What's new

ScottHM

Screenwriter
Joined
Mar 18, 2003
Messages
1,001
Location
USA
Real Name
Scott
What I didn’t know if what I’m reading is true, is that painting was rough concept art. Not meant as a final piece. But someone decided it looked great and decided to use it as is.

View attachment 158175
That's not surprising, since it looks like a painting and not a landscape. I always just assumed it was a budgetary thing.
---------------
 

jayembee

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2020
Messages
7,632
Location
Hamster Shire
Real Name
Jerry
This is a tough one. Kind of like To Catch a Thief. This disc looks great. But if you have the Imprint disc, then you’re either kind of spoiled or misdirected. Maybe the Imprint disc is not properly presenting the film. One now has an option to watch either if one owns both. I may defer to the Paramount disc because I like the color during the climatic escape sequence.

Since I'm perfectly satisfied with the Criterion BD of The War of the Worlds, I felt no special reason to get Paramount's new two-fer release. I also have the Imprint release of When Worlds Collide, which, while not perfect, is good enough for me. I certainly don't feel the need to get the Paramount release just for what may or may not be an improvement on the Imprint.

Whether the Imprint of When Worlds Collide is "properly presenting the film" or not isn't an issue for me. It's an improvement over every previous viewing I've had of the film. Since I'm not quite old enough to have seen it when it was first released (not that I'd remember how it looked if I had) I have no opinion about whether it's properly presented.
 

Reed Grele

Supporter
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
2,218
Location
Beacon Falls, CT
Real Name
Reed Grele
I finally got around to watching both of the new Paramount releases: War of the Worlds and When Worlds Collide.

Since I don't own the imprint transfer of When Worlds Collide I wasn't able to do a side by side comparison. I thought Paramount's transfer looked wonderful. So no complaints with this film.

War of the Worlds in 4K didn't look any better than my Criterion 1080 BD release. In fact, in addition to the bluish "red" planet at the beginning, I noticed some banding in a few of the darker scenes. Not sure if I remember seeing that on the criterion. I'll have to check sometime.
 

Capt D McMars

Bernuli Tech Vet
Premium
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2011
Messages
5,381
Location
Colorado
Real Name
Todd Doc Sigmier
Shouldn't Mars be blue?? ;)
No, you're thinking of the "Other" Mars!!!
Looney Tunes No GIF by Looney Tunes World of Mayhem
 

Nelson Au

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 16, 1999
Messages
20,560
Nick, that’s really cool shot of Mars. I gather that’s not the actor Andrew McCarthy? I’ve thought about trying astrophotography and getting one of those types of telescopes.
 

Robert Harris

Archivist
Supporter
Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 8, 1999
Messages
19,954
Real Name
Robert Harris
 

Lord Dalek

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Messages
7,439
Real Name
Joel Henderson

"Well, this is the one I was looking forward to, despite the fact that they had damaged CITY LIGHTS by making that purely budgetary decision regarding the visibility of the wires, and then asked me if Chaplin had personally told me that the wires shouldn’t show. I was friendly with Jerry Epstein, Chaplin’s producer on LIMELIGHT, A KING IN NEW YORK, A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG, and THE FREAK. I brought him into class when I was doing a History of Film Comedy semester on Chaplin’s work and he had a great time reminiscing. But why, at any juncture back then, should I have, out of nowhere, posed the question “Hey Jerry, did Chaplin want us to see those wires in CITY LIGHTS?” Why would I have done that?"

...what is he talking about?
 

Robert Harris

Archivist
Supporter
Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 8, 1999
Messages
19,954
Real Name
Robert Harris
"Well, this is the one I was looking forward to, despite the fact that they had damaged CITY LIGHTS by making that purely budgetary decision regarding the visibility of the wires, and then asked me if Chaplin had personally told me that the wires shouldn’t show. I was friendly with Jerry Epstein, Chaplin’s producer on LIMELIGHT, A KING IN NEW YORK, A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG, and THE FREAK. I brought him into class when I was doing a History of Film Comedy semester on Chaplin’s work and he had a great time reminiscing. But why, at any juncture back then, should I have, out of nowhere, posed the question “Hey Jerry, did Chaplin want us to see those wires in CITY LIGHTS?” Why would I have done that?"

...what is he talking about?
The fact that a rep from Criterion wanted to know if he discussed the wires with Chaplin.
 

Nelson Au

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 16, 1999
Messages
20,560
Thanks RAH for that link to the reviews of the WotW’s DVD and blu ray releases. Interesting theory that the blue-ish Mars could be due to a 3D test print used erroneously for the 2D version.
 

Douglas R

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2000
Messages
3,225
Location
London, United Kingdom
Real Name
Doug
Ah! Films in Review. I used to love that magazine and looked forward to receiving each new copy in the mail. I still have many of them on my shelves.
 

Nelson Au

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 16, 1999
Messages
20,560
Guys- a friend asked me about a discrepancy he read about in the 2020 War of the Worlds restoration and compare the 1999 DVD to the new high definition restoration. It concerns the atomic explosion when the Air Force drops the bomb on the Martian machines. I made some screen caps from the 1999 DVD and the 2020 Criterion blu ray.

On the 1999 DVD, there is a white flash when the bomb goes off. On the new restoration, the white flash is gone and the fireball is visible. In looking at the screen caps, it looks like the fireball was there on the 1999 DVD film source, it just had a white overlay. I checked the Paramount 4K blu ray and the explosion looks the same as the Criterion blu ray, no white flash.

So, did the Paramount restoration team not realize there needed to be a white flash as the bomb went off? Perhaps people in 1951 knew what an atomic explosion looks like or and the 2020 crew did not have any notes to go by for the restoration. Or perhaps that white flash was not meant to be there? What do the War of the Worlds expert know about this? I wasn’t aware if this was discussed on any of the War of the Worlds threads. My gut says the white flash was supposed to be there. ( similarly in the 1968 film, Bullitt, there should be black frames present when one of the cars crashes into another, but have been removed on the Blu ray)

1999 Paramount DVD:
1999 DVD WotW A Bomb blast.jpeg
2020 Criterion blu ray
2020 Criterion BD WotW A Bomb Blast.jpeg
 

Robert Crawford

Crawdaddy
Moderator
Patron
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 9, 1998
Messages
72,940
Location
Michigan
Real Name
Robert
No WotW experts with comments to my post above?
I'm sure you're right but I don't have the time nor inclination to go back comparing discs. I find that it takes away from my enjoyment of this hobby. There are just too many movies to watch and not enough time to do so.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
360,719
Messages
5,220,719
Members
145,065
Latest member
scousechris
Recent bookmarks
0
Back
Top