A Few Words About A few words about...™ West Side Story -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[moviebuff75]

I went ahead and ordered this a couple of days ago. It is one of my favorite films, and who knows when it will get the treatment it so deserves.

 

[ahollis]

The opening New York City image doesn't fade to black in the "fixed" version, but whether even that is as it should be now I couldn't say. Nothing else seemed different at all, and given the disappointment with the transfer expressed by people in this thread, that is unfortunate. "West Side Story" deserves "Lawrence Of Arabia" treatment, but it hasn't happened yet.[/

It still slightly fades but not to a jarring black. It should have zero fade and pull back to revel the title. The color change of the opening during overture is still the wrong hues.

Other than this and some artifacts here and there the transfer is good. But the first time I saw WSS in a theatre the opening overture was so intense and the laser disc and DVD got it correct that I am disappointed and have not watched this more than a couple of times on Blu

 

[FoxyMulder]

The opening New York City image doesn't fade to black in the "fixed" version, but whether even that is as it should be now I couldn't say. Nothing else seemed different at all, and given the disappointment with the transfer expressed by people in this thread, that is unfortunate. "West Side Story" deserves "Lawrence Of Arabia" treatment, but it hasn't happened yet.

I guess they don't care so if i want to watch it i'll have to get what they give us on this occasion.

 

[OliverK]

"West Side Story" deserves "Lawrence Of Arabia" treatment, but it hasn't happened yet.

One has to put West Side Story on Blu-ray in perspective - it is not an epic (pun intended) fail like the Blu-ray of Spartacus or some European releases of the Bronston superproductions. While these may not quite have the stature of West Side Story they have the potential to look as good or better on Blu-ray.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Is there a quick way of telling if i get the old version, assuming the UK has a corrected disc. ?

 

[Charles Smith]

I think this is the way it went:

A simple red-to-blue dissolve somehow became red-to-green-to-blue on DVD some years back. On the Blu-ray that green was changed to black, so you had red-to-black-to-blue, and on the "corrected" Blu-ray it's red-to-a-greenish-tinted-something-or-other-to-blue. The whole thing is outrageous, but given what the current situation is, it wouldn't matter to me which one I'm watching, as it's only a couple of seconds in passing -- because that's all they "fixed".

It's still one of my favorite moments of film, in one of my favorite films, ever, so please don't anyone take my words to mean it's "all right", because it isn't. I can live with it for now because with the exception of a few other niggling things that also need attention, it's still a great looking disc.

But also be sure to select the right soundtrack, or you won't have the real thing with the right "presence" and punch. Very important. The default one is horrible. But I forget at the moment how the right one is identified! 4.0?

 

[JoshZ]

I tend to agree with Charles. I've seen the comparison video. Both versions are wrong, just in different ways. Because the amount of movie affected is only a few seconds and because neither is truly correct, I never bothered to exchange my original "wrong" copy for the newer "different but still wrong" version. They're both equally problematic, and it's not worth the effort to me to fret about the difference until MGM does the right thing and truly corrects it. I can put up with the old copy in the meantime.

 

[moviebuff75]

While I hope for a fix, it isn't that bad. It fades to a teal and then slowly to blue. The dvd faded to green first, which wasn't correct either.

 

[Ed Lachmann]

Like Oliver observed, there has never been as horrible a blu-ray disaster as the abortion Universal delivered us in SPARTACUS. I'm not crazy about the substandard BDs of the Bronson epics or WEST SIDE STORY, for that matter, but I can at least watch them and enjoy them to a great extent. SPARTACUS, a beloved film of my youth, makes me sick to my stomach and I've disposed of the ugly debacle in my trash can. Just hoping someone someday makes it right!

 

[Howard S]

But also be sure to select the right soundtrack, or you won't have the real thing with the right "presence" and punch. Very important. The default one is horrible.

I second that, although to my ears the secondary soundtrack also sounded slightly filtered and processed, albeit much, much less than the default one.I can't understand the logic of some of the studios with these lossless HD-Master soundtracks on older titles, which I've also noticed lacking presence, punch and high-end on other releases. Surely the point of them is to provide a mechanism to hear the original recording as transparently as possible, so that every nuance of the soundtrack is carried through. Why do some of them feel it necessary to filter, de-noise, compress and process what they master to put on the HD track? Especially with a musical! Something is amiss when the lossy track sounds better than the HD-lossless one, as in this case. As I say, a flaw not just exclusive to this title, but if WSS is ever revisited for Bluray, I really hope that they also sort out the audio, as well as the transfer.

 

[Brian Husar]

No posts here in awhile but I finally took the plunge and bought this version because it was on sale. I bought a so called "corrceted" version because I checked the bar code and it was the bar code for the "corrected" version, it still has the complete fade to black before the title...I thought they changed that ? Anyway MGM/UA still needs to correct this whole thing.

 

[Mikey1969]

Universal's FAMILY PLOT runs close second.

Like Oliver observed, there has never been as horrible a blu-ray disaster as the abortion Universal delivered us in SPARTACUS. I'm not crazy about the substandard BDs of the Bronson epics or WEST SIDE STORY, for that matter, but I can at least watch them and enjoy them to a great extent. SPARTACUS, a beloved film of my youth, makes me sick to my stomach and I've disposed of the ugly debacle in my trash can. Just hoping someone someday makes it right!

 

[Charles Smith]

No posts here in awhile but I finally took the plunge and bought this version because it was on sale. I bought a so called "corrceted" version because I checked the bar code and it was the bar code for the "corrected" version, it still has the complete fade to black before the title...I thought they changed that ? Anyway MGM/UA still needs to correct this whole thing.

They changed the fade from one wrong color to another wrong color.

 

[Brian Husar]

Miley, I still have not and will not buy Sparticus until Universal does right by it. They have RAH to help them. Good news is sometime this year we will be getting an updated My Fair Lady that RAH was involved in.

 

[Dick]

Miley, I still have not and will not buy Sparticus until Universal does right by it. They have RAH to help them. Good news is sometime this year we will be getting an updated My Fair Lady that RAH was involved in.

And I believe SPARTACUS has been restored and I speculate it will be receiving a Blu-ray re-release this year, along with the 1939 HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME.

 

[Konstantinos]

And I believe SPARTACUS has been restored and I speculate it will be receiving a Blu-ray re-release this year, along with the 1939 HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME.

Yes, it has been restored.

We will know how it is, in March.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/kubricks-spartacus-among-four-new-restorations-headed-for-tcm-fest-20141103


Looking forward to both of them on Bluray.

 

[RolandL]

I see it only $5 on Amazon.

 

[warnerbro]

I see it only $5 on Amazon.

I couldn't believe it. But it's true! I ordered it just because it's 5 bucks!

 

[Garysb]

I couldn't believe it. But it's true! I ordered it just because it's 5 bucks!

See if its cheap enough you will accept it with all the errors. I bought one too.

 

[Garysb]

Yes, it has been restored.

We will know how it is, in March.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/kubricks-spartacus-among-four-new-restorations-headed-for-tcm-fest-20141103


Looking forward to both of them on Bluray.

Spartacus has been removed from the TCM Festival so the restoration may not be finished yet.


http://filmfestival.tcm.com/programs/

And I believe SPARTACUS has been restored and I speculate it will be receiving a Blu-ray re-release this year, along with the 1939 HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME.