UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ My Fair Lady-- in 4k UHD Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[John Maher_289910]

There was a time when Grease beat SOM. I remember years ago somebody asking Julie Andrews how she felt about Grease being more successful financially than the sound of music and she said well things change. I am glad that that is no longer the case. Though I am surprised that movies like Titanic and Avatar are not higher.
I don't believe my fair lady was the success that Jack Warner thought it would be. I think he thought that it was going to be a blockbuster close to the level of The Sound of Music. On release it had a less than 2 year run including roadshow and general release engagements. The Sound of Music had a four year run.

Yes, lots of films beat TSOM, but unadjusted, which doesn't really count. TSOM had an initial release that lasted 4 1/2 years, Jack Warner claimed that MFL would be the biggest money maker of all time, but it wasn't even the biggest moneymaker of 1964 releases. That was MARY POPPINS, which in addition to making more money, cost less than MFL. Still, by anyone's measure MFL was a big hit.

 

[MatthewA]

What Mx tracks?

The ones you described as having been "lost or destroyed" in the 1994 documentary.

 

[Robert Harris]

The ones you described as having been "lost or destroyed" in the 1994 documentary.

Understood.

WB delivered c. 200 cartons of elements to CBS in 1971. About a third of those were junked, as unnecessary. Not an unusual occurrence for the era.

 

[roxy1927]

WB delivered c. 200 cartons of elements to CBS in 1971. About a third of those were junked, as unnecessary. Not an unusual occurrence for the era.

So depressing to read.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

WB delivered c. 200 cartons of elements to CBS in 1971. About a third of those were junked, as unnecessary. Not an unusual occurrence for the era.

One wonders what could possibly be in those 67 or so boxes: M&E tracks, a clean copy of of the opening titles, or a textless copy of the background images for the opening titles... the mind reels, and it's probably best not to dwell on such things.

 

[Robert Harris]

One wonders what could possibly be in those 67 or so boxes: M&E tracks, a clean copy of of the opening titles, or a textless copy of the background images for the opening titles... the mind reels, and it's probably best not to dwell on such things.

There is an inventory.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

There is an inventory.

And now you've REALLY piqued my curiosity.

 

[MatthewA]

The Disney Channel actually aired My Fair Lady before and after its restoration. The first airing was Christmas 1986, around the same time Audrey Hepburn did a TV movie and Rex Harrison did a mini-series. Many cast members actually worked for Disney; in addition to Gladys Cooper's aforementioned role in a Sherman brothers musical (where she shared credit on-screen with Hermione Baddeley), Wilfrid Hyde-White had already been in In Search of the Castaways first while Laurie Main, the uncredited Australian-born actor who asked Higgins "where do I come from?" at Covent Garden was the photography teacher in 1976's Freaky Friday and hosted TDC's Welcome to Pooh Corner.

I know they aired it again around Halloween 1989 and the restoration aired around Valentine's Day 1995 at least partly in widescreen.

 

[roxy1927]

I wanted to highly recommend a youtube video of an interview with Pete Menefee(which was recommended on a theater site) called Pete Menefee-A Dancer's Life done by Rusty Frank. As a young dancer he appeared in the films of BBB, Mary Poppins and MFL as well as a number of Elvis films. His anecdotes of Poppins and Lady are especially interesting. When Andrews heard he was leaving Poppins for Lady because he had a contract to do it even before he was hired for Poppins her reaction turned his blood cold. Somebody also played a very very mean trick on Hepburn during Lady rehearsals but unfortunately he doesn't explain why or how it possibly could have happened.
If you like movie musicals and television variety shows of the 60s it is not to be missed. A very charming interesting guy.

 

[MatthewA]

His IMDb page mentions none of his feature film appearances other than Bye Bye Birdie, but it does reveal quite a list of names headlining TV specials he was in.

 

[roxy1927]

He has a vocal part in BBB as Harvey Johnson. He does say IMDB is woefully lacking and he's trying to get them to update it without success.

By the way does anyone know the names of the actors of Doolittle's two cronies? The tall and the short one? It's hard to tell from IMDB.

 

[Robert Harris]

I can only relate from personal experience the amount of frustration, angst and wasted time, attempting to get my own credits straightened out. I’ve given up, as some important projects which once appeared, are now missing.

 

[Robert Harris]

He has a vocal part in BBB as Harvey Johnson. He does say IMDB is woefully lacking and he's trying to get them to update it without success.

By the way does anyone know the names of the actors of Doolittle's two cronies? The tall and the short one? It's hard to tell from IMDB.

One is John Alderson

 

[roxy1927]

He's the tall one correct?

 

[Robert Harris]

He's the tall one correct?

Yes

 

[Christian D66]

My friend John Truscott, who won an Oscar for 'Paint Your Wagon', loved Lee Marvin's 'Wandering Star'. I thought it was wonderful.

He should! And people seem to forget it was a hit single in the UK for Marvin!

 

[roxy1927]

I don't believe he got one for PYW though I think the costumes are great. Anne of Thousand Days won. Sharaff's costumes for HD were also stiff competition. He got two for Camelot.

 

[roxy1927]

This is one of the rare soundtracks mastered at 96hz - it's possible your LG can't decode it.
Try switching the sound output on your HDMI from bitstream to PCM and let the player decode it internally .

I don't know how I did it because I'm not good at these kind of things but somehow I managed change the HDMI from bitstream to PCM. I don't even know what these things are. But it worked! Now I can listen to it blissfully without problems and I think the sound is even better.
Thank you very much Rob W!

 

[titch]

I noted, while reading the review of this excellent disc in Widescreen Review, that: "The full restoration of this classic film.... is credited to long-time Widescreen Review friend and Film Historian/Preservationist Robert A. Harris". It was nice to know that Mr Harris is a friend of this magazine, published by a dedicated enthusiast for almost 30 years. They have been struggling to keep afloat for years - as all print media have.

 

[Robert Harris]

One wonders what could possibly be in those 67 or so boxes: M&E tracks, a clean copy of of the opening titles, or a textless copy of the background images for the opening titles... the mind reels, and it's probably best not to dwell on such things.

All of those elements, plus stems.