mix in less than two weeks. But I wouldn't have felt mistreated if it had taken two months.

 

[LeoA]

Thanks guys


Doesn't sound like anything happened then that would necessitate resending my email, so I'll just be patient for a few weeks.

 

[Mike Frezon]

It IS, after all, a virtue!

 

[RMajidi]

I picked up my replacement disc at the courier's office today. Huzzah! And as everyone knows by now, glitch fixed, end credits same. In case anyone still wanted the numbers from the respective discs, here are all of them:

Original disc: BVSS 561690AJ
Replacement disc: (516976) 7000057388 2 018 030001

Those numbers are tiny!

Got home from a memorable holiday to New Zealand's exquisite South Island to discover a mountain of Blu-ray and DVD packages that I'd ordered in the Black Friday to Christmas period. Thrilling (and sobering) to see them in one big pile, rather than receiving them one or two at a time over several days.

To the point: among the packages was the Blu-ray of The Bishop's Wife, so I put that on first and thought the image looked very nice. Fast forwarded to the alleged problem spot. Lo and behold, no problem.

It seems that corrected discs are now being issued through Amazon, though from the recent experience of others above, there must still be some faulty ones in circulation.

Ms Bogard had advised me to check the disc once it arrives, before requesting a replacement. Happy to have a correct disc, but oddly feel a bit left out that I can't, in good faith, request a replacement disc from the gracious lady. Some part of me wanted to see that faulty disc it seems - sick man!

The minuscule disc number: (516976) 7000057388 2 03S 080001

 

[Dr Griffin]

For those that want proof that the defective disc is still out there, just wait until I get mine. I like the new eye-roll emoji, I really feel you, new eye-roll emoji!

 

[rkirk]

I'm very surprised about the comments over "The Bishop's Wife" blu ray. Am I the only one who noticed another glitch during the scene near the end with Cary Grant And Loretta Young? They are talking just after the maid, Elsa Lancaster, leaves the room and Cary Grant says he will be leaving soon and being sent to a new placement. The film is missing a cut where Loretta Young asks "Who will be sending him?" and then the blu ray resumes with his comment "My superior officers." As it stands now his remark is out of context. I wonder if this is repaired in the replacement disc? If anyone would check I'd be grateful. I don't want to get a replacement only to discover this mistake is intact. Thanks

 

[ScottHM]

The film is missing a cut where Loretta Young asks "Who will be sending him?" and then the blu ray resumes with his comment "My superior officers." As it stands now his remark is out of context. I wonder if this is repaired in the replacement disc? If anyone would check I'd be grateful. I don't want to get a replacement only to discover this mistake is intact. Thanks

No, that's still missing on the replacement disc.

---------------

 

[davidmatychuk]

I'm very surprised about the comments over "The Bishop's Wife" blu ray. Am I the only one who noticed another glitch during the scene near the end with Cary Grant And Loretta Young? They are talking just after the maid, Elsa Lancaster, leaves the room and Cary Grant says he will be leaving soon and being sent to a new placement. The film is missing a cut where Loretta Young asks "Who will be sending him?" and then the blu ray resumes with his comment "My superior officers." As it stands now his remark is out of context. I wonder if this is repaired in the replacement disc? If anyone would check I'd be grateful. I don't want to get a replacement only to discover this mistake is intact. Thanks

The 1997 DVD has that missing segment. The two prominent reel change markings are in that segment on the DVD. The sequence is all part of the same shot, which begins with Julia and Matilda admiring the tree. When Matilda exits the frame, here's the scene as it is on the DVD:

(Dudley turns back to Julia facing him. She looks at him and smiles, then looks down and turns to face the tree.)
DUDLEY: Julia?
JULIA: (turning to face Dudley and smiling) Yes?
DUDLEY: I think my work here is almost finished. I'll have to be moving along.
(Julia's smile fades. FIRST REEL CHANGE MARKING. She looks down and takes a few steps over to a bureau.)
JULIA: Well, where will you be going, Dudley?
(Julia looks down and fusses with some papers on the bureau.)
DUDLEY: Wherever they send me.
JULIA: (not looking up) Who are they? (SECOND REEL CHANGE MARKING)

And then there's the cut to Dudley saying "My superior officers".
On the Blu-Ray, the cut to "My superior officers" comes right after Dudley says "I'll have to be moving along". It seems to me that someone made a ham-fisted attempt to get rid of the reel change markings by cutting them out entirely.

I was keeping the old DVD anyhow, for the Chace Surround Stereo audio track (it's no great shakes, but it does fill the room with music), some still-frame cast biographies (five writing credits for Leonardo Bercovici!), the French, Spanish, and Italian audio tracks for the movie (which are kind of wonderful), and the elegant purple-with-gold-trim snapper case, but it turns out to have been a prudent move for the sake of the intact movie itself. How about that?
By the way, the defective and the replacement Blu-Ray both have the same edit. Yes, I kept the defective Blu-Ray too. You just never know.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Late to the party, but I just got my copy from Amazon today. Pleased to report that it's one of the corrected ones!

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

This is good news, Josh.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, based on this, am I to guess this blu-ray, even the "corrected" blu-ray which fixed the previous glitch is still not correct? Is the DVD the only version that is correct? I am starting to feel I will never end up with a copy of this on blu-ray...sigh...

