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A PEEK AT THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES (1 Viewer)

john a hunter

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Well, I'm a Dyaliscope man myself ;).
Actually some of the these European processes were regarded as superior to the B&L lenses that CinemaScope used at that time.
As Doug noted above, he recalls the print he saw as very sharp.
 

CarlosMeat

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This is a special place indeed. I thought the B&W Regalscope was obscure enough.:D
 

Ed Lachmann

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They should have released Helen of Troy instead. A Much better movie with an Excellent cast.

Rhodes is a nice run-of-the-mill peplum picture which I upgraded immediately as I'm into that sort of thing. Still, Damon and Pythias is a much better peplum style film available in DVD from the WB Archives. But, Helen of Troy is what I would consider a masterpiece of its genre. Even its acclaimed director, Robert Wise, came to consider it one of his best efforts. Howard Hawks' stunning Land of the Pharaohs seems still in limbo, as is Victor Saville's bizarre but fun Silver Chalice and Richard Thorpe's campy as hell The Prodigal. But, I wonder if Cooper and Schoedsack's fabulous 1935 Last Days of Pompeii will ever make it to HD, just because it is so damned unique and feels kind of like King Kong meets Sign of the Cross.
 
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Alan Tully

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Yup, I originally posted this on another thread, I should have posted it here. DVD quality at best, I don't even know why Warner would release this.
 

OliverK

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Yup, I originally posted this on another thread, I should have posted it here. DVD quality at best, I don't even know why Warner would release this.

it is unfortunate that the caps from the DVD are pulled from the comparison as in several caps there was very little improvement from the DVD to the German Blu-ray so I would indeed expect there to be a very small difference only between the Warner Archive Blu-ray and the DVD.
 

Alan Tully

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it is unfortunate that the caps from the DVD are pulled from the comparison as in several caps there was very little improvement from the DVD to the German Blu-ray so I would indeed expect there to be a very small difference only between the Warner Archive Blu-ray and the DVD.

There is a comparison between the DVD & the Blu-ray just up on DVD Beaver. I think the lack of online chat about Colossus is that I'm thinking very few people are interested in buying it , & I just don't know why Warner released it when they didn't have the original elements, & what they do have is obviously sub-standard, especially with all the talk of Warner's very high standards. Oh well, onwards & upwards, looking forward to reviews on The Last Hunt & The Naked & The Dead.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_reviews52/the_colossus_of_rhodes_blu-ray.htm
 
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CarlosMeat

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Are those caps for real ? The German Blu Ray looks like a Blu Ray the Warner Archive Blu Ray looks like DVD resolution.
 

skylark68

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I thought it was a good transfer although not the best. It was a decent upgrade from the DVD. I watched it about a week ago. Love the film, Rory Calhoun is really fun to watch. The sword fight on the arm of the Colossus is tremendous for a film of the era. I only wish more of these old sword and sandal type films were released in the USA on bluray, including Hercules and Hercules Unchained. I could be wrong, but don't the rights to both of those films reside with WB?
 

haineshisway

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It was probably as good a transfer as could be done with a dupe negative many generations away from the camera negative.
 

OliverK

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It was probably as good a transfer as could be done with a dupe negative many generations away from the camera negative.

Agreed about the available elements but then why release it at all? if they wanted to release a movie of this type they could have released The Prodigal instead or Land of the Pharaohs or other movies where they should have less of an issue with the quality of the available elements. Or they may have approached the company in Europe that produced the master that was used for the German Blu-ray.

Oh well, even the Warner Archive cannot have a home run with every release.
 

haineshisway

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I agree about the why of this title. Unless they thought all the Leone freaks would have to have it, but considering Leone didn't consider it part of his filmography...
 

OliverK

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I agree about the why of this title. Unless they thought all the Leone freaks would have to have it, but considering Leone didn't consider it part of his filmography...

It certainly did not feel like a Leone movie to me, I can understand that he would disown it.
 

CarlosMeat

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Or they may have approached the company in Europe that produced the master that was used for the German Blu-ray.

.

What I was thinking as well. This is almost an embarrassment compared to the German release.
 

Randy Korstick

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I agree about the why of this title. Unless they thought all the Leone freaks would have to have it, but considering Leone didn't consider it part of his filmography...
The Leone factor is exactly why they chose this over The Prodigal, Land of the Pharaohs and Helen of Troy. Those 3 did not sell that well on VHS and DVD. I think only The Prodigal had a Laserdisc release. This film out sold those on DVD and most likely because of the Leone factor. He only made a handful(or Fistful pardon the pun) of films and Leone fans will keep buying them over and over so it makes sense to release a lesser film of his on blu ray.
 

OliverK

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What I was thinking as well. This is almost an embarrassment compared to the German release.

I have no special knowledge about how these releases are handled but one would think that at some point Warner would see that what they can achieve is not as satisfactory as it could be. At that point one would think that they could approach whoever holds the rights to the master that is used by European companies. You would also think that it would be more cost-efficient to go that route.
At least this is how one would hope it could be.
 
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