A Few Words About A few words about…™ A Tale of Two Cities – in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Noel Aguirre]

Thank you RAH for enlightening us once again to a film I would have generally passed on. Preordered as I am up for all things Dickens especially after viewing A Christmas Carol 1951 last month and a fan of the Lean Oliver Twist.
I love HTF!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I'm holding out for the version written by 1000 monkeys on 1000 typewriters...

 

[Dick]

I'm holding out for the version written by 1000 monkeys on 1000 typewriters...

From the Bob Newhart sketch, I presume?

 

[TravisR]

I'm holding out for the version written by 1000 monkeys on 1000 typewriters...

"'It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times'?! You stupid monkey!"

 

[Colin Jacobson]

From the Bob Newhart sketch, I presume?

Nope - Travis nailed it:

"'It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times'?! You stupid monkey!"

 

[OLDTIMER]

I'm still waiting for a Blu-ray of that other French Revolutionary masterpiece, Griffith's ORPHANS OF THE STORM.

 

[Todd Mattraw]

Just received, this week, my copy of "A Tale of Two Cities" blu-ray through Amazon, and I've immediately noticed what appears to be a digital anomaly, right past the 3 minute mark of the film (when the coachman hears the approaching hoofbeats) --- Tom, the coachman says "Aye, Joe" and Joe replies back, and both shots look wrong, the first shot seems sped up for a second and the shot of Joe "skips", he seems to turn his head twice when it should be once --- anyone else seeing this? Could be mistaken for missing frames but it doesn't look like that to me, it looks digital.

I initially played the disc in my OPPO 203, tried it in my OPPO 83, saw the same thing. I then tried the old DVD, and there's no problem at that point in the old transfer and no missing frames. Really disappointed at the possibility that I may have to return this, but even more disappointed if it's not a flaw in my specific disc but a flaw in the new transfer. Does this happen to anyone else's disc?

 

[Todd Mattraw]

Just received, this week, my copy of "A Tale of Two Cities" blu-ray through Amazon, and I've immediately noticed what appears to be a digital anomaly, right past the 3 minute mark of the film (when the coachman hears the approaching hoofbeats) --- Tom, the coachman says "Aye, Joe" and Joe replies back, and both shots look wrong, the first shot seems sped up for a second and the shot of Joe "skips", he seems to turn his head twice when it should be once --- anyone else seeing this? Could be mistaken for missing frames but it doesn't look like that to me, it looks digital.

I initially played the disc in my OPPO 203, tried it in my OPPO 83, saw the same thing. I then tried the old DVD, and there's no problem at that point in the old transfer and no missing frames. Really disappointed at the possibility that I may have to return this, but even more disappointed if it's not a flaw in my specific disc but a flaw in the new transfer. Does this happen to anyone else's disc?

I took a look at the opening sample uploaded by WAC to YouTube, and the same glitch is there, so it appears to be a problem with the transfer and not a defective disc --- if I saved this correctly, it's at this moment:

 

[M90GM]

A Tale of Two Cities, based upon Dicken's work, would have made a perfect production for David O. Selznick, to be distributed by M-G-M.

Two of the class acts in the motion picture trade.

The nice thing, and it's obvious through every frame, is that it is a Selznick production, and his last before going independent.

With this and San Francisco coming from Warner Archive concurrently, it's a great moment to love cinema.

Based upon the finest surviving film elements, in this case a safety dupe, struck from a contemporary nitrate lavender that no longer survives, it's one of the films that looks far better than it should, and perfectly representative of the era and elements.

Very slightly soft in places, but with requisite and not overbearing grain, good blacks, and a pleasant gray scale that finishes with just a wave of nutmeg, tobacco and cocoa.

I'll use the term again.

One of the great films in cinema history.

And before someone asks the question, I'll bring it up.

Now that we have A Tale of Two Cities, where's George Cukor's David Copperfield?

The storming of the Bastille was directed by Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur.

Image – 4

Audio – 5

Pass / Fail – Pass

Upgrade from DVD – Absolutely

Very Highly Recommended

RAH

What a bonanza recently from Warner Archive with finally a slew !!! of truly great M-G-M classics.... plus Waterloo Bridge, Great Caruso, Shop Around the Corner, Green Dolphin Street, Annie Get Your Gun, Showboat, Harvey Girls, Mortal Storm, Broadway Melody of 1940, Thin Man ...there are so many more tho ...Dr Jekyll, Maytime, Boom Town, Captain's Courageous, Boys Town, David Coperfield, Great Ziegfeld, Blossoms in the Dust, Random Harvest, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Johnny Eager, and the newer films begging an upgrade in stereo widescreen glory .....Ryan's Daughter, High Society, Interrupted Melody, The Student Prince, Knights of the Round Table, (Rose Marie) all big box office hits...and Mogambo, Young Bess, King Solomon's Mines, Scaramouche, Ivanhoe...Blackboard Jungle, Somebody Up There Likes Me, Trial, The Rack... what has happened to "WB Shop" and the usual release pattern on line ...reports of M-G-M's "curator" leaving....let us hope that Warner open the doors or at least on-sell the many box office/critical successes that they are storing to second tier sellers to release on blu ray soon......we have had so many failed non event irrelevant-today releases like Tennessee Johnson, Penelope, I am greedy yes...let us hope I am not alone....is there support out there for classic quality luxe movies?

 

[HarleyDog]

I'm still waiting for a Blu-ray of that other French Revolutionary masterpiece, Griffith's ORPHANS OF THE STORM.

I'm still waiting for a Blu-ray of that other French Revolutionary masterpiece, START THE REVOLUTION WITHOUT ME.