Directors Best and Worst DVD Transfers

[Sean Conklin]

 

[Jan H]

I'm gonna stick with the worst, because I'd like to vent. First off,

Enigma - great movie, utterly unviewable transfer. You'd think the morons that had enough sense to make a film of this quality would give its DVD release more thought. The degree to which this is a better WWII film than Pearl Harbor is directly proportional to the degree the treatment both transfers received. Unacceptable!

The Godfather Trilogy - Some restoration is seriously in order.

 

[Sean Conklin]

 

[Jan H]

Yup.

I'd stick to the topic, Sean, or you're thread's gonna get bypassed quicker than the U.N.

 

[Sean Conklin]

They always do

I probably should have put it in Software.

 

[John CW]

Yep, this is definitely a software forum post (I think?)

Best: Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? (only seen the Region 2 UK Version though)
Lord of the Rings: FotR
Memento

Worst: WarGames

~ Johnny

 

[Patrick McCart]

It's sad that wonderful 4:3 transfers like Armageddon and The Abyss get slammed just for not being 16x9. Besides that one flaw, the transfers are wonderful. I guess it's the same mentality about how 1.0 mono sounds worse than 2.0 mono...

As for my picks:

Best:

Metropolis (Kino)
The Thin Man
It Happened One Night
Singin' In The Rain: SE
Harvey
8 1/2 (Criterion)
North By Northwest
A Hard Day's Night: SE
Help!
Doctor Zhivago
The Producers
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory: Widescreen SE
Arsenic and Old Lace
Casablanca
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest: SE
Amadeus: Director's Cut
Young Frankenstein
Monty Python and the Holy Grail: SE
Superman: The Movie
Being There
The Elephant Man
Airplane!
The Evil Dead: Book of the Dead Edition
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
UHF
Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Vista Series
Artificial Intelligence
Big Trouble In Little China
Moulin Rouge!
Fellowship of the Ring: Extended Edition
Minority Report

Worst:

Magical Mystery Tour (The clip in The Beatles Anthology look beautiful...what the heck happened here?)
2001: A Space Odyssey (MGM edition)

I almost would put Fantasia in the list because of the poorly dubbed narration and 30 seconds of censorship which ruined my experience with the film. However, the visuals and audio are wonderful otherwise. Still, not making it to either list.

Also, a lot of upcoming DVDs ought to look superb.

 

[Mike Hutman]

The worst one I have seen would be The Good Girl. I loved the movie, but I'm having trouble putting that DVD in again.

 

[Angelo.M]

the thin red line was recommend to me as a great transfer; just bought it; it's terrific

 

[Holadem]

Worst:

Final Countdown
The Crying Game

VHS looks far better than these transfers. No, it's not an exageration.

--
Holadem

 

[Sean Conklin]

Wow, that sounds like a BAD transfer, it doesnt get any worse than that.