Criterion Fisher King - Possible Issue (1 Viewer)

[Bob-ATL]

Hi Everyone,

I purchased Criterion's The Fisher King on Blu-ray. I also own the Image Blu-ray.

There is a shot at 1:14:06 that has black on the right edge of the frame from top to bottom. This appears to have been captured in camera on the negative.

On the Image Blu-ray you can see that the shot has been zoomed in, thus cropping out the black.

It is my belief that Criterion failed to replicate this correction for this shot on their Blu-ray release.

I'd like to ask anyone that cares, to contact Criterion via their website or Facebook page and ask them to address this issue and hopefully issue a corrected disc.

http://www.criterion.com/contact_us (E-mail Jon Mulvaney at [email protected])

https://www.facebook.com/CriterionCollection?fref=ts

I am told that Criterion is very good about responding to things such as this.

But ultimately, Criterion will be more responsive if they hear from those who care about this possible issue.

Thanks,


Bob-ATL

 

[Mark-P]

I don't know, it seems kind of trivial. If in fact the anomaly was part of the original release prints, some would argue that Criterion did the right thing leaving it as is, and that Image shouldn't have tampered with the original presentation to fix it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Maybe, it's just me, but I don't see this as enough of an issue for Criterion to go to the expense of issuing a corrected disc. How does this impact the effectiveness of the film?

 

[Bob-ATL]

I don't think I'll ever understand why people complain about slip covers or a lack of slip covers, poor artwork, no artwork on the disc itself, eco packs vs standard cases, lack of special features or not enough special features, etc, etc, etc.

But when there is a legitimate problem with the presentation of the movie itself, no one cares. I realize this problem only lasts for 5 seconds, but imagine you're watching on a 110" screen and that pops up. It's impossible to miss, I feel it's quite jarring and pulls me out of the movie. And every time I want to watch Fisher King that is all I will think about.

This was not present in any other version of The Fisher King. Hell, even that shot in the trailer on the Criterion disc is framed correctly, eliminating what is obviously a mistake.

What director would want a portion of the projected image blacked out like that?

I thought the movie is the most important thing.

Someone made a mistake and I hope that Criterion fixes this.

Sorry if I upset anyone, but I am passionate about the presentation of the movies I enjoy and the movies that I spend my money on.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I don't think I'll ever understand why people complain about slip covers or a lack of slip covers, poor artwork, no artwork on the disc itself, eco packs vs standard cases, lack of special features or not enough special features, etc, etc, etc.

But when there is a legitimate problem with the presentation of the movie itself, no one cares. I realize this problem only lasts for 5 seconds, but imagine you're watching on a 110" screen and that pops up. It's impossible to miss, I feel it's quite jarring and pulls me out of the movie. And every time I want to watch Fisher King that is all I will think about.

This was not present in any other version of The Fisher King. Hell, even that shot in the trailer on the Criterion disc is framed correctly, eliminating what is obviously a mistake.

What director would want a portion of the projected image blacked out like that?

I thought the movie is the most important thing.

Someone made a mistake and I hope that Criterion fixes this.

Sorry if I upset anyone, but I am passionate about the presentation of the movies I enjoy and the movies that I spend my money on.

You didn't upset me, I just disagree with you regarding this issue. This issue doesn't affect the film in my opinion.

 

[Bob-ATL]

Here are some examples of some "minor issues" that have been fixed, and of course posters poo pooed some of them as well when they were brought to light:

Framing error in Pirates of the Caribbean - posters were slamming the guy who reported it as no big deal and that they didn't notice anything wrong, etc, etc - but Disney corrected it.

Dropped line of dialogue in Pinocchio - initially not acknowledged, Disney did a silent correction and put the discs in stores. When word got out, they started a replacement program. This was literally only a few words.

Encoding error in Matrix Revolutions only a few frames, but Warner did the right thing and fixed it and offered replacements. Repeat, this error only lasted a few frames.

AVP: Requiem unrated cut missing unrated footage - never acknowledged by Fox, but they did a silent correction which is available in the latest repackaging releases. The missing footage only amounted to a few seconds.

Gladiator too much DNR removed arrows and fireballs from battle scene and lightning from the sky in another scene - fixed and re-issued with a replacement program.

Saving Private Ryan recall and replacement due to A/V synch issues.

Paul McCartney Rockshow - bass dropout - corrected and re-issued and replacement program.

Eraserhead - 5 seconds of black, recalled, corrected, and replacement program from Criterion. Apparently this 5 seconds was worth fixing.

