DVD Review HTF Review: Scarface: Anniversary Edition (1 Viewer)

[Jerry Gracia]

SCARFACE has been a long time favorite of mine. I quote lines from the movie on the fly at times!

I must have been age 14 or 15 when I first saw this movie in the late eighties on P&S VHS. It's just as good now as it was then IMO.

 

[Marc_Savoie]

Hmm that is not how mine is. You are saying the keepcase is totally english and the reverse is french? Mine is english/french and on the reverse french/english.

I apologize. I was wrong.
In fact, my DVD came with 2 slip cases. The first kinda folded over the bottom of the case to reveal the French title as well as covered the entire back with bilingual listing of the features on the DVD. this slip was easy to remove and I'll store it somewhere else.
The second and primary sleeve encapulates the entire keep case and is COMPLETELY English, including the spine, features on the back, etc, I'll always keep this slip case on when storing or displaying it. Underneath, the actual keep case is indeed bilingual on the spine (ugly) - not sure about the features listed on the back...
But since the primary slip case is English, that's more than we usually get, so I'm happy about that (even though as a whole I despise the blingual packaging by some studios in Canada).

Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Mark-W]

Well, I have checked many brick and mortar stores, and
several of my usual on-line vendors, and many are "out of stock" on the Scarface Gift Set that includes Hawks' 1932 version.


Well, I just checked with HTF-supporter, The Laser's Edge, and they have "plenty" in stock, so I ordered from them. It may cost a tad more than if I waited and waited and waited for some corporate place like Amazon to get them back in stock, but I will have the set sooner rather than later, and I am supporting an on-line vendor that suports this, my favorite DVD forum.

So, if you are still waiting to get the gift set, know that you can get one pronto.



Mark

 

[Jean Paul Villeneuve]

The second and primary sleeve encapulates the entire keep case and is COMPLETELY English, including the spine, features on the back, etc, I'll always keep this slip case on when storing or displaying it. Underneath, the actual keep case is indeed bilingual on the spine (ugly) - not sure about the features listed on the back...
But since the primary slip case is English, that's more than we usually get, so I'm happy about that (even though as a whole I despise the blingual packaging by some studios in Canada).

Thanks for the info Marc. I figured the Scarface gift sets would be in English since Universal-Alliance Atlantis Canada imported the boxes from the U.S.

I was right! No bilingual packaging at all, just like the E.T. gift set.

 

[Michael Hall]

Just wanted to give people who are looking for the Gift Set a heads-up that they may want to check their local Target stores. I walked into the local one today and they had two sitting on an endcap near the music CDs, priced at around 59 dollars. I had bought the 2-disc version on Tuesday and they were nowhere to be seen then. So, if you've got a Target near you and still haven't found one, you may want to give them a shot.

On a semi-related note, every major retailer I walked into today was completely sold out of the 2-disc version. I have a hard time believing predictions that that "Fast and the Furious" sequel is going to outsell good ol' Tony.

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY, DAMMIT!

 

[Michael Boyd]

I saw a lone widescreen copy at Suncoast with that was rewrapped and resealed rather sloppily. Looks like they took back a return from a foolscreen connoisseur.

My giftset ships from Amazon in Novemeber with Coupling 2. What a double feature!

 

[Jerry Gracia]

My local grocery store stocked nothing but the "full frame" versions as well.

"full frame"

LOL!

This one (SCARFACE) is pure PAN AND SCAN butchery at its worst.

 

[Andrew Bunk]

I bought this title somewhat blind, as I had only seen snippets here and there. But I like Pacino's work, and I liked Carlito's Way, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Just watched it last night, and I have to say I was thoroughly underwhelmed by the experience. Not that I was expecting it to be the be all, end all of film, but it just seemed dated and even cheesy in spots. And this coming from a guy who finds The Warriors very entertaining, and you could definitely tag that film dated and cheesy. Plus it's hard to buy Robert Loggia and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as hispanic.

Also, the movie just felt looooong to me. And I have nothing against movies with long running times. This one just didn't do it for me. Oh well, nothing ventured...

 

[Aaron Cohen]

Check out the beginning of chapter 28.... I have been trying to figure out what to call this effect for some time now...is it shimmering, compression artifacts, or what? I am viewing the film using a progressive scan dvd player (Sony DVP-NS715P) and it is hooked up to a 50 inch Widescreen LCD Rear-Projection HD set (PT50LC13. This effect is present throughout the film and I have always seen it on dvd's but on newer transfers to a much lesser extent. I'm just looking for what this effect is called here. It's sort of like the picture is shaking. Thanks!

 

[SteveGon]

Another for the 1932 Scarface - this is best I've ever seen it. (not top-notch, but very watchable)

 

[WillG]

If you know anyone that you want to convert to WS, have them check out the Extra that deals with the Theatrical version vs the Television verson. It intercuts OAR theatrical clips with P&S television clips. Quite a good example. Maybe the best I have seen because it cuts right from OAR to P&S and you can really see the difference

 

[David Coleman]

I finally got a chance to look at it today! I must admit I was very impressed with the transfer! It looked great for the majoririty of the picture. Colors were vibrant and film damage was at a minimal. The only problems I saw were on some of the darker interior shots and some softness on the wideshots.

The 5.1 was a waste of DTS. The sound wasn't anything to speak of. They could have left it in 2.0 surround for me!

 

[Jim_K]

I was a bit apprehensive after some of the lukewarm on-line reviews but after checking out both films I'm satisfied.

The '32 version has a decent (though not great) transfer & the '83 version was a vast improvement over the previous release.

Now does anyone want to buy a Scarface Box with a moneyclip & lobby cards?

 

[Romier S]

Plus it's hard to buy Robert Loggia and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as hispanic

I'm inclined to agree on Robert Loggia (who even still did an admirable job). However being hispanic myself (Cuban to boot) I have to say that Mary Elizabeth did one hell of a job passing as a Cuban, even made me wonder about her heritage at times.

 

[Nicholas Vargo]

Can someone tell me if the theatrical trailers for the film that appeared on the previous release are on the new release.

I want to know because my sister let me borrow the original DVD (which could have looked much worse, but it looked bad in every respect still), and I've been watching the trailers more than the movie (Even though I still loved the movie). Those two trailers for the film rocked me out of my mind. Are they there on the new release or have they been forgotten?

 

[RyanPC]

Can someone tell me if the theatrical trailers for the film that appeared on the previous release are on the new release.

I just got this disc at Wal-Mart this weekend, and unfortunately, no trailers whatsoever are present on the disc. Neither is the old documentary, which I believe was over an hour long, longer than all three of the new docs put together. Almost makes me wish I had purchased the old DVD just for the stuff that's missing. :frowning:

The picture quality is remarkable though and the sound is excellent. I was impressed. Also, it's just a damn good movie and is sure to get plenty of replay value from me.

 

[Estevan Lapena]

Just got the 2 disc Scarface and the Collectors Edition of Carlito's Way, Both have great PQ and is well worth the money I paid for them. Could not afford the gift set though, ($67 + tax). Is it just me or is the DTS track a little quiet?

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

For the longest time, I thought "She's On Fire" and "Push It To The Limit" were made up songs on GTAIII. How appropriate.

No way. I used to make fun of that station by calling it SCARFACE FM. Good times.

 

[Mark Palermo]

I just got this disc at Wal-Mart this weekend, and unfortunately, no trailers whatsoever are present on the disc. Neither is the old documentary, which I believe was over an hour long, longer than all three of the new docs put together. Almost makes me wish I had purchased the old DVD just for the stuff that's missing.

I'm hanging on to the old DVD because the trailers are missing this time (or at least I can't find 'em), but all the documentary footage from the old disc shows up here. Excepting the new Def Jam featurette, the other four featurettes are just a divvied up version of the last DVD's long documentary. That ran for 52 minutes, and on the new version the length is 58 minutes. So there are actually 6 extra minutes somewhere.

 

[Tin-Lun Lau]

the video quality was okay. but if you compare it to the Shaw Brothers Collection that are released as Region 3 in Hong Kong, the new release of Scarface was crap. Considering Celestial Pictures only had materials coming from the 60's to the 80's to work with, they look amazing. They don't look old and grainy at all. Even Columbia's dvd release of Ghostbusters wasn't shabby at all.

Universal has alot to learn.