A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Quiet Man -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Peter Neski
so on your set ,the scenes in the Quiet Man where they jump from live locations to in studio ,you don't notice more grain and other
reasons the Picture doesn't look as good, I do on my 34inch

Peter,
I'm neither saying that they do nor do not. My point is that the transitions should be moderately seamless. One can tell hardly anything from this BD, as it is in no way similar to the look and textures of the film.
Much like the BD of The Man Who Knew Too Much II, the fact that the image is sharp is meaningless.
RAH

 

[hguerth]

For 15 years John Ford yearned to make this picture. Neither Paramount nor one of the other noble studios took the risk of backing it. Eventually Ford found his financier in a well-known curmudgeon from Poverty Row, man's name was Yates, who first put pressure on him and was conning him in the end - while he wallowed in the solid earnings of TQM. It's a sad story and it ended 60 years ago with a jewel of a film. And who in these days owns the rights to use this former Republic property? Who the hell indeed? Is this really Paramount? Snapped by some bargain shopping in the copyright bazaar? And why are they hiding behind contraptions like Olive. What are they ashamed of? My Fair Lady? (Oh dear, that one was CBS). Do they really own all the rights? And the public got none? No right to see this "soft, misty color" John Ford demanded - and got. Instead we are fobbed off with something "gritty, hard and brittle" (that is what Robert Harris told us here and that is what I can see). We try to enjoy a picture in the digital realm but blatant cop badges remind us not to steal. They are carefully crafted by the very same buccaneers who once evaded to the Far West, stealing the lawful rights of Mr. Edison. Unfortunately, for all I know, there is no law against stealing works of art from the public view. For 15 years these current digital media now exist. Are we expected to wait for another 15 years until we are finally allowed to see this movie as it is? Oh, come on Paramount. Remember what Mr. Ford did for you. This Blu-ray is not what he deserves. This is just another travesty after all the years of DVD mockeries. Do better and give some of your precious rights to Criterion who can handle this affair. And as a kindly wish - bethink it is an Irish story - obtain absolution by a pilgrimage to Blarney Castle and as a possible result the capability of cajoling CBS to do the same for MFL.

 

[Sgt Pepper]

Watched the Olive Blu ray last night I have to say I felt extremely let down. I have a very personal interest in this movie and I hope and pray that one day it receives the transfer it so rightly deserves. Very disappointed.

 

[Matt Hough]

I have to agree. I found the video quality completely underwhelming.

 

[Sgt Pepper]

I have to agree. I found the video quality completely underwhelming.

True Matt, so much more could have been done.

 

[David_B_K]

Olive got away with it because the previous DVD was possibly the worst ever.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Olive got away with it because the previous DVD was possibly the worst ever.

I don't quite see how they got away with it. If you want pristine looking presentations then chances are you're not going to get that with any Olive release.

 

[David_B_K]

''Got away with it'' in the sense that many were not as critical as they might otherwise have been but for the execrable previous release.

 

[RMajidi]

As a new member of HTF, I'm posting this long after the dust has seemingly settled on this particular discussion. However, I've seen virtually no reference anywhere to Paramount's 2014 UK release of The Quiet Man. I thought that the Paramount DVD was quite excellent, even though it was only SD. I believe it was based on the UCLA restoration. What I don't get is why Paramount hasn't also released it in HD on Blu Ray; especially after their wonderful release of McLintock! on Blu barely a year after Olive's release. Can anyone shed further light on this please? For your convenience, Paramount's UK DVD can be seen at the following link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Quiet-Man-John-Wayne/dp/B00BNW0DPG/ref=cm_rdp_product

 

[Allansfirebird]

The Quiet Man has been released on bluray: http://www.amazon.com/Quiet-60th-Anniversary-Special-Blu-ray/dp/B009YX8LO6/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1423500736&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Quiet+Man+blu

 

[atfree]

As a new member of HTF, I'm posting this long after the dust has seemingly settled on this particular discussion. However, I've seen virtually no reference anywhere to Paramount's 2014 UK release of The Quiet Man. I thought that the Paramount DVD was quite excellent, even though it was only SD. I believe it was based on the UCLA restoration. What I don't get is why Paramount hasn't also released it in HD on Blu Ray; especially after their wonderful release of McLintock! on Blu barely a year after Olive's release. Can anyone shed further light on this please? For your convenience, Paramount's UK DVD can be seen at the following link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Quiet-Man-John-Wayne/dp/B00BNW0DPG/ref=cm_rdp_product

The Quiet Man has been released on bluray: http://www.amazon.com/Quiet-60th-Anniversary-Special-Blu-ray/dp/B009YX8LO6/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1423500736&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Quiet+Man+blu

I think his question references that Paramount released a superior BD of "McClintock" about a year or so AFTER Olive released a BD of it, so why doesn't Paramount do the same with "The Quiet Man"? I think that's the question the poster was asking......

 

[Allansfirebird]

I think his question references that Paramount released a superior BD of "McClintock" about a year or so AFTER Olive released a BD of it, so why doesn't Paramount do the same with "The Quiet Man"? I think that's the question the poster was asking......

