HTF REIVEW: Mary Poppins 40th Anniversary SE - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! (1 Viewer)

[John Hodson]

Arthur, that's a little harsh - the specs for the R4 are here

 

[DaViD Boulet]

But it shows the R4 special edition as having these audio details (I've boldfaced what presumably would be the original 5.1 mix):

Soundtrack(s): Danish Dolby Digital 5.1
English Dolby Digital 5.1
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix)
Norwegian Dolby Digital 5.1

So are the incorrect???

 

[John Hodson]

Sorry; I'm only pointing out that if the information is erroneous, then it's hardly the fault of someone in this thread when it's posted all over the web.

Just to double underline that, these are the specs from ezydvd.com.au:

Released: Tuesday, 23 November 2004
Actors: Julie Andrews Dick Van Dyke David Tomlinson Glynis Johns Hermione Baddeley Ed Wynn
Director: Robert Stevenson
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 16:9 Enhanced
Transfer Format: Widescreen
Category: Family
Region: 4
Year: 1964
Distributor: Buena Vista
Rating: G
Languages: English Norwegian Danish
Subtitles: English Norwegian Danish
Running Time: 134 mins

And from dvdreviewer:

Although Disney's official release of the European R2 edition of Mary Poppins: 40th Anniversary Edition is still five months away (18th April), and even the US won't see it until 14th December, our friends downunder will be enjoying the two-disc set from this Saturday 27th November for around $20AU (£10). In keeping with Australia’s stance on region coding, sources are quoting the set as being encoded as both R4 and R2 (hence this item).

This authentic classic from the Disney stable (in spite of Dick Van Dyke's ear-gouging take on a cockney accent) has been fully restored and is presented in an anamorphic 1.66:1 transfer with two 5.1 sound mixes.

 

[ArthurMy]

I guess I thought someone actually had the disc and wasn't posting specs - at least that's the way it came off. Unless I'm missing it somehow, this two-disc 40th Anniversery Australian DVD has the Enhanced Theater Mix and the 2.0 original. If the 5.1 original is hidden somewhere, I've yet to find it.

 

[ArthurMy]

Just to be really clear, the confusion, I think, comes from the back of the box - which says English 5.1 next to the Dolby Digital logo. But that's the Enhanced Mix, not a separate 5.1 original mix.

I guess my suggestion would be that when people are making these posts how this region or that region has this or that, that they clarify whether they're just quoting specs or whether they actually have the disc. In other words, I made the assumption that someone had actually bought it and heard it, because that's how the posts were written.

 

[ScottR]

Has anyone else noticed the red tint on the right side of the frame on the Gold Edition? Is it there on the new one?

 

[DaViD Boulet]

no red-ting on the new verison

 

[Ernest Rister]

Okay - finally picked this up yesterday, along with Mulan: Masterpiece Edition.

As I always do with the any Disney DVD purchase, I went straight to the bonus features. Some brief notes:

* The Making of Mary Poppins was so good, I didn't want it to end. Wonderful stories and archival materials, and a joy to watch. Julie Andrews' famous comical snipe at Jack Warner during the Golden Globes was a little buried treasure - wasn't expecting it to be here. The remembrance homage to Matthew Garber was also touching. Inside note - there is a brief shot of a younger Peter Ellenshaw and a friend performing "Knees Up Mother Brown". This brief shot is from the "Disney Family Album" TV series that ran on the Disney Channel in the mid-80's. The series was a treasure-trove of such little gems, so it is good to see that material still exists at Disney. Maybe some day we'll get a DVD release of this series...it included footage from the tests for Who Framed Rogger Rabbit long long before Spielberg and Zemeckis became involved. It included the deleted original ending for Robin Hood with the return of King Richard, and some very candid stories. A great series for Disney buffs, maybe some day we'll see it.

* "The Cat Who Looked at a King" - I'm stretching to find good things to say about Peter Schneider's directorial effort, and non-objectionable is the best I can come up with.

