UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Funny Girl -- in 4k UHD (1 Viewer)

[Konstantinos]

I'm not sure why clicking "Subtitle" on the remote control isn't sufficient. You can do it while the film is playing. No need to access the disc menu.

Not everyone has a remote with a subtitle option.
e.g. me
I watch my blu-rays/UHDs on my pc (on a 45'' screen), so I don't have a remote.
I use though sometimes the option in my software (e.g. right click--> subtitles)

 

[Cineman]

OK, I got a reply!
Apparently, if I understood it correctly, the highlighted option, is the gray one! Not the black one. Maybe that's why @Cineman it was confusing?

Hi,

Thank you for writing to us. I can confirm that there's no issue with the subtitles selection on FUNNY GIRL and that what you're seeing is consistent with the visuals on all our disc menus.

The selection should be grayed out like this to be active (examples from two other discs):

View attachment 238869

View attachment 238870

To select this, you will want to toggle down to the ON option (after going to the MENU > SUBTITLES) and then press ENTER or similar.

As an alternative option, on most player remotes a button like "subs", "display", or "audio" will turn on the SDH or subtitles during playback.

I hope this is helpful but do let us know if you're still having trouble with the process. Best,
Jon Mulvaney

The selection being the gray one and not the black/highlighted one for SUBTITLES OFF/ON is the single exception and inconsistent with every other option selected in the Menu on the Funny Girl disc. Even for the "Resume Playback? YES/NO" option when you come back to the movie after powering off the player, you toggle to the black/highlighted choice, not the gray one, and press Enter to Resume Playback (unless that is a player feature completely separate from individual discs. However, I only get that option on some discs).

In these screen shots, you see that if I want to start watching the movie, the black/highlighted MOVIE option is where I want to be to press enter and the movie will begin to play. If I want to go to CHAPTERS, I toggle down to black/highlight CHAPTERS, press Enter and, sure enough, the chapter I want to jump to must then be the black/highlighted one and not a gray one.

If I want to access Subtitles, I toggle down to SUBTITLES until it is black/highlighted, click Enter and it takes me to the SUBTITLES OFF/ON option.

It is very strange to me that then and only then is the gray vs black/highlighted pattern reversed. Yep, in this one exception, if I leave the black/highlighted SUBTITLES ON option as you see it there, the Subtitles will be OFF in the movie.

And as I mentioned, unless this is my disc player interface and not an option provided by the disc, even the "Resume Playback? YES/NO" option follows the black/highlighted choice pattern and not a gray choice exception.

Yes, in my case my universal remote does not have a specific Subtitles button although I suppose I could click a button on it to go into the Menu after the movie has already started to deal with it. But I much prefer getting all of those audio and subtitles options done and settled from the Menu before starting the movie from frame one. Even if there is a 5 minute Overture in the beginning, I don't want to be looking at my remote buttons in the dark, lighted buttons or not, and paying more attention to what I must choose onscreen to get something the way I want it instead of focusing entirely on the sound or picture from frame one as the filmmakers intended or at least hoped.

And I definitely don't want to be reaching for my remote to press buttons and make onscreen text choices 6-7 minutes into Funny Girl with Overture one second after she looks in the mirror and says "Hello, gorgeous" because I thought I either did or didn't choose the black/highlighted or gray option correctly 6-7 minutes earlier. Lol.

Hence, the small hand-written note to myself about it tucked inside the disc case.

 

[Konstantinos]

Really weird then. I should check my other criterion uhds to see how are the options. I have also The Piano that it's in the screenshot.
Don't you have others too?

edit: So, I checked my The Piano UHD and is indeed like I was told.
The gray option for "on" turns on the subtitles, and not the black option!
Very inconsistent indeed, since all the other menus and submenus are selected when they are black (and not gray).

 

[Cineman]

Really weird then. I should check my other criterion uhds to see how are the options. I have also The Piano that it's in the screenshot.
Don't you have others too?

This is the first 4K UHD Criterion I've bought.

But I do have 2-3 Criterion Blu-rays already, On The Waterfront and Rebecca. Neither one has a SUBTITLES option in the Main Menu.

There is AUDIO OPTIONS in the Main Menu for the On The Waterfront disc; Monaural, 5.1 Surround or Commentary. And, yes, the 5.1 Surround option is already black/highlighted when go there and if you leave it as it is and don't toggle up or down to the other grayed out options the movie will play at that black/highlighted 5.1 Surround default setting. Which, imo, is just as one would normally expect. For Rebecca there is only a Music and Effects option in the Main Menu, no Subtitles option. To access the Subtitle, I do have to press the Option button on my remote and select from among the Subtitle languages offered there.

You know, I believe it was the fact that the Main Menu selected options were the black/highlighted ones and that this Funny Girl disc only has one language option for the Subtitles, English (SDH), and only one choice to make regarding them, either OFF or ON, I naturally assumed my choosing SUBTITLES from the Main Menu meant I was already choosing to see those English (SDH) Subtitles in the movie and that the black/highlighted SUBTITLES ON indication that I saw when I went there was simply confirming my preference to have the Subtitles on without me having to toggle or choose anything more. I thought, oh that is nice of them to save me another toggle, press or whatever. Haha. And that if I changed my mind about having Subtitles at that point then I would have to toggle up to OFF.

I think I get what they were trying to do with those Subtitle options. Now. But I also feel my first inclination about it was reasonable too. Unfortunately, the only way to be sure which it is and who was right first time around is to play the movie and wait until someone speaks. Then if you got it wrong you have to reach for the remote and essentially stop watching or listening to the movie and start throwing Menu text up there on the screen for the next few seconds.

