DVD Review HTF REVIEW: "An Affair to Remember" (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

Uh oh....


Grain has become "nostalgic?"

This can't bode well.

 

[Gary Tooze]

Uh oh....
Grain has become "nostalgic?"
This can't bode well.

I know... I am a bit of an odd duck about these things... but too pristine an image has me swooning and forgetting the film (plot, charcters etc.). I lose my willing suspension of disbelief and concentrate too much on the image perfection.

This holds true when it softens the image and takes the detail out. Probably my #1 pet peeve. I won't give up anything for sharpness... and I find the older Affair sharper than the new... and, yes, I am aware of the colors etc. and other differences.

As much of my initial viewings of these classic films were on TV many many years ago. It is this flawed image with character that I reflect joyfully on ( go ahead rip me apart )... I enjoyed the older version of "Affair" as I do the DVD version of "To Catch a Thief"... I like the grain... a lot.

Now saying that, I am overwhelmed by the Criterion "The Killers"... I have but some screen caps in my review HERE... it is an astounding DVD... just about perfect image quality... especially considering the age of the film. Amazing contrast... and pitch black-blacks...

Gotta run and put my flame retardant suit on...,

 

[Joe Caps]

The talk about the picture quality is fine - bothlook good to me - far better than the old laserdisc which was terrible.
But this film was from Foxs great era of Cinemascope - four channel stereo movies. Fopx has failed, again, to remedy the problem the old dVD had - the sound - thin, with no high end, no clarity - the film almost sounds mono - and why 2.0 when it should be 4.0.
If you have the opportunity, compare the sound on both DVDs to the Laserdisc version - the laser sound has a wide stereo spread and wonderful surrounds (mostly music) but comparing the two is depressing. I have to play the laser in syn with the DVD to get the best of both worlds - again! Why did Fox not fix this?

 

[Robert Harris]

For blacks on DVD, the best I've recently seen may be found in Paramount's new release of Lady Jane.

Re: Affair and Joe C's comments...

Joe is abolutely correct that this would have been a discrete four track magnetic mix.

It is certainly possible that the orig mag no longer exists, and that the 2 track (encoded or not) which was used by CBS-Fox for the laser may have gone missing.

That said, it is probably just as possible that someone pulled the wrong mag to lay in with the new transfer.

 

[Robert Harris]

In answer to earlier questions on this title, I've now had the opportunity to compare the two releases.

The new disc is far superior to the original, the difference being far greater than shows up in frame grabs.

The greatest difference can be seen in the "loss" of the electronic enhancement in the earlier version.

A documentary is included, which makes the new disc extremely attractive price-wise, giving one the ability to gift the old version to a friend.

 

[Gary Tooze]

Makes sense... Thanks for your input Robert...we have the disclaimer in the Review Section:

Inferences on the images should not be made without taking into account many other factors. We rarely post the full screen resolutions due to disc space...

I still like the old version and will be keeping both... flaws and all...

Cheers,

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Gary,

Totally off topic...

Can I recommmend another title for your comparison site? I heard the Jean De Flourette and Manon of the Springs have nice 16x9 transfer in PAL R2 (and are absolutely HORRID 4x3 lbxed transfer in R1). I'd love to see a comparison of those on your fantastic site!

dave

 

[Gary Tooze]

Good suggestion David... We have a thread going about those comparisons HERE

I have heard similar comments about the R2 Jean De Flourette and Manon of the Spring DVDs... I'll see if one of my ListServ has them to compare to my R1's..

Thanks,

 

[Carlo_M]

Thanks for taking the time to review the discs and post your much respected opinion. I'm heading out to pick this one up right now! Okay, I have to wait till I'm off of work...

I am glad that you've lent your review to a thread that almost began vilifying Fox for a bad video transfer when in fact, the video is fine (more than fine, according to RAH). It's fine if you prefer one to the other, but I just felt that people started piling on to the Fox bashing bandwagon before all the facts were out. This was unfair to a studio and specifically to Mr. Staddon (who has done more for the HT community than just about any other studio exec) to just start criticizing with abandon. Some studios deserve to be criticized for their recent poor performance on DVD - Fox hasn't done much in my eyes to deserve this yet. They are in the "give them the benefit of the doubt until the facts are known" category, IMO.

However that 2.0/4.0 gaff that Joe C and RAH pointed out is a cause for concern. If it was a gaff at pulling the wrong mags for the transfer - urk! If the mags have gone missing, that's a whole separate concern and every effort should be made to try and recover them.

 

[Arnie G]

I think thanks re this thread should go to DaViD Boulet.

 

[Rick Z.]

The sound is so bad that if you play the Fox fanfare at the beginning of the movie and compare it to the french track you can clearly notice the latter actually sounds better!(IMO)

 

[Joe Caps]

The French track sure does sound better. The sound problem with this disc does not come from the fact it is a 2.0 as opposed to 4.0. The old laserdisc was 2.0 and sounds yards better than either dvd.

 

[ScottR]

I don't think the colors are correct here either....in the final scene, Deborah Kerr is supposed to have on a deep burgundy coat on, but here it is a cherry red.