A Few Words About A few words about... Garbo - The Signature Collection (1 Viewer)

[DeeF]

Shimmer might be the wrong word. I can see the grain moving through the picture, from bottom to top, as if it is being projected. I don't see this in most things, even old scratchy things.

Miracle of Morgan's Creek, for instance, looks perfect (I know it was from a different studio). But Ninotchka, or at least the first 20 minutes or so that I watched, looks botched to me.

I got out the TCM copy I made, and it doesn't exhibit this grain movement at all.

 

[DeeF]

In Gary Tooze's shots of Ninotcka, one can see vertical streaks in two screenshots, and those vertical streaks actually move vertically.

It is perhaps only in the beginning of the film, since this is the only part I sampled.

 

[DeeF]

I've just watched the documentary, and it is truly spellbinding, the best one of these I have ever seen. With an original orchestral score by Carl Davis.

 

[Jing_B]

The Ninotchka disc that I got didn't have any documentary on it. Just a theatrical Trailer.

 

[DeeF]

No documentary on the Ninotchka disk at all.

 

[Paul_Scott]

i gotta say, Queen Christina is yet another in a line of eagerly awaited releases this year that has left me disappointed.
i haven't actually sat down yet to watch the film straight thru, however from chapter hopping and sampling various scenes i'm just not impressed with either the print used or the sound quality.

while i've never owned the laser disc of this one, i don't recall from broadcasts it looking so much like a shopworn 2nd or 3rd generation print as it does here. watchable to be sure, but nowhere near being anything special (which is a shame because to me, it is a special movie- Ninotchka was advertised with the tagline "Garbo Laughs!" as if she had been nothing but a dour, melancholy figure before- the vibrancy and life and humour she shows in QC ably refutes that).
and as underwhelming as the PQ is, the sound leaves even more to be desired. i'm generally very forgiving of the audio on 30s material, but this one seems to have a high amount of background hiss, which just in the few scenes i sampled seems to be really distracting.

big disappointment.

 

[Charles Ellis]

Regarding Two-Faced Woman- is there a chance that an alternate version exists with the scenes that were changed/removed by the Catholic Legion of Decency and other censors? From what I have read over the years, the LOD objected to the idea of Garbo's character deceiving her husband into believing he's fooling around with her (fictional) twin sister, and so at the last minute (and without Garbo's consent) MGM filmed scenes in which Melvyn Douglas (as her husband) figures out her scheme and starts to make her look like a fool.

If a print of the unaltered pre-release Two Faced Woman exists, it would be a step in righting a few wrongs. On the other hand, if a pre-release version isn't available, I suggest that Warners re-edit the existing film to conform to the original shooting script and director George Cukor's vision. There is a precedent: many years after his death, Universal was able to re-edit Touch of Evil as per Orson Welles' original editing notes, which were ignored by the studio in 1958. The resulting "director's cut" was released to wide acclaim and is on DVD. Perhaps the same can be done for Two-Faced Woman to finally show the film to audiences the way Miss Garbo and Mr. Cukor intended it to. In a way it would also the philosphy of MGM's Irving Thalberg who always believed that films were not made, but re-made- that is, edited in various ways until the studio got it right. Unfortunately, he died in 1936 and had he been around in '41, I'm sure he would've found a way to release the film in an edit that would please Garbo's fans, critics, and get past those silly censors.

This could be a golden opportunity to save the reputation of a somewhat maligned film!

 

[Adrian_B]

I'm sure someone will be very upset at my saying so, but the Brownlow Garbo documentary was a real disappointment for my wife and I. It particularly disappointed me because RAH praised it so highly and I RARELY disagree with him.

Let me qualify: there are some VERY interesting elements. Some of the interviewees are very good and the test footage and lighting example are very nice to see.

Other than that, the structure, scholarship and style of this production makes it seem amateur at best. I know Brownlow has a great reputation, but this looked and felt like a cheap 1980's biography, not up to the classy standards that TCM usually has.