I think the suggestion made here by Neil S. Bulk to use arrows instead of black/highlight vs grayed out options in the Main Menu would have avoided any confusion about it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The subtitles on Funny Girl 4K/UHD is the same as it's on the Paper Moon, Rules of the Game and Scarface 4K/UHD releases which I checked this morning. Like I stated beforehand, I never noticed the subtitle option being grayed out because I always activated the subtitles from my Oppo 203 remote. There is no QC or authoring issue as was suggested earlier in this thread.

 

[roxy1927]

I think the bluray is great. I'm still not sure from the comments if it's worth spending the extra money on the 4k. Certainly a time travel machine film for me to have seen it at the Criterion. Though I remember as a child seeing the spinning Funny Girl logos on the marquee driving past the theater after my parents had taken us to see the Christmas show at Radio City.

Concerning Anne Francis from what I understand and this is from her, her big dramatic scene was never filmed. It was given to Kay Medford. Which Medford told her herself AFTER it was filmed.

There are stills from Who Taught Her Everything She Knows. So that was tossed?

I think the second half is wonderful though most people disagree with me. It is where Wyler's talents as a director really shine through in the confrontations between Fanny and Nick. Especially where Nick is offered the job while Fanny is flipping through a magazine. Sharif is perfection here with his slow realization of what is going on.

The Swan Lake parody is though pretty bad and they should have used Rat a Tat Tat.

 

[Alexander_Nevermind]

The first half of this film is loaded with the show's biggest songs so for me the second half drags. I find it extremely difficult to sit through. Streisand's performance is great no doubt, but period authenticity is not this film's strongest suit. Anne Francis is wasted, I don't blame her for wanting her name removed from the film. The "Swan Lake' parody is...not funny.

 

[roxy1927]

I wish more people would write in who have been living with the bluray for a while and it's a favorite film and have watched it a lot then bought the 4k and say if it was worth the double dipping. From Slowpoke pics the difference is not better or worse it is so negligeable to be which do you prefer. The bluray seems slightly brighter and the better definition of the 4k is barely noticeable. Is it worth the trade -off? It is hard to tell from the two pics.

Somebody referred to White Christmas. I saw the film many many years ago at the Regency and the colors were as vivid and brilliant as can be. And as beautiful as the recent MFL releases have been they still do not match the original 70MM print I saw twice in '78 which practically looked like gorgeous stained glass. The color palette is now slightly subdued but still beautiful. The 4k is pretty close though as I said you see things which you were not meant to see in large theaters when the film played roadshow on large screens. The Warner Cinerama had an 80ft wide screen which is of course is what 70MM films should be shown on. The Ziegfeld had I believe a 50ft screen which is why I never got the love for it. I think the restoration of Funny Girl is the last film I saw there. And what was especially frustrating about the Ziegfeld is that it could have handled a much larger screen which was proven when they installed a much larger screen for This is Cinerama. And it wasn't even Cinerama. It was a 70MM print! This screen was perfect for the theater. It just needed adjustable borders and a curtain. Look at the screen for the Hollywood Egyptian where Funny Girl had its west coast premiere. Huge.

 

[Mark-P]

Okay, as has been stated by others, there is nothing incorrect in the subtitle issue with this disc. I have looked at a couple Criterion Blu-rays from many years back and this is how they have always done their on/off options. The logic is what is being misinterpreted. When you go into the subtitle menu, if the subtitles are currently off, the "ON" will be highlighted because that is the option you are choosing to change it. When you hit enter the "OFF" will become highlighted, not because it is saying the subtitles are off, but because hitting enter again will turn them off. So basically the greyed out option is what is currently in use and the highlighted (black) option is what you are choosing to switch to.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

If it takes written instructions and two screenshots, one of them with an item circled, it could be Criterion's UI is the problem. I've always found menu designs with two options difficult to sort out. Just put an arrow pointing at the selected option and this issue goes away. Highlighting and colors changing never make sense when there are only two options available.

Or a small circle that gets filled in like when one uses a pencil to fill and select their candidate when voting.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Just a guess but maybe fear of piracy of the music? I remember the Twilight Time blu ray of "The Way We Were" was one of the few of their blu rays that did not have an isolated scores as as

I remember the fabulous Lost Horizon and Doctor Dolittle isolated scores on Twilght Timewere quite lovely. Also the TT The Way We Were does indeed have the isolated score which is why I’ve kept it. All but the title song she sings. But the film isn’t a musical so I can understand not budgeting for that extra. But musicals our very different for the different themes of the characters, cues, incidental music , etc. and studying film music in general. Hoping this is an exception rather than the rule.

 

[Garysb]

I remember the fabulous Lost Horizon and Doctor Dolittle isolated scores on Twilght Timewere quite lovely. Also the TT The Way We Were does indeed have the isolated score which is why I’ve kept it. All but the title song she sings. But the film isn’t a musical so I can understand not budgeting for that extra. But musicals our very different for the different themes of the characters, cues, incidental music , etc. and studying film music in general. Hoping this is an exception rather than the rule.

My mistake. It was the Twilight Time version of "Funny Lady" that did not have an isolated score. I never saw the Twilight Time blu ray of "The Way We Were". I got the Sony release from Europe which did not have an isolated score. I did that with a number of Twilight Time releases from Sony that sold out before I was ready to buy them. I had no interest in Yentl so I don't know if the Twilight Time version had an isolated score.