CAMELOT - WARNER VID, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED. (1 Viewer)

[Joe Caps]

I got my blu ray of Camelot today, watched it once and gave it away.
What a travesty.
Picture - dull looking picture, beyond belief.
the dvd has more color than this, grain is all gone, and so is all fo the detail. Horrid !!!!
Sound - this is still the remix done for the first dvd and has NOTHING in common with the film thjat was nominated for
1. best Sound - that sound is not on this disc.
2. best music adaptation - that has all been screwed up here by wrong music takes, wrong background score in one scene, wrong voice to orehstra balance, partial chorus missing during Wedding chorus, chorus missing while Tome of warwick is running through the scene. You name it- this disc has it wrong.
I"m starting to think that someone at Wrners hates Lerner and Loewe.
Proof - blu ray of gigi, supposedly restored piture but its now all shades of red.
blu ray of My fair Lady - Nuiff said.
this new blu ray of Camelot - some one should be crucified for this one.

 

Warner didn't release My Fair Lady on blu-ray.

 

[KPmusmag]

But tell us how you really feel...
This is disappointing, and I knew that the sound was not right on this blu-ray.
In another thread, you mentioned that the first pan & scan laserdisc was the last format to use the original 4-track mix. This weekend, I plan to get this laserdisc out (I still have it) and, assuming it hasn't rotted (what are the odds?) and assuming the player will still spin up, my question is: will the 4 track decode in Pro Logic, or is it better to just listen in stereo?
Thanks for all your insights on this title.

 

[Jefferson]

I completely agree.
I ask "Do they need glasses, or do they not know orange from red?"
I sincerely do not understand the brown/sepia hues in the blu-ray classics from Warner.
Immediately, I suspected it was the same old wrong sound mix ported over, and now it has been confirmed.
I am utterly perplexed.
Years ago, in the vhs era, we had that sad 50th Anniversary transfer of Wizard of Oz "from technicolor elements", in which Judy had dark brown hair, and the whole thing was contrasty.
I was in my 20's at the time, but I knew this was not how the film was supposed to look, and I was right.
Later, Disney released (twice) their "restored" Mary Poppins on dvd, with brown skin tones on everyone and tendency toward orange-reds rather than true reds. In the extras, the jolly holiday sequence outtakes showed the correct pinks and reds.
Frustrating! Nobody seems to care.
And here we are again.
This will not change.
I am sad.

 

[moviepas]

So should we all now return our Blu Rays of this title for credit? We are told that WB is the top restorer for Blu Ray and they were given the job of recreating The African Queen.

I would be interested to hear if the LD has not rotted. Haven't played any for years as they are somewhat hemmed in and I was having trouble with the opening the tray. I did have trouble with some discs(besides those I got that were gritty in picture & sound) that seemed to have rotted but these were CAV sides not CLV sides. One that comes to mind was my copy of Sayonara on the CAV side. Unlike a CD you can't try and find a section that will play. The chapter stops don't work when this happens. My copy of Beauty & the Beast(Disney) Work in Progress(made by Fox's company in Michigan) was OK but countless copies were returned as faulty when it was released. My machine is an NTSC Panasonic LD from 1993-94.

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by moviepas /t/320441/camelot-warner-vid-you-should-be-ashamed#post_3921820
So should we all now return our Blu Rays of this title for credit? We are told that WB is the top restorer for Blu Ray and they were given the job of recreating The African Queen.

Paramount was the one that did THE AFRICAN QUEEN. The same company that did MY FAIR LADY.

I think we have to take each release one at a time and judge it by it's own merits and not past releases. People in charge change and companies decide not to put the money into it that should be used. As we complain about CAMELOT, will be singing the praises of WB when SINGIN' IN THE RAIN is released?

I am at a crossroad point here. I want CAMELOT, but do I dare support a not perfect release?

 

[Jefferson]

I buy all of them, so it isn't that I am refraining from buying.
I own 'em all, flaws and all, I'm just saying that it is a disturbing trend, and not a new one.

 

[David_B_K]

I have found that most of my laserdiscs that rotted were Columbia releases; so I'd be surprised if your Camelot discs have rotted.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

I have found that most of my laserdiscs that rotted were Columbia releases; so I'd be surprised if your Camelot discs have rotted.

