Press Release Criterion Press Release: The Three Musketeers / The Four Musketeers: Two Films by Richard Lester (1973-1974) (4k UHD Combo) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[cda1143]

Home Theater Forum member @James Luckard shared these clips.

If those are accurate - yikes! But being a sold half step apart, do we know which is correct? The lower key is very common, higher key is uncommon, but it’s just a short cue. The lower is also less out of tune. Neither is spot on 440. My bet is on the older discs, but lacking supporting evidence, it’s a guess. Whichever is wrong is an egregious error.

 

[Konstantinos]

If those are accurate - yikes! But being a sold half step apart, do we know which is correct?

The original soundtrack cue is identical to the one in the DVD clip, so I guess the lower key is the original accurate one.

 

[James Luckard]

If those are accurate - yikes! But being a sold half step apart, do we know which is correct? The lower key is very common, higher key is uncommon, but it’s just a short cue. The lower is also less out of tune. Neither is spot on 440. My bet is on the older discs, but lacking supporting evidence, it’s a guess. Whichever is wrong is an egregious error.

They're accurate.

I'm not ashamed to admit, I didn't believe the problem was there until I made the audio clips.

I was actually attempting to prove the problem did NOT exist, haha, and instead I proved it DID.

Luckily, I had all the editions of the film being discussed - US DVD, UK BD, UK UHD - so I was able to make all the audio clips myself.

The US DVD has correctly-pitched audio, as far as I can tell, while the UK BD and restored UK UHD do not seem to.

 

[James Luckard]

Also, the US DVD pitch matches the pitch for the foreign dubs on the UK BD and UK UHD. It's only the English track on those that has the raised pitch.

That said, there's a minute chance the pitch shift is intended. Richard Lester was SUPER innovative with film speed/pitch. On his next film, Royal Flash, he shot the movie at 21 fps, both to save film and to give the movie extra energy. In order to have the audio sound normal at 24fps, he had the pitch of the audio adjusted by 12% with some newfangled device called the templaphon that had just been invented to time-compress audio for records. He talks about this in the book Soderbergh wrote about him.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I haven't seen these movies ever.
I take it that they are good and worth a blind buy?
(by the way, I love the 1993 Disney version. And I also have the 1948 WAC blu-ray).

Well, I saw these films as a child and loved them so I have some nostalgia bias I would say. I have the old import set, and have seen them now as an adult a few times at least, and still think they are wonderfully entertaining. The cast are fantastic and they are beautifully made pictures. I highly recommend them if you like this material. To be honest, probably my favorite version of this story.

 

[ahollis]

I remember how lovely Raquel Welch was in this films.

 

[Thomas T]

I love these movies but always felt they should have been released as one film.

I totally agree! The way the first film ends is a perfect spot for an intermission. I stand to be corrected but I believe the original intention was to release a roadshow version with intermission but by the time the movie was released, roadshows were out of favor hence the decision to split the film in two. All the actors thought they were making one movie and as soon as they heard they were paid for one movie and not two, agents were on the phone and the actors contracts were renegotiated to be paid appropriately.

 

[Allansfirebird]

I totally agree! The way the first film ends is a perfect spot for an intermission. I stand to be corrected but I believe the original intention was to release a roadshow version with intermission but by the time the movie was released, roadshows were out of favor hence the decision to split the film in two. All the actors thought they were making one movie and as soon as they heard they were paid for one movie and not two, agents were on the phone and the actors contracts were renegotiated to be paid appropriately.

These movies are the reason why SAG subsequently created the "Salkind clause," because of producers Ilya and Alexander Salkind making the call to release them as separate movies - violating the entire cast's contracts.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

And their next project, Superman, was announced as two movies.

 

[JoeDoakes]

I haven't seen these movies ever.
I take it that they are good and worth a blind buy?
(by the way, I love the 1993 Disney version. And I also have the 1948 WAC blu-ray).

These are very deep and rich films worthy of repeat viewings, in some ways like the best of Robert Altman. There's a dominant adventure narrative, and they can be enjoyed on that level. However, in the soundtrack and the visuals, there are humorous digressions that point to absurdities in the story. I think the sword fights are among the best ever, and one only wishes that recent creators of CGI action had a fraction of that creativity. On top of that, the musical scores, by Michael Legrand and Lalo Schifrin are top notch and perfect for the films.

 

[B-ROLL]

Not your fault. The fault is completely mine

I had missed porting over that information when I posted the press release.

It has since been added. My apologies for the inconvenience it caused

It looks like the only new feature may be the Two for One documentary and the booklet/essay. Saga ... was created for Anchor Bay's DVD release

...

 

[B-ROLL]

Well, I saw these films as a child and loved them so I have some nostalgia bias I would say. I have the old import set, and have seen them now as an adult a few times at least, and still think they are wonderfully entertaining. The cast are fantastic and they are beautifully made pictures. I highly recommend them if you like this material. To be honest, probably my favorite version of this story.

I loved TTM... my Mom's reaction was to go a bookstore to get a paperback copy of the original IP ...Which required me to explain the author's name was NOT pronounced "dumb ass."

The replicate the smell of the theater ... perhaps the smell of fresh-popped corn and some popular oh de toilet from the time ..

 

[Jimbo.B]

I haven't seen these movies ever.
I take it that they are good and worth a blind buy?
(by the way, I love the 1993 Disney version. And I also have the 1948 WAC blu-ray).

By far the best film version of the novel. The most recent version with a flying ship and sword fighting female lead is certainly the worst.

 

[RICK BOND]

I wish Kino Lorber would have released these instead. They would of had beautiful slip cases with poster art. Criterion has the Worst cover art.

 

[James Luckard]

I'm told that the sequence starting at 34 mins into THE THREE MUSKETEERS, where D'Artagnan follows Constance through the city, was intended to have a day-for-night filter applied. I've never seen a 35mm print, so I can't confirm this, and my DVDs and BDs are buried somewhere in a box, but the scene definitely looks like daylight on the StudioCanal UHD:

This is the restoration Crtiterion is using. If there is, indeed, a missing day-for-night filter here, hopefully they fix this, along with the pitch issue.

 

[Derrick King]

It looks like the only new feature may be the Two for One documentary and the booklet/essay. Saga ... was created for Anchor Bay's DVD release

David Cairns posted on his blog that his documentary runs 2 and a 1/2 hours.

 

[Ethan Riley]

I JUST barely bought the StudioCanal versions barely a month ago. Pity, I would have preferred Criterion's output, but...

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

I JUST barely bought the StudioCanal versions barely a month ago. Pity, I would have preferred Criterion's output, but...

Thank you for your service.

 

[cda1143]

I JUST barely bought the StudioCanal versions barely a month ago. Pity, I would have preferred Criterion's output, but...

Welcome to the club

 

[Ronald Epstein]

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