Crawdaddy's "Random Thoughts" about Home Video, Film & TV (2 Viewers)

[bujaki]

The movie started filming in December, 1952 and was finished in mid-February, 1953, so I think it was converted to WS. The HD digital is 1.37 and the color looks beautiful. The framing looks fine to me as I suspect this is similar to "Shane" which was filmed in 1951.

Thanks. That seems right.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Man, these Arrow Blu-rays are expensive with little or no discount and few sales of them. I was looking at the different retailers and all of them are no cheaper than $27.99. Even if you wait some time, the pricing only gets down to $24.11. One retailer wanted $30 for "Weird Science", yes, "Weird Science" at $30. You can save a few bucks by buying them from the UK, but it's still $25.11 plus shipping for "The Major and the Minor".

Okay, rant over! Looks like I'll have to use some bonus points or gift card to buy it from Amazon.

Edit: I might have found a way to get Arrow titles cheaper by buying directly from them on early bird pricing.

 

[Rodney]

Man, these Arrow Blu-rays are expensive with little or no discount and few sales of them.

I have no qualms about pre-ordering Arrow Blu-rays and make sure I get a first pressing with the collectible booklets, but both Kino and Twilight Time have conditioned me to wait for their inevitable sale at 50% off or more, so I rarely pre-order their titles.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm through the first 30 minutes of Kino's Blu-ray release and it looks marvelous on my 55" OLED.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm through the first 30 minutes of Kino's Blu-ray release and it looks marvelous on my 55" OLED.

The Blu-ray of "Reap the Wild Wind" looks better than any previous presentation I've seen of this movie and it's by a wide margin. After reading RAH's initial comments about it, I was a little concern about Technicolor registration issues, but on my 55" OLED, I didn't see much of that as I've seen with some other Technicolor movies on Blu-ray. I'm very happy with the video presentation. RAH's score was 3.25, but it's a solid 4.25 score for me. It's not on "The Wizard of Oz" pristine level as an example, but I think most of us will be very happy with it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

It's finally back! This week's Noir Alley selection is "The Big Clock" (1948). I watched my Arrow Blu-ray within the past year and have watched the HD Digital on iTunes so I won't watch it again, but I will listen to Eddie's before and after commentary.

TCM's Noir Alley Revised 2019 schedule.

03-09-19: D.O.A. (1950)
03-16-19: High Sierra (1941)
03-23-19: Lady in the Lake (1946)
03-30-19: Border Incident (1949)
04-06-19: 99 River Street (1953)
04-13-19: Nobody Lives Forever (1946)
04-20-19: M (1951)
04-27-19: Woman on the Run (1950)
05-04-19: Nightmare Alley (1947)
05-11-19: White Heat (1949)
05-18-19: Key Largo (1948)
05-25-19: Dead Reckoning (1947)
06-01-19: The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
06-08-19: Nora Prentiss (1947)
06-15-19: Pickup on South Street (1953)
06-22-19: Shadow on the Wall (1950)
06-29-19: On Dangerous Ground (1951)
07-06-19: The Tattooed Stranger (1950)
07-13-19: The People Against O'Hara (1951)
07-20-19: While the City Sleeps (1956)
07-27-19: Thieves' Highway (1949)
09-07-19: The Big Clock (1948)
09-14-19: Nocturne (1946)
09-21-19: The Woman on the Beach (1947)
09-28-19: The Harder They Fall (1956)
10-05-19: Trapped (1949) replaces The Bribe (1949)
10-12-19: Clash By Night (1952)
10-19-19: This Gun For Hire (1942)
10-26-19: Force of Evil (1948) replaces A Woman's Secret (1949)
11-02-19: Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
11-09-19: Johnny Eager (1941)
11-16-19: The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
11-23-19: Kansas City Confidential (1952)
11-30-19: The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
12-07-19: Berlin Express (1948)
12-14-19: Criss Cross (1949)
12-21-19: Cash on Demand (1961) replaces I Died a Thousand Times (1955)
12-28-19: Repeat Performance (1947)
01-04-20: The Big Sleep (1946)
01-11-20: The Captive City (1952)
01-18-20: The Big Night (1951)

 

[Matt Hough]

I do appreciate your continuing to post this list as it allows us to anticipate with great relish some of the upcoming goodies.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Another beautifully looking Blu-ray is "The Spoilers" (1942). As many times I've seen this movie since my childhood back in the 1960's, it's never looked this good. Wow! I'm listening to the audio commentary right now with Toby Roan.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The Blu-ray of "Reap the Wild Wind" looks better than any previous presentation I've seen of this movie and it's by a wide margin. After reading RAH's initial comments about it, I was a little concern about Technicolor registration issues, but on my 55" OLED, I didn't see much of that as I've seen with some other Technicolor movies on Blu-ray. I'm very happy with the video presentation. RAH's score was 3.25, but it's a solid 4.25 score for me. It's not on "The Wizard of Oz" pristine level as an example, but I think most of us will be very happy with it.

I just realize that the DVD of this film that I'm deleting from my DVD Profiler and throwing away the disc is from 12-15-98. Almost 21 years old.

Edit: Oops, I forgot I had 06-12-07 DVD disc in my 12-15-98 DVD case. Either way, both DVDs are toast.

