Criterion Press Release: Dressed To Kill (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

Indeed. I still believe he somehow missed the scrunching/squeezing though. I can't believe he would choose to do that.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but De Palma wouldn't have approved a finished disc so if the squeezing came in further down the line after he approved the transfer, he would have no idea about it until he heard about/saw the disc himself.

Great movie.

Great book. OK movie.

 

[Vincent_P]

David Cronenberg also "approved" the restoration of SHIVERS that turned out to be a censored version. Sometimes even the masters make mistakes. I only hope Mr. DePalma recognizes the error here and doesn't dig his heels in and refuse to allow Criterion to fix it.


Vincent

 

[FanboyZ]

Criterion needs to make an official statement.
It's obvious something went wrong after the first 20 minutes.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Add me to the list of those who've seen the Blu-ray and recognize all its flaws. I saw everything that's been reported by others.


I don't think this makes the movie unwatchable, but it's clearly incorrect...

 

[Ruz-El]

My guess is a mistake happened after DePalma approved the transfer and a check disc was made. I doubt Criterion will ignore it, I believe they have been pretty good about this stuff in the past.

 

[Rick Z.]

I just received a reply from Jon Mulvaney:



"Hello Ricardo,

I hope this email finds you well.

In the course of preparing the master for Criterion’s new release of
Dressed to Kill, director Brian De Palma asked if there was anything
that could be done to correct what he felt was a distortion in the
image that caused everyone to appear slightly wide or squat. A modest
anamorphic compression was applied, and De Palma was satisfied. On
reviewing the final product, we feel the adjustment doesn’t accurately
reflect the look of the film, and we are reauthoring discs without the
squeeze and will make them available to all purchasers of our release
of Dressed to Kill free of charge. Simply write to Jon Mulvaney
([email protected]) with your name, address, and some proof of
purchase, such as a receipt, and we will send you a corrected copy. We
regret the inconvenience, but we hope that in the end all of our
customers will end up with a copy of Dressed to Kill that accurately
reflects the film as well as the director’s intentions.

All the best,
Jon Mulvaney".



So, Mr. Harris was right after all. This alteration was intentionally done at the director's request.

 

[Ruz-El]

totally makes sense, some of the screen caps on the previous releases do look like fat heads.

 

[cda1143]

My guess is a mistake happened after DePalma approved the transfer and a check disc was made. I doubt Criterion will ignore it, I believe they have been pretty good about this stuff in the past.

Wow that was fast. Well done Criterion! And props to Russell G.


Russell would you care to tell us who to bet on in the Stakes at Saratoga tomorrow?


Chris


Chris

 

[Rick Z.]

totally makes sense, some of the screen caps on the previous releases do look like fat heads.

Well, if they found this same anomaly after scanning the negative then it problably means it was some sort of optical distortion at the time of filming.

 

[EddieLarkin]

So, Mr. Harris was right after all. This alteration was intentionally done at the director's request.

I still don't buy it. Did De Palma ask that this only be applied from the 21 minute mark? And that from that same point a chunk of extra information should be seen on the left? I don't doubt that he did want some distortion correcting, but it's clear that when Criterion attempted to achieve this they made a complete botch of it. After all, why else would they be offering a replacement?

 

[Ruz-El]

I still don't buy it. Did De Palma ask that this only be applied from the 21 minute mark? And that from that same point a chunk of extra information should be seen on the left? I don't doubt that he did want some distortion correcting, but it's clear that when Criterion attempted to achieve this they made a complete botch of it. After all, why else would they be offering a replacement?

Exactly, there's nothing for you to "buy". De Palma requested a correction, Criterion followed through with his wishes and found that it didn't work as they intended, and now there is a replacement as the fat heads is a better choice.

 

[haineshisway]

Exactly, there's nothing for you to "buy". De Palma requested a correction, Criterion followed through with his wishes and found that it didn't work as they intended, and now there is a replacement as the fat heads is a better choice.

Where do you see that De Palma requested a correction? He asked them to apply an anamorphic squeeze, they did and he was satisfied. The complaints came in, Criterion is now saying THEY don't think it accurately reflects the film and THEY are repressing the discs without it. I'm sure they made Mr. De Palma aware of the complaints and I'm sure they also told him they had to do something about it and I'm sure he said do what you have to do.


I'd like to know if copies at Amazon, etc. will have the new discs and if there will be a way to tell that it's the new disc.

 

[nyguy2046]

Exactly, there's nothing for you to "buy". De Palma requested a correction, Criterion followed through with his wishes and found that it didn't work as they intended, and now there is a replacement as the fat heads is a better choice.

They're not "fat heads". I think the statement is diplomatically trying to say they messed up, the result was not what the film should look like, and they're fixing it.


Anyway, let's all move on. Criterion is doing the right thing, and they responded with a fix in very short time.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Where do you see that De Palma requested a correction? He asked them to apply an anamorphic squeeze, they did and he was satisfied. The complaints came in, Criterion is now saying THEY don't think it accurately reflects the film and THEY are repressing the discs without it. I'm sure they made Mr. De Palma aware of the complaints and I'm sure they also told him they had to do something about it and I'm sure he said do what you have to do.


I'd like to know if copies at Amazon, etc. will have the new discs and if there will be a way to tell that it's the new disc.

"director Brian De Palma asked if there was anything
that could be done to correct what he felt was a distortion in the
image that caused everyone to appear slightly wide or squat. A modest
anamorphic compression was applied, and De Palma was satisfied."


That's what Russell was referring to

 

[Ruz-El]

"director Brian De Palma asked if there was anything
that could be done to correct what he felt was a distortion in the
image that caused everyone to appear slightly wide or squat. A modest
anamorphic compression was applied, and De Palma was satisfied."


That's what Russell was referring to

It was, thanks Neil.

 

[Cine_Capsulas]

now there is a replacement as the fat heads is a better choice.

Not "fat", normal.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Not "fat", normal.

Mr. De Palma apparently disagrees with you.


I've now seen the disc and it's a strange thing. If I had to guess, I'd say the 'fix' went too far in the other direction when trying to address the issue that Mr. De Palma sought to have corrected.


Regardless, Criterion are a fine, responsive company and they are clearly quickly taking action to address the matter.

 

[Cine_Capsulas]

So, Mr. Harris was right after all. This alteration was intentionally done at the director's request.

Exactly.


And the results were disastrous, hence Criterion's response acknowledging the problem.


Further proof that a "director's approval" might be a red herring.

 

[Cine_Capsulas]

Mr. De Palma apparently disagrees with you.

Sorry, am I suppose to fall silent because of that?


Mr. De Palma may be a filmmaker, but he is no god. If that vertically stretched image (only after the 21st minute, mind you) is his idea of a normal way of presenting things, then I'll stand by my refusal to accept it.

 

[Ruz-El]

Mr. De Palma apparently disagrees with you.


I've now seen the disc and it's a strange thing. If I had to guess, I'd say the 'fix' went too far in the other direction when trying to address the issue that Mr. De Palma sought to have corrected.


Regardless, Criterion are a fine, responsive company and they are clearly quickly taking action to address the matter.

I'm not surprised, my "Fat Head" joke comes from some of the posted screen caps where they look fat compared to some of the "squished" ones that looked more "normal". Some worse than others, there seems to be more inconsistency than just a flat squishing at 20 minutes in.

Exactly.


And the results were disastrous, hence Criterion's response acknowledging the problem.


Further proof that a "director's approval" might be a red herring.

Or that maybe the director shouldn't trust the job on others. The way that the explanation reads to me, De Palma approved the transfer, requested the slight optical correction and was done with it. It doesn't state that he checked the transfer again after Criterion attempted his request, which is probably why Criterion are replacing the disc. They're going back to what De Palma approved BEFORE his additional request.


Or maybe not. We'll likely never know and it wont matter since Criterion are doing a disc replacement.