A Few Words About A few words about...™ Beneath the 12-Mile Reef -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[B-ROLL]

And in terms of classic titles being set forth to BD; I could acquiesce even further with a "two for them; one for me" approach.
3-Strip, where are thou?

I'll raise you one stripper (or more)

 

[Mark-P]

I was able to watch the Blu-ray in its entirety today. Sumptuous photography and really good sound. The directional dialog on this one is really precise, unlike so many 50s stereo soundtracks that have amorphous indistinct directionality. I think maybe a lot of the location dialog may have been looped, thereby giving the sound mixers the ability to be more accurate with the directionality. Too bad other CinemaScope soundtracks couldn’t be as beautifully mixed as this one.

 

[bigshot]

I keep trying to convince myself to buy this, but comments like "I was able to watch this" don't give me a heck of a lot of confidence.

 

[Les Mangram]

"Knights of the Round Table" from Warner Archive? Sign me up for that if it ever happens. Great score by Miklos Rosza, Freddie "Lawrence of Arabia" Young behind the camera...action scenes staged by Yakima "Ben-Hur" and "El Cid" Cannutt...and excellent armor and costume design by Roger Furse...Plus it was MGM's first Cinemascope picture. It also has a slew of British supporting actors with resonant voices (like Stanley Baker) who can spit out the faux medieval dialogue with gusto...a far cry from the whispering low pitched toneless growl that is in vogue at the moment. What it may lack in some departments is more than compensated in other areas if you know what to look for.

Not only MGM's first CinemaScope production, but the first in the UK as well, having been shot at MGM-British, Borehamwood and various locations, including some in Ireland (so Ireland's first CinemaScope film as well!).

 

[johnmcmasters]

Just an edit, per below information from Twilight Time, the bluray isolated score is the way to go for the best sounding release of Herrmann's music.

 

[Twilight Time]

With regard to the beautiful score by Bernard Herrmann:

There have been three separate CD releases of the original soundtrack recording from the film – although they are all sold out and officially out-of-print, you might be able to track one down:

First was
Film Score Monthly:
https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/cds/detail.cfm/CDID/80/Beneath-the-12-Mile-Reef/
This release has some noticeable “wow” on certain tracks. Out-of-print copies are probably available “used” through sellers.

then came
Varese Sarabande:
I couldn’t find a working link at Varese, but the score was released by them only as part of a mammoth out-of-print 14 CD box set celebrating Mr. Herrmann and 18 films that he scored at 20th Century Fox. Some of the “wow” was eliminated on this release, and it sounds better than the FSM CD. Out-of-print copies are very pricey and probably hard to find.

and finally
Kritzerland:
This is the same version as released on the Varese Box set, but as a stand-alone single CD with different, very nice, artwork. This is the best option if you want this score on its own with the best available sound quality. Out of print copies are probably available through sellers (from time to time Mr. Kimmel has copies available of his out of print releases if you email him directly at Kritzerland).
http://www.kritzerland.com/beneath_reef.htm

Thanks, John - but we'd also like to point out that the score for 12 MILE REEF is presented in 3.0 on the blu-ray's isolated track - obviously all previous CD releases (and we were involved in all of them), are only in 2.0 - many people request the upgrade to 3.0 on our iso tracks and we're very proud to present a sonic upgrade on many of the scores we produce for the blu-ray medium.

 

[johnmcmasters]

.

 

[M90GM]

because the movies that certain people want on bluray never get released for them and the wait seems never ending..............Warner Archive on BD do releases that are sometimes excellent and sometimes release total junk like The Green Slime ............top golden oldies f like Knights of TRT which would have a good sales base remain unreleased.................someone at WArchives needs to wake up to the fact that their library of the Golden Age films are really what movie fans want and this Website proves that point 100%.................

THIS IS YOU WOULD THINK COMMON SENSE - WHAT IS WITH GEORGE WHO HEADS WARNER ARCHIVE AND IS EX MGM "KEEPER AND RESTORER" EXTRAORDINAIRE...DOESNT MAKE SENSE.

 

[M90GM]

I think we can all agree there's much work to be done and that at least by my calculations the trickle of 3-strip Technicolor movies that used to come from Warner (either Warner Home Video or WAC) has basically ceased. Mr. Harris has gone on record as saying that since Warner's costly ultra-hi-resolution restoration process, other more viable, pliable and cost-effective methods have been derived to restore older movies to their former glory. I'll concur. But if you look at WAC's output, they've basically said goodbye to their 3-strip Technicolor catalog in hi-def. So, no Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, or National Velvet, or Bathing Beauty, That Midnight Kiss, Showboat, The Harvey Girls, Good News, The Yearling, and on and on.

It's a pity, too, and one compounded by the fact that a lot of the bona fide stars from the golden age are woefully under represented on Blu-ray if, in fact, they are represented at all. Gable, Garbo, Shearer, Tracy and Hepburn, Garland and Rooney, Loy and Powell, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Esther Williams, Greer Garson, and Mario Lanza, to name but a handful are practically non-existent. I think where the frustration lies for some is that the virtuosity of these performers has been, if not overlooked by the custodians in charge of their protection, then certainly pushed to the back of the line for B to C grade camp like The Green Slime and From Hell it Came. Not saying there is NO room for camp in hi-def. But the see-saw balancing act herein has tipped - and not in favor of the former. Just thoughts.

IS ANYBODY FROM WARNER READING ALL OF THESE POSTS? IT SEEMS GOLDEN ARROW AND GREEN SLIME HAVE MORE SALES POTENTIAL IN THIS MODERN DAY?

