DVD Review HTF DVD REVIEW: How the West Was Won: Ultimate Collector's Edition (1 Viewer)

[John Hodson]

Very strong hints that we'll get several Warner classics in 3D...and they will be Blu-ray exclusives.

 

[Jon Smith]

Would it be possible for anyone to post a short clip of HTWWW Smilbox in action on youtube or something. I really want to see it in motion!

 

[Douglas R]

The documentary was excellent. That, and the audio commentary, were the main reasons I bought the set but I'm thinking I'm now going to have to take the plunge and get into Blu-ray so that I can see the smilebox version. The picture quality of the excerpts from the Cinerama travelogue-type films was so much better than I expected - I was under the impression that the early Cinerama films were either lost or in appalling condition. I would love to see them all issued in smilebox. The only one I saw was This is Cinerama at the London Casino when it was shown as a reissue in the 1970s on (I think) a 70mm print.

 

[AdrianTurner]

I saw a thing called The Best of Cinerama at the Royalty, Kingsway, which was a sort of Cinerama's Greatest Hits with clips from all the travelogues. Like Douglas R, I was knocked out by the quality of those Smilebox extracts and I want more, please.

 

[Timothy E]

I heard a rumor that an original scene from the theatrical version is missing on the new Blu-Ray and DVD release. The scene shows the collapse of a water tower during a buffalo stampede. Can anyone confirm whether this is true?

 

[widescreenforever]

Just checked my older release ( Buffalo scene was under the chapter called White Lies/ Red War- Chapter 27,, the new scenes in the new release is called Buffalo Herd -Chapter 30,, anyway,,) the scenes match,, frame by frame, it does sway and stay up.. maybe you're thinking of the falling water tower from Mad Mad World ??

 

[Timothy E]

That is probably the source of the rumor. Mad Mad World was released around the same time as HTWWW so it seems plausible that the similar scene in Mad Mad World was confused with this movie.
Given the excellent job of restoration on these new DVDs and Blu Rays, I found it hard to believe that a scene would be omitted, either inadvertently or deliberately.

 

[Simon Howson]

No way! DVDPacific sent me the 3 disc SPECIAL EDITION even though I paid for the 3 disc ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION.

Not too bad though, this is the first incorrect order I've received in 4 years...

 

[Bill Huelbig]

The falling water tower can be seen in the souvenir program for "How the West Was Won", and it can be seen lying on the ground after the last buffalo has passed through the camp, but for some reason it wasn't captured on film. I think a mistake was made in the planning of the shot and the Cinerama camera wasn't ready, or something like that.

I remember reading something about that scene long ago. I'll try to track it down.

There's also a falling water tower in "Mad World", but in "How the West Was Won" there were stuntmen jumping out of it as it went over. That's how it was supposed to be, anyway.

 

[Bill Huelbig]

I found this on Movie Mistakes.com but it's a mistake itself:

******************************

Doesn't the water tower fall completely to the ground during the buffalo stampede in the original theatrical release? It's missing in the DVD release.

[That is true it does fall straight to the ground in the theatrical release, but if you bought a copy of the DVD after 2001 they had edited it out because it was similar to the Twin Towers and did not want it to spark any controversy.]

*****************************

It never fell to the ground in the theatrical release. I remember seeing it in Cinerama when I was 8 years old, fully expecting it to fall to the ground, and being a little surprised when it didn't.

I can't find the proof of what I wrote before about the camera not being ready, but I do remember seeing it somewhere and it does make sense.

 

[John Hodson]

Bill, I read the same thing some years ago, but for the life of me can't remember where.

 

[Bill Huelbig]

Thanks, John. I feel better now. My memory does play tricks on me sometimes, more and more often the older I get.

 

[widescreenforever]

I can't see how the falling of a 20 foot water tower is the same as the Twin Towers from 911 .. My God how many towers and buildings have fallen in theatrical movies?? and besides that, that is absolutley no comparison...

 

[Bill Huelbig]

Slightly off-topic: I'm not in favor of editing out anything, anywhere, but I did get a chill the other day while watching "How to Murder Your Wife" on TCM. Jack Lemmon says something like, "Maybe we should find a way to blow up one of those glass office towers: BAR-OOOOOM! Tinkle tinkle tinkle tinkle ..." I immediately thought of the World Trade Center. The line isn't funny anymore.

 

[Bill Huelbig]

Here's that image of the water tower going over, from the last page of the souvenir program:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...watertower.jpg

 

[widescreenforever]

I'll bet with the complexities and the problems that were outlined in Cinerama Adventure over the shooting difficulties and advent of garnering 1500 Buffalo for the shoot, I can see why the actual fall wasn't captured properly on film for that shot..

 

[ahollis]

I went back and pulled out my laserdisc copy of HTWWW and there is no water tower falling shot either. I held on the laser because I hated the Turner logo between the overture and main titles.

I like most people do remember the still; it is in the original soundtrack and in the program. A web site dedicated to the film also has the still posted. I guess it is just one of those always thought it was there, but never was.

 

[widescreenforever]

Confused about this Logo.,, was it like that on the old DVD?? ( don't have the old DVD anymore as It has been handed down to my younger brother..)

 

[ahollis]

It was the most startling thing I had ever seen. Right after the great overture ended, they slapped on full screen Turner Logo with that awful Turner fanfare, and then it went into the widescreen (non-anamorphic) main titles. Not only was it on the MGM DVD release, but when Warner’s re-released the DVD twice under its banner they used the same transfer and kept the logo in. I even bought one of the Warner DVD’s hoping they had gotten rid of it.

The Turner Logo showed up before any MGM or Warner movie that he owned during the Laserdisc and early DVD days. Usually it was not as unappreciative as it was with HTWWW DVD since it played before the titles. The laserdisc of HTWWW actually had the Turner Logo before the Overture so that the film moved smoothly into the main titles.

 

[bearbutt]

A word from Down Under. Just received my HTWWW pack of Ultimate Collectors Edition and BluRay Edition. I don't have BluRay player yet or Full HD screen, so the BluRay is 'for the future'. The HTWWW remastering is just sensational. I can only so far sample the Smilebox effect via the Disc 3 Documentary, but it is just sensation upon sensation as far as I am concerned. Not just the image, but the audio is beautiful. The grabs from the other Cinerama films with the orchestrals and choirs is magnificent. Every reason for the full treatment to be given these Cinerama productions as well. From here on I imagine a world where all widescreen movies are 'bent' to fit the TV 16:9 screen. Just what does "enhanced for 16:9" mean? Its always appeared to me that something is chopped off the ends to compromise the 2.35 ratio to 16:9. (Does anyone have any facts on this?) Would love to see some of the Fox musicals (remember CinemaScope 55, / 2.55:1 the original ratio) remastered to BluRay and Smilebox. From here on this should be the Collectors Edition norm, flat image disc and Smilebox disc. For me there was an added little thrill when in the Cinerama Adventure doco there was a still shot of the Sydney Plaza Theatre where I saw all the Cinerama films. I didn't expect to see that, but it was a magnificent theatre, and the whole experience all those years ago is still vivid. Anyway, this new HTWWW mastering is pretty damn close to that original experience. Congratulation to all who put the work into it. KB. Tweed Heads NSW Australia.