The 1997 DVD has that missing segment. The two prominent reel change markings are in that segment on the DVD. The sequence is all part of the same shot, which begins with Julia and Matilda admiring the tree. When Matilda exits the frame, here's the scene as it is on the DVD:

(Dudley turns back to Julia facing him. She looks at him and smiles, then looks down and turns to face the tree.)
DUDLEY: Julia?
JULIA: (turning to face Dudley and smiling) Yes?
DUDLEY: I think my work here is almost finished. I'll have to be moving along.
(Julia's smile fades. FIRST REEL CHANGE MARKING. She looks down and takes a few steps over to a bureau.)
JULIA: Well, where will you be going, Dudley?
(Julia looks down and fusses with some papers on the bureau.)
DUDLEY: Wherever they send me.
JULIA: (not looking up) Who are they? (SECOND REEL CHANGE MARKING)

And then there's the cut to Dudley saying "My superior officers".
On the Blu-Ray, the cut to "My superior officers" comes right after Dudley says "I'll have to be moving along". It seems to me that someone made a ham-fisted attempt to get rid of the reel change markings by cutting them out entirely.

I was keeping the old DVD anyhow, for the Chace Surround Stereo audio track (it's no great shakes, but it does fill the room with music), some still-frame cast biographies (five writing credits for Leonardo Bercovici!), the French, Spanish, and Italian audio tracks for the movie (which are kind of wonderful), and the elegant purple-with-gold-trim snapper case, but it turns out to have been a prudent move for the sake of the intact movie itself. How about that?
By the way, the defective and the replacement Blu-Ray both have the same edit. Yes, I kept the defective Blu-Ray too. You just never know.

 

[davidmatychuk]

So, based on this, am I to guess this blu-ray, even the "corrected" blu-ray which fixed the previous glitch is still not correct? Is the DVD the only version that is correct? I am starting to feel I will never end up with a copy of this on blu-ray...sigh...

In a word, yes. I think that only the old Samuel Goldwyn DVD has the intact scene. Here's one on eBay right now:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/BISHOPS-WIFE...174858?hash=item27d1b74a8a:g:SDoAAMXQXQxRZXZa

The Blu-Ray has a nice transfer, but I haven't played it since good old HTF pointed out the missing scene.

 

[Tony Bensley]

davidmatychuk said: ↑
The 1997 DVD has that missing segment. The two prominent reel change markings are in that segment on the DVD. The sequence is all part of the same shot, which begins with Julia and Matilda admiring the tree. When Matilda exits the frame, here's the scene as it is on the DVD:

(Dudley turns back to Julia facing him. She looks at him and smiles, then looks down and turns to face the tree.)
DUDLEY: Julia?
JULIA: (turning to face Dudley and smiling) Yes?
DUDLEY: I think my work here is almost finished. I'll have to be moving along.
(Julia's smile fades. FIRST REEL CHANGE MARKING. She looks down and takes a few steps over to a bureau.)
JULIA: Well, where will you be going, Dudley?
(Julia looks down and fusses with some papers on the bureau.)
DUDLEY: Wherever they send me.
JULIA: (not looking up) Who are they? (SECOND REEL CHANGE MARKING)

And then there's the cut to Dudley saying "My superior officers".
On the Blu-Ray, the cut to "My superior officers" comes right after Dudley says "I'll have to be moving along". It seems to me that someone made a ham-fisted attempt to get rid of the reel change markings by cutting them out entirely.

I was keeping the old DVD anyhow, for the Chace Surround Stereo audio track (it's no great shakes, but it does fill the room with music), some still-frame cast biographies (five writing credits for Leonardo Bercovici!), the French, Spanish, and Italian audio tracks for the movie (which are kind of wonderful), and the elegant purple-with-gold-trim snapper case, but it turns out to have been a prudent move for the sake of the intact movie itself. How about that?
By the way, the defective and the replacement Blu-Ray both have the same edit. Yes, I kept the defective Blu-Ray too. You just never know.

That's so disappointing that a scene with such crucial dialogue (This makes the missing 4 words from many released versions of the definitive A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1951) with Alastair Sim seem like small potatoes by comparison!) is missing on both THE BISHOP'S WIFE (1947) Blu-ray transfers, as I'd be wanting this otherwise! As it stands, I've never gone beyond my TCM recording, and upgrading to mere DVD seems pointless, but if I see it at a bargain price, I might snap it up.

"For Reaching It Out!"

CHEERS!

 

[davidmatychuk]

Well, Tony, you already know what it's like to have a really nice Blu-Ray of a Christmas classic that is just missing a few words. If you can stand having another one, "The Bishop's Wife" is a really nice Blu-Ray.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Well, Tony, you already know what it's like to have a really nice Blu-Ray of a Christmas classic that is just missing a few words. If you can stand having another one, "The Bishop's Wife" is a really nice Blu-Ray.

True, but at least with the Definitive A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1951), only the audio is missing, and it is also kind of convenient that Kathleen Harrison's face is turned somewhat away from the camera! I can actually pretend the "For reaching it out" dialogue is there if I want to! It's pretty hard to do that with THE BISHOP'S WIFE's 20 seconds (Or thereabouts!) of missing audio AND video!

I guess I'm just in one of those "Bah humbug!" moods this morning! Ah, well!

CHEERS!