I had a bunch of rotted Warner titles that were pressed quite poorly at their WEA plant. I never was able to get a clean copy of THE BAD SEED, one that either hadn't rotted or would track properly all the way through. Sony DADC pressed titles were pretty poor as well from a rot and dropout standpoint.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

But tell us how you really feel...
This is disappointing, and I knew that the sound was not right on this blu-ray.
In another thread, you mentioned that the first pan & scan laserdisc was the last format to use the original 4-track mix. This weekend, I plan to get this laserdisc out (I still have it) and, assuming it hasn't rotted (what are the odds?) and assuming the player will still spin up, my question is: will the 4 track decode in Pro Logic, or is it better to just listen in stereo?
Thanks for all your insights on this title.

Watching that Laserdisc isn't pleasant as it is terribly cropped and some reels are out of sync. It doesn't decode properly in Pro-Logic, but it sounds quite good in 2-channel stereo.

 

[KPmusmag]

Watching that Laserdisc isn't pleasant as it is terribly dropped and some reels are out of sync. It doesn't decode properly in Pro-Logic, but it sounds quite good in 2-channel stereo.

I recall not being terribly impressed with that laserdisc at the time (late 1980s) - but I may have been trying to run it through Pro Logic. I'll try it in stereo. At least it will represent the original mix and sound effects.

 

[moviepas]

The Fox LDs had editing errors. The sepia beginning of Shirley Temple's Heidi starts with her being taken up the hill to Jean Hersolt and then the footage stops and starts again. Can-Can restarts the chapter before on the next side.

[COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)]Paramount was the one that did THE AFRICAN QUEEN[/COLOR]

[COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)]Paramount farmed this job out to Warners to scan for the restoration because they could not do it themselves. Warners and other companies do specialist work that owners can't do for one reason or another because of the state of the elements. It makes sense. I have seen an interview of the Warner restoration boss, Ned, mentioning this film being done by his team.[/COLOR]

 

[Richard--W]

... I have seen an interview of the Warner restoration boss, Ned, mentioning this film being done by his team.

Price. Ned Price. The man with yellow and orange on the brain. He is responsible for this abomination:

and several other WB releases just as bad.
It's a miracle THE AFRICAN QUEEN turned out as well as it did with Price overseeing the job.
Warner Brothers should have fired him after his first "restoration" of GONE WITH THE WIND.

 

[JoHud]

Price. Ned Price. The man with yellow and orange on the brain. He is responsible for this abomination:

Was he, by chance, involved with the North By Northwest blu-ray? I recall a similar problem there as well.

 

[haineshisway]

Paramount was the one that did THE AFRICAN QUEEN.  The same company that did MY FAIR LADY.
I think we have to take each release one at a time and judge it by it's own merits and not past releases.  People in charge change and companies decide not to put the money into it that should be used.  As we complain about CAMELOT, will be singing the praises of WB when SINGIN' IN THE RAIN is released?
I am at a crossroad point here.  I want CAMELOT, but do I dare support a not perfect release?

Depends on your tolerance - it's REALLY brown and looks nothing like it should. And if Singin' in the Rain has the same color scheme as the last DVD, I certainly won't be singing its praises - most folks did for that DVD, but it was brown, brown, brown, and nothing like any IB Tech print I've ever seen or owned (and I've owned both 35mm and 16mm prints). I quake in my boots at every Warners color title - the fact that a few seem to escape with correct hues is the exception not the rule.

 

[Joe Caps]

I didn't think the color was REALLY brown, just low level, no detail and dull looking. It aint good.
Now that the name has been brought up, it was Ned Price in charge of the remix for this film. Why remix when the Academy Nominated tracks still exist?

 

[Paul Rossen]

Too bad for the movie Camelot as this Blu-ray will probably be Warners last stab at this title.

 

[KPmusmag]

Just out of curiosity, do you guys feel that the blu-ray of NORTH BY NORTHWEST is brown? I am just trying to get a sense of comparison. Thanks! (I have always thouth NBNw looked muddy on previous home video incarnations and I am thrilled with the blu-ray - but I don't know how it should look.)

 

[GMpasqua]

When I saw in the film at the Warner Theater in New York as part of their 70MM Broadway on Broadway series, it looked pretty much like the current blu-ray. It was brownish and dull looking.
The laserdiscs and DVD had the color pumped up and a much brighter image, but the blu-ray does look like the film did in 1978.
Of course WB could have pumped up the color/brightness giving a different look to the film - but then maybe not the correct look? I was satisfied with the presentation. And considering the plethora of musical films released on Blu-ray to date we are lucky to have it at all

 

[John Skoda]

I've only ever seen a later 35mm reissue print, and it was darker than the blu-ray, so I don't know how the original prints looked. But I'm pretty sure I read (in Logan's autobiography?) that the filmmakers made a deliberate choice to stick to earth tones for the costumes and sets in order to avoid what they thought was the cliche red/yellow color scheme you usually see in Hollywood movies involving knights.