Factual information is often overrun by people gushing about how mysterious Garbo was (over and over and over) and mere conjecture by certain of the interviewees serves as the factual backbone of the piece.

The visual and pacing style fare no better, resembling late 80's-early 90's television. There are visual montages that are segues to nothing since the doc. has little to no structure, chronological or topical.

Look, I realize that it has some pros, but overall this felt like a half-hour biography piece with a few good ideas drawn out way too long. TCM generally has much higher standards for this type of thing.

Sorry! Flame away...

 

[Robert Crawford]

If that's your opinion then I don't expect many of us to flame away at you for expressing it.





Crawdaddy

 

[Brent Avery]

Let's see, I have yet to watch the Thin Man, Errol Flynn, Joan Crawford and Rogers & Astaire Boxsets so I wonder, is it truly worth purchasing this -I,m a sucker for boxsets but have not watched any of Garbo's films so any suggestions might sway me but I am wondering about some of the video problems reported. I was going to see about picking it up today so if anyone wants to tell me to "go ahead and buy it" a little reassurace can't hurt.

 

[Richard M S]

Considering how highly the documentary was touted, add me to the list of those who felt disappointed by it. I think what hurt it the most for me was too often the focus varied between Garbo and her personal life, and Garbo and her career. Consequently neither was well-served.

And Adrian I completely agree, factual information was indeed overrun by "people gushing about how mysterious Garbo was (over and over and over)" and mere conjecture by certain of the interviewees served as the facts.

In regard to Two-Faced Woman, I too hope an original print can be found and restored. Here is what IMDB has to say about the film, which makes me wonder was the original version released and then re-cut?

"Although given a PCA approval certificate, the released film was heartily condemned by the Catholic Church, which applied enough pressure to force MGM to revise the film, and replace the existing copies for future bookings. The major problem was that Melvyn Douglas thought he was seducing his wife's twin sister in the original version, which also had a few risque scenes. These were eliminated, and a scene was added where Douglas calls the ski lodge to find out his wife left, so that he knows the twin is really his wife. The net effect was to reduce the movie's running time to 90 minutes (from the original 94 minutes). This is the version Turner Classic Movies shows every once in a while. This also might also explain the late copyright date and copyright length of 90 minutes."

 

[Robert Harris]

to Mr. Avery...

The film elements used to make these DVDs are older than most of the
oldest HTF members, and in many cases have lived a harder life.

"Go ahead and buy it."

RAH

 

[Claes Ljunghorn]

Does anyone know if "Flesh and the Devil" on the DVD retains the same score by Carl Davis as heard earlier on VHS, Laser, TCM and live performances?

Thanks!

 

[Roger Rollins]

It most certainly does.

..and for anyone sitting on the fence regarding this release, aside from the box being a magnificent value, these films truly have never looked better since their original release.


The boxed set is beautiful and a great value.

 

[Claes Ljunghorn]

Great news! Thanks again!

 

[ChrisPearson]

Not such great news if you don't like PAL to NTSC transfers. For me, Flesh and the Devil is the one disappointment in an otherwise excellent set.

 

[Claes Ljunghorn]

Good to know since I was planning to go for the PAL edition anyway. Thanks!

 

[ChrisPearson]

Now that makes me wonder if the R2 edition of this will have a new transfer, or will be a PAL transfer of the R1, ie PAL to NTSC to PAL. If the latter is possible, would that be as good as the former or worse? I could ask the same of the 1925 version of Ben Hur, which is also a PAL to NTSC transfer of one of the Thames Silents.

 

[Claes Ljunghorn]

Why if they have a PAL master already?

Are You sure that the ghosting or interlace artefacts not are caused by the transfer being made at a different speed than 24 fps? Judging from the frame grabs I have seen of 1925 Ben Hur it is certainly not the old analogue PAL master from Thames. (1925 Ben Hur will not be relased in Europe until november)

 

[Patrick McCart]

Most silents transfered at slower speeds are interlaced. The only exception I've seen is the Milestone DVD of Phantom of the Opera (1929 version).