Marx Brothers News? (1 Viewer)

[Tory]

Well, despite the lack of extras, those who missed the chance before can now experience these on DVD and the W.C. Fields to boot.

 

[Randy A Salas]

Unless I need different eyes. The bonus disc has one static menu that shows after the Universal logo. It says "Bonus Materials: Inside the NBC Vaults -- Today Show Interviews With:" and then selectable choices for "Harpo Marx 1961" (about 7 minutes), "Groucho Marx 1963" (under 5 minutes) and "William Marx 1985" (about 4 1/2 minutes). There are no other menus and no other choices.

If it weren't for NBC buying Universal, it doesn't look as if even these extras would be there. That might explain why there's a sixth disc just for this content: It was added after the NBC purchase and after the rest of the set was put together. Or, more likely, Uni wanted the movies each to have their own dedicated discs to make it easier to sell them individually after repackaging them.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Ditto! Unless it turns out that SUBSTANTIAL work has been done on the restorations, I'll keep my Image box and pick up Cocoanuts & Monkey Business after the Ebay values drop.

 

[Roger Rollins]

My beef?

Universal just threw the damn thing together wihout any real care. THAT'S the rip-off...not the price!

A new docu about the Marx's Paramount years would have been terrific....

Warner created very entertaining and informative new pieces for A NIGHT AT THE OPERA and A DAY AT THE RACES for their collection. They knew these films mattered, and took the time to treat 'em right.

Why didn't Universal do the same for at least HORSE FEATHERS and DUCK SOUP?

Because they simply just don't care....

Pity.

 

[Randy A Salas]

Gotcha. I agree on that point.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Well, Universal probably feels like they're not interested in promoting the work of another studio. Since Warner owns the entire MGM library up to the 1980s, and not just selected bits, they may have been more open to that kind of documentary extra. I can see the bean-counters at Universal now: we're supposed pay for a feature saying how good Paramount films were? I think not. Let them pay for it.

 

[John Hodson]

Jay E was kind enough to provide the Universal website 'contact us' page URL in another thread:

http://www.universalstudios.com/home...gi?email_id=10

Perhaps it's time to let them know what you think of the set? I know I'm not very happy, but not surprised...

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I'm not gonna bother complaining, sure it would have been nice to have a definitive deluxe packaging of these films with all the extras and trimmings but as it stands, we are getting a nice set of some of the funniest comedies ever produced and at a decent price to boot. It sucks that Universal didn't put much thought into this set considering it's probably one of the better film collections they have in their library but there are enough extravagant box-sets coming out in the next few months to focus on and if anything, this only means we'll have some extra spending money to give to another company... it's they're loss really.

 

[Randy A Salas]

I no longer have the Image discs to compare with; I gave them away years ago. But it appears that at least some restoration work has been done. The image seems more stable overall, for one. For another, the reviews cited above, for example, refer to "a veritable storm" of "grain, marks, dirt, holes in the emulsion, tram lines, hairs and every other form of problem" starting at 15:15 in Animal Crackers. I don't see that at all on the new disc--or, at least, that passage looks decent considering the film's age.

If someone wants to post a screen capture from a bad portion of that scene, I can post the same frame from the new disc to compare.

 

[John Hodson]

You're quite right, I'm jumping the gun; it's just that I have a very bad feeling having seen the R2 set...

I probably wouldn't contact them if it simply is a matter of lack of extras, though it is still quite niggling. If the transfers are good enough that will have to do (Must. Calm. Down. :b )

 

[MarkBourne]

What I'm most curious about: If the source prints are the same used for the Image discs, or if better ones are available. (I don't even know that better ones exist, but here's hoping.)

I should be getting a review copy verysoonnow, and the first scene I'll check will be early in Animal Crackers. During Groucho's "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" number, there's a very ragged cut-and-splice thanks to a deletion (demanded by the Hays office) of Grou's ribald lyric (re Margaret Dumont) "I think I'll try to make her," which carried over from the Broadway production but which someone considered too risque for the movies. As far as I know, every print of Animal Crackers in existence has that very awkward cut, but I sure would like to have evidence to the contrary.

Similarly, the "ice man" scene in Horse Feathers rather famously appears to have been cut to pieces and taped together again by a little boy with blunt scissors. Is there a more complete version of that scene anywhere? Hope so.

My fear, though, is that those cuts -- and some others -- are in celluloid Heaven along with the King Kong's Giant Spider Scene.

 

[John Hodson]

DVD Beaver took a look at the Image Duck Soup and the Universal R2 - check it out here

Similarly, Horse Feathers.

 

[Randy A Salas]

The line is still missing. The cut is still awkward and obvious, but it looks quite clean as far as its image quality, not ragged.

 

[MarkBourne]

Thanks, Randy.

By ragged I meant, as you say, awkward and obvious. It's a double pity because it happens during a song lyric, so it blows the rhythm of the line.

As to whether there's only one source print for Animal Crackers, it just now occurs to me that Glenn Mitchell's exhaustive Marx Brothers Encyclopedia probably has that info, so I'll pull it off the shelf at home once I finish cruising through HTF here at the office.

 

[John Watson]

I've just watched the five films over the last few days, and altho I haven't looked carefully at the book and the packaging, it does appear to be nice.

But I can't understand why there is only one short film per disk, and then the Bonus disk, as noted by many already, only contains 15 minutes! And is managed by a lame lock-step menu that doesn't even permit playing the three items as one program.

For that matter several of the movies, and particularly Cocanuts, had several long apuses, almost like layer changes.

The WC Fields set was almost as bad.

These comedians were geniuses, and heroes. Its a shame to see them treated so.

The guys responsible are travesties of shams of frauds of mockeries of travesties. I almost would expect to see Madacy was behind this. :frowning: