Long John Silver (1954) starring Robert Newton - VCI special edition! (1 Viewer)

[Patrick McCart]

Amazingly, this was just released on the 27th!

Totally without any fanfare, it looks like VCI Entertainment released a new edition of the 1954 follow-up to Disney's 1950 version of Treasure Island: Long John Silver. The wonderful Robert Newton reprises his role as the title character.

Since it's public domain, it's only circulated in the form of murky pan & scan videos.

VCI's new edition has a new 2.55:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby Digital 5.1 (created from a rare 4-track magnetic mix print!), theatrical trailers and TV spots, biographies, and a restoration demo. It's only $9.99 on their website, too.



I've never seen it, but I love Treasure Island. Anyone have an opinion on this film? Perhaps a restoration expert could offer some information on this release?

 

[Robert Harris]

If this is derived from a print, it is apt to not be pretty.

 

[JerryKILL]

Thanks for the news, Patrick. I'm a big fan of Treasure Island as well, so looking forward to seeing this one again. It may not be "pretty", but it sure is entertaining. I'd rather buy this DVD than the latest and greatest HD transfer of a more recent release. It's all about content for me.

 

[Simon Howson]

US$9.50 is a bit too much for international postage, will this be sold at most popular DVD retailers, i.e. Amazon and DVDPacific?

 

[John Hodson]

Simon - Long John Silver at Amazon - $6.99 plus p&p.

 

[Simon Howson]

Thanks so much, I searched but didn't find it, God knows what I actually typed...

 

[John Hodson]

...my dad used to call him Long John Saliva, unsavoury I know

 

[Mario Gauci]

Patrick,


As it happens I've recently caught up with this rare film myself via a budget-priced triple feature disc entitled "Legendary Pirate Movies" which also contained THE SON OF MONTE CRISTO (1940) and CAPTAIN KIDD (1945). Anyway, since you asked, here are my thoughts on the film:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047189/usercomments-3


Off topic, but with regards to your signature, are you aware of this?:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_lis...EE5872FE454FBA

 

[Patrick McCart]

Mario: Well, it's in my amazon cart now. For $7, it's not a big risk anyways.

 

[Paul Penna]

Hmmm... I get $8.99 when I access that page.

 

[Paul Penna]

I interpreted Patrick's message, and also the differently-worded description on VCI's site, as meaning the sound was taken from a 4-track source (the VCI site says "recording," not "print"), not that the film itself was transferred from a print. No mention of what it was transferred from in the site, however.

 

[Jack Theakston]

And there is no reason why a print in good condition would not yield a good transfer image.