DVD Review HTF REVIEW: The Untouchables - Special Collector's Edition (1 Viewer)

[Tino]

Sorry, but $10 (on sale) for an hour long Doc, good or not, isn't worth an upgrade for me.

IF it was an improvment over the previous edition, or had a commentary, then sure, I'd snap it up.

As is, nope.

 

[Scott Kimball]

With Paramount, usually I have some choice, though they do send me some things that I wouldn't normally care to review. I receive product direct from the studio. On occasion, reviewers will re-ship a title to another reviewer who could do a more complete review on a specific title - but when that is done, it is very difficult to get the review posted before street date.

-Scott

 

[Jeff Whitford]

Thanks for the info Scott.

 

[Mike_Richardson]

"Genuinely bad", eh? I found the 2+ hour docs he did for the JAWS, E.T., 1941, and Spielberg productions in general easily some of the best on laser or DVD. As far as his latest work goes, the TESS documentary that was just released is likewise excellent, as are the featurettes on the new CHRISTINE DVD. I wasn't a huge fan of the Hitchcock docs (to be honest most of the people who would have been most relevant to interview are dead, thereby limiting the content quality), but I think he's head and shoulders above most of the people cranking out DVD documentaries. What do you consider "genuinely good"?

 

[CraigL]

As someone who has been a fan of his from laserdisc, I have to agree with his DVD productions. IIRC, he did the Indy boxed set, no? There was too much music involved in that. WAYYYYYYYY too much. It wasn't direct enough...and there definitely wasn't enough "juice" in it. Not terrible but...not great.

I have mixed feelings about extras like this. I don't get having documentaries that are broken up like this. And it's also damn short. But...we'll see. My copy should ship today.

 

[Andrew Bunk]

I just watched the original release last night, and I found the transfer quite acceptable for a film from 1987. I saw less
print flaws than I was expecting too. I'll be happy to keep my original in this case.

 

[ArthurMy]

I like the fellow who did the documentary on To Kill a Mockingbird. I don't know what else he's done but that one was pretty good. The fact is, I don't like most of the people who do these - another exception is The Wild Bunch documentary - really excellent. Those seem to have a point of view and are shot interestingly. Laurent's are okay when he has okay people who say okay things. When he doesn't (as in the case of the Hitchcock docs) then his "talent" becomes apparent. He has no style, no point of view and I just get bored to tears seeing the usual suspects - let me put it kindly: If I never see Robert Osborne or Peter Bogdanovich in one of these things again that will be a good thing.

 

[Ron Reda]

On the last release, I remember there being something of an issue with the sound placement during a scene that involved an elevator(?). It's been some time and I don't have all the details, but I'll see if I can locate the information to see if it's been fixed in this release.

 

[Ron Reda]

My bad...it appears to have been a problem that the reviewer had with the filming of a certain scene and nothing to do with the audio.

http://www.dvdfile.com/software/revi...ouchables.html

"Now I'll talk about a fourteen-year irritation I've always had with the film. Many people are probably going to find me way too obsessive about such a seemingly minor detail, but it's been driving me nuts since I first saw the film in 1987. (And that's a long time to be bothered by something.) I don't think it can be argued that Brian De Palma has a unique and wonderful visual style, but it is his devotion to this technique that is the source of my pain.

During the scene where Oscar and George are killed by Nitti in the elevator, De Palma captured the moment in a long tracking shot.
Only breaking away briefly to go inside the elevator, most of this moment is actually captured by moving the camera around the setting without any sort of cuts. The problem I have is one of geography. Watching the scene as presented, the elevator actually goes to a different building. Lost? Just follow these diagrams and see if you can figure it out."

 

[Mark Zimmer]

I haven't compared the old and the new DVDs, but if the old one had aliasing issues, then there must be a new transfer because I saw virtually no such problems. Occasional nicks and specks were the only source element issues I noticed, which hardly matches the "grimy" adjective used above, as well.

My review at digitallyObsessed:

http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/sho...w.php3?ID=6531

 

[Mike_Richardson]

I think it's some kind of monetary deal -- I may well be wrong about that, but I think the studio saves $$ if they chop it up so it's not technically classified as a "documentary"...maybe someone in the know can fill us in.

 

[Andrew Bunk]

Well I decided to pick up the new disc at Circuit City for the extras and new audio track. I always say I won't double-dip, but they get me every time. Anyway, I compared the two discs in some key scenes and they look identical to my eyes. Not that it's bad, but any difference between the two appears to be negligible.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

That's a strange case it came in.

 

[Stephen J*]

You got that right. I wonder how many times those clips will open before they snap off.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

When a film was released theatrically with a multichannel soundtrack, the Paramount DVD folks usually re-purpose it for 5.1 to match up pretty closely with the original rather than remixing it to sound "modern". The 5.1 track for "The Untouchables" sounds like a very good representation of a circa-1987 multichannel mix for a 70mm presentation.The clips are designed to be snapped off, after which the DVD case will open and close like any other one. As a matter of fact, my copy had a sticker on it directing you to snap the clips off.

Regards,

 

[Michael Reuben]

Sonically, the new disc is a substantial improvement over the previous edition. The first clue that the sound has been remixed is on the disc's menu, which lists the 5.1 track as "Surround EX". And indeed, this 5.1 track is encoded for EX, where the prior one was not.

I still have the old disc and did an A/B comparison on select scenes. Morricone's score is noticeably more enveloping on this remix, whereas the previous version was weighted toward the front of the soundstage. Of equal if not greater importance is the improvement in the dialogue, which was often muddy on the previous disc. A good example is the conversation between Ness and the Mounties at the opening of the border scene ("Many things are half the battle").

To my eye, the image quality is identical. But since the soundtrack was considered the major shortcoming of the prior version, I think this upgrade is a no-brainer.

M.

 

[Tino]

Well, in that case.......

 

[Tim Glover]

Thanks Michael for that comparison. An upgrade it is.

 

[Iain Quinn]

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