Press Release Columbia Classics 4k Collection (photos) (1 Viewer)

[PMF]

As amazing the 2012 Blu-ray is, it doesn't hold a candle to how it looked in 4K projection when I caught one of the DCP screenings in 2012. Again, it doesn't mean the Blu-ray is bad, it's the best home media can offer. Same reason why people went from laserdisc to DVD, DVD to Blu-ray, and now Blu-ray to UHD.

Sony's UHD releases have consistently surprised me, especially on titles I didn't expect to make as much difference like The Bridge on the River Kwai or Bram Stoker's Dracula.

...and “A Few Good Men”.

 

[OliverK]

I expected that I would one day get Lawrence in 4K, but since it is split on two discs, I won't get it.

To each his own I guess but why one would not want to get up to change discs for a movie that actually has an intermission has always puzzled me.

It may also have the advantage of being able to stay with dual layer discs that are more reliable and compatible than the triple layer variety which would be an additonal advantage.

 

[BRAD1963]

I think it is a nice set and I have no objections to any of the titles they have selected. IMO the films they chose represent some of the best they have produced. I'm also happy to see all titles are new to the format and not re-packaged previous releases.

I'm hoping there will be a volume II.

 

[Mike2001]

I’m in for this and am also happy that all are new to the format.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Oh, I like the movies but I see no reason for them to be in a single set. And as I said, there's no way they're going to move 8000 copies. They should have made it a limited edition of about eight hundred copies--just to create buzz and promote their products--then release all the same movies individually.

It just makes me think that they'll go nowhere near their sales projects for moving 8000 units and then someone in corporate will say 'oh....how awful I guess no one wants movies in 4k after all. Bummer, guess we'll have to stop putting movies out in 4k.'

 

[jayembee]

Two epics, two black and white movies with relaitvely little to gain in UHD and two movies that already were among the first to be released in other formats, probably due to their popularity that unfortunately eludes me.

I'm not convinced that that's true. Yes, I know that color is where the format shines, but if B&W films are scanned (and maybe restored) at 4K, they are going to look better at 4K resolution than they would at 2K resolution. If the discs are upscales from 2K, you might have a point.

There's a point of diminishing returns, but I'm not sure this is where it is for these films. Your mileage may vary.

 

[jayembee]

I’m in for this and am also happy that all are new to the format.

It's nice that they are all new to the format, but if instead of this, they announced a Columbia Lean set with The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, and Passage to India, I'd jump on it, even though one would be a redux.

 

[PMF]

Again, I say, it is altogether fantastic to see that 6 more films have been delivered to the 4K/UHD format.

And, I might add, it is just as uplifting to see that Julie Kirgo is back in action; as her newly written essays are inclusive to the hard bound book that accompanies this boxed set.

But gosh, Columbia, can’t we also have the option of purchasing just the individual titles as we so choose?

 

[RICK BOND]

Still waiting for a Bluray for Barabbas (1961) with Anthony Quinn and Jack Palance. C'mon Sony what's the hold up ?? : (

 

[OliverK]

I'm not convinced that that's true. Yes, I know that color is where the format shines, but if B&W films are scanned (and maybe restored) at 4K, they are going to look better at 4K resolution than they would at 2K resolution. If the discs are upscales from 2K, you might have a point.

There's a point of diminishing returns, but I'm not sure this is where it is for these films. Your mileage may vary.

I wrote that there was relatively little to gain not that there wouldn't be any differences so I don't think we disagree.

 

[OliverK]

Still waiting for a Bluray for Barabbas (1961) with Anthony Quinn and Jack Palance. C'mon Sony what's the hold up ?? : (

I'd think that the hold up would be money, man power and/or rights issues. That being said it is probably the number one Sony title that I'd wish Sony would release on a really good Blu-ray AND UHD Blu-ray.

 

[Britton]

I want a lot of those movies but I’m done with giant boxes that take up too much shelf space.

 

[Thomas T]

Still waiting for a Bluray for Barabbas (1961) with Anthony Quinn and Jack Palance. C'mon Sony what's the hold up ?? : (

Realistically, the film wasn't exactly a box office smash. Its U.S. gross was around $3 million (roughly $26 million in 2020 dollars) and received no Oscar nominations. Unlike, say, Ben-Hur or Ten Commandments, it's a biblical epic that doesn't have a wide appeal or very well known today. Judging from the transfer used for the DVD, major restoration work needs to be done to make it acceptable for HD and would the expense be worth it for Sony? Does the Roadshow version still exist? I'd love to see MacKenna's Gold in HD on blu ray but I doubt that will ever happen for similar reasons. The film was a flop and not especially liked and I doubt the Roadshow version still exists. The best chance for both titles on physical media, if it ever happened, would have been Twilight Time but that's a moot point now.

Could they be released on blu ray using the best available elements? Sure but look at the backlash when Olive released The Hallelujah Trail using less than stellar elements.

 

[john a hunter]

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[Mike2001]

]

 

[john a hunter]

Realistically, the film wasn't exactly a box office smash. Its U.S. gross was around $3 million (roughly $26 million in 2020 dollars) and received no Oscar nominations.

Yes, well sorry about the above post 75.
Was 6 am here and still half asleep and then had to rush to the shops when they open ( but not for toilet paper.)

The point I was going to make was that there are places in the world other than the U.S.
From memory Barabbas had a healthy roadshow run in the U.K and probably in the rest of the world too.
May not be a Ben Hur smash but it was no disaster either.
It also raises the question is whether Sony is to market their 8000 box sets worldwide or solely to the U.S.

 

[OliverK]

Realistically, the film wasn't exactly a box office smash. Its U.S. gross was around $3 million (roughly $26 million in 2020 dollars) and received no Oscar nominations. Unlike, say, Ben-Hur or Ten Commandments, it's a biblical epic that doesn't have a wide appeal or very well known today. Judging from the transfer used for the DVD, major restoration work needs to be done to make it acceptable for HD and would the expense be worth it for Sony? Does the Roadshow version still exist? I'd love to see MacKenna's Gold in HD on blu ray but I doubt that will ever happen for similar reasons. The film was a flop and not especially liked and I doubt the Roadshow version still exists. The best chance for both titles on physical media, if it ever happened, would have been Twilight Time but that's a moot point now.

Could they be released on blu ray using the best available elements? Sure but look at the backlash when Olive released The Hallelujah Trail using less than stellar elements.

Agreed on Barabbas not being very popular but then apart from Ben-Hur and the Ten Commandments not too many biblical movies from the 50s and 60s are hot sellers and we got a number of releases anyway.

As for Twilight Time releasing Barabbas or Mackenna's Gold they would only have released what Sony makes available which is something other companies do, too so that would be taken care of if a new master becomes available. I would also add The Long Ships to the short list of missing and obscure large format movies that need a remaster.

Best available elements for foreign Blu-ray releases of Barabbas point to little more than DVD quality in existing masters so there is very little to be gained by a Blu-ray release which is very similar to The Hallelujah Trail.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Down to $112.99 on Amazon right now...

 

[FanboyZ]

we all filled out the forums, I just enough of us voted for Last Action Hero...

 

[Mike2001]

At $112, it is in the B2G1 sale at Target this week. There is nothing else that expensive to balance it out with, though.