 

[Thomas T]

IT SEEMS GOLDEN ARROW AND GREEN SLIME HAVE MORE SALES POTENTIAL IN THIS MODERN DAY?

Indeed they do! I bow to no man in my love of "classic" cinema but I'd rather have The Green Slime and The Golden Arrow on blu ray in my collection than any creaky Norma Shearer or Paul Muni "classic".

 

[bujaki]

I'll take Norma over June any day!

 

[haineshisway]

Can someone please explain to me why it was necessary to bump an old thread devoted to Beneath the 12-Mile Reef to talk Warner Archive releases.

 

[bujaki]

Can someone please explain to me why it was necessary to bump an old thread devoted to Beneath the 12-Mile Reef to talk Warner Archive releases.

Beats Norma and Paul and June!

 

[Thomas T]

I'll take Norma over June any day!

Why I oughta ....

 

[Nick*Z]

Indeed they do! I bow to no man in my love of "classic" cinema but I'd rather have The Green Slime and The Golden Arrow on blu ray in my collection than any creaky Norma Shearer or Paul Muni "classic".

Why isn't there room for both? Glad someone's needs are being met. Mine are not.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Why isn't there room for both? Glad someone's needs are being met. Mine are not.

Because unfortunately there isn't enough of us buying physical media that makes it profitable enough for the studios to do such a thing.

 

[Nick*Z]

Because unfortunately there isn't enough of us buying physical media that makes it profitable enough for the studios to do such a thing.

Well, I have a hard time digesting that when Sony has figured out a way to release movies most of us have never even heard of, in perfectly acceptable - if not perfect - hi-def transfers via Kit Parker. I mean, does anyone here think films like Address Unknown or The Black Book (which, by the way, I absolutely adore) have more of a following and will sell more copies than say, Shearer's Marie Antoinette or Gable's Idiot's Delight. I'm using the comparison here because both Idiot's and Address are war themed movies, while Antoinette and Book are set during the collapse of the French monarchy and the reign of terror that followed it.

Clearly, some studios have found a way to license product that would otherwise have remained buried forever and, by today's myopic standards, has 'no value' or audience interest. Still, Sony has made it work. In Sony's case, they bundled these movies together as a Noir Archive Vol. 1, which is very curious indeed, since neither Book or Address have the elements associated with film noir, though stylistically, one may argue for their inclusion into this pantheon. Nevertheless, Noir Archive Vol. 1 must have made money for Kit Parker because they're gearing up for Noir Archive Vol. 2 on Blu in July.

So, no - I don't buy the argument there are not enough collectors out there willing to buy deep catalog. Now, if Warner persists in the stance that they will not release ANY movie to Blu-ray unless it is pristine, then yes - I say, it's going to be a tough sell to spend $500,000 to a couple of million, doing ground-up restorations on original film elements and pray there's enough of a public out there to pick up and cover the tab. I think WAC has done a lot of quality work, but on titles of questionable merit.

Okay, you say. Let's debate 'merit' - questionable or otherwise. I say, let's not even go back very far into antiquity. Let's take a movie like Reversal of Fortune (1990) for which Jeremy Irons won a Best Actor Oscar - a spectacular movie. Is it out on Blu-ray? Uh, no. But Joe Vs. the Volcano (a box office dud made and released the same year) and Doc Hollywood (a lesser known Michael J. Fox vehicle released one year later) are!

Even the movies that ought to have been readied for a hi-def debut by now, like Ryan's Daughter (which was released to HD DVD, and therefore must have a hi-def remaster in the hopper somewhere), remain MIA on Blu-ray while we get releases like From Hell It Came, Bad Ronald and the endless and endlessly bad sequels to Shaft. Can you dig it? Yep, a hole about six feet, to bury the smell. Bad movies in hi-def are still bad movies. The bottomless Tarzan franchise is also questionable since none of Johnny Weismueller's classics have made the leap before them. Cue Weismueller's yodel here.

And since this is a Fox post, let's talk about their commitment to their back catalog. Via their own releases, their failed attempt at an archive, and through third party distribution via Twilight Time, Criterion, and most ambitiously of all, Kino Lorber, Fox has managed to saturate the home video market on Blu-ray with many of their top money makers from the forties and fifties. Am I missing something here. Fox is doing it. Sony is doing it. Universal - late to the party, as always, has finally begun to do it too via Kino Lorber. So, what exactly is Warner's beef? What is holding them up?

They've had more than 10 years since Blu-ray's debut and their record, when compared to the aggressive campaigning of the aforementioned studios, is frankly, embarrassing with regard to classic film output. The Criterion streaming channel recently offered a digital copy of George Cukor's masterpiece Gaslight that looked pretty damn good. So, why not a Blu from Warner, licensed through Criterion as well? Sorry, folks. I just don't buy the 'there's no room for classics in hi-def' argument, because there is far too much evidence from the competition that someone is making a buck somewhere from a ton of great deep catalog releases coming down the pike via the aforementioned third party distributors.

It's time Warner became more aggressive in their methods and gave us more of the titles we keep craving year after year. There is a way. There's always a way. Maybe its time to explore other creative avenues. Maybe it's just time. That's all.

 

[Allansfirebird]

IS ANYBODY FROM WARNER READING ALL OF THESE POSTS? IT SEEMS GOLDEN ARROW AND GREEN SLIME HAVE MORE SALES POTENTIAL IN THIS MODERN DAY?

Is your caps lock broken?