What had me confused is that he put a link to the existing Olive release of The Quiet Man, so I wasn't sure which transfer he was actually talking about. I wasn't aware whether there was a newer transfer of the movie since the 60th anniversary edition Olive put out.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Paramount licensed much of its Republic catalog (including The Quiet Man) to Olive. McLintock! is a Batjac (John Wayne produced) film that was allowed to fall into the public domain. The DVD and blu-ray Paramount released of McLintock! was sourced from elements owned by the Wayne family, and acquired by Paramount as part of it's deal to license other nonpublic domain titles from them. Olive sourced it's McLintock! release not from Paramount (like their other Wayne/Republic releases), but from some European source. As long as The Quiet Man is under license to Olive, Paramount will not release a new version. Olive claimed it did it's own 4K scan for The Quiet Man. Many people like it, but Robert Harris maintained that what was released was too rough and unfinished.

 

[Joel Fontenot]

As a new member of HTF, I'm posting this long after the dust has seemingly settled on this particular discussion. However, I've seen virtually no reference anywhere to Paramount's 2014 UK release of The Quiet Man. I thought that the Paramount DVD was quite excellent, even though it was only SD. I believe it was based on the UCLA restoration. What I don't get is why Paramount hasn't also released it in HD on Blu Ray; especially after their wonderful release of McLintock! on Blu barely a year after Olive's release. Can anyone shed further light on this please? For your convenience, Paramount's UK DVD can be seen at the following link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Quiet-Man-John-Wayne/dp/B00BNW0DPG/ref=cm_rdp_product

The link seems to indicate a Paramount release, But, Olive released both the Blu-Ray (which is what this thread is about) and the DVD.


But neither were from the UCLA restoration.


Could be Paramount put their name on that issue for UK release?


The only other DVD release was from Artisan - and I think they release something like 3 separate editions over 10 years before Paramount got a hold of the rights. Even then, it was the exact same blown-out NTSC transfer done for the 40th Anniversary VHS and Laserdisc editions back in '94.

 

[Kyrsten Brad]

The magnificent Ms O'Hara, will be 93 in August. We can only hope that she's well, and enjoying what will hopefully be her middle years. RAH

And here's hoping Ms O' Hara will be here and do some commentary on a Disney Blu release of "The Parent Trap".

 

[Thomas T]

And here's hoping Ms O' Hara will be here and do some commentary on a Disney Blu release of "The Parent Trap".

Considering Disney's track record with the blu releases of Old Yeller and Pollyanna, I wouldn't hold my breath. We'll be lucky if they port the extras from the 2 disc Parent Trap DVD.

 

[RMajidi]

The link seems to indicate a Paramount release, But, Olive released both the Blu-Ray (which is what this thread is about) and the DVD.

But neither were from the UCLA restoration.

Could be Paramount put their name on that issue for UK release?

The only other DVD release was from Artisan - and I think they release something like 3 separate editions over 10 years before Paramount got a hold of the rights. Even then, it was the exact same blown-out NTSC transfer done for the 40th Anniversary VHS and Laserdisc editions back in '94.

I bought the 2013 UK DVD release, and there's no question it's from Paramount (complete with subtitles). The British Board of Film Classification shows that Paramount (and not Olive) re-registered the film and video for release in the UK in 2013. That info is at the following link by expanding Related Work / Feature:
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/quiet-man-1952

 

[RMajidi]

Paramount licensed much of its Republic catalog (including The Quiet Man) to Olive. McLintock! is a Batjac (John Wayne produced) film that was allowed to fall into the public domain. The DVD and blu-ray Paramount released of McLintock! was sourced from elements owned by the Wayne family, and acquired by Paramount as part of it's deal to license other nonpublic domain titles from them. Olive sourced it's McLintock! release not from Paramount (like their other Wayne/Republic releases), but from some European source. As long as The Quiet Man is under license to Olive, Paramount will not release a new version. Olive claimed it did it's own 4K scan for The Quiet Man. Many people like it, but Robert Harris maintained that what was released was too rough and unfinished.

Thanks JoeDoakes (Ray) for the clarification of the licensing issues with both titles. However, the fact remains that Paramount did indeed release their own DVD in the UK last year. Could it be that their licensing deal with Olive only extends to U.S. territory and not worldwide? If so, the question remains why didn't Paramount release an HD Blu-Ray in the UK in addition to their high quality DVD release of 2013?

 

[WadeM]

What had me confused is that he put a link to the existing Olive release of The Quiet Man, so I wasn't sure which transfer he was actually talking about. I wasn't aware whether there was a newer transfer of the movie since the 60th anniversary edition Olive put out.

The visible link is for the Paramount DVD on the UK site, but when clicked it's taking you to the Olive release on the US site. Here's a picture of the Paramount release that he tried to linked to:

 

[JoeDoakes]

Thanks JoeDoakes (Ray) for the clarification of the licensing issues with both titles. However, the fact remains that Paramount did indeed release their own DVD in the UK last year. Could it be that their licensing deal with Olive only extends to U.S. territory and not worldwide? If so, the question remains why didn't Paramount release an HD Blu-Ray in the UK in addition to their high quality DVD release of 2013?

Yes, there could be a limitation to the license. I don't know about Paramount, but at least with Universal, it seems to me that the European arm of the company sometimes acts independently and with different strategies than the U.S. parent does domestically. It's possible too that the British company only had access to a PAL transfer that was maybe done for European tv.