- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 16,745
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
Update: Feb 15
A replacement disc has finally been viewed.
And I've not come away smiling.
What could possibly be more simple than encoding a dissolve, in which one piece of film fades out, while the other fades in.
This is not what is occurring, and is not what the film was designed to be.
Once again (I didn't expect a change), the opening whistles are in the wrong place, fully at front proscenium, as opposed to the rear.
I've not bothered to check dupes, as I've given up on this release.
While it would be nice if MGM once again, offered a return for a proper disc, I'm wondering if as a corporate entity, they have the ability to get this right.
MGM owns many great films, but they are not represented properly.
It pains me to say that this Blu-ray is still...
Not Recommended.
And the pity is that generally, this is a beautiful release.
A recall is in order.
RAH
With discussions on line regarding West Side Story, I was able to get a UK copy, and will comment on that until my domestic arrives. Hopefully, there will be differences, but somehow I have a feeling it is what it is.
West Side Story has not be a lucky film on home video in the past few years. The last major DVD release was unviewable as a duet was so far out of sync, it seemed as if Maria was singing Tony's lines.
Now we have the Blu-ray, supposedly with 300 hours of restoration, whatever that means.
First the bad...
Huge problems from the beginning, as has been noted on the web.
The final dissolve from Mr. Bass' brilliant linear skyline pattern to the Main Title has somehow been turned into a fade out / fade in.
I'm not at all sure how this can occur, as any serious release should be prepped with both a continuity as well as reference. Apparently, neither were necessary for West Side Story.
From a purely technical standpoint, this is an easy error to make, as the original negative would have the dissolve as a printer function, as marked on the edges of the film. These errors have occurred in the past when older negatives are handled by some entity other than the original laboratory, which in this case was Technicolor. But with original reference prints that would clearly show this as a dissolve...
This is inexcusable.
Once we get past the Main Title, we hit helicopter shots of Manhattan, which now have a slight jitter to them that I don't recall in the past. This may be my memory playing tricks, but regardless, it's something one can live with.
The first sound heard in the film are whistles, which should come from the side rears, a mix of channels 1 & 6, and 5 & 6, bringing the sound just forward of rear. This doesn't seem to be occurring, as they seem a bit forward. Not a big deal. I can also live with this.
But far worse, we have faded opticals, which for whatever reason (cost?) no one felt should be fixed. Flesh tones are nonexistent, contrast blooms, sharpness in non-existent. Just bad, especially when one compares it to the good.
And good there is:
With the exception of the points noted above, the scan (which I've heard was performed by HTV, the company behind the "restoration" of Patton) seems very nice. There's stability to the image, reasonable grain and good color. Overall a good scan. I have no complaints.
Color also is nicely handled, with the exception of the dupes, which once transparent to the original, are now abominable.
While I don't understand why there was no return to the original (recently preserved) 6-track 70mm mix, the audio is superb. I had occasional problems, but nothing that would be disturbing to the casual viewer.
Once there is a recall -- and a recall is an absolute necessity, as this is no longer the Best Picture of 1961, but rather, some oddly adapted version -- and the dupe problems are dealt with, I'll be pleased to give this a very high rating.
My advice would be to pull the Blu-ray from distribution before it ships to consumers domestically, go back in and do the various necessary fixes, and then come back out -- in a few months -- with a viable product. If there is a re-issued version, there should be differentiation in the packaging.
As it is...
What we have is basically, garbage in, garbage out.
At this point in time, Not Recommended.
RAH
A replacement disc has finally been viewed.
And I've not come away smiling.
What could possibly be more simple than encoding a dissolve, in which one piece of film fades out, while the other fades in.
This is not what is occurring, and is not what the film was designed to be.
Once again (I didn't expect a change), the opening whistles are in the wrong place, fully at front proscenium, as opposed to the rear.
I've not bothered to check dupes, as I've given up on this release.
While it would be nice if MGM once again, offered a return for a proper disc, I'm wondering if as a corporate entity, they have the ability to get this right.
MGM owns many great films, but they are not represented properly.
It pains me to say that this Blu-ray is still...
Not Recommended.
And the pity is that generally, this is a beautiful release.
A recall is in order.
RAH
With discussions on line regarding West Side Story, I was able to get a UK copy, and will comment on that until my domestic arrives. Hopefully, there will be differences, but somehow I have a feeling it is what it is.
West Side Story has not be a lucky film on home video in the past few years. The last major DVD release was unviewable as a duet was so far out of sync, it seemed as if Maria was singing Tony's lines.
Now we have the Blu-ray, supposedly with 300 hours of restoration, whatever that means.
First the bad...
Huge problems from the beginning, as has been noted on the web.
The final dissolve from Mr. Bass' brilliant linear skyline pattern to the Main Title has somehow been turned into a fade out / fade in.
I'm not at all sure how this can occur, as any serious release should be prepped with both a continuity as well as reference. Apparently, neither were necessary for West Side Story.
From a purely technical standpoint, this is an easy error to make, as the original negative would have the dissolve as a printer function, as marked on the edges of the film. These errors have occurred in the past when older negatives are handled by some entity other than the original laboratory, which in this case was Technicolor. But with original reference prints that would clearly show this as a dissolve...
This is inexcusable.
Once we get past the Main Title, we hit helicopter shots of Manhattan, which now have a slight jitter to them that I don't recall in the past. This may be my memory playing tricks, but regardless, it's something one can live with.
The first sound heard in the film are whistles, which should come from the side rears, a mix of channels 1 & 6, and 5 & 6, bringing the sound just forward of rear. This doesn't seem to be occurring, as they seem a bit forward. Not a big deal. I can also live with this.
But far worse, we have faded opticals, which for whatever reason (cost?) no one felt should be fixed. Flesh tones are nonexistent, contrast blooms, sharpness in non-existent. Just bad, especially when one compares it to the good.
And good there is:
With the exception of the points noted above, the scan (which I've heard was performed by HTV, the company behind the "restoration" of Patton) seems very nice. There's stability to the image, reasonable grain and good color. Overall a good scan. I have no complaints.
Color also is nicely handled, with the exception of the dupes, which once transparent to the original, are now abominable.
While I don't understand why there was no return to the original (recently preserved) 6-track 70mm mix, the audio is superb. I had occasional problems, but nothing that would be disturbing to the casual viewer.
Once there is a recall -- and a recall is an absolute necessity, as this is no longer the Best Picture of 1961, but rather, some oddly adapted version -- and the dupe problems are dealt with, I'll be pleased to give this a very high rating.
My advice would be to pull the Blu-ray from distribution before it ships to consumers domestically, go back in and do the various necessary fixes, and then come back out -- in a few months -- with a viable product. If there is a re-issued version, there should be differentiation in the packaging.
As it is...
What we have is basically, garbage in, garbage out.
At this point in time, Not Recommended.
RAH