 

[Robert Crawford]

ESPN debut on September 7, 1979. Man, where did those 40 years go to?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Is "The Bad and the Beautiful" a Film Noir? I have the HD Digital from iTunes that I need to watch as it's been a while from my last viewing of this great film.

 

[Matt Hough]

I would say no, The Bad and the Beautiful is not a film noir. But it's a crackerjack melodrama of its era.

 

[Cranston37+]

I would say no, The Bad and the Beautiful is not a film noir. But it's a crackerjack melodrama of its era.

With one hell of a great score...

 

[Robert Crawford]

I finished my John Wayne (1942) trilogy with "The Spoilers" and "Pittsburgh", both really good looking Blu-rays from Kino. I actually watched "The Spoilers" twice as it has a pretty informative audio commentary from Toby Roan.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I start my 3-D Challenge in which I watch at least one 3-D movie each week until the end of the year. The first one is "Beowulf" (2007) the first movie I watched at a brand new IMAX theater that opened about 40 minutes. It was November 16th, 2007 which was a Friday and I was in awe of that 3-D IMAX presentation.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I start my 3-D Challenge in which I watch at least one 3-D movie each week until the end of the year. The first one is "Beowulf" (2007) the first movie I watched at a brand new IMAX theater that opened about 40 minutes. It was November 16th, 2007 which was a Friday and I was in awe of that 3-D IMAX presentation.

View attachment 62739

The 3-D presentation on this German Blu-ray was excellent. It brought me back to a certain degree that 3-D IMAX showing back in 2007.

 

[Robert Crawford]

It's finally back! This week's Noir Alley selection is "The Big Clock" (1948). I watched my Arrow Blu-ray within the past year and have watched the HD Digital on iTunes so I won't watch it again, but I will listen to Eddie's before and after commentary.

TCM's Noir Alley Revised 2019 schedule.

03-09-19: D.O.A. (1950)
03-16-19: High Sierra (1941)
03-23-19: Lady in the Lake (1946)
03-30-19: Border Incident (1949)
04-06-19: 99 River Street (1953)
04-13-19: Nobody Lives Forever (1946)
04-20-19: M (1951)
04-27-19: Woman on the Run (1950)
05-04-19: Nightmare Alley (1947)
05-11-19: White Heat (1949)
05-18-19: Key Largo (1948)
05-25-19: Dead Reckoning (1947)
06-01-19: The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
06-08-19: Nora Prentiss (1947)
06-15-19: Pickup on South Street (1953)
06-22-19: Shadow on the Wall (1950)
06-29-19: On Dangerous Ground (1951)
07-06-19: The Tattooed Stranger (1950)
07-13-19: The People Against O'Hara (1951)
07-20-19: While the City Sleeps (1956)
07-27-19: Thieves' Highway (1949)
09-07-19: The Big Clock (1948)
09-14-19: Nocturne (1946)
09-21-19: The Woman on the Beach (1947)
09-28-19: The Harder They Fall (1956)
10-05-19: Trapped (1949) replaces The Bribe (1949)
10-12-19: Clash By Night (1952)
10-19-19: This Gun For Hire (1942)
10-26-19: Force of Evil (1948) replaces A Woman's Secret (1949)
11-02-19: Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
11-09-19: Johnny Eager (1941)
11-16-19: The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
11-23-19: Kansas City Confidential (1952)
11-30-19: The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
12-07-19: Berlin Express (1948)
12-14-19: Criss Cross (1949)
12-21-19: Cash on Demand (1961) replaces I Died a Thousand Times (1955)
12-28-19: Repeat Performance (1947)
01-04-20: The Big Sleep (1946)
01-11-20: The Captive City (1952)
01-18-20: The Big Night (1951)

I listened to Eddie's comments, I was kind of disappointed in them, but more about that later. The TCM presentation is definitely derived from the same sources of the Arrow Blu-ray. I'm going to watch the Arrow Blu-ray again, but with the Adrian Martin audio commentary because I want to hear more about the film and its participants.

One more thing, it's a shame that "Alias Nick Beal" isn't available to watch in any way. I can't even remember if it was available on TV.

 

[Matt Hough]

It was certainly nice to have Eddie/Noir Alley back, and the comments were OK but I would like more details on the actors. Still, what he did offer was enlightening. I didn't know very much about the behind-the-scenes personnel apart from Farrow and O'Sullivan being married in real life.

 

[Robert Crawford]

It was certainly nice to have Eddie/Noir Alley back, and the comments were OK but I would like more details on the actors. Still, what he did offer was enlightening. I didn't know very much about the behind-the-scenes personnel apart from Farrow and O'Sullivan being married in real life.

He didn't even mention those were Mia Farrow's parents.

 

[Cranston37+]

It was certainly nice to have Eddie/Noir Alley back, and the comments were OK but I would like more details on the actors.

He didn't even mention those were Mia Farrow's parents.

At the same time though, if Eddie only has 5 mins before and after, I'm fine with him keeping his comments only to what deals with the movie, and may not necessarily be publicly known, and not every last bit of trivia that I can look up later on Wikipedia. He does dive much deeper into things at his Noir Alley shows...