Terminator 3 - 1080i, re-released in 1080p.

Patton excessive DNR, reissued minus DNR.

Terminator 2 Skynet Edition - DNR, re-released without the DNR.

Little Mermaid - two shots in the incorrect order, fixed and replacement program. I can't believe someone caught this one. And again, we talking about seconds here.

The Right Stuff - audio issue, corrected and replacement program.

Starship Troopers - a 6 second portion of the movie repeats itself. Corrected and replacement program.

I commend the people who caught these "minor issues" and alerted the studios and all of us, so that we would be able to get correct versions of the movies we love.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Here are some examples of some "minor issues" that have been fixed, and of course posters poo pooed some of them as well when they were brought to light:

Framing error in Pirates of the Caribbean - posters were slamming the guy who reported it as no big deal and that they didn't notice anything wrong, etc, etc - but Disney corrected it.

Dropped line of dialogue in Pinocchio - initially not acknowledged, Disney did a silent correction and put the discs in stores. When word got out, they started a replacement program. This was literally only a few words.

Encoding error in Matrix Revolutions only a few frames, but Warner did the right thing and fixed it and offered replacements. Repeat, this error only lasted a few frames.

AVP: Requiem unrated cut missing unrated footage - never acknowledged by Fox, but they did a silent correction which is available in the latest repackaging releases. The missing footage only amounted to a few seconds.

Gladiator too much DNR removed arrows and fireballs from battle scene and lightning from the sky in another scene - fixed and re-issued with a replacement program.

Saving Private Ryan recall and replacement due to A/V synch issues.

Paul McCartney Rockshow - bass dropout - corrected and re-issued and replacement program.

Eraserhead - 5 seconds of black, recalled, corrected, and replacement program from Criterion. Apparently this 5 seconds was worth fixing.

Terminator 3 - 1080i, re-released in 1080p.

Patton excessive DNR, reissued minus DNR.

Terminator 2 Skynet Edition - DNR, re-released without the DNR.

Little Mermaid - two shots in the incorrect order, fixed and replacement program. I can't believe someone caught this one. And again, we talking about seconds here.

The Right Stuff - audio issue, corrected and replacement program.

Starship Troopers - a 6 second portion of the movie repeats itself. Corrected and replacement program.

I commend the people who caught these "minor issues" and alerted the studios and all of us, so that we would be able to get correct versions of the movies we love.

Most of those issues affected the film a lot more than this issue. Anyhow, I said my piece.

 

[Bob-ATL]

A mistake is a mistake is a mistake. Criterion should fix it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

A mistake is a mistake is a mistake. Criterion should fix it.

For your sake, I hope they do.

 

[Mark-P]

Except we don't know that it's a mistake. As I said, if it existed in the original negative, perhaps Criterion purposely left it alone.

 

[Giovanni DN]

nitpicking at its worst!

 

[Dr Griffin]

This could be a gray area if it's part of the negative. Does Criterion have an insider here? If not, I'm surprised.

 

[Persianimmortal]

I don't think I'll ever understand why people complain about slip covers or a lack of slip covers, poor artwork, no artwork on the disc itself, eco packs vs standard cases, lack of special features or not enough special features, etc, etc, etc.

I can at least agree with this part of your post: people really do complain unnecessarily about superfluous nonsense.

However you risk falling into the same trap by complaining to Criterion - and asking for a disc recall no less - for something that seems to be equally inconsequential for the most part; an ever-so-slightly zoomed scene which lasts a few seconds. Does it really alter the overall impact of the scene? By all means query Criterion on the issue, but good luck getting a recall.

By the way, this issue is in no way of the same order of magnitude as a DNRed transfer, or missing scenes, black screens or audio sync problems.

 

[Craig Beam]

It's not a hard-edged black.... could it be a shadow that was actually present on set?

 

[Worth]

It's probably the edge of the matte box on the camera. Not a huge deal, but at the same time, something that likely would have been covered by the masking in cinemas.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

I've seen the shot in question and it is fleeting. I didn't see it when I reviewed the disc. The scene cuts away and cuts back and does appear to be zoomed in when it returns to avoid the side.


If I had to guess, I'd say that the zooming was missed on the first piece of that scene. Criterion have been excellent about addressing even the most minor of issues if it would meet the directors original intent. But, and of course mileages vary, even looking out for it I was in no way pulled out of the (funny) moment in the film.

 

[Ruz-El]

The transfer was supposedly approved by the director, so I would expect Criterion would be careful with saying it's a mistake and offering a replacement. time will tell.