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Blu-ray Review HTF Blu-ray Review: APOCALYPSE NOW, Full Disclosure Edition (1 Viewer)

Michael Reuben

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Originally Posted by TommyT

A question about the chapter stops:


Am I missing something or did they forget or just not include chapter stops for the Redux scenes? I couldn't find one in the pop-up menu for either the Playboy Bunny or French Plantation or cargo container scenes.

Both Redux and the 1979 version have the same chapter markers.
 

Paul_Scott

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[FONT= 'times new roman']This isn’t just a superior transfer; it’s a more faithful one. Over the years, cinematographer Vittorio Storaro has indulged in revisionism that far exceeds the cropping that has been the subject of so much discussion. He’s also revised the color timing in numerous portions of the film. If you want an example, look at the sequence where Willard first encounters Colonel Kilgore on the previous DVD (the “Complete Dossier” version). The entire sequence is much darker and browner than on the Blu-ray, for reasons that still elude me. I could have found other examples, but it was hard to watch the DVD after experiencing the visual luxuriance of the Blu-ray. Suffice it to say that, while watching the new version, I never once had the feeling, as I often have before, that someone had come along and “painted over” portions of the film.[/FONT]

I had just the opposite sensation. The film is now suffused in an overbearing yellow haze. I highly doubt this is faithful to the original theatrical experience. This overly stylized revisionism is driving me up a wall. Does every big film have to be tarted up for the 2010 era audiences?
 

Michael Reuben

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Originally Posted by Paul_Scott :


Bill Hunt: Looking at the screenshot comparisons you guys provided between the 2001 master and the new 2010 master, there's a marked difference in the color-timing. Color seems more vibrant now, and contrasts are bolder. Can you talk about that? How those decisions were made and what the differences might be?

Doug Delaney:
Sure, I can touch on that and James [Mockoski (American Zoetrope)] can chime in. One of the original conversations we began to have when we started looking at doing this work, was using the original transfer in 2001 as a reference – as indicative of the best possible transfer at the time, using that technology, and with a lot of time spent with Vittorio on that original transfer. We also screened – myself, James and Mr. Coppola – the dye-transfer print as well. And we wanted to get back to that in terms of not just aspect ratio, but the contrast and color saturation characteristics of a dye-transfer print in terms of its natural rendition – to be a little bit more, I guess, faithful to that original projection of that dye-transfer print. To get to that point, there was a little bit of negotiation between using both sources as inspiration, I guess is the best way I could put it, between that beautiful dye-transfer print Mr. Coppola had as well as honoring the time and quality of the transfer in '01 that obviously had Vittorio's time put into it. Some scenes tended to carry over very well with regard to the two transfers, and some scenes felt more akin to the dye-transfer print.

Bill Hunt: So in other words, the goal was to get as close to that original dye-transfer presentation as possible, but still have it informed by Francis and Vittorio's 2001 work and the improvements over time.

Doug Delaney:
Yes, I say that's it.

I don't claim to have a clear memory of the color palette I saw over 30 years ago. However, I've seen every disc-based version since then, and I've watched the palette change with successive versions. Viewer preference is inescapably subjective, and all I can say is what was in the review: The Blu-ray is the first version I've seen in a while that doesn't strike me as somehow wrong. As always, YMMV, but nobody will ever be able to claim that one version or another is "right", because all of them have been approved by the filmmakers. (And that's yet another perennial argument.)


The one point where I disagree is that the look of the Blu-ray was driven by the expectations of a contemporary audience (a topic also addressed in the Bits interview, BTW). I review a lot of contemporary films finished on DI and polished to a high sheen that looks almost like video. The image on this disc looks nothing like that. And as Pauline Kael's article confirms, strong, stylized colors have always been an essential element of the film. The issue over the years has been which one(s) to accentuate.
 

TommyT

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Thanks. I can always add bookmarks & already have. Just seems like a strange oversight on the part of the BR production crew. I'm pretty sure my DVD Dossier edition has stops for the chapters I'm talking about. Oh well, oh hell. The movie still looks INCREDIBLE on BR tho!
 

ManW_TheUncool

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Interesting points about the color timing. I wonder if this new color timing will actually make the film work better for me this time around...


_Man_
 

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