A Few Words About A few words about…™ The Garden of Allah — in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Alberto_D]

Dietrich was a very few who looked s good in technicolor as in B&W.

 

[Will Krupp]

This came today and I couldn't wait to tear it open. It really is magnificent! I said I wanted a 1080p version of the DVD with the same look and color timing and that's exactly what we got. I'm so happy with this, thanks for the stellar review RAH!

 

[Mark-P]

This came today and I couldn't wait to tear it open. It really is magnificent! I said I wanted a 1080p version of the DVD with the same look and color timing and that's exactly what we got. I'm so happy with this, thanks for the stellar review RAH!

Glad to hear that you are happy. When I saw the somewhat faded colors in the posted screencaps at another site I was afraid it would be comparable to the Nothing Sacred Blu-ray which you didn't like at all.

 

[Will Krupp]

Glad to hear that you are happy. When I saw the somewhat faded colors in the posted screencaps at another site I was afraid it would be comparable to the Nothing Sacred Blu-ray which you didn't like at all.

So was I

It is, however, beautiful.

 

[Rob W]

Not to get too far off topic, but I saw an original nitrate print of Nothing Sacred at Eastman House a few years ago ; if memory serves it was the same print used for the video transfer. When I checked the Blu-ray a day or two later when I returned home, it looked pretty much exactly the way I recalled the nitrate copy. It is what it is, to quote RAH.

 

[Will Krupp]

Not to get too far off topic, but I saw an original nitrate print of Nothing Sacred at Eastman House a few years ago ; if memory serves it was the same print used for the video transfer. When I checked the Blu-ray a day or two later when I returned home, it looked pretty much exactly the way I recalled the nitrate copy. It is what it is, to quote RAH.

Not to get mired in another argument about the NOTHING SACRED blu-ray (when we were having such a good time) but prints make lousy sources for video masters and dye-transfer prints even less so. There's a perfectly good full scale restoration of NOTHING SACRED that ABC/Disney performed about 16 years ago that has never seen the light of day.

 

[Robert Harris]

Not to get too far off topic, but I saw an original nitrate print of Nothing Sacred at Eastman House a few years ago ; if memory serves it was the same print used for the video transfer. When I checked the Blu-ray a day or two later when I returned home, it looked pretty much exactly the way I recalled the nitrate copy. It is what it is, to quote RAH.

I had a nitrate decades ago, that I donated to MOMA.

What you saw was the look of the era.

Modern audiences would not appreciate the look.

 

[Mark-P]

I had a nitrate decades ago, that I donated to MOMA.

What you saw was the look of the era.

Modern audiences would not appreciate the look.

Known as the Natalie Kalmus era. I wonder what Mrs. Kalmus would think of HDR?

 

[Will Krupp]

Interesting in that the reviewer at blu-ray.com seems to think the blu-ray is from a different source that the old DVD's were and he actually seems to prefer the look of the DVDs. I wasn't comparing them side by side and the blu-ray looked great to my eyes. I thought the source was the same (since they both have the same dupey looking section where Dietrich and Basil Rathbone go to visit the sand-soothsayer.) I will have to do a side by side, or at least flip back and forth between them (now that I went region free and have two players I can do that again) to see if I see what he does.

Curious!

 

[Mark-P]

Interesting in that the reviewer at blu-ray.com seems to think the blu-ray is from a different source that the old DVD's were and he actually seems to prefer the look of the DVDs. I wasn't comparing them side by side and the blu-ray looked great to my eyes. I thought the source was the same (since they both have the same dupey looking section where Dietrich and Basil Rathbone go to visit the sand-soothsayer.) I will have to do a side by side, or at least flip back and forth between them (now that I went region free and have two players I can do that again) to see if I see what he does.

Curious!

Careful! Don't ruin it for yourself. People are often happy with something until they start making direct comparisons to older versions.

 

[Will Krupp]

Careful! Don't ruin it for yourself. People are often happy with something until they start making direct comparisons to older versions.

Ain't that the truth!

 

[Brent Reid]

Careful! Don't ruin it for yourself. People are often happy with something until they start making direct comparisons to older versions.

This problem has ruined every relationship I've ever had.

 

[Drew Salzan]

Interesting in that the reviewer at blu-ray.com seems to think the blu-ray is from a different source that the old DVD's were and he actually seems to prefer the look of the DVDs. I wasn't comparing them side by side and the blu-ray looked great to my eyes. I thought the source was the same (since they both have the same dupey looking section where Dietrich and Basil Rathbone go to visit the sand-soothsayer.) I will have to do a side by side, or at least flip back and forth between them (now that I went region free and have two players I can do that again) to see if I see what he does.

Curious!

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Garden-of-Allah-Blu-ray/191281/#Review

 

[Fabian Kusch]

If it is indeed the same source, then some color correction has been applied.

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=11676&d2=11675&c=4608

Look at #8. What's going on here?

 

[Will Krupp]

The blu-ray.com reviewer is completely correct in that they are either from different sources or different remastering has been applied to the same source. It wasn't, at first, even apparent to me. They FEEL the same until you compare them side by side, when it becomes obvious that the DVD is much warmer and with a golden yellow glow appearing over everything. The blu-ray, in contrast, is much cooler and still has dirt and speckles on occasion.

I have no idea which one is right but neither of them is unpleasant. I will say that the caps-a-holic BD caps, for some reason, seem darker than the disc does in motion. The caps at Blu-ray.com feel more representative of what I'm seeing (for what that's worth.)

In comparing the two directly, I would have to give the aesthetic edge to the blu-ray as the cooler tone allows the colors more room to breath and you can appreciate them more. The golden tone of the DVD seems somewhat oppressive at times and can overwhelm the color. Again, to mimic the heat of the desert MAY have been the artistic intent (I don't pretend to know one way or the other.) What I do know is that this blu-ray is the first time since seeing ALLAH as a teen in the mid 1980's (in a beautiful print broadcast over New York's WPIX11) that I got a visceral thrill watching the flashes of Tilly Losch's violently purple petticoats peeking out from under her dress during the dance number.

 

[roxy1927]

Garden of Allah played at the MoMA in the late 80s which is when I saw it. Radio City had an art deco series maybe in the early 80s I'm not sure but one of the films shown was Garden of Allah.

 

[bujaki]

Garden of Allah played at the MoMA in the late 80s which is when I saw it. Radio City had an art deco series maybe in the early 80s I'm not sure but one of the films shown was Garden of Allah.

I saw it at Radio City. May have seen it again at MoMA but can't recall.

 

[roxy1927]

I remember it all these years later because the print was so beautiful. I believe it was during a restored film festival that was in '88. I also saw stunning prints of Tom Sawyer and Becky Sharp. I wonder if these prints are still sitting somewhere in the museum's archives. And if they're being taken care of.

 

[bujaki]

I remember it all these years later because the print was so beautiful. I believe it was during a restored film festival that was in '88. I also saw stunning prints of Tom Sawyer and Becky Sharp. I wonder if these prints are still sitting somewhere in the museum's archives. And if they're being taken care of.

There was a Selznick festival where MoMA showed his archive prints of Tom Sawyer, A Star Is Born, Nothing Sacred, etc. Becky Sharp was, of course, not included, although it was shown as part of another series.