* World Premiere and After Party - Strong piece for nostalgia buffs. Fascinating to see stars for then-current, now-obscure Disney films like Miracle of the White Stallions, The Light in the Forest, Those Calloways, etc.

* The still frame galleries are interesting, if far too brief. There is a still of Julie Andrews in a recording booth with Karen Dotrice, notable because you hear a great deal about that moment on the audio commentary.

* Speaking of, the audio commentary has many more participants than listed -- you'll also find comments from Walt Disney, Irwin Kostal, Robert Stevenson in addition to the listed regulars. One of the best commentary tracks for a Disney DVD, ever, and that is saying something.

As for the film itself, visually, the new transfer is beautiful and it reveals details in the matte paintings and sets that I had never seen before, although I'm not quite used to the color saturation on display here.

Haven't had a chance to give the film a proper sonic workout yet, but I'll try to give it a spin on my HT tonight. I haven't heard any new foley f/x though, at least, none that I could hear during the commetary track. I'll comment later.

Best,

ER3

 

[Ernest Rister]

All right, I listened to an hour of the Enhanced Home Theater Mix, and just as David was correct about the disembodied quality of Aladdin's songs, he is once again correct about an audio issue on a Disney DVD. The high end is gone on the music, most noticeably during the musical numbers. Pure dialog scenes sounded fine and natural, but the musical sequences sound like someone stuffed pillows into my speakers. I know this is the result of being so familiar with the score, but still, I can't help but notice it. Damn shame, too, because I enjoyed the overall envelopment of the score in the surrounds (even if it is a tad too agressive for my usual tastes).

The new foley f/x are silly and completely unnecessary -- Walt was just fine using music and visuals with no sound f/x, he did it his entire career. Throwing in wind gusts and buckle jangles on top of the image of Ms. Poppins atop her cloud was completely pointless. Some things work better when left to our imagination, and Walt knew where that line was instinctively.

Anyway, the disc is outstanding for the bonus content, and the visual quality is almost all I could have hoped for, but the audio is a major issue, and so I suppose I'll be watching my Gold Collection edition of Poppins - artifacts and all - when I want to watch the movie, and consider the 40th anniversary edition a "bonus 2nd and 3rd disc" edition of the film for the special features.

By the way, David - what happened to your Mulan review? I can't see to find it via the search engine. Mulan is an outstanding disc. I have some problems with the ending of Mulan which soured me on the overall film to an extent, but the new DVD is top notch.

 

[RobertSiegel]

I agree with you Ernest, the sound effects were completely out of place, and Walt knew what he was doing. He was able to allow the audience some imagination. As for the music tracks, I finally listened to the entire home theatre mix and I think it's one of the biggest insults to an original mix I have ever heard. I don't mind a little remixing to give a little more surround effect, done beautifully in UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN (stereo surrounds), that was done with care and taste, but taking the score and adding reverb and making it sound like iot's in a big hall was of no value but maybe the ill-natured fun of the guy who mixed it. Whoever did this and thought they were making a better soundtrack should not be in the business of mixing soundtracks for home video. And, whoever decided to add a 2.0 mix of that same soundtrack instead of a 5.1 mix of the original mix should also be stock piling dvds in the warehouse, not in charge of decisions like that. Disney has the separate music and effects track, it was on the laserdisc, so that could have been added as well instead of 2 versions of an awful remix.

The special features, on the other hand, are terrific. I've been waiting years for Disney to give some importance to this movie on home video, and they finally came through with some great extras. It's obvious these were not quickie additions. Can't wait to see this on Blue-ray HD dvd.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Ernest,
Why not just watch the new version with the very well presented 2.0 pro-logic re-purposing of the original mix? The improvments in image presentation are substantial, and the 5.1 from the Gold Collection (and/or its predecessor) is really not much better than the 2.0 "original theatrical mix" on the current edition.

Regards,

 

[Ernest Rister]

There was a separate thread asking what "Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix" means. I think it means "bad taste".

I'll give the 2.0 version a try, haven't listened to it yet. How odd that the Mono track on Those Calloways sounds better than the "Enhanced Home Theater Mix" on Mary Poppins.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Ernest,

I'm glad that your impressions of the audio reflect my own. Pretty scary hugh...I mean...I've heard messed-up audio tracks before but with a title like this you really have to wonder what type of audio-mixing/noise-reduction guy actually thought that the music sounded *better* once he managed to strip out all the high-frequences?

BTW, though it would have been better in 5.1 (preserving the full front-3 channel discrete mix), the 2.0 "original" mix on the new disc is very good (just turn it up...recorded WAAAYYYY low compared to everything else) and is close to the 5.1 mix on the older DVD. And honestly on a projection system the picture on the older DVD is virtually unwatchable...really, really, bad. I had no idea just how bad until I projected it...it always had looked "ok" on my former 16x9 television monitor.

With the 2.0 mix to get us by for now (let's hope that on BluRay someone with some inteligence and the ability to hear is responsible for the auido presentation), the image quality of the new disc really does shine (despite the caveats/questions about cropping and such) and I couldn't even *begin* to imagine trying to watch the "gold" edition DVD on the big-screen now that I've been able to experience this beautiful new disc...listening to the 2.0 original mix of course...

-dave

p.s. Mulan Review:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=215173

Found it in the archive section...not sure if it's accepting any more posts or how that works once they get "archived"...

 

[Ernest Rister]

Why in the world was this archived? I can still bump Fantasia threads from three years ago, surely a review from three months ago should be active. Just my .02 cents.

Anyway, I posted my thoughts on the disc in your archived thread.

Best,

ER3

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Here is a Mary Poppins frame grab and DVD comparison.

This film frame was scanned off of an original Technicolor print of the film. The green-tinted box represents the area that the old Gold Edition DVD shows, the red-tinted box presents the area that the new DVD shows. As you can see, the old DVD had a wider image and was slightly higher in the frame. The new DVD is cropped on the sides and sits lower in the frame. The frame itself is almost exactly 1.75, give or take a thousandth of an inch , and neither DVD shows the whole image.

 

[Ernest Rister]

See if you can grab a frame from Darby O'Gill and the Little People -- I'm still dubious about the aspect ratio of that classic film and the full-frame DVD.

 

[rich_d]

Peter,

Thanks for that. Very interesting comparison. Are you planning to show the print at the Lafayette? Are you close to announcing your Spring (special) Shows?

I'd also be interested if you have any thoughts on the audio as presented on film versus the "original audio" on the new DVD.

Ernest,

I'd also be interested in your take on the 2.0 "original audio" as well.

I don't have the prior discs so can offer no comparison. However, having listened to the 2.0 "original audio" mix through, I do think that my initial take on the 2.0 audio was too harsh. For all I know it might represent the film quite well and thus my problems with the audio really are with the film itself. Don't know.

Meanwhile much like the Red Sox proved, keep hope alive. Maybe we will see Mary Poppins on video as it was suppose to be presented before we die.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Ernest - I wish I had a print of Darby O'Gill to check. I'll see if anybody has one.

Rich - the Spring season is announced right HERE . Sadly, Disney does not currently offer Mary Poppins (or any of their classic animated features either) for theatrical bookings, otherwise I would have played it during my Fall season.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Peter Apruzzese


YOU ARE DA-MAN!!!

Awesome to finally see what the heck is going on with that film-frame.

Makes it clear that this new DVD excessively crops the image...grrrrr...

p.s. LOVED the sci-fi series at the Lafayettea few months back...a serious high-point in my movie-going career!!!

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Well, I've seen "excessive" cropping, and I'm not sure that this (about 2.5% on either side and substantially less than that vertically) qualifies. I'd go with "unnecessary", though. If release prints of the film were actually hard matted to 1.75:1, it's possible that 1.66:1 presentations were similarly cropped, but why would you matte it at all if you are going to be fitting it into a 1.78:1 frame anyway?

Regards,