A Few Words About A few words about...™ My Favorite Brunette -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

Actually I forgot most of the 30's and 40's Hope Paramount movies are owned by Universal. But Kino doesn't currently have a deal with Universal

I haven't watch some of those Hope films in years and due to this discussion I decided to buy the DVD of The Cat and the Canary along with Nothing But the Truth. I'll be having a Bob Hope film festival in the near future along with some other Hope films I already own.

 

[David Weicker]

My favorite is Monsieur Beaucaire

(after the Roads, of course)

 

[Will Krupp]

My favorite is Monsieur Beaucaire

(after the Roads, of course)

It's funny I just had a mini Bob Hope marathon last weekend and that was one of them I included! I may be alone in my appreciation/love for BACHELOR IN PARADISE but that was in the mix, too, lol.

 

[John Hermes]

It's funny I just had a mini Bob Hope marathon last weekend and that was one of them I included! I may be alone in my appreciation/love for BACHELOR IN PARADISE but that was in the mix, too, lol.

You're not alone.

 

[aPhil]

For me, it's always been CASANOVA'S BIG NIGHT. Basil Rathbone, Vincent Price, Raymond Burr, John Carradine, Lon Chaney, Jr., Joan Fontaine, Audrey Dalton...what a cost. The Technicolor DVD from Paramount is great and it would make an eye-popping Blu-ray. It includes my favorite Bob Hope "trick" ending. One of his best!

Okay, yes, Casanova's Big Night (for that cast) and The Cat and the Canary would be instant purchases from me if on Blu-ray.

Who has rights to and does anyone know the status of elements on "Casanova's Big Night" ?

I've seen a great and spotless looking airing or two on TCM of Bob Hope's "The Cat and the Canary"

 

[Randy Korstick]

Casanova's Big Night is exclusively with Paramount

 

[Todd Mattraw]

My favorite is Monsieur Beaucaire

(after the Roads, of course)

Obviously one of Woody Allen's favorites as well.

 

[LeoA]

Looks like there's multiple Bob Hope collections with The Ghost Breakers.

There's this one from 2010, which possibly is the one mentioned earlier in the thread.

And this one from 2014, which I just bought at Wal-Mart last night for $10 (Which loses Road to Morocco and adds Give Me a Sailor, Caught in the Draft, My Favorite Blonde, Never Say Die, and Sorrowful Jones.).

As a fan of The Ghost Breakers, I wonder if there's any chance that I got the superior transfer here?

 

[Will Krupp]

I don't know anything about the 2nd set (the blue-green one) but the top set DEFINITELY has the inferior (newer?) transfer.

The 2010 release uses an interlaced 30fps (60i) transfer. I'm still convinced they pulled the wrong master (an older, video based one) by mistake for inclusion in the collection. It's the only film in the set that isn't encoded at 24fps. It's highly possible that they realized their mistake (LOL) and included the corrected, progressive transfer (from 2002) in subsequent releases but I can't say for sure.

Years ago I did a screen grab comparison between the two but I'm afraid the pictures got lost at some point during an HTF server migration so I don't think they are still here.

If you have access to the .DAT files on the disc it will tell you the encoded frame rate. Another way to tell is that if you have a blu-ray player set to output DVD's at 24fps when available and it's still playing this title back at 60fps then you have the poorer, interlaced transfer

The good news is that the older, superior transfer is still readily available for under $7 if you don't want to take any chances.

https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Breake...qid=1503314325&sr=1-1&keywords=ghost+breakers

 

[Will Krupp]

As a fan of The Ghost Breakers, I wonder if there's any chance that I got the superior transfer here?

So, out of curiosity...what's the verdict???

 

[LeoA]

I know it's probably silly sounding since I'm the one that found it and picked it up, but I wasn't alone when I spotted it and it's now slated to be a Christmas present for me.

Perhaps I can get an early peak at this particular disc and see what the data says. I'll check back in after I do.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I know it's probably silly sounding since I'm the one that found it and picked it up, but I wasn't alone when I spotted it and it's now slated to be a Christmas present for me.

Perhaps I can get an early peak at this particular disc and see what the data says. I'll check back in after I do.

Been there, done that.

 

[LeoA]

I was watching The Ghost Breakers last night on that Bob Hope collection and remembered this thread (Which I thought was last year, rather than 2017...), and can't figure it out after a lot of trying. Even installed some programs like Virtual Dub that I thought might help me identify the frame rate encoded on the DVD.

My HDTV just says 60hz, unlike a Blu-Ray movie. So my suspicion is that it's the inferior interlaced 30 fps transfer being frame doubled by my PS4 during the scaling process with The Ghost Breakers, rather than the superior 24 fps transfer.

It's also not nearly as sharp looking as The Cat and the Canary on the same disc is, which looks like a transfer worthy of Blu-Ray to my eyes if what's on the disc was sourced from a HD transfer.

I think I'll just have to buy the standalone DVD and do some visual comparisons.

 

[Will Krupp]

I was watching The Ghost Breakers last night on that Bob Hope collection and remembered this thread (Which I thought was last year, rather than 2017...), and can't figure it out after a lot of trying. Even installed some programs like Virtual Dub that I thought might help me identify the frame rate encoded on the DVD.

My HDTV just says 60hz, unlike a Blu-Ray movie. So my suspicion is that it's the inferior interlaced 30 fps transfer being frame doubled by my PS4 during the scaling process with The Ghost Breakers, rather than the superior 24 fps transfer.

It's also not nearly as sharp looking as The Cat and the Canary on the same disc is, which looks like a transfer worthy of Blu-Ray to my eyes if what's on the disc was sourced from a HD transfer.

I think I'll just have to buy the standalone DVD and do some visual comparisons.

I wouldn't even bother with installing any programs, Leo. The transfer on that DVD collection is definitely an older, interlaced TV/VHS/laser era one at 30fps/60hz. It's also much darker and muddier than the standalone (which I can't believe is almost 20 years old itself!) Someone made a mistake somewhere because it's definitely a poorer version included in that collection. The older, standalone DVD (encoded at 24fps) is still available for under $10 on Amazon.

If you turn 24fps to ON or AUTO for DVDs, ALL that does is to tell the player to ignore the flags on the disc that used to tell DVD players they HAD to add pulldown at the player level (since all we had when the DVD specs were set were 60hz TVs.) In 24fps mode, the player outputs exactly what's on the DVD with nothing altered in terms of the frame rate. If you're in 24fps mode and the DVD is STILL being played at 60hz it's because that's the way it's encoded on the disc. It's an easy way to tell.

 

[LeoA]

Thanks, I'll buy that standalone version. This was always one of my favorites and I'd like to see it look the best it can with what's available on optical discs.

Another movie on that particular disc, Caught in the Draft, is an odd one. A few minutes in, the black & white color gradient for the movie suddenly changes completely. Probably isn't the correct terminology, but it's quite a sudden change when it happens. Two different sources must've been used, but it's hardly subtle like is usually the case when they mix and match transfers to get the best looking version of a movie as is possible.

I've yet to view the other discs, but I hope most of them look like The Cat and the Canary. Granted I've been watching these on a pretty small HDTV so some issues will be less apparent for me than someone watching them on a giant ~65" screen, but this one looked pretty much as good as Road to Singapore did on Kino's Blu-Ray that I revisited a few nights ago (A release I was quite happy with).

 

[Will Krupp]

Thanks, I'll buy that standalone version. This was always one of my favorites and I'd like to see it look the best it can with what's available on optical discs.

You do realize that the minute you buy it Kino will announce the blu-ray, right?

 

[ahollis]

You do realize that the minute you do Kino will announce the blu-ray, right?

I hope, so please order it.