"A Hard Day's Night" 50th Anniversary restoration Criterion blu-ray confirmed... (1 Viewer)

[AnthonyClarke]

How appalling. Well, I hope Criterion, being pretty responsible people, wake up in time and offer Ron's track .. unless they have no choice in what they use!

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

I know, right? I already passed on the 2009 Blu-Ray version, and if Criterion doesn't come to their senses and let Ron use his mono restoration, I will be passing on it again.

Ron is Bob Furmanek's older brother.

 

[Patrick McCart]

I don't see why they wouldn't use the restored mono track, especially since they're specifically indicating the stereo and 5.1 tracks as remixes. Of course, if they found the original soundtrack negative, they would have a reason not to. I recall hearing that only the music/effects track existed and obviously the 4-tracks of the songs/score.

 

[Yorkshire]

I don't know about everything else, but the mono mixes of the songs are almost certainly still available from Abbey Road.

This book notes when unique mono mixes were created for the film. The author was privilaged enough to be able to sit and listen to the entire Beatles archive. Almost everything had been kept and he usually noted when things were logged in the recording sessions but no longer existed for him to listen to, and I don't remember him saying these were missing. I really should dig it out for another read.

Steve W

 

[Alan Tully]

I don't know about everything else, but the mono mixes of the songs are almost certainly still available from Abbey Road. This book notes when unique mono mixes were created for the film. The author was privilaged enough to be able to sit and listen to the entire Beatles archive. Almost everything had been kept and he usually noted when things were logged in the recording sessions but no longer existed for him to listen to, and I don't remember him saying these were missing. I really should dig it out for another read. Steve W

I'm sure I have that book somewhere. Last year the author, Mark Lewisohn published the first of a three book biography of the Beatles, Tune In. It's a massive book & it only takes it to the release of their first single in 1962. I got it for Christmas & am going to dig into it soon.

 

[TravisR]

I'm sure I have that book somewhere. Last year the author, Mark Lewisohn published the first of a three book biography of the Beatles, Tune In. It's a massive book & it only takes it to the release of their first single in 1962. I got it for Christmas & am going to dig into it soon.

I got that book for Christmas too. It's definitely an interesting and massive book. I started reading it about a month ago and I'm only coming to the end now.

 

[Sam Favate]

The release of AHDN on blu-ray only leaves Let It Be to be released. Get on it, Apple!

 

[lukejosephchung]

The release of AHDN on blu-ray only leaves Let It Be to be released. Get on it, Apple!

They already are...director Michael Lindsay-Hogg says the restoration and compilation work's been done since 2012...they're waiting for the surviving Beatles & John & George's widows to give final release approval!!!

 

[Wayne_j]

I just saw a trailer for AHDN, July 4 in 4K theaters everywhere.

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

Is Bob Furmanek reading this thread? I have a question for him:

Your brother, Ron, said that that the film uses the recordings at the right speed, and that all the mixes for records were sped up to sound more lively. But Director Richard Lester said that he shot the studio scences at 25fps in order to match the scan rate of the PAL (European standard) TV monitors.

Who is correct on this?

 

[Clinton McClure]

I'm down to only buying one or two BDs per year now and this will definitely be one.

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

http://www.inentertainment.co.uk/20140429/the-beatles-a-hard-days-night-re-release-trailer/

Someone on another forum complained about how the music on the trailer sound rechanneled and not true stereo (or true mono, if it's supposed to be the original mono soundtrack and not Giles' 5.1 remix.

Looks like another butchered release in terms of audio just waiting to happen.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

Is there any word yet on other (international) releases?

The Beatles were quite popular in the UK as well as in Australia and USA, so I'm surprised that Amazon.co.uk is still listing only the import Criterion. Shurely shome mishtake as that famous journalist Lunchtime O'Booze would have said.

 

[Patrick McCart]

http://www.inentertainment.co.uk/20140429/the-beatles-a-hard-days-night-re-release-trailer/

Someone on another forum complained about how the music on the trailer sound rechanneled and not true stereo (or true mono, if it's supposed to be the original mono soundtrack and not Giles' 5.1 remix.

Looks like another butchered release in terms of audio just waiting to happen.

The trailer seems to use the new remix. There's definitely a lot of separation - John's lead vocal seems more centered, harmonies are wider, drums more to the left, guitar more on the right.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Is there any word yet on other (international) releases?

The Beatles were quite popular in the UK as well as in Australia and USA, so I'm surprised that Amazon.co.uk is still listing only the import Criterion. Shurely shome mishtake as that famous journalist Lunchtime O'Booze would have said.

Here's the announcement on the UK release. Personally, I much prefer this cover. Just wish this version were Region Free. Extras look the same, with the Criterion having a couple more smaller pieces.
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=13872

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Is Bob Furmanek reading this thread? I have a question for him:

Your brother, Ron, said that that the film uses the recordings at the right speed, and that all the mixes for records were sped up to sound more lively. But Director Richard Lester said that he shot the studio scences at 25fps in order to match the scan rate of the PAL (European standard) TV monitors.

Who is correct on this?

I just checked with Ron and he has addressed this issue on this post at Steve Hoffman's site:
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/giles-martin-tweets-a-hard-days-night-update-coming-on-criterion-blu-ray.337021/page-16#post-10422213

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Here is something interesting I would like to share. I asked around, and found out that when the film was first released 50 years ago, it began with a B&W United Artists Hexagon. Wouldn't you love to see that restored on the latest version of the film?

Ron Furmanek is responsible for restoring this logo to the film in place of Walter Shenson's replacement. Paul Rutan located the original 35mm negative.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Here's proof that Ron Furmanek's mono mix for the new blu-ray edition of A Hard Day's Night was rejected by Criterion.

Trust me, it WILL be a butchered mono mix. Nowhere near as close to the original one as possible, the one Ron had in mind.

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/giles-martin-tweets-a-hard-days-night-update-coming-on-criterion-blu-ray.337021/page-13

Ron's restoration of the mono mix was not rejected. In fact, it was not even submitted or considered for this release!

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

Ron Furmanek is responsible for restoring this logo to the film in place of Walter Shenson's replacement. Paul Rutan located the original 35mm negative.

So the Walter Shenson Presents logo was NOT part of the original negative? Not even the A Walter Shenson Production one? It just began with a silent hexagon, followed by the opening scene to the film?

 

[Bob Furmanek]

So the Walter Shenson Presents logo was NOT part of the original negative? Not even the A Walter Shenson Production one? It just began with a silent hexagon, followed by the opening scene to the film?

From Ron:

Yes, it began with just the UA logo and went right into the film.

Note: the song played complete with NO screaming heard until the fade out. The screaming and Walter's new title card were added to the 1980's/90's re-releases.