International Has anyone compared the German VON RYAN'S EXPRESS to our awful U.S. edition? (1 Viewer)

[Dick]

https://www.amazon.de/Ryans-Express...rd_wg=gN7vO&psc=1&refRID=6MMV9R58P0S4QY3P0J8E

I imagine this is sourced from the same elements or even transfer of our MGM/Fox edition, which to my eye is nearly unwatchable. On the off-chance that this German WGV Medien edition is a brighter, more colorful transfer with no artifacts, I am posting this in the hopes one or more of you could confirm it here, with my thanks in advance.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

https://www.amazon.de/Ryans-Express...rd_wg=gN7vO&psc=1&refRID=6MMV9R58P0S4QY3P0J8E

I imagine this is sourced from the same elements or even transfer of our MGM/Fox edition, which to my eye is nearly unwatchable. On the off-chance that this German WGV Medien edition is a brighter, more colorful transfer with no artifacts, I am posting this in the hopes one or more of you could confirm it here, with my thanks in advance.

I have not compared them but I have the German version and it is not pretty. It does not really even seem like a blu-ray image and I can only imagine that the issue is whatever the source for the transfer is was not in good shape and perhaps no good elements exist.

 

[Dick]

I have not compared them but I have the German version and it is not pretty. It does not really even seem like a blu-ray image and I can only imagine that the issue is whatever the source for the transfer is was not in good shape and perhaps no good elements exist.

Many thanks for the reply. I had suspected as much. Only a new 2K or 4K scan is going to lift this above the level of pure crap, evidently. I am suspecting that this will not happen. Too bad...a terrific movie.

 

[Robin9]

I find it surprising that a good film with a strong story line and two much liked and much admired actors should not by now have been restored to appropriate standards and given a new scan.

 

[B-ROLL]

I find it surprising that a good film with a strong story line and two much liked and much admired actors should not by now have been restored to appropriate standards and given a new scan.

Me not so much ...

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I think that the same source has been used for all of the current blu-rays. I have seen two European releases and they appear the same. I never purchased the US version because again it got the same sort of reviews. I can tell you that the blu-rays are better than the DVD but I can also say this rates up there with the least impressive blu-rays I have seen. The detail is pretty terrible.

I don't think anybody is going to put up the money for a new scan and I don't know obviously if there are better elements available to scan. I do think the issue is whatever the source material they did scan was likely was not in the best shape. So, basically if you want to own it just purchase any of the existing blu-rays...I do not think any of them is better than any other. I recall when I first watched it on blu-ray I thought "Wow, this does not look good." and I may have even posted something on this site about how bad some scenes look. I do recall complaining about an early train scene and another battle scene I think. This caused me to pull out the DVD to compare it and turned out the DVD was also pretty horrible.

So, bottom line is the blu-rays are an upgrade over the DVD but not by much and this will probably be one of the worst looking blu-rays in your collection.

I really like the film so I purchased it as a big fan of war films and westerns. I don't regret that and I doubt we will see another version anytime soon so I'll live with this. I guess the question would be if better elements exist why did they scan what they did for this blu-ray?