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Darby O'Gill on iTunes/Vudu? (1 Viewer)

Josh Steinberg

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Wondering if anyone has seen the streaming version of Darby O'Gill and can say if it's the original version or the dubbed version that was shown on TCM last year?

I want to watch it later in the week and was going to be fine with renting it online, but if that's the dubbed version, then I'll splurge on the DVD which has the original audio track.

Thanks!
 

Josh Steinberg

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iTunes gives a 2 minute preview - can you tell based on that?

I don't know the movie well enough to be able to say and don't have anything as a basis of comparison - but maybe someone else can tell? Appreciate the thought!
 

Dave Moritz

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I hate iTunes for movies as if you do not have apple tv or an apple device you not going to be able to watch the movie on your tv. I have three episodes of the newer Battlestar Galactica Season 4 and I am not able to stream it from my pc to my TV. I have entered my ultraviolet codes on Vudu but even that is irritating as I have been having audio syc issues with Vudu! The video looks fine and my connection is more than fast enough so even if I use Vudu to watch something I end up hitting stop and putting my disc in anyway! I do not have buffer issues as my connection is 150mb/s up and down but audio syc issues drive me crazy. Besides iTunes not doing 4K and having to go out and buy an apple tv or some other apple product is not appealing to me. And people wonder why I would rather buy movies on a physical format. Freakin streaming still has it issues and at least if my internet goes out I can always put my disc in and hit play without issues like I get with streaming. I am just to the point where I do not even want to watch Vudu but will use it to back up some of my movies using the ultraviolet code.
 

mark-edk

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I looked through the iTunes reviews and one of them said that when he bought the movie it was the dubbed version. But he re-downloaded a year later and found it was the original. I did a quick compare of the trailer on iTunes with the same trailer on Disney Movies Anywhere (which appeared to be just SD) and they were different. To my ears the DMA sounded dubbed and the iTunes version didn't. Also Darby's accent on the iTunes version sounded thicker, which makes me suspect the reviewer was correct and iTunes now has the original version. My problem is spending $18 for a download. Even for one of my favorite movies in HD the price has to come down a bit when I'm not getting an actual disc in a package.
 

Josh Steinberg

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Thanks Mark. I ended up just buying the DVD to watch. Wasn't HD but was perfectly watchable, definitely had the right audio track, and some bonus features too. I don't regret it!
 

Mark-P

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Today iTunes has Darby in HD at just about half price: $9.99. How long it will stay at that price even King Brian can't say.

King Brian says it will stay at that price until Tuesday, but with the 20% off deal you can get it for $7.99 at FandangoNow...
And Amazon has it at $8.99. I bought it hoping for widescreen, but it is open matte on Amazon, iTunes and Vudu. However it IS the original soundtrack and not the redubbed version. Movies Anywhere appears to have a glitch right now and I can't log in to check which version they have.
 

Mark-P

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And Amazon has it at $8.99. I bought it hoping for widescreen, but it is open matte on Amazon, iTunes and Vudu. However it IS the original soundtrack and not the redubbed version. Movies Anywhere appears to have a glitch right now and I can't log in to check which version they have.
Finally able to log in over at Movies Anywhere and can confirm that it has the proper 1.66:1 widescreen version (also with original soundtrack). Perhaps one day the widescreen version will migrate to iTunes, meanwhile I have to figure out how to stream from Movies Anywhere App to my home theater setup!

EDIT: And now I've just joined FandangoNow and imported my library there. I can report Darby O'Gill is Widescreen at FandangoNow.
 
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Cranston37+

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Finally able to log in over at Movies Anywhere and can confirm that it has the proper 1.66:1 widescreen version (also with original soundtrack). Perhaps one day the widescreen version will migrate to iTunes, meanwhile I have to figure out how to stream from Movies Anywhere App to my home theater setup!

EDIT: And now I've just joined FandangoNow and imported my library there. I can report Darby O'Gill is Widescreen at FandangoNow.

Mark,

You should contact iTunes about getting the proper video. I’ve found them to be very receptive to fixing things like this in the past...
 

mark-edk

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I looked up the film on a site dedicated to the Disney films and the opinion of the guy there is that it was intended to be full frame. One reason he gave is that was how it was shown at some big-deal Disney retrospective. Don't know if I can find that site now, lemme look...OK here it is:
http://www.thedisneyfilms.com/search/label/Darby O'Gill and the Little People
Of course that's just one guy's opinion. For me, I'm happy to have it in HD (and for just $7.99...thanks for that Fandango tip; Movies Unlimited zapped it over to iTunes in no time at all) in either aspect ratio.
 

Josh Steinberg

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At the time the movie was released theatrically, U.S. theaters would have been equipped to show it at 1.85:1. Most theaters wouldn't have been able to show it at 1.33:1. If Disney had the intention of it being shown in 1.33:1 theatrically, the basic reality of the situation is that most theaters still couldn't have done it.

What I think is more likely is that Disney planned for it to be shown in some widescreen format theatrically, but they also knew that the second life for all of the films would be on Walt's television show, so that they made sure to protect for 1.33:1 so that it could still look good when shown on TV. And I think that's what we've been living with all of this time since.
 

Robert Crawford

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Yeah, I bought this title yesterday too from FandangoNow for $7.99 and as Mark stated it plays in 1.66 ratio on MA and 1.33 on Vudu and iTunes.
 

Bob Furmanek

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The vast majority of theaters had stopped running standard ratio films by 1954 and when this film was released in May 1959, they didn't even have lenses/aperture plates for 1.37:1.

The use of various wide screen aspect ratios would continue for several more years but one thing was certain: 1.37:1 - the standard production and exhibition ratio since 1932 - was abandoned. In September 1954, Merle Chamberlin (Director of Projection at MGM) stated, "All of the studios are convinced that the old 3/4 picture is gone and the wider aspect ratio is here to stay."

Robert A. Mitchell was a leading authority on all aspects of motion picture projection and technology. His monthly technical papers for International Projectionist led to the 1957 publication of “Manual of Practical Projection,” an essential book containing the very best of his extremely detailed articles.
In June 1956, he stated the following: “The trend toward wider-than-normal theatre screens is now so well established that the conventional 4:3-proportioned screen has become a rarity. Only a few theatres have retained the normal screen when wide screens are used for CinemaScope projection, and almost none have changed back to the standard aspect ratio after giving non-anamorphic widescreen pictures a fair trial.”

By September 1956, increasing demands from exhibitors for standardization would finally result in 1.85:1 becoming the accepted non-anamorphic industry standard for widescreen production in the United States.

The original pressbook sent to theater owners stated the following:

"For Best Projection Results in the Presentation of Walt Disney's "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" Use Aspect Ratio 1:75 to 1"


There's more information and documentation in these two articles:

http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/the-first-year-of-widescreen

http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/home/widescreen-documentation
 

Mark-P

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Yeah, I bought this title yesterday too from FandangoNow for $7.99 and as Mark stated it plays in 1.66 ratio on MA and 1.33 on Vudu and iTunes.
And FandangoNow has it in Widescreen as well. I finally realized I could use my iPad and Airplay to stream the widescreen version to my Apple TV. I'm not convinced the streaming quality is as good as just playing it directly from iTunes, but it's hard to tell.
 

Cranston37+

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And FandangoNow has it in Widescreen as well. I finally realized I could use my iPad and Airplay to stream the widescreen version to my Apple TV. I'm not convinced the streaming quality is as good as just playing it directly from iTunes, but it's hard to tell.

I’m not sure how FN’s app works, but I know with Vudu’s app it doesn’t stream from your iPad to the Apple TV, rather it tells your Apple TV to go to such and such an address so it can play the movie directly. Of course FN’s encode of the movie could be of lesser quality than that of iTunes, which would have to be taken into account as well...
 

RICK BOND

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Why is Darby O Gill NOT on Bluray yet ?????? I'll buy it day one ! At least they released Treasure Island. And it looks Fantastic !
 
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Josh Steinberg

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Why is Darby O Gill NOT on Bluray yet ?????? I'll buy it day one !

There's no official reason, but unofficially, Disney has all but abandoned Blu-ray releases of live action catalog titles for the general marketplace.

They do have a line of exclusives for their Disney Movie Club members, so there's always a possibility of it coming out there.

I think a lot of titles get caught in a catch-22 limbo. They're too popular or too "big" for the Disney Movie Club to release, but they're not "big enough" for the main division to release given that catalog titles no longer sell as they once did. So one department likely won't move on it because it's not a big enough deal, but because it's more than a small deal, they might not have access to it. The main branch might be reserving the right to change their mind on this, so if that's the case, it could be in limbo indefinitely.
 

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