Hope for JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Ulmer]

Although it took almost a year after bootleg DVDs of THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE showed up on ebay, fans of the movie finally got a great looking official DVD from MGM, even in its longer European cut.

Now I see bootleg DVD versions of JLS all over ebay, and can only hope that this prompts an official release of this unique film in the not too distant future.

I know that this film is ripe with music clearance issues, given the Neil Diamond soundtrack, but I really hope Paramount (who I think still hold the rights to this one) can somehow work things out and give us a great looking, properly formatted DVD. I would love to retire my blurry, hard subtitled, P&S Japanese laserdisc.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

A couple of years later I'm reviving this thread wondering if anyone has heard of a R1 release now that Paramount has released official versions are out in Europe (with a gorgeous loooking 2.35 anamorphic transfer) and Korea?

 

[walter o]

Paramount just announced it, for 10/2.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

Where do you get your DVD announcements? I go to davisdvd.com and thedigitalbits.com but I miss a LOT of stuff. Sometimes I'll see something in the store or mentioned online, and I'm like, "When did this come out?! I didn't hear anything about it!"

I can't find an announcement for JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL from Paramount anywhere - where do you recommend going for title announcements?

Thanks,
Chuck

 

[walter o]

it's at dvdempire for pre-book


http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_ite...3162&searchID=

 

[Scott_Lemon]

I just got the official Paramount R4 version the other week. The 2.35:1 transfer is great - there is some pretty phenomenal cinematography in this movie. It would look incredible on a BIG screen.

Given the book they were trying to adapt, I didn't think it was all that bad, except towards the end where it started to get deathly dull.

The other crappy thing is that the English track is MONO of all things. The DVD includes a Spanish track in stereo though - bizarre. Looks like the R1 version gets the mono track also. I would have thought a remix including the music elements in stereo would have been simple (and essential!) task

 

[Peter McM]

Saw this as a child; looking forward to reliving it on DVD.

Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken, but I seem to recall that Richard Bach was so displeased with the film that he had his own name stricken from the credits.

 

[Scott_Lemon]

I don't recall seeing his name anywhere prominent in the titles, so maybe that's right.

I can't imagine what grounds he would have a problem with it - how else could they have adapted such a book and put it on screen? It's a pretty flimsy story to start off with, I don't understand what he'd expect the result to be other than a somewhat dull 90 minute film.

The attactions of JLS are the wonderful cinematography and the Neil Diamond score - Richard Bach's new age ramblings are a load of cobblers.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Just a heads up, this title is now listed on Amazon and others as coming in October.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Just found this forum. I have been waiting years for a dvd of this beautiful movie, and just got my copy today, and low and behold MONO. While the picture quality is simply stunning I can't believe Paramount would not take this great musical score and go back to the elements and make this true stereo like they have on so many movies. I am really bummed today after this long a wait. AND CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? The French track is stereo and sounds 100% better, cleaner, better frequency response, everything... than the English track. Aside from all of this, my old VHS tape (studio released) is stereo.

I can't believe this, big disappointment today for me after such a long wait.

 

[RobertSiegel]

well, I just got off the phone with Paramount Home Video. She said the U.K. version is stereo but the US version is mono. Can you believe it? Such a great score too. I told her I would like her to pass this complaint along to the people in the home video department that decide the specs for releases and also mto anyone else this complaint might concern. She was very nice, but who knows where it goes from there.

I have been impatiently waiting for a long time for this title., only to feel this major disappointment. Picture is stunning, but the English track sounds like an old tv print soundtrack.

May I ask anyone else on this board who is a fan to call Paramount at the number below and ask for Paramount Home Video, and register a complaint? What good it will do I don't know, but you never know. I can't believe this from a studio that has given us so many awesome soundtracks on dvd, even many stereo discs that were mono movies.

Paramount Pictures
(323) 956-5000

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Is the rest of the soundtrack in the UK version any different from the US version? I got the VHS tape a while ago but haven't watched it yet, if I liked it I was going to buy the DVD but not if it's a stereo track in mono.

Sort of on a related note, has the 1989 version of "The Punisher" ever been fixed? That disc is in 1-channel Dolby Digital, but the end credits of the movie say Dolby Stereo!

 

[RobertSiegel]

Supposedly, the UK version is true stereo, ours is English mono. I am trying to find a message board of some kind from the UK where I can actually ask someone who has it, that may take a while. I did contact someone on the IMDB (Int.movie database) who posted on the bottom of the page, but she won't get that until she signs in there next time, who knows how long. I can definately tell you that the video tape was stereo, although not the greatest frequency response, the US dvd is English mono and terrible sound and the English version also has a French track, that sounds better than the English one by a mile. Sad, huh? Been bothering me all day. I will post here when I find something out.

 

[Peter Overduin]

I too have been looking forward to this DVD for years. I wonder, is there region coding on this DVD, or has Paramount; in it's determination to dis-respect thhis film in the North American release at least had the same lack of diligence in applying region coding. I would order this from Amazon in England if that were the case.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Looks like it has region coding region 2, but it's also in Pal format, you would have to get an open region player, which I am now considering. Pioneer's dv-400 1080p upscaling player is only about 120 in the open region stores. I am waiting for confirmation that the movie is actually stereo there. Take a look on the Internet Movie Database. At the bottom of the page for this movie, you will see posts from members (link to page below), one says PARAMOUNT DVD...click on that and read what she says, sher specifically mentions the stereo, so I wrote her but as I said she has to sign in to get the message, who knows how often she visits IMDB. Any other ideas on how to find out?

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0070248/

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I have to disagree that the audio sounds "terrible," it doesn't, it sounds fine, but it is not as bright or as loud as the french track, which as far as I can tell is mono too. I haven't had time to compare the track to my Japanese LD.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Just my opinion, compared to what Paramount"could" have done, it sounds terrible. They must have the masters, they have gone back and made mono movies into stereo from stems, more so than any other studio, why not this one that really would have benefited? To me, this was a lazy attempt, especially when they spent the time making the picture transfer so beautiful. The movie was stereo in the first place. While the IMDB says mono, I have the add supplement for the original Paramount pressbook that has "stereo" on the ads for those theaters equipped for stereo.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I'm not going to disagree that more could have been done, but who knows what the story is behind this soundtrack. It is possible that there are contractual reasons why they couldn't use a stereo track, or do a remix. This obviously isn't a big budget release judging by the packaging or pricing. I'm just happy to finally have it in its correct aspect ratio, with a good looking picture. Even with the mono soundtrack I thoroughly enjoyed seeing it again.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Jeff, I enjoyed seeing it again as well, and the picture quality is great. I can't imagine why contractual reasons would prohibit stereo sound. If this were Neil Diamond's decision, I know it would have been stereo. I am sure he isn't pleased either, and neither am I. This still sounds like an old tv print to me, but doesn't look like one as far as picture. This is by no means the mono master either. Heck, the French track is 100% better, as far as the musical score.

Of course I am glad this came out, but with stereo dvd's in the U.K., and being it one of my all time favorites, I guess the only way now is to get a PAL player (my 1080 Epson takes Pal signal) and order the REAL STEREO disc from Amazon UK. Theirs is 5.1 stereo (confirmed).