Dr.No - Man With Golden Gun / 5.1 DVD? (1 Viewer)

[Osato]

I have been hearing about the older James Bond DVD's being remastered and that they will all eventually have 5.1 audio tracks.
I haven't heard much more other than it's being worked on right now.
I speculate they won't be released until Bond 21 comes out and the current editions have all been re-released.
Has anyone heard anything about this?

Thanks for posting!

 

[Patrick McCart]

I think it'll be 2005.

The older films will supposedly be restored and also have new 5.1 remixes.

I have the Goldfinger special edition, but while it has excellent supplements...the transfer is kind of lousy. Good color and good sound...but that's all I can really say for it.

The special editions were missing the music-effects tracks that the Criterion laserdiscs had.

 

[Osato]

I'm sure MGM music was upset the video division didn't tell them about the isolated music tracks.
Agreed these may be a long way off. Thanks for the info!

 

[Osato]

Thanks Patrick! New video transfers in addition to the new audio tracks?

thanks again,

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

I don't see how this is possible on Dr. No, From Russia with Love and Goldfinger. Apparently separate tracks cannot be found for these films. That's why the music and effects tracks were included on the Criterion editions as well as on The Connery Collection box set editions of these movies. That is all that is available. And those M&E tracks were made for foreign markets, thats why they exist in the first place, and in the case of Dr. No different music plays in at least one scene (when Bond is on his way to Miss Taro's house).

Also, keep in mind that all of the Bond scores up until 1987 have just been re-released, and while some of the scores were expanded, those three titles were not. My guess is that the separate music and dialogue and effects tracks have still not been located. Without them, isn't a 5.1 re-mix sort of difficult to accomplish?

Neil

 

[Dharmesh C]

Live and Let Die sound restoration has been completed.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

Didn't Mi Casa do the 5.1 remixes of the classic Bonds? I thought I saw on their website that they had been hired by MGM.

They probably did find the stems, or perhaps they only tinkered with the stereo score recordings to have something in 5.1.

Dan

 

[Dharmesh C]

Dan, that's correct - they've been hired to remix all the MONO Bonds. Hopefully Octopussy will also be done, as it lacked low end, although I pretty happy with the 2.0

 

[Charlie Essmeier]

The early Bond films had mono soundtracks. Why on Earth would anyone want/expect 5.1?

It amazes me that many on this forum repeat "OAR" like a mantra, but demand altered sound mixes as a condition of purchase.

Can't speak for the DVD, but Turner's Goldfinger laserdic box set had a spectacular transfer. Around here, it's a keeper.

Charlie

 

[Tony Whalen]

It amazes me that many on this forum repeat "OAR" like a mantra, but demand altered sound mixes as a condition of purchase.

Right there with ya Charlie...

 

[Dmitry]

It amazes me that many on this forum repeat "OAR" like a mantra, but demand altered sound mixes as a condition of purchase.

While in general I agree with this statement, I'd like to point out that in some cases there's a merit to requesting a remix. If there are original multi-track recordings available that were mixed to mono for theater presentation due to the technology limitations and they can be used for multi-channel re-mixing, then I'm all for it. If the 5.1 mix has to be "synthesized", I'd rather have the mono. Just like a video transfer is preferable from original negatives, not from a theatrical print, same goes for the sound.

All this is IMHO, of course.

 

[Dharmesh C]

As long as the mono track is available, I don't see a problem with remixes. OAR is more important to me than the original sound in some cases.

 

[Dave Molinarolo]

Well, here's my $.02.

I am an OAR advocate as well, however, IMO if there is anyway to at least squeeze a 2.0 Surround track out of something (mono), then I'll prefer the 2.0 track. Why? Because there's just so much more clarrity and fidelity to a stereo track than a mono. I mean here we have a durable audio/video media that can continuingly reproduce excellent picture and sound and yet, some people don't want at least a stereo sound track?

In other words, think progressive (*gag*). Think positively. Move forward......

 

[Joshua_Y]

I just watched From Russia With Love again today and am very happy with the current disc...saw no problem...looks great for an almost 40 year old movie...and the Mono is fine with me...

 

[Joel Fontenot]

While in general I agree with this statement, I'd like to point out that in some cases there's a merit to requesting a remix. If there are original multi-track recordings available that were mixed to mono for theater presentation due to the technology limitations and they can be used for multi-channel re-mixing, then I'm all for it.

Just for the sake of argument, let's follow that reasoning a little further and say that if Orson Wells had the budget to do a color Citizen Kane he would have done it, so lets colorize it now, just because we can. After all, color films were done before 1941 so it had to have been some kind of technology limitation because of, maybe, budget, right?

While I'm not wholeheartedly opposed to sound re-mixes, I just don't buy the "technology limitation at the time" excuse as a reason to change something today from the way it was originally done.

I mean, everything we've ever seen in movies since the old projection boxes was done up to the technological limitations of it's time. Should we go back and change every single movie or piece of film ever made to bring it up to 2003 standards?

It's why I won't watch the Star Wars Special Editions.

Stereophonic soundtracks were not something new at the time of Dr. No. It wasn't a "technology limitation" that prevented the studio and the producers from springing for one during post-production. Most likely it was a budget issue and, besides, multi-channel sound was just not used much on non-major event pictures. And those producers probably thought nothing of it either.

Maybe it will be a neat exercise, but they shouldn't lose the original mono with it.

Joel

 

[Dmitry]

Just for the sake of argument, let's follow that reasoning a little further and say that if Orson Wells had the budget to do a color Citizen Kane he would have done it, so lets colorize it now, just because we can. After all, color films were done before 1941 so it had to have been some kind of technology limitation because of, maybe, budget, right?

Wrong It would only be acceptable in my book if he had shot it in color and then produced theater prints in black and white because it would be cheaper, not for artistic reasons. If the negatives lack color, don't add it. If the sound was recorded as mono, do not enhance it.

If I recall correctly, Woody Allen wants his movies to be in mono. They should be released in mono regardless of the source elements. But I don't see a problem with using modern technology to utilize available source elements to the fullest extent, unless there was some artistic intent in "underutilization" of them in the first place.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Agreed with Dmitry. If the stems are available to make a 5.1 and there's no evidence the movie was intended to be mono, go ahead with the remix.

 

[Damin J Toell]

But I don't see a problem with using modern technology to utilize available source elements to the fullest extent, unless there was some artistic intent in "underutilization" of them in the first place.

It would seem to me that the "fullest extent" of using source elements is to present the original mix as created by the filmmakers using those elements. I don't want to hear a new mix created by the guesswork of some random technician 50 years later who had nothing to do with the film and has no clue as to what the filmmakers wanted. Cluelessly messing with someone else's film simply because stems exist (stems which are unlikely to just happen to be in a 5.1 format) isn't using those elements to their fullest extent, it's doing nothing worthwhile with those elements whatsoever.

DJ

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

These films are classics. A 5.1 track will not improve them.

Neil

 

[Dmitry]

Cluelessly messing with someone else's film simply because stems exist (stems which are unlikely to just happen to be in a 5.1 format) isn't using those elements to their fullest extent, it's doing nothing worthwhile with those elements whatsoever.

I agree. However, if there was a stereo recording of the score and a separate one for the dialog, I would probably prefer to have a 3.0 DVD rather than mono. As you noticed, I'm not advocating introducing something they did not have in the source elements, merely utilizing what they have in the best way possible. If they don't have enough to extract 5.1 (or whatever separation there is) from, do not derive it.