Laserdisc features not on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Moe Dickstein]

If I had to guess Joe, I'd say it was just a matter of time changing someone's opinion. I know Peter has always been thankful for the work you did, as are all of us.

PHH Did have one other feature released to theaters, but it was a recorded version of a one man stage play which he also directed. The performance in "Give 'em Hell Harry" by James Whitmore was Oscar nominated.

I think down the road when the HD format gets to titles like this, we might have a chance to have the rest of this material included. I'm already lobbying for it!

Joe - as an aside, have you heard anything about your version of Lost Horizon? That's an entire "feature" not on DVD!

 

[Brian Little]

Didn't the Lion King LD boxset include a number of extras not on the DVD. In particular the one thing I do know that is not on the DVD is the commentary on the LD. I'd love to hear that one to be honest.

 

[Henry Gale]

Thought about starting a new thread, the most recent info in this one is almost 30 minutes old.
Oh, what the heck.

I know this isn't the intended subject but an LD feature not on DVD that I miss is punching in a frame number on a CAV disc.
Particularly handy on those discs featuring art gallerys.

 

[David_B_K]

I'd like to voice my thanks to Joe Caps and the work he did on 1776 on laserdisc. I agree that the sound on the DVD is terrible, not even as good as my old soundtrack LP. I wish the DVD had used the same cut as the laserdisc with the same commentary. It's ironic, with so much made in the commentary about how Jack Warner later regretted the cuts he'd ordered, that we'd get stuck with a controversial cut version of the film on DVD.

I guess 1776 is another laserdisc I will not be retiring from my collection. I just hope it doesn't "rot".

 

[Jay Pennington]

I'm almost positive the Lion King DVD commentary is an LD port.

 

[roven97]

Anyone Know if the old Blondie movies were released on Laser?

 

[Ray_R]

You could always check LDDb.com Just punch it into the search.

 

[Geoffy]

Dead Presidents.

The Criterion LD has -

Commentary by the Hughes brothers, Professor Todd Boyd, and Ari Merretazon
Deleted scenes and theatrical trailers
"The Making of Dead Presidents"
Dr. Boyd's guide to blaxploitation films
An epilogue to the story: "What Happened to the Real Anthony" by Ari Merretazon

The DVD has diddly.

 

[roven97]

I was just at Amoeba in los angeles and they had a huge clearout on ld's. Didn't see any of the discs mentioned here however...

 

[Patrick McCart]

Taxi Driver had a music-only track on the letterboxed Columbia LD and a Martin Scorsese/Paul Schrader commentary on the Criterion. Neither on the old DVD or the upcoming special edition (though, it has a new commentary by Schrader).

Psycho's sole extra not present on the original Universal DVD or the remastered Masterpiece Collection edition, but on the laserdisc, is an isolated music/effects track (or is it just music-only?).

I'm not sure if they were on laserdisc, but the Thames Silents series released by HBO Home Video had scores that have not been used on DVD editions. Intolerance, The General, The Strong Man, Safety Last, Broken Blossoms, Our Hospitality, The Thief of Bagdad, The Kid Brother, Girl Shy, Hot Water, and Speedy were all part of this series. The New Line Cinema DVDs retain the orchestral Carl Davis scores for Speedy, The Kid Brother, and Safety Last (Hot Water and Girl Shy have excellent Robert Israel scores, plus Gaylord Carter organ scores). However, the rest have had releases by Kino without the scores. Most at least had good to great new scores (especially Rodney Sauer's for The Thief of Bagdad and Robert Israel's work on the Keatons). However, the synth score for Intolerance is terrible. The Image Entertainment DVD (now OOP) had a great organ score by Gaylord Carter.

City Lights had the re-recorded score by Carl Davis in PCM Stereo, as did the Image Entertainment/CBS-Fox DVD. The R1 and R2 MK2/Warner DVDs only have the original 1931 mono track (as well as a ridiculous 5.1 remix of the '31 track).

The laserdisc for Buster Keaton's The Cameraman had a great piano score, despite having poor fidelity. There's a new orchestral score in its place on Warner's DVD.

 

[jim_falconer]

I'll never forget the excitment I felt the day my new DVD of 1776 arrived on my doorstep, and then how I felt like crying, once I started watching it. Like Joe mentioned before, the Pioneer LD comes CRASHING out of your speakers during the opening Overture, while the DVD almost appears to be recorded in mono. And then the cuts...just made me feel sick to my stomach not to see them anymore.

Needless to say, I quickly disposed of the DVD, and burned two copies of my LD to DVD-R for future use. Until Sony decides to go back, and re-issue the LD version of the film onto DVD, I'll at least still have this wonderful movie available for viewing in it's proper running time on DVD-R.

 

[David_B_K]

Same here. I burned one copy for the film with its original sound; the other for the film with the commentary.

 

[Brian Kidd]

Walt Disney's ALICE IN WONDERLAND: ARCHIVE COLLECTION had more song demos and other recordings than you could shake a stick at. The most recent DVD has lost most of them. They were removed, I assume, to make room for "better" supplements like the kids' games section with live-action characters. :frowning:

 

[roven97]

That brings up an interesting point. Are most of the Disney DVD's lacking gems from the LD versions?

I'm gonna have to check out this 1772. I've never even heard of it. It's a good film I'm gathering?

 

[alan halvorson]

A number of Disney dvds lack the non-disc extras that came in the box sets. I'm not certain about the disc extras.

One Criterion LD worth seeking is Dr. Strangelove. The extras are not only different but are extremely interesting. If you do seek this LD out, be aware that there were two releases. The one you want differs in that it includes an early draft version of the script, one where aliens were involved. BE AWARE that you can't just rely on the LD jacket to know that a particular copy contains the early script draft; some copies had jackets that claimed it did but, in fact, didn't, so the disc must be viewed to be certain.

The box set of Gettysburg features a longer cut of the film. This is the only release, LD, DVD or tape, where this longer cut exists. The extras were all ported to the dvd. The book, the field map, the bullet and the photos were not.

The box set of The African Queen came with two books. Probably, they are available elsewhere.

The making of documentary on the dvd of The Nightmare Before Christmas is cut almost in half but the LD box set contains the full, uncut version. Also, the LD box set came with the best (in my humble opinion) book ever included in an deluxe set, any format. The book, I believe, is available elsewhere, I'm told.

The Criterion CAV James Bond films, Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, had commentary that caused them to be yanked and are not available anywhere else. I don't recall what there was about these commentaries that caused the LDs to be discontinued.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Also, the first issue of the Nightmare set included Henry Selick's bumpers for MTV -- turned out they didn't have the rights cleared properly and they were removed from subsequent pressings. The book was available in stores when the film was in theatres.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Roven - you might want to look for "1776" I don't think there's a film called 1772 ;-)

And for the folks that like to burn the DVD in effigy - the "cut" version you speak of is only about 3 minutes shorter than your LD cut, and the DVD is the Director's preferred version. Most people around here are pretty serious about abiding by the intent of the filmmakers. I also like to remember that the DC adds over 20 minutes to the Butchered Theatrical cut, and has moments that do not exist in the LD cut (notably the transition from Cool Men into Mama Look Sharp). As well as the original negative quality for all the added scenes, so if you threw out your DVD, you lost those scenes, as well as the commentary with the Director and Screenwriter, and some interesting screen tests of the cast.

The Director spent several weeks on the dubbing stages mixing the sound from scratch (The film was recorded for stereo but never released that way in theaters) The sound on the DVD is a 5.1 mix, the way the Director wants it to sound.

So if you like your LD version, that's your choice, but it is not the "correct" version of 1776. I am glad to have all three versions for their filmmaking interest, but when I watch the film for pleasure, it's always the DVD version.

 

[roven97]

Oops. Thanks for the correction Moe. And thanks for the informative response. I am better informed now, and will enjoy it all the more!

 

[jim_falconer]

Moe,

Seems to me that there's more than 3 minutes of the film missing from the LD to DVD (I realize that the Overture, Intermission, and Exit music make up a good portion). But even if it's only 3 minutes, why on earth would Peter Hunt cut out one of the most beautifully constructed scenes in the film? After Ben Franklin leaves John Adams to visit a female companion, John Adams travels back to Massachusetts to visit Abigail (in his mind). After they finish the song 'Till Then', we have a wonderful scene of the town of Philadelphia waking up. A crane shot takes us from John Adams sleeping on the bottom step of Thomas Jefferson's abode, and pulls back to see all the merchants setting up for the day, while Ben Franklin cheerfully greets everyone.

I'm glad you are happy with the current DVD release, but to me, the Pioneer LD version will always be the definitive version of the film.

 

[Mark B]

I must agree that I miss the "lamplighter" sequence and market bit, as well as the missing verse from "Piddle Twiddle and Resolve."