Best Looking Catalog DVDs (1 Viewer)

[JoHud]

A lot of recent Sony MODs tend to look excellent upconverted. Quite a bit of the WHV titles of the latter part of the prior decade hold up very well, such as America, America. Many of those DVDs were derived from recently done HD video masters.

 

[Robin9]

A few days ago I watched Harper, a very good DVD. In the close and medium shots it's not unlike High Definition but the long shots do give the game away

 

[Robin9]

I watched The Bad And The Beautiful last night. I've had the DVD for a long time but hadn't watched it recently. I had forgotten how good it is! A really good DVD with "extras" on the other side. Yes, it's a old-fashioned flipper!

As The Bad And The Beautiful is such an enjoyable film, I'm surprised it hasn't come out on Blu-ray.

 

[jsteed]

The Band Wagon(1953) DVD looks pretty darn good upconverted. The colors really pop on this DVD.

 

[Dr Griffin]

Thanks for all these suggestions; I add them to my Netflix queue (when available) as soon as I see them - keep them coming! I watched Visconti's "L'Innocente" and was very impressed with the transfer on this Kino/Lorber DVD. Blacks could have been better but overall very good picture quality; extremely depressing film though.

 

[Brent Reid]

Below, the 2002 submarine-horror film, is one of the best looking DVDs I've seen.

I'll second that: it was the first one that sprang to mind when I came across this thread... Bloody good film, too!


Recently bought & watched the Echo Bridge twofer BD & the video is even better. it's just a shame it loses the DVD's excellent 5.1 track & only has lossless 2.0 surround.

 

[Robin9]

I've just watched Lady In Cement projected onto a 10' wide screen. It's an exceptionally good DVD. It's been some time since I last saw it and I'd forgotten how good the picture quality was.

The film is third rate but the DVD is top quality.

 

[Dr Griffin]

While Blu-ray seems to run the gamut in quality, same as DVD, the curious thing for me is how bad some newer titles look on DVD. The Aviator DVD, for me, is unwatchable for instance. I'm not talking about in comparison to their BD counterparts, but against much older movies on DVD, some of which have been mentioned above. I still buy these stellar DVDs that are not available on BD. One exception is my recent addition of the Vertigo SE DVD, mainly bought for the restoration featurette and commentary (missing from the BD).

 

[Dr Griffin]

The 2006 stand alone Warner DVD of Cheyenne Autumn is a real beaut. The large majority of it looks fantastic. There is a couple unfortunate black dots at the top of the screen early in the film and some scenes with color fluctuation later in the film, but overall it looks and sounds wonderful. I'm not 100% sure if this is a different transfer as the one included in the Ford set, but one review I read claims it's presented in 2.35:1 in the box set, while the stand alone DVD is clearly in 2.20:1.

Edit: According to DVDBeaver, The John Ford Film Collection DVD set has Cheyenne Autumn in the original OAR.

 

[RMajidi]

Gary Tooze's enthusiasm prompted me to blind buy The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine DVD - a 1936 Paramount three-strip Technicolor film starring Sylvia Sidney, Fred MacMurray and Henry Fonda - now owned and distributed by Universal.

A wonderful looking DVD of an enjoyable film. Screenshots are available at Gary's review:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews46/trail_lonesome_pine.htm

 

[t1g3r5fan]

Gary Tooze's enthusiasm prompted me to blind buy The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine DVD - a 1936 Paramount three-strip Technicolor film starring Sylvia Sidney, Fred MacMurray and Henry Fonda - now owned and distributed by Universal.

A wonderful looking DVD of an enjoyable film. Screenshots are available at Gary's review:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews46/trail_lonesome_pine.htm

Don't forget that it was also the first three-strip Technicolor film to be shot outdoors. And I also agree that it looks absolutely beautiful.

 

[Robin9]

I watched On An Island With You two nights ago. The picture quality is really good.


Unfortunately my DVD now has a problem and "freezes" around the half-way mark as Peter Lawford bends down to pick up a crab. I've tested this on an Oppo DV-981 DVD player and two Blu-ray players and it "freezes" at the same point on all them. As this film stars two of my favorite actresses, Esther Williams and Cyd Charisse, I'll have to buy a new copy. One thing I learned: this disc is region free!

 

[classicmovieguy]

I watched On An Island With You two nights ago. The picture quality is really good.


Unfortunately my DVD now has a problem and "freezes" around the half-way mark as Peter Lawford bends down to pick up a crab. I've tested this on an Oppo DV-981 DVD player and two Blu-ray players and it "freezes" at the same point on all them. As this film stars two of my favorite actresses, Esther Williams and Cyd Charisse, I'll have to buy a new copy. One thing I learned: this disc is region free!

Initial production runs of this disc were region free, but since this disc was released, WB has switched it's disc manufacturing plants to Mexico and all those discs are R1 locked. For a cheap replacement alternative it might be better to seek out this smaller Esther Williams set:


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JKJSRHA/ref=pdp_new_dp_review

 

[Robin9]

Initial production runs of this disc were region free, but since this disc was released, WB has switched it's disc manufacturing plants to Mexico and all those discs are R1 locked. For a cheap replacement alternative it might be better to seek out this smaller Esther Williams set:


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JKJSRHA/ref=pdp_new_dp_review

Thanks for that. Before placing an order, I'll check the "missing" film doesn't also freeze.

 

[Dave B Ferris]

This would have been a real shot in the dark, but I was hoping this thread had been revived by someone posting that the new, pressed, release of "The Spanish Main" belongs in this discussion.

 

[John Hermes]

I've just watched Lady In Cement projected onto a 10' wide screen. It's an exceptionally good DVD. It's been some time since I last saw it and I'd forgotten how good the picture quality was.


The film is third rate but the DVD is top quality.

Tony Rome is one I wish TT would release on Blu-ray. I have LIC but need to take it out again and check out the PQ.

 

[Dr Griffin]

One I wanted to slip in before it's released on Blu-ray this year, is The Night of the Generals. O'Toole is excellent in a subdued but boiling under the surface performance. Omar Sharif joins him again in this one.

 

[RMajidi]

Not sure about its DVD availability elsewhere, but I was happily surprised to discover North West Mounted Police available through my local (Australian) distributor, JB Hi-Fi.

NWMP was a 1940 Cecil B. DeMille production for Paramount starring Gary Cooper, Madeleine Carroll, Paulette Goddard, Robert Preston and Preston Foster. Filmed in three-strip Technicolor, the colours look beautifully saturated and the print is largely blemish-free in the DVD offering by Bounty Films/Gryphon. Plus, I love the DVD cover art from an original poster:

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/movies-tv-shows/movies-tv-shows-on-sale/western/north-west-mounted-police/387147/

 

[RMajidi]

Home From The Hill is a 1960 MGM metrocolor melodrama directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Robert Mitchum, Eleanor Parker, George Peppard and George Hamilton.

I bought the TCM Greatest Classic Films Legends: Robert Mitchum DVD box-set for some of the other 4 titles it contained, but HFTH drew me in with the strength of its acting, its well-managed moody atmosphere and the high quality of the DVD presentation.

HFTH is also available as a standalone DVD from Warners, which I believe is the same disc as that in the TCM box-set.

Standalone:
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Hill-Robert-Mitchum/dp/B000JLTR9A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428716102&sr=8-1&keywords=Home+from+the+hill

Box-set:
http://www.amazon.com/TCM-GCF-Legends-Robert-Mitchum/dp/B00HETJJLG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428716169&sr=8-1&keywords=Tcm+mitchum

 

[bujaki]

Home from the Hill is probably my favorite Minnelli melodrama, followed by Some Came Running. And I saw them both on their original release (way over my head), but I was still strangely attracted to them. Saw them again in 35mm in NYC as an adult